Fantasy Football Live
Yahoo Sports' Fantasy Football Live crew covers the breaking news, important injuries and helps managers set their lineups for Week 3 of the 2023 NFL season
Video Transcript
JASON FITZ: I don't know if we're the three amigos or the three best friends that anybody could have, but it's week three and three seems to be the feel and the vibe for "Fantasy Football Live". We are here and ready to get you ready for kickoff. I'm Jason Fitz, hanging out with Andy Behrens, Matt Harmon. You know the drill by now. We are going to take you all the way up to kickoff for Thursday Night Football. We're going to get your roster set for tonight, but also, we're going to make sure that you're caught up on everything you need to know for the entire weekend.
If you have questions for us, hit us with hashtag #AskFFL. So I'm just going to just start us right out of the gates here and just, Andy, if I go hashtag #AskFFL, the hell am I doing? Like two straight weeks, we've gone into this contest that we have internally. We'll do it later. We got a snake draft where we're picking our prime time players, two straight weeks, I haven't just gotten kicked, I've got my ass whooped. I mean, like, what am I-- am I supposed to text you guys for advice now on how to compete against you guys?
ANDY BEHRENS: Well, you know, your problem-- your problem last week is that the people loved your draft. Like, they really loved your draft. We blasted out the tweet with the picture of the rosters, and I don't know it was 97, 98% Fitz. I don't know. In my experience, anyway, when people love one of my drafts, I can just write off that team. That team is done. That team is dead. That was the signal.
JASON FITZ: I felt like the people's champion, Harmon. I don't know. I was the people's champion and now I'm just reminded that the people's champion can never beat this show's Ron Swanson, which you are. I mean, the beard, the-- I mean, this show's real man and coming in strong. You kicked my ass again.
MATT HARMON: Well, number one, thank you. I've never felt better about anything in my entire life. number two, yeah, dude, I even said on the show, I was like, I don't know, Fitz is-- Fitz's lineup looks great-- AJ Brown, Chris Olave, Tyreek Hill coming off a 200 yard game. I was even like you kind of intimidated. And then, you know, by the end of the game, we got AJ Brown, like, hey, Jalen Hurts, don't forget to throw to me. Don't forget to throw to me. Meanwhile, I'm like, no, no, no, keep forgetting about everybody on Fitz's team. So this is great. Things are going well on the show so far.
The number of times that I sat there and yelled at my TV for plays that were completely inconsequential to the game, but I knew we were going to be my downfall, it's just it's not healthy. What I do know is that you want to watch our snake draft, and then just go against me on everything. We're going to get to that.
All right, it's time to take a look at our Fantasy Game Changers this week, powered by Ram Trucks. You know the drill at this point. We come up with some great words to describe Ram Trucks, and we give you players that remind us of those descriptors. We will start with Andy. Who do you think will be a capable option in week three?
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, capability is the word that I'm associating with Jerome Ford, the second-year back who's now taking over for Nick Chubb in Cleveland. Some will say that I'm sort of wish casting here because I blew all my fab on him in multiple leagues, but I assure you, that is not simply the case. This is a good back who ran for over 100 yards after Chubb's exit on Monday, had 69 on one play, caught a touchdown immediately after the injury. He was a great back at the collegiate level, gained over 1,500 yards, scored 20 touchdowns for that 13-win Cincinnati team a couple of years ago.
Kevin Stefanski has made it pretty clear this week that Ford is the lead back moving forward with Kareem Hunt now in a supporting role. They had the opportunity to keep Kareem Hunt in the fold in the offseason. They chose Ford. So I think that's a pretty strong endorsement. Would I like to see a match-up this week a little bit easier than Tennessee? Sure, but I think we can be confident at least in the workload.
JASON FITZ: I like that a lot. OK, Matt, your word-- powerful. I feel like f is like one of those you game shows. Powerful, what do you got for us?
MATT HARMON: Man, when I think powerful, I think Nico Collins, man. This guy-- I've been talking about Nico Collins like trying to make Nico Collins happen, basically, since like midway through his rookie year. The in-season Reception Perception report was really kind to him that rookie year. I've been a big fan of his talent, but it is all coming together here in year three for the Texans wide receiver. He's fourth in the NFL in air yards. CJ Stroud is pushing it to him downfield. He's crushing it on these, like, crucial X receiver routes in this Shanahan-style offense that Bobby Slowik has brought down to Houston.
