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Which 4-4 team is the best?

Matt Harmon and Dalton Del Don rank the Pats, Broncos, Panthers, Browns, and Chiefs heading into Week 9.

Hear the full conversation on the Yahoo Fantasy Football Forecast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

MATT HARMON: These teams that are 4-4 right now. And I sorted them by point differential, all these 4-4 teams. I wanted to know who you think is the best of this group. You got the Patriots, the Broncos, the Panthers, the Browns, and the Chiefs. The Chiefs, by the way, are the only one of these teams with the negative point differential, at minus 20. The Patriots are clearly the best, the Broncos are second but like, come on. I think we all know what's going on with the Broncos. They're inflated from their first three weeks of the season against bad teams, Jets, Giants, et cetera.

They sell Von Miller at the trade deadline. It was a pretty good deal for them, I understand why they did it. But they could be looking towards the future there in Denver. I don't really think they're in this conversation. So between the Patriots, Panthers, Browns, and Chiefs, who do you think is the best team from this bunch?

DALTON DEL DON: Yeah, I agree to the Broncos. They've suffered numerous injuries on defense. And trading away Von Miller is a sign of, I ain't giving Trudy back. It's a boring answer, but I will go with the Patriots, they seem to get better as the season progresses under Belichick. And Mac Jones is really looked very solid unlike the rest of the rookies. Yeah, they have a solid defense, and Damien Hirst guy, good offensive line, well-coached.

Patriots, it's very annoying to say. But to me, they're like the clear stand. I would have said Cleveland a couple of weeks ago, but I think there's real issues in Kansas City. So I would pretty confidently say that say the Patriots here. I don't know, that's it's boring saying it with a bigger point differential and they have beat up on some easier opponents and faced some rookie QBs this year. But I don't know, man, they've just passed the eye test recently. They played the Cowboys tough as well too. So yeah, give me the Pats.

MATT HARMON: I think so too. And they still have some guys who are pretty useful in fantasy. Like at some point, Jakobi Meyers is going. Jakobi Meyers has at least graduated from not getting in the end zone to scoring two-point conversions. At some point, maybe he'll actually get a touchdown, you never know.

But yeah, I still think like Meyers is still like a fine wide receiver. Three in PPR leagues, especially. Damien Harris is what he is at running back, but he could have had a much bigger day against the Chargers if he didn't get a couple of plays called backs. Like they have interesting guys in fantasy. And I agree like, I think they might be like a top three, four team in the AFC right now. The AFC is just such like a cluster after the Bills and the Ravens. I think you could throw anyone in a hat and discuss them as the third team in the AFC.

And then, with Kansas City and Cleveland, I think they were contenders coming into this year and I wouldn't be surprised if either of them sneak into the playoffs, especially Kansas City. Like at any point Kansas City can get hot with Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill. Eventually they're going to run out of time talking like that, but same point still stands. Those two teams could sneak into the playoffs, but I don't think they are the same teams that we imagine they would be coming into the year. I think they're pretty big structural issues.

For Carolina, I don't even know what to say with them. I don't even know how to feel about the Panthers, man.

DALTON DEL DON: I mean, Sam Darnold took a massive hit last week too. Maybe PJ Walker, a week of practice. I believe coached Rhule was his coach in college too. I know the quarterback situation is a problem. Sam Darnold looked like freed from Adam Gase, he's going to be much better and he's just looked pretty much awful for the last month. So I thought PFF graded on the highest QB last week. So what do I know? But he definitely was concussed.

They're a very weird team, for sure. Their defense came to play last week though, I will say that. But yeah, they're a weird one. Patriots are getting respect as 3 and 1/2, four-Point road favorites over a pretty solid Carolina team.

MATT HARMON: It's just like, Yeah, they might be starting PJ Walker. And like PJ Walker has not looked good whenever he's come in the games this year. But yeah, we could practice maybe we'll see. It's just weird that they're way worse offense, especially for fantasy. But just as a whole, they're way worse offense this year than they were last year. I mean, they lost Curtis Samuel, Robby Anderson is just playing like crap. It's just like there's no way around. He's just not playing well. When he gets opportunities, he's not converting on them. And then this last week he doesn't get opportunities.

They got Terrace Marshall coming back at least, maybe there's a second half leap for Terrace Marshall. But that's probably the only silver lining for this team, because I still think the McCaffrey thing, we're kind of in the wilderness with McCaffrey in terms of his usage.

DALTON DEL DON: These things can both be true. That running backs are the most easily replaceable position and almost always not worth like high draft capital. And Christian McCaffrey can be one of the most important offensive players in football also. I mean, him being on or off the field, just a big difference for that offense. The dynamic he brings is a receiver. I mean, he's very important. One of the few running backs that really do matter.