Fantasy Football - 2nd Half Sleepers & TNF Preview + BREAKING NEWS! - Podcast for 10/22

12:41Jason Moore:you know this is three weeks missed for bucky irving they didn't put him on ir so usually that means you're trying to get a player back before four weeks however with the bye next week I would not be surprised at all you know I don't know how true it is or isn't like we talk about this and they're they're all human beings so maybe there is truth but like you're playing the saints you're you're you know the Buccaneers are going to play the saints and I feel like you go do we want to rush them back we can beat the saints without Bucky no and then give them another

13:15Mike Wright:week for the bye week yeah yeah it's a very different report than the mccorn and debo going to have a full week of practice kevin stefanski says he's hopeful david njoku will play in week eight remains day to day so he could be back sooner than we expected that would suck that

13:31Jason Moore:would be awful for fanning yeah for because fanning and njoku if you combine like if you look at just tight ends that team tight end the browns are hot this year i mean they are they're on fire you just can't start either one of them because they they're they're both getting a good chunk neither is getting a great chunk together it would be great so please either one of you don't play you they should take turns stay fresh just like every other sunday is fanning and every other sunday is no joku or they both wear the same jersey each week oh and then so every play Every play just gets attributed.

14:11Jason Moore:I'm fine with that.

14:11Mike Wright:The Jets are moving forward towards naming Tyrod Taylor the starter. Tyrod Taylor, sorry. But the reports, it's like they know who the quarterback is going to be. They don't want to publicize it. They don't want to give a competitive advantage.

14:25Jason Moore:No, and they also have not named their starting wide receiver. They don't have them to name, so they're looking for wide receivers. I think they're doing open tryouts right now.

14:36Mike Wright:You see the comments from their owner? Yes. Where it's like, he said they'd look good if they could just complete a pass. And then they also said with this quarterback. But, like, the quarterback's on your team. Yeah. That's pretty rough. Aaron Jones, Vikings running back, designated to return from injured reserve. He's got a 21-day window to return. Was limited on the walkthrough, but he's going to come back soon.

14:57Jason Moore:Soon. I think they really need him. Yeah, they definitely need him.

15:01Mike Wright:He's a different type of player than Jordan Mason, obviously. Yeah.

15:05Jason Moore:Soon would be very, very soon. A couple days.

15:09Mike Wright:you're saying you think he'll be back in a couple days? I do. I think he plays this week. That was News and Notes sponsored by Progressive Insurance. Quote today at Progressive.com, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and third-party insurers. Not available in all states or situations, coverage subject to policy terms, limits, and conditions. I was just thinking about how fun it would be to listen to the Falcon try to read the disclaimer at the end of an ad. Oh, bleh.

15:35Jason Moore:You know what I mean?

15:36Mike Wright:That would be so fun.

15:37Jason Moore:Do you want to give it a... I would love to. You want to give it a rip? You seem to show it out there. Yeah, you're kind of, you're employed. Let me just hear it.

15:44Mike Wright:All right, let's go. You can get through this perfectly. Oh, my God. Let's go. You got this. Progressive quality insurance. Yes! And third party insurers not available in all states or situations covered subject to policy

15:55Andy Holloway:terms, limits, and conditions. Okay.

15:57Mike Wright:You got out there. Yeah, you started real bad with different words, but the rest of it was pretty good.

16:04Jason Moore:Yeah, yeah. Good job. I am proud of you.

16:06Mike Wright:You didn't see that coming, did you? Reading is not for everyone. Reading's not for everyone. Okay, I don't know why I did that. Sorry, buddy. All right, we'll take a break. We'll come back with Thursday Night Football.

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17:29Jason Moore:If you're an NFL fan, ESPN is where you need to be this season. It's the biggest lineup they've ever put together. Monday Night Football, every week, every game on NFL Network. Now also available with an ESPN Unlimited plan. And for the first time ever, Super Bowl 61. Marquee matchups, MVP quarterbacks, international games, the whole season start to finish. Football's on ESPN.

18:01Mike Wright:falcon's a good sport oh he is yeah he's the best all right here we go thursday night breakdown

18:11Andy Holloway:thursday night breakdown

18:16Jason Moore:the affirmation i'd love to see the falcon break down this break down this entire game yeah in a solo well just him and jay gris okay well uh the minnesota

18:27Mike Wright:Vikings we just talked about them briefly with Aaron Jones they're three and three hanging in there with the quarterback situation uh heading to Los Angeles to take on the Chargers at SoFi the Chargers are four and three Vegas line Chargers minus three over under is 44 and a half you know this is um this is a really interesting game to me because I don't I feel like the chargers to a lesser degree but maybe maybe similarly to the broncos a little bit of jekyll and hyde going on there are games in which the chargers i know that you know there's a lot of things to blame there the offensive line the injuries to the running back core those would be the yeah significant reasons why they struggle but at times they look unstoppable even in the game they just lost they looked unstoppable on offense for parts of that once they got it going