We get caught up in like the gadgegy and the after catch and the spacey stuff with this offense, but it really functions best, Fitz, when it has a true number one, alpha type X-receiver beating press man coverage on the outside. That's what Nico Collins is doing right now and I bring powerful up here because he's playing bully ball after the catch too. I can't express enough how impressed I am with how this guy is playing right now.
JASON FITZ: I'm just shooketh by this level of passion for Nico Collins. I love every ounce of it. All right, so let's go next to trustworthy. Andy, the word is trustworthy.
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, trustworthy feels like the right word for Kirk Cousins. You trust a guy like Kirk to like watch your dog while you're out of town, right? To help with a move, something like that. He is trustworthy. He is also passed for a league-high six touchdowns and over 700 yards in his first two games. He's the guy throwing to Justin Jefferson. He's the guy throwing a Jordan Addison. He's in a fantastic situation.
He's also, this week, facing a Chargers defense in a battle of teams that sort of desperately need wins, and the Chargers have allowed a league worst, 333 passing yards per game, over 10 yards per pass attempt this season. So I think there's another big one coming for Kirk. I thin we're looking at about 320, couple of touchdowns here.
By By the way, shameless plug for Zero Blitz, one of our shows on Yahoo Sports. You can check out-- Mike Lombardi was with me today, and he said, if the Chargers lose this game, hot seat goes into full effect. They'd be looking for a new coach. So you know, I'm with you on this one. All right, no matter what you're looking for in a light-duty truck the 2023 RAM 1500 has you covered. Score yours at RAM.com.
Now, gentlemen, we're going to get-- we're going to help some people at this point. We're going to help people with their lineups, as we promised. Remember, #AskFFL. You can also chime in in the app. You can chime in all over the place. We'll help you with some of your tough flex decisions with multiple players for users submitted through social media. Let's go, first, to Drea. Drea wants in on the fun, and Drea says, Pickens, Flowers Williams, Robinson, Conner. Need to pick RB2 and flex in a PPR league. #AskFFL. All right, Andy, what do you got for us on this one?
ANDY BEHRENS: Man, this is a good list of names. This is a tough question. I'm going to-- boy, it is close at running back because Brian Robinson has played really well, and he's really taken over that job. But I'm actually going to go Javonte Williams here. I think he's looked great, especially relative to expectations coming off that injury. He's got a fantastic match-up against Miami. They give up almost 5 yards per carry on the ground.
And then at receiver, it's so close I really like both these guys. I bet I have them back to back in the ranks. I'm going to go Zay Flowers. He just-- again, I know I've said it before, but he just looks like a star to me. I think I was-- like, I felt like I was pretty bullish on him coming into the season, and I'm going to end up wrong because he's way better. He gets Indianapolis this week, and they're giving up almost 300 yards passing per game.
JASON FITZ: All right, let's pull up another question here, and this one comes from DMANFF-- DeManff? We'll go with that. Pick 2 to start. Half-point PPR. Cook, White, Miller, Christian Watson, assuming he plays. That's a big assumption. So Matt, what do you got on that one?
MATT HARMON: Man, Andy got to ask such a much better question, or he got to answer a much better question. This one is much more challenging.
JASON FITZ: [LAUGHS]
MATT HARMON: I feel like the one guy I feel very good about here is James Cook, who had over 150 total yards last week. I know he didn't get the touchdowns. If you saw Latavius Murray and Damien Harris, you're probably pretty tilted about that. You saw those guys score the touchdowns. I don't care. He had over 150 total yards. Most of it was thanks to Fitz's Raiders. But regardless, I think Cook has really established himself as the top back here, and you got to feel pretty good about him. He stands out to me, above all these other options.
Yeah, if it's Christian Watson available, if he plays, he's probably the other pick here. But if not, you at least have Rachaad White to fall back to on Monday Night Football. Don't feel as good about him going against the Eagles and not going against Andy's unserious Chicago Bears there. But I still think you got to go White over Kendre Miller, just because he's a rookie. We haven't seen him. We have no idea what his role is going to be.
JASON FITZ: I mean, we're just sitting here just catching stray after stray after stray on this. Has it occurred to you, at any point, good sir, that maybe the Bills are just that good and week one, they weren't awake yet and week two, they were awake and that's why they made-- they're going to make everybody look that bad, and maybe it's not on-- you know what? We're going to move on. I can't handle this.
MATT HARMON: Both things can be true, Fitz.