19:16Jason Moore:yeah i mean when they had to put the pedal to the metal they can and i i think part of that is that's kind of the issue is like they try to be conservative you know they they want to play a conservative brand of football usually the hardball defense and and and running and it's not working and so when they got down by a bunch and we're like hey we're just gonna have to go high tempo push the ball down the field that's like that's what they do best yeah and i don't

19:42Mike Wright:i think i would probably disagree that that's what they that they want to do the slow thing i don't think I buy that narrative anymore coming off of the second half of last year and the first half of this year basically leading in neutral pass rate I think they do want to lean on Herbert they just can't successfully lean on Herbert when they allow so many pressures they they have allowed the most pressures um in this last game against Indianapolis which credit to their defense 35 times in that game Justin Herbert was pressured that is the most since 2019 in any single game i herbert is so capable of 404 any week yeah but you have 423 last week yeah you just don't know exactly what week it is going to be which is like why bo nix was irrelevant through three quarters and great for a quarter and that was a perfect microcosm of dimber they actually looked horrible for three quarters they just figured out how to turn it on in one game not the next game minnesota though that's what they do they they bring the pressure i could see this being an almost upset i could see this being for sure minnesota taking this one on the road um you know carson wince i would say was borderline awful last week against philadelphia and they were still in that game that's just the way minnesota plays and the way that their coach and the way their defense plays they're just in games that they shouldn't be and the way that their their defense lines up against the chargers it's man i i learned last week i just go with it Yeah, you just follow.

21:12Mike Wright:I'm supposed to just go with it, right? You just go with whatever you feel. But this feels early. It was early last week. I don't even have it in the board. My board drop isn't even there. I'll bet Jeremy. Jeremy, hit it. Hit it. Just hit that. Oh, that was fast.

21:28Andy Holloway:Andy's almost upset of the week.

21:31Mike Wright:Yeah, I'm just going to go with it. I'm going to go with it early. That's how it feels.

21:35Jason Moore:Yeah, with the spread, I did take the Vikings on this one. I think it's going to be a competitive game. the Vikings defense has been a question to me. The way that the Chargers offense and the Broncos offense has shown up where sometimes they look unbelievable, unstoppable, and sometimes they look incompetent, that's kind of how I feel about the Vikings defense. At the beginning of the year, I wanted to be like they are one of the top three defense. They just looked, you know.

22:03Mike Wright:I still feel that way. I do. But they've had a few games.

22:07Jason Moore:Yeah, they've had a few breakdowns where it's like, ah, they didn't show up. There were big plays last week. That was the problem. On a Thursday night short week on the road, that's where it's like, are they going to show up in a massive way in that setting?

22:22Mike Wright:Yeah, and Hassan Haskins right now did not practice on Thursday. It looks like Kamani Vidal Sassoon will have the backfield mostly to himself. He's already been called doubtful. That would be Haskins by Jim Harbaugh. So that hurts too. And Joe Ault, limited on Thursday with the ankle injury. If he plays, he's playing a little bit less than 100%.

22:43Jason Moore:Yeah, I think that is a massive deal for the Chargers for Justin Herbert. Both of these teams are kind of run funnel defenses, really good at stopping the pass and average against the run. So I think Vidal Sassoon is a fine start reminder because this is Thursday night football, and Vidal is pretty much like a borderline flex player. He's not a guy that you see as like you're running back one. if you are going to start and make sure you put him in the running back slot so that your flex is open for you know injuries through the week or or pivots with uh you know whatever it is

23:18Mike Wright:absolutely and then based on what you just said pass funnel situation um or sorry you said run run funnel yeah because of that the vikings ninth against the pass you have four players that are actually start set questions in the game with McConkie, Johnston, Keenan, and Gadsden. All four of those were 100 % startable last week. Mike wanted Keenan to show him something after this strong start and weak middle. He did. McConkie's been great. Johnston's just getting back into the swing of things, got back into the end zone. And then how do you not play Gadsden if you spent up on waivers today for seven and 164 and you have two straight weeks with the six first read

24:01Jason Moore:targets and the athleticism yeah it's like do you play all four guys even though the matchup isn't amazing so when you adjust for the schedule right now on the season the Vikings are the most difficult matchup for fantasy wide receivers so putting three wide receivers out there it's not going to work it's no it's not it's a roulette it it's going to be you know one guy's going to have a good game and two guys are going to have a bad game and you don't know who I can't sit here and tell you who to you know which one is going to have the good game if I had to take a stab at it I'm going to take the highest odds at a touchdown, and that would be Quinton Johnston.

24:33Jason Moore:So I would rank them in order of touchdowns, which would be, honestly, huge Keenan Allen lad. You could start any of the three, but I think it will be disappointing. When it comes to Gadsden, that is kind of the weakness of the Vikings' pass defense, adjusted for schedule, their 24th against tight end. So I think Gadsden, if you paid up and you got him, you've got to chase the last two games, I think.

24:58Mike Wright:He has played 75 % and 79 % of snaps over the last two weeks. So it will be interesting to see if he stays right around there on the other side.

25:06Jason Moore:Would you rather play Gadsden or Hawkinson? Same game. Gadsden by so much. Yeah, it's crazy. I think that is absolutely true.

25:16Mike Wright:Because I want a chance to be happy in a big way. You know. Not just like a, eh, okay.

25:22Jason Moore:Well, last week, Hawkinson, I mean, he had a touchdown that was called a touchdown and overturned and he was super upset about it because he felt like it was a catch even after the review and honestly I think it was slightly debatable but um had had he had that not been overruled you would have looked at last week and been like what a great game and you would have

25:40Mike Wright:fallen for a trap there I think because I mean you're looking at 15 12 49 39 38 and 43 yards he doesn't he's literally kind of the opposite of Gadsden right at this juncture of his career He's no longer – he's going to be a screen game guy. He's going to be a short area guy. Gadsden can give you one play to outpace the fantasy points of five Hawkinson plays.

26:04Jason Moore:Where would Jordan Addison rank among those Chargers wide receivers? Do you realize how good he has been? Jordan Addison right now, he's been back for three weeks. He's the wide receiver 14, the wide receiver 20, and the wide receiver 10 with 114 yards, 128 yards, and a game with 41 and a touchdown.

26:25Mike Wright:Undervalued. Also was in strong, strong consideration for second-half sleeper pick for me on this show when we do it in a few minutes. I didn't pick him because of the quarterback change that is coming for sure. Like Carson Wentz is definitely – McCarthy is, yeah. So – but the schedule, the schedule for Minnesota wide receivers, you remember why Mike traded for Jefferson? Shut up. up i hate that they're the best they're the best strength to schedule situation in the league if you have a wide receiver named jefferson or addison the rest of the year is the best for you than anybody else and yeah i've got van jefferson baby oh sorry not that one oh you said if i have a wide receiver that plays on the vikings i'm sorry i'm sorry dang addison is hiding in the shadows to have an amazing second half if mccarthy can get it together so consider that an honorable mentioned second half sleeper a player to go acquire yeah in terms of this game specifically i wish that i had a better like like a strong conviction about which wide receiver in los angeles to put in what order i don't have that i literally if you told me you like quentin first keenan second mconkey third i'm like i did tell you that is that exactly what

27:39Jason Moore:you said that is what i said that is what i told you a minute ago yeah i was i must not have been

27:43Mike Wright:listening um or you told me mcconkey's first yeah i or you told me that put him in a blender i mean it doesn't it doesn't matter so how does addison line up well he doesn't have two other guys to

27:55Jason Moore:fight with i was gonna say i feel like i three other guys if you include gads tonight i think i would take addison like if i'm gonna start one of those four i think addison is a safer bet i I think he really could be. Yeah. This is a fascinating game because these two good defenses, but you're on Thursday night football. You've got to make your decision early. And there's question marks everywhere. No one is like must start outside of Justin Jefferson. Even Mason, right? It should be good for Mason. If Aaron Jones actually comes back and plays this week, now you've got a split where you're concerned.

28:32Jason Moore:Were you starting Jordan Mason week one, week two, when Aaron Jones was there. I mean, he was a questionable start.

28:40Mike Wright:But Aaron Jones, according to Kevin O 'Connell, he expressed optimism earlier Tuesday that Jones would be able to play. I mean, that is probably – I think I would play Mason. I think I'd be comfortable doing it. What about Jones? No. You would not play Aaron Jones? No, I would wait a week because I just don't know what the workload's going to be, me personally. Yeah, that's fine. But the Chargers, like you said, the run funnel, That's the one area that they've been more vulnerable to giving up fantasy points.

29:07Jason Moore:I would call Aaron Jones a start-a-bull player if he goes. There are so many teams right now that are –

29:15Mike Wright:Al, it would be his number one player.

29:17Jason Moore:Al would – I mean, that would be his best player on his roster. Yes, but other teams probably not. Right. Well, because he had Justin Jefferson. He's like, I don't want good players.

29:25Mike Wright:Oh, yeah, he would have been. Jefferson was his best player.

29:26Jason Moore:Jefferson was his best player, but then he gave him to Mike.

29:28Mike Wright:for Garrett Wilson. Oh, he's holding up the... Oh, he even moved the camera already. He's holding up his trophy. Is that trophy for bad teams? It was a great team last year. No, it was. I paid the price this year. You did. All right. We good? Anything else in that game, Jason? Al? No. Jay Grizz? No? Okay. Moving on.

29:53Mike Wright:Second half sleepers.

29:59All right, I want to give an opening statement before we get into these names.