JASON FITZ: Now, you were right about the Bears, though. All right, Andy, we'll let you chime in on this one. Jeff says, standard league, double flex pick two. Jerome Ford, Joshua Kelley, Breece Hall, or Zay Flowers. What you got on that one?
ANDY BEHRENS: First of all, I know you don't think I'm going to defend the Bears. I most certainly am not. They can catch all the strays--
JASON FITZ: [LAUGHS]
ANDY BEHRENS: --that you guys have. I'm going to actually start with Josh Kelley here. And this is assuming that Austin Ekeler doesn't play. It seems like he's making progress but may not be ready to go. He gets the Vikings defense. And this is-- this is a super friendly match-up. This is a game where the total is, like, 54. We expect a lot of points here. So I think Josh Kelley should be a strong start.
And then if this is, indeed, a standard league, with no points for receptions, I'd probably lean Jerome Ford because I think the workload is definitely going to be there. I don't know if it's going to be one of those super efficient outings, necessarily, because, again, it's Tennessee. But I expect the game to be close and for him to see something like 18 or 20 touches.
JASON FITZ: All right, let's get one more in here for now. And again, we can keep them coming, #AskFFL. This one says, two running back spots between Mostert, Swift, Kyren Williams, Madison, Joshua Kelley. What do you think, Matt?
MATT HARMON: Man, I wish I had a running back corps that was this tough to pick from. Usually, I've got maybe 1 and 1/2 guys I feel pretty good about. There's a lot of dudes I feel pretty good about here. I think the one guy you've got to go with-- and I know we're going to talk about him plenty on the show today, so I won't go into too much detail.
Kyren Williams-- the guy is just playing a ton. He saw 10 targets last week. He's playing in a perfect offense for a back of his skill set. So he's my top pick here. All these other guys-- again, very close, good options. I think if we get some more clarity that Boston Scott and/or Kenny Gainwell is going to miss Monday Night Football, D'Andre Swift would be my pick.
But man, Raheem Mostert, right now, is just playing so well. He's owning that backfield, basically, all to himself. There's injuries behind him. Devon Achane's not ready to take any work on yet. And look, sometimes fantasy football can be simple. You got a back who's explosive, and he's tethered to a really good offense? You play that guy every single week. And that's basically where we're at with Raheem Mostert.
JASON FITZ: We got some chatter out there in the app, and this is what people are saying in the discussion boards. Jahmyr Gibbs, Dameon Pierce, Josh Jacobs all getting a little bit-- Gibbs-- if Gibbs isn't getting 15 plus touches and 5-plus targets this Sunday, Campbell Noodle Soup shouldn't even consider being a coach. That's the line of the day from Philip. I'm just saying, I love that line. Like, if we're going to make a nickname, Campbell Noodle Soup-- I'm all in on that one, Matt. That feels like a good nickname for Dan Campbell.
MATT HARMON: Yeah, I'd love to see Philip say that to Dan Campbell's face. Hey, get it get off the app. Put that thing down. And go look at Man Campbell right in the face and say that to him. I freaking dare you, Philip. I mean, hey, thanks for being a supportive user of Yahoo and all of our products. That's great. But come on. Maybe wise up here.
JASON FITZ: I mean, there's nothing-- you got to be able to say it with your chest when you're saying it with your fingers. All right, I want to get your take, though, on some of the running backs out there right now that are struggling because early on in the year, there's several of them. Let's start with one of the guys that's in every one of my fantasy football leagues, and just weekly disappointment so far-- Dameon Pierce. Andy, what's going on with Dameon Pierce?
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, this one might be a real problem, right? Because Houston was-- first of all, Houston down four offensive linemen last week, so the offensive line not great, kind of getting patched together. The other problem here is that Pierce hasn't yet played 50% of the snaps in either game. He does have 30 touches on the season, but he's not going to be that high-volume receiving guy. The line play has been very poor.
And they're totally willing to let CJ Stroud, rookie quarterback, throw the ball 45, 47 times, which is really exciting. They have a receiving corps, right? Nico Collins has been great. Tank Dell has been great. Bob woods is playing really well. But this is pretty bad for-- this is pretty bad for Pierce, until that line sort of pulls itself together, gets healthy. And again, you'd like to see him playing a little bit more, too.
JASON FITZ: All right, Harmon, how in the hell does Breece Hall only get four-- what am I supposed to make of Breece Hall-- Bryce? Good Lord.