30:06Mike Wright:All right? Second half sleepers. We have a lot of data on this season. If you've been on the website and the premium tools, you get the strength of schedule, the stream finder. You can see all that data in which teams are playing well against different positions. We reference it all the time. I wanted to make a conscious effort on this show today to not take a layup. or I want you to feel gross about it and uncomfortable. Yeah. Otherwise, this show is meaningless to you. If it's a player that you love that you know.

30:37Jason Moore:I think Saquon Barkley is going to be better the second half of this year.

30:40Mike Wright:Actually, that's a perfect example of somebody that could have been thrown out there.

30:43Jason Moore:Me too. Derrick Henry, yeah.

30:45Mike Wright:Yeah, but what I want is I want the names, when we say them, you might recoil a little bit, and that's okay. Yeah. That's okay because that's what makes them an actual sleeper that could be easily acquirable in your league. And we'll share Mike's as well.

31:03Jason Moore:Yeah, let's start with Mike's, which really should be Jay Grizz's, right? Yeah, let's see what he thinks. Oh, he's a big fan. He's a big fan of Colston Loveland. Of the Bears.

31:14Mike Wright:Yeah, Colston Loveland is Mike's second half sleeper. It is not an overstatement to say he's been 100 % unusable so far in fantasy in his career.

31:24Jason Moore:Has he scored four points in a game yet? He has not. Okay. So, yeah, that is an irrelevant player who is on the vast majority of waivers right now. Fast asleep. Fast asleep. He's pretty much in a coma. I am not a huge fan. I was not a huge fan of his. I mean, would you just dump on his pick the whole time? Oh, yeah. I didn't love his tape. We talked about Loveland quite a bit on the Dynasty podcast that came out today, and we had some disagreements there because Matthew Betts was that was like his guy in the offseason going into the draft obviously the NFL agreed everyone was trying it was reported that people were trying to trade up for him so this is someone that the NFL thinks is a great player drafted with that capital on an offense that should be ascending and and part of the reason Mike picked this pick is because they have the second easiest rest of season schedule for the tight end position.

32:18Jason Moore:Tight end is one of those positions that is schematically relevant for starts and sits. So you have a highly drafted rookie. You would expect to be better in the second half of the year than the first half who was injured. So you expected him to get off to a slower start. If he gets incorporated in more and more as the season goes along, he's certainly a good sleeper option um i don't believe in him but mike does and the bears do yeah where do you stand on loveland do you think he's gonna do you think he's gonna like uh really be a uh an impactful

32:54Mike Wright:fantasy player i will say this um a ronde gadsen was not relevant two weeks ago right non-existent rookie athletic tight end yeah draft capital for loveland through the roof targets have gone up snap counts have gone up cole komet has banged up schedule is good kind of the definition of a sleeper to me i i think loveland that's not what i asked you though i mean i i laid that out

33:17Jason Moore:what do you believe do you believe colson loveland this season will become no okay but i don't think

33:24Mike Wright:that's a great question for this segment interesting i feel like it's the most important question we could actually try to answer okay well i mean okay let me explain myself all right i don't think that this second half sleeper is not like a a probability argument okay so when you ask me a question about like loveland i don't think the probability is that loveland is going to be that the possibility is there and mike obviously believes that that's a high likelihood like our individual picks we might have a a high probability attached to it i hope so yeah um but okay so i see that i see the path but i don't believe it will happen okay you said something that i thought

34:05Jason Moore:was so stupid okay and then you really redeemed it oh that was that was a that was a good a good yeah i'm proud of you follow up i'm proud of you all right so my feel so validated yeah after being called stupid um my second half sleeper is a guy who has been vomitously bad and this is great that Mike is not here.

34:26Mike Wright:Breaking news. I'm not stupid. What? That's not the breaking news. That would be really breaking news. Jayden Daniels officially ruled out.

34:35Jason Moore:Okay. So there you go. The line makes sense. Mariota will start. Yeah, Mike being gone, this is great because I know it's been tough sledding for him. One week since you. This was my guy for him. Chase Brown has been one of the worst picks so far in fantasy football. You know, a high draft capital in your fantasy draft and irrelevant. You know, week one was, you know, he got to 10 fantasy points. But until this past week, he hasn't done it again the entire season. I think most people benched him even for this last week and he's been an irrelevant player. He's looked bad. You know, it's not like he on the season, okay, Burrow went down and he's doing everything he can.

35:22Jason Moore:The truth is he was not doing anything good. He wasn't breaking tackles. He wasn't looking efficient. He wasn't overcoming the obstacles in front of him. But I think Joe Flacco really has made a difference for the Bengals, for Chase Brown. We saw it this last week. breaking news that's strike two man that's right two one more the chance to hit you twice with breaking news was no irresistible i just saw the breaking news man darren waller has been placed on ir come on man i need you to keep talking about what you're talking about i trade a fourth round

36:04Mike Wright:pick to you for a guy who never scored for your one game he went in my lineup to goose me so can i

36:12Jason Moore:And I lost by 0.33 fantasy points, and then he goes on IR?

36:16Mike Wright:Al, let me tell you about this trade, guys. So Jason had kind of wanted Darren Waller, and he's not doing anything on Sunday two weeks ago. Just nothing. Disappearing. So I sent him a trade offer for this fourth, or a fifth, or something like that. I don't remember. A third. I guess it was a third.

36:36Jason Moore:You were asking for a third, and I was countering with a fifth.

36:38Mike Wright:Yeah, and nothing's happened. and the game is like two minutes left in the game and he catches a garbage time touchdown darren waller and i fire over that trade and under a second i'm like meet in the middle i'm like let's go let's go and he tries to squeeze me for a little fab and then i and then he you technically sent the offer because i i had rejected it but anyway so so yeah you you fought for him and then this is bad luck i mean it's just unfortunate and i i assume this is four game IR and then we'll see do you have any news on that um oh they signed Greg Dolcich off their practice squad irrelevant um sorry you you got to keep talking about Chase Brown who grossed people out all first half of the year because I want to see if one more piece of news

37:24Jason Moore:comes in okay so if you watch Chase Brown the very first game of the season he was okay um you know then Burrow goes down yeah I was waiting I was waiting for it breaking news

37:38Mike Wright:No, is it real? You have more? Get out of here. Bucky Irving and Chris Godwin will not be back for Sunday's game. Both officially not playing. So you're Tess Johnson and your Emeka Abuka. That's ridiculous. I'm not talking. You can't possibly feel like you can make an argument of any kind right now. No, I'm done.

37:57Jason Moore:I'm out of here. But you like Chase Brown, huh? Maybe. We'll never know.

38:02Mike Wright:Oh, the hat trick on breaking news never before seen. I don't even know where to jump back in.

38:09Jason Moore:I'm going to talk about Chase Brown here. What happened is he came in and he looked okay. Then Joe Burrow goes down and he's not good. Joe Flacco comes in for two weeks and in two weeks he was a very efficient running. Okay. So they can't, you know, it's like. 50s in schedule, yeah. There was absolutely no threat of an offense with Jake Browning. You know, so Chase Brown couldn't do anything. You've had two weeks with Joe Flacco. In those weeks, you had 4.7 a carry, and then last week was monstrous, 9.8 a carry. You had the 37-yard run, had over 100 rushing yards. You know that the checkdowns can come from Joe Flacco as well.

38:47Jason Moore:So you combine that with how bad he's been and how good the schedule is coming up. They have the fifth easiest schedule for running backs the rest of the season, and that's juicy. You get into the playoffs with Baltimore and Miami in your first two weeks. I think he's going to turn it around. He's still got the eighth most targets at the running back position. He's had two-plus receptions in all seven games. Very few other running backs have done that. And so, you know, he is a target for me. Like, I would try to go acquire him because I think the Chase Brown managers are going, this is a mirage.

39:26Jason Moore:I've had to deal with him. Thank goodness he had a good game. I can get something for him. I'm on the other side where I'm starting to believe this is now we can see what he can do because the opportunity is still his. He's not sharing the workload.

39:42Mike Wright:Nobody else is coming up. So this one will give you a negative reaction.

39:49Andy Holloway:Breaking news.

39:50Mike Wright:I can hit the button too.

39:52Jason Moore:That was the breaking news. Sorry.

39:55Mike Wright:You know, we are running a podcast here, Jason. We're trying. I had breaking news each of those times. Real important breaking news. You talk. I'm going to Twitter. This is not a clown show. Oh, you're going to search for it? I'm just going.

40:06Jason Moore:I'm not listening to a word you say. Second half sleeper pick for me is actually Jordan Love.

40:16Mike Wright:And, you know, this is not. He's had one good game, fantasy-wise. One good game.

40:21Jason Moore:You did start this segment by saying it should feel gross. You should recall. You and I are in disagreement on Jordan Love. I know we're going to talk about him more tomorrow, and I was surprised about that.

40:36Mike Wright:Jordan Love is, yeah, well, I mean, that's our job. We've got to find the players that we think are going to emerge that are not necessarily who everybody agrees on. Jordan Love is not playing bad football. You and I might disagree on that. Jordan Love, from a passer rating and effectiveness standpoint, is not playing bad football. What has happened is he is not producing for fantasy. Those things are not – there's a lot of times that they're not correlated. He had a quarterback four finish against Dallas, bad defense. Okay, we're done. He's lost Jaden Reed, the most kind of firmly established, highly talented wide receiver that he had.

41:09Mike Wright:He has no Jordan Reed. He has no Christian Watson. They're not working Matthew Golden into the target share of this offense very much. I mean, the pass attempts. We just went through 55 pass attempts with Justin Herbert. The last two weeks for Jordan Love, it's 26 and 29. He has a top 10 schedule for quarterbacks over the back half of the year. He's going to get Christian Watson back. Eventually, he's going to get Jaden Reed back into this offense. And again, this is not a you must start him every week. This is a second half sleeper. Who's somebody that you could end up winning your league with?