MATT HARMON: Man, it's a tough one, bro. I mean, we had a question earlier where it's like, yeah, Josh Kelley and Jerome Ford- Andy's telling you to play those guys over Breece Hall. Rough spot. Not only is he sharing carries with Dalvin Cook, for whatever reason. I never understood that signing to begin with, but it is what it is. Now we're also sharing carries on the Zach Wilson offense, not the Aaron Rodgers offense. So I actually don't have very many good things to tell you, right now, about Breece Hall. The bad feelings are alive and well.
JASON FITZ: Well-- and you mentioned Cook. I mean, Vikings fans were just all up in everybody's mentions this summer about, hey, they're going to be fine. They got Alexander Mattison. Andy, what the hell is going on with Alexander Mattison?
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, that's a rough one. And it's not like the arrival of Cam Akers is-- it shouldn't be so frightening. He's been really inefficient, for the most part, since the injury. Still, the fact that they went out and added someone-- not a great sign. Mattison obviously not exactly excelling. He has, like, one opportunity here to really go off. This is a very friendly match-up against the Chargers. The Chargers haven't really stopped much of anything. Again, huge total in the game. Mattison has got to find the end zone here, or he's really in trouble, and you can see him slipping into a job share very soon.
JASON FITZ: All right, let's get one more in here, Matt. Miles Sanders? What gets that right?
MATT HARMON: Andy Dalton? Is Andy Dalton going to get it right? This Panthers offense has looked like-- like, make your eyes fall out of your head bad. That's how bad it's been. I mean, Bryce Young looks small. They're not using him on QB sneaks. The offensive line's been disappointing. No receivers can get open. Frank Reich is already here in week three like, you know, we got to find ways to get Laviska Shenault involved. Usually that's the sign when you're like, let's get the gadgetty, positionless guy involved-- usually, that's like, I'm already out of ideas, and we're here in week three. So you know, Miles Sanders he's been catching more passes than normal, but that's about the only thing that's gone well so far.
JASON FITZ: Well, one thing that has gone well, overall, for you guys, has been a real discussion that's happened, now, for three straight weeks about Najee Harris and what's going on at the running back position, right? And so as the Steelers go into Vegas to take on the Raiders, now we're suddenly looking at Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren and trying to figure out who the guy is there and how that's going to play out moving forward, Matt. Like, this is sort of surprising to me, just because of who we thought Najee was coming out, who we think the Steelers are, typically, as an identity, what we expected from the offense. The number of things that have gone wrong to get to this point-- it's pretty staggering.
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MATT HARMON: A lot of things went wrong. And frankly, when they drafted Najee Harris, the talk out of the Steelers and all the beat writers was-- and honestly, look shout-out to the Pittsburgh media, but some of these guys are state run media. They're clearly just talking from the team. You know, it's like, we need to fix our run game, so we're drafting Najee Harris. That's a fundamental misunderstanding of how the run game works.
I mean, yeah, Najee Harris-- even if he is like a really good back, the offensive line's never been good. The run game concepts, under Matt Canada, has never been good. So that's a big reason why Najee Harris is struggling. I wouldn't say he's the most efficient runner in the world. He's not the most explosive runner in the world. But he's just set up to fail by a poor ecosystem here.
And then, yeah, with Jaylen Warren, the Steelers don't have a lot of pop right now on offense. Nothing has gone right for the Steelers so far, except for one good George Pickens play, and that's it. But sometimes when Jaylen Warren gets the ball in his hands in space, it ends up looking pretty good for the Steelers offense, which is usually the kiss of death. It's only a matter of time until they start to get desperate and they play Jaylen Warren more.
JASON FITZ: Yeah, it's interesting to me, Andy, because obviously, this is the week they should get right, as much as it pains me to say that. If you're a Steelers fan, you're excusing it saying, well, they've played two really good defenses. They're not playing a really good defense this weekend. So it feels like if things don't get right this weekend, that's when Steelers fans go truly out of their minds.
ANDY BEHRENS: Well, that's a brave admission by you, first of all. I think the other thing that we have to worry about here is that some of this change has already happened. We're talking about whether Najee Harris can hold on to a role. Jaylen Warren probably already has that receiving role. He probably has that third down role. He's caught nine balls this year on 12 targets. Najee Harris has three catches on the season.
So that's maybe already gone to Warren. Harris has played something like 55% of the snaps, which is not what you were signing up for when you drafted him. I mean, you definitely drafted this guy-- especially after what we saw last year, you drafted him because you're like, OK, I'm getting workload here. They're going to feed him. This is going to be 20 touches a game. He's the goal line guy. He's the every down guy. And that is just clearly not the case. Jaylen Warren has already carved out a role that has a lot of meaning in fantasy.