41:44Mike Wright:you're going to play the 28th ranked passing defense in football the chicago bears two times going into your fantasy playoffs and then you're going to play baltimore in championship week you're going to play the giants you're going to play pittsburgh at 30 you know in week eight it's pittsburgh this week he's going to get more and more weapons there and he's not incapable of having those type of big games in fact i

42:09Andy Holloway:breaking news

42:10Jason Moore:the Giants have designated kicker Graham Cano to return from injured reserve he will practice today with the intention of kicking Sunday against the Eagles in Philadelphia I found some I found some news kicker news

42:28Mike Wright:you found kicker news

42:29Jason Moore:I do what it takes I dig deep

42:32Mike Wright:so obviously you didn't have any real argument against Jordan Love which is nice

42:36Jason Moore:um so i mean the the issue i have with jordan love you know you talked about you you lose jaden reed i don't know that he's coming back this season uh that's the plan uh i mean i mean like

42:50Mike Wright:soon uh yes i mean i think i think week 10 right i mean i think that was the original estimate so um he's eligible to be activated from injured reserve in following week eight that is too aggressive of a timeline six to eight weeks was the recovery timeline i'm saying over the second half of the year there he's going to get weapons back on a per play basis matthew golden has actually been really good i know nobody agrees with that on a per game basis jordan love's been very good fifth in yards per attempt seventh in completion percentage a career high seventh in passer rating here's my great quarterback this is the same as justin herbert that's what it is

43:29Jason Moore:My issue is entirely that what we saw, did Jordan Love play bad football last year? No, no, he was very good. He was very, very good. And the second half of last season, he played very good football. And he was terrible for fantasy. Josh Jacobs was the touchdown machine. They figured out how good Josh Jacobs was. And down the stretch, they just said, hey, you're our best chance to score touchdowns. And it's carried over to this season. So my issue is really that I don't know that they're going to change the recipe that is working. He can play good and not be good for fantasy. And I get what you're saying.

44:09Jason Moore:It's a sleeper. You're trying to find someone that we're not necessarily expecting, someone that has been asleep who has the ability to overcome that. And he very well could. I think that they're going to keep relying on Josh Jacobs around the goal line. And if that happens with, they don't have a wide receiver here. Like they don't have a Devontae Adams anymore. They don't have a guy that's just going to demand the ball around the goal line. Golden isn't it, at least not rookie or golden.

44:36Mike Wright:Christian Watson has always been that. He has been a high touchdown guy. My point is that they will have the capability soon to do it. I agree with you. I don't think they have that capability right now. But I think that that will come. And I think you look at the final five games of the season, and you could be optimistic that that, you know, we've seen people win championships with Joe Flacco. We've seen people win championships with low-ranked quarterbacks. You know, you're playing roulette with Herbert when you start him right now. There's a lot of quarterbacks in that tier, and I think Jordan Love is my second-half sleeper.

45:08Mike Wright:And I will say that I think – I do think Golden, if given more opportunities in the offense, will have success for fantasy.

45:15Jason Moore:He's been good on a per-target basis. He's just not getting the targets. Yeah. We'll see if – I mean, obviously –

45:23Mike Wright:Zach Cruz had put out there that he is 60.9 % success rate, 78 % catch rate, averaging 10.8 yards per target, which is number one among all rookie wide receivers in all three of those. So those are all the best numbers. He's not getting a Buka target share. He's getting a very minimal amount of involvement because they don't need to because you can run it with Josh Jacobs.

45:43Jason Moore:It's Josh Jacobs' team right now. I want to throw out – this is a bonus second-half sleeper. J.J. McCarthy, the same schedule that we're talking about for Justin Jefferson being great for the pass catchers, I think second half, he is a great sleeper candidate. If I had to personally put a dollar on who scores more fantasy points from week 10 to 17, I think I would take McCarthy over Love, personally.

46:10Mike Wright:You got to put more than a dollar on that, brother. As much as you want. As much as I want. As much as you want.

46:17Jason Moore:All right. Well, let's do it.

46:18Mike Wright:Let's do a unit. okay all right all right uh Joe Flacco is much more that in that category for me Joe Flacco and T Higgins are two other names I want to mention for the second half they're connected Cincinnati's schedule for quarterbacks third best in the league fourth easiest for wide receivers still no defense Flacco has been amazing in both of his games fantasy wise 25 and 35 points do you know what this feel a lot more comfortable with Flacco than McCarthy yeah Flacco with this

46:46Jason Moore:team bad defense great weapons do you want to know who it reminds me of reminds me of joe flacco yeah two years ago at the end of the year when he won people championships

46:56Mike Wright:with the browns with the browns he also did similar stuff with the jets for a brief amount

47:01Jason Moore:of time so now i will say both were brief amount of time it wears off it does seem to wear off

47:09Mike Wright:um but there you go you mentioned in jj mccarthy that would uh it's terrifying to me because he's not looked good but for a quarter of football on the year. But, yeah, the schedule, you're right. The weapons, he didn't have Addison yet. Yeah, the system. Those are there. So we'll take a break and hit some mailbag. I wonder who will do the drop.