JASON FITZ: I can assure you of one thing. None of these guys that we're talking about right now are about to make our dual-threat list. All right, let's take a look at our "Sweet and Spicy Picks," presented by Popeyes. Just like Popeyes' new sweet and spicy wings are the perfect combination of flavors, we're looking at the top dual-threat players in this weekend's slate of games. , Matt who you got as somebody you're looking at for a dual threat?
MATT HARMON: Hey, listen, it's a really tough week one for Drake London. Didn't get off to a great start. But week two, we're back, baby. The Drake London hype train is back on the tracks. His breakout season is back on schedule. And the reason I think Drake London is a dual threat here is because we know he's like a big downfield contested catch guy. He's a clasher in the vertical game in tight coverage.
But people still don't appreciate enough-- you could argue that sometimes maybe his own team doesn't appreciate it enough-- just how good of an underneath separator he is. This guy gets open. He creates layup targets for his quarterback. He was trying to do it for Marcus Mariota last year. He's done it a lot for Desmond Ridder through the first few starts of his career.
25% target share for Drake London last week-- that is good enough. And I think the important part here, going into this week-- Desmond Ridder, right now, quietly ranks 14th in catchable target rate. That's all we're asking out of Desmond Ridder. We don't need him to be a superstar. We just need him to be functional. I think he can be functional, and perhaps even a little bit more, for Drake London to have a big game against a very banged-up secondary in Detroit this week.
JASON FITZ: I actually like that pick a lot. I'm going to go with maybe recency bias from what I saw just a few days ago. But I'm going to go with James Cook taking on Washington. That's a good Washington defense-- nothing away from that. But James Cook really has it figured out. If you look at last week's game and the difference from week one to week two-- if you went back and watched week one-- I did, for the Bills against the Jets-- everything was out of sync.
What we saw, over the course of Sunday, was not only the Bills beating up on a team that's just not as good as them, but also the Bills really finding a rhythm. And particularly, the Raiders, in week one, did do well against the run. They had no answer for James Cook. I think James Cook has the opportunity to be a real key here. And what we saw out of week two, that we didn't see from week one, even from Josh Allen, was patience-- the ability to take the checkdown, the ability to wait for the right opportunities. James Cook benefits from all of that. So I think James Cook is going to continue this ascension and really be a dual threat, especially against Washington Andy, who you got in this one?
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, give me Kyren Williams of the Rams playing at Cincinnati on Monday night. All he's done so far is rumble for 154 scrimmage yards, four touchdowns through his first two games. He dislodged Cam Akers from the starting role after the first week, and then dislodged him from the roster after the second week. Williams has played 80% of the snaps just a week ago.
We're getting an all-situation workhorse here. He has 12 targets on the season, so there is a bunch of dual-threat appeal here. He caught 42 passes in his final season in Notre Dame. So he entered the league with that dual-threat capability. And man, this week's match-up-- Cincinnati currently ranks 31st against the run. They're giving up 5 yards per carry. The Rams offense is absolutely clicking. Stafford looks great. It's not going to surprise me if we see another couple of touchdowns from Kyren in this one.
JASON FITZ: It's still shocking to hear the way we're talking about the Rams and the Bengals, each, respectively, in that match-up. Thanks, fellas. Don't forget to grab a Popeye's Sweet and Spicy Wing Combo with an ice cold Coca-Cola for tonight's game, and every other game, too. Just head over to Popeyes.com or the Popeyes app to place an order for pickup, or-- I love this-- delivery. All right, one other thing I love is every week we get to talk to Sal Vetri. He gives us unique fantasy advice here on the show that you can only get from Sal, right here. These are his seven key findings for week three.
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SAL VETRI: Welcome back, beautiful people. These are the seven key findings that are going to help you win your week three fantasy match-up. Finding number one is the best spot of the week. And this takes us to the Kansas City Chiefs' running back Isaiah Pacheco, who finds himself as a 13-point favorite in week three against the Bears.
And now, Kansas City, in this game, has a team total of 30.5 points, the highest on the week. Starting running backs in similar spots average over 16 fantasy points. Now, in week two, Pacheco saw his role quietly increase. He saw 63% of the rush attempts, a 16% increase from his week-one usage. And he was efficient, producing 5.3 yards per touch. Expect over 13 fantasy points in week three, starting.