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49:15Jason Moore:Who do you feel like is the most deserving of the opportunity to do the mailbag drop back there? I think because Falcon did such a good job on the progressive disclaimers that he gets the opportunity again. I think he's earned it, man. I think he's earned it. All right. Well, there's only one way to get there. There you go. Mailbag. Mailbag. No editing.

49:42Andy Holloway:Presented by NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV.

49:46Jason Moore:Yes. No editing. Oh, he came in hot.

49:49Mike Wright:I want to say that felt like a horse kicking me in the face. I want to apologize to our audience.

49:55Jason Moore:That's not singing. That was not singing. That was not. That was not singing. I don't think it'll be as bad for everyone. Hopefully you're not in AirPod mode right now, listeners.

50:04Mike Wright:That was so loud, I think you could smell his breath. Yeah. Wow. You're having a day, Falcon. Man, you are crushing it today. Honestly, if I were you, I would hit the bathroom. Yeah, I got a trophy for you. I guess we could have gone Jay Grizz. Whoops, my bad. All right, into the mailbag we go. If you have a question for us, head to the website, thefantasyfootballers.com. You can click that Submit a Question button. You can also dial our voicemail hotline, 302-464-TFFB, and leave us a voicemail question. First question comes in from Patrick in Pittsburgh. Been struggling to find a third wide receiver.

50:41Mike Wright:Am I crazy in thinking I may be able to start Tez Johnson alongside this guy for the rest of the season? I mean, that's a tough one to break down. I think Tez is a very good start in the short term because it's a math problem, right? It's if Baker equal production, then Tez equal production.

51:09Jason Moore:If Baker's throwing for 350 yards in the majority of his games, obviously that's good. I would agree with you. It's more short term. him Chris Godwin is going to come back and when he comes back it will it will be a a hit to Tez I don't look at Tez Johnson as an auto start rest of season I certainly want to roster him went after him on waivers he was there he's exciting it's fun there's a chance that it could happen but no I I don't I don't anticipate that he's just going to be a weekly starter going

51:43Mike Wright:forward all right uh this is an ominous title for a question that says quit fantasy football forever at taylor given writes in i have lost austin eckler mike evans omarion hampton james connor

51:56Jason Moore:aaron jones to injury this year okay you're starting with austin eckler really in my main league why should i not quit fantasy forever because the emotional downside that you are feeling right now which you're not aware of or familiar with no i i've never experienced a player or maybe neutral um that's actually why you play it's it's frustrating when it's injuries it's it's really really frustrating it's sad and it's it's not your fault it's just bad luck but the fact that you are probably pulling a little bit of your hair out it might sound like something you don't want to do but that is why you enjoy it the emotional roller coaster of something to care about in life you know it's like you can't have highs without lows okay all right this is getting existential but go on you can't if it's all good all the time it's not good if that makes sense most everything in life is actually that way you just don't believe it yeah

52:58Mike Wright:it's uh we've said it before it's you know the lows are lows the highs are high and it's fun and And a lot of why we built this show is around the, we have a league that's almost at 20 years. There's no money in it. You're playing for the emotional and the connection with your friends and for the - The false sense of superiority. That's the right phrase. The false sense of superiority. For you guys. But another reason to not quit is, I mean, we sell a draft kit and we need somebody right yeah to play this game yeah ultimate draft kit

53:37Jason Moore:dot com in the off season in the off uh folkland dot com right now in season tools resources waiver wire pickup tools um all sorts of great things that you can purchase from us so i would say don't quit right yeah for they are great for your own they are great tools though So, folkland.com. Go check them out.

53:58Mike Wright:I would say that it would be really interesting if AI could analyze, like, our Slack company channel over 10 years. I don't think we'd want it. And try to figure out, like, track the sentiment on your joy versus pain over a 10-year period.

54:13Jason Moore:I think that you – Oh, boy. Kyle says, I got you. I'll figure it out. Yeah, he will, too. If you're going to quit fantasy football, do it after a win. You know what I mean? If you quit now. What, John Elway style? Two Super Bowl titles and walk away? Exactly. There's highs and there's lows. If you leave now, you're leaving. I'm out of here to leave. Yeah, you're a loser.

54:35Mike Wright:Oh, okay.

54:36Jason Moore:You don't want to, you know, if you're going to leave.

54:39Mike Wright:So far your reasons to not quit are you're a loser and buy stuff from us. Those are great reasons, Andy. They're two good reasons. Yeah. That's good. Underperforming rookie running back question from at Mike Fresh. which underperforming rookie running back has the best chance to break out now and the fantasy playoffs. I don't think I said it out loud, but I was definitely thinking it on the Monday reaction show. I definitely like RJ Harvey more than Travion Henderson in that category. I think Basial Tootin is still, I still think he's there because.

55:15Jason Moore:Etienne's been very inefficient.

55:17Mike Wright:Etienne's been inefficient and he's kind of fallen in and out of favor historically. So, like, you know, what happens if the best question is, is what what happens if one of these guys has a big game? OK, R.J. Harvey, Travion Henderson, Baisal Tootin, Caleb Johnson. If one of those guys has a big play like the big one Caleb didn't have on Saturday, if one of those guys have a big game, what are the implications for the team? If you look at R.J. Harvey and he has a big game, I can see a logical and rational way that they give him more work because Jacob Dobbins is a veteran. you get more explosiveness and pass game work.

55:52Mike Wright:I can see RJ Harvey's workload increasing. If Travion has a big game, I'm not sure anything changes.

55:56Jason Moore:Well, and another way to look at this is actually as silly as it is and unpredictable as it is, injury is the most likely method to one of these guys having a championship winning end of season. The starter ahead of them goes down. So take a look at each one and say, well, if the starter ahead of him goes down, which one would have that breakout? If J.K. Dobbins went down, it's R.J. Harvey alone. It's his team, and it's a good offense. So that's great. Chalk that up to awesome. If Ramondre Stevenson goes down, they're going to find someone off the street to put in over Travion Henderson right now.

56:39Jason Moore:That's how it feels. I don't think they would just give him the everything. They will split reps with Travion Henderson. I do think that if Travis Etienne went down, Bayshel Tootin would get everything, but it's not as good an offense as the Broncos. He's not as good a player as R.J. Harvey. And should Jalen Warren go down, I would be really, really excited to see what Caleb Johnson could do, but Arthur will 100 % use Kenneth Gainwell there. 100%. So to me, the answer is clearly R.J. Harvey because he has both the opportunity to gain more work on his own and if an injury happens in all these situations, he would be the dominant.

57:17Mike Wright:And I actually rank Tootin second there.

57:20Jason Moore:I don't blame you there.

57:22Mike Wright:All right, Twitter question from at PD Packer fan. What is the best waiver pickup you have ever had in your fantasy careers? Mine was Devon H.N. at 5 a.m. in the morning. The Dolphins dropped 70 points on the Broncos a few years ago in my keeper league, so I guess you don't have a waiver timer that goes through at one time. You're just first come, first serve. I do remember those days. And I lapped them up.

57:51Jason Moore:Yeah. There was one that I remember that was brutal, brutal, because it was genuinely something that you saw with your eyeballs in preseason and went, oh, okay, I'm going to call my shot. and then the shot was right but I went to pick this player up at the same moment that you did we both we weren't together we were at different places you were at your house I was at my house both watching the same game both watching the same game we both saw exactly what we believed we both went to pick him up you got him minutes before me I was so upset and then I believe you

58:32Mike Wright:went and won a championship that year with him I think so and that would be Kurt Warner yeah I That was a good one. I remember getting Marshawn Lynch when the rumors around the Raiders were about to happen, and I got him on the team like a day before that happened. I remember I'm fairly certain that in our Dynasty League, I got Tyreek Hill off the waiver wire. Yeah.

58:51Jason Moore:Oh, Tyreek was a Dynasty waiver wire in tons of Dynasty Leagues. I just posted mine in Slack, but Pukenikua,$3 in Dynasty. Dynasty. That's my greatest pickup. Oh, my gosh. That is incredible. when you talk about all timers like you know what what's what's puka right now is is he getting to the fifth pick in a startup dynasty draft probably not no and you got him for three dollars on

59:14Mike Wright:dynasty i just thought of another one too a few weeks ago i picked up uh darren waller i was able

59:18Jason Moore:to turn him into a fourth round pick i don't like you um my favorite pickup the one that comes to my mind was i believe it was tim hightower oh yeah this was oh yeah yeah you've always remembered I remember that one because I was so adamant. So this was right before the fantasy playoffs. I don't remember the exact running back core, but the starter got injured and everyone thought the waiver pickup was not Tim Hightower, someone else. And I was so absolutely adamant. I was telling everybody that everybody's wrong. It is Tim Hightower. He is the guy you want. And you got him. And then I picked him up and then I won a championship with him because he was great.

59:58Jason Moore:That was my favorite one of all time.

1:00:00Mike Wright:Yep. Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. that was today's mailbag watch every game every sunday with nfl sunday ticket and youtube tv visit youtube.com slash fantasy footballers tempted to hand this over to falcon here but uh local and national games on youtube tv nfl sunday ticket for out-of-market games base plan required excludes digital only games commercial use excluded no refunds uh no refunds is also our policy oh yeah on this show it's more like if you hear the podcast we can't make you unhear it like it's done I apologize. The damage is done. We'll catch you tomorrow. Starts of the week.

1:00:35Mike Wright:Goodbye.

1:00:39Andy Holloway:Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers.

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