Now, finding number two takes us to a player who is trending up. And this is Kyren Williams, the second year player out of Notre Dame for the Rams, who fell in the NFL draft because he had a poor 40-yard dash time. Now, this is lesser known, but he was actually expected to be the starter last season but then had a pre-season foot fracture. But now he's a top 20 running back the rest of the season because in week two, without Cam Akers, he saw 97% of the snaps. This led to 24 opportunities, 10 targets, and 25 fantasy points for Williams. He's an every week starter in the Rams' number five ranked offense.
Finding number three takes us to the Pickup in Play of the week. This player is Jerome Ford, who is now the Browns starting running back. And Cleveland drafted him last season despite having three running backs under contract. This shows how much they liked him. And look, it's hard not to. He has solid speed and size, and in his final year of college, produced over 1,500 yards while showing he was a capable pass catcher. Ford has been the back up to Nick Chubb all summer, and this was evident in week two after Chubb's injury when Ford saw 90% of the running back carries and 20 opportunities. Now, the Browns did resign Kareem Hunt, but just as a reminder, they chose Ford over hunt all offseason.
Finding number four takes us to the Sell High Candidate of the week. You need to trade away DJ Moore immediately after his 100-yard performance in week two. He finished as the wide receiver 28 last week, and on the season so far, ranks just 83rd in wide receiver usage. And despite the Bears trailing for the majority of their first two games, we've only seen nine targets for DJ Moore, which is less than guys like Nick Westbrook and Calvin Austin. Look, Moore is a victim of poor play calling, a bad offensive line, and Justin Fields ranking bottom three in quarterback accuracy. Trade DJ Moore for somebody like Chris Godwin or Michael Pittman as soon as you can.
Finding number five takes us to the sketchy spot of the week. And this week, it's Brian Robinson, who has been great to start the season. He's 10th in running back usage and third in fantasy points. But Robinson enters week three as a 7-point underdog to the Bills, which opens up potential usage for Antonio Gibson. Now, although Gibson hasn't produced in fantasy he's still involved in this offense, playing 41% of the snaps and handling 93% of the two-minute offense. If the Commanders fall behind in this game, we could see more Gibson. And as an underdog in his career, Brian Robinson averages just 9.2 points.
Finding number six is, let's take a deeper dive, and we'll be taking a deeper dive into Christian Kirk's week two performance of 16 and a half fantasy points on 14 targets. Kirk saw his routes run-- increase from 66%, week one to 84%, week two, which might make you wonder, did he take the wide receiver two job from Zay Jones? The answer is, no. Zay Jones saw less routes run in this game because he got banged up at one point. And so did Calvin Ridley, who saw 21% fewer routes compared to week one. So Kirk was the only healthy starting receiver for the entire game, which led to more snaps, routes, and targets. Expect his usage to drop in week three, with Zay Jones and Calvin Ridley returning to full health.
Now, finding number seven takes us to an unexpected surprise, and this unexpected surprise is the Bucs offense. This team is 2 and 0 fueled by Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans, and new offensive coordinator, Dave Canales. Canales was the quarterbacks coach, last year, for the Seahawks, and he helped turn around Geno Smith's career, and he's doing that through two games with Baker Mayfield.
Baker currently ranks number one under pressure and is third in quarterback efficiency. And this is fueled Mike Evans to being the number two wide receiver in fantasy, and Rachaad White is seventh in running back usage. We need to adjust our pre-season expectations on these players now that we've seen Canales' offense in action. And this makes guys like Chris Godwin a buy and even second-year tight end caught in a sneaky add. These have been the seven key findings for this week. All you have to do now is take this information and put it to use in your week three match-up to smack around your competition.
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JASON FITZ: All right, so now I get to chat with Sal. And I got a couple questions, but we're going to start with the most important one. Dude, you're such a nice guy. Are you trash talking-- I'm having a hard time-- like, the smile and the joy-- are you throwing it at people? Because like it feels like-- you're telling people to smack people-- but I don't know, man. Are you a trash talker?
SAL VETRI: I mean, I think everybody's got a little bit of a dark side. It comes out at certain times, I would say. I lean on the side of not trash talking. Maybe three years ago you catch me, that's a different story. But yeah, it depends who I'm talking to. We get in the family group chats, it comes out a little bit.
JASON FITZ: I like-- the older, wiser Sal Vetri. But you just mentioned Baker Mayfield, and I think your breakdown is interesting on it. But it's also curious to me because when you watch Baker, there have been several times in his career where he has a couple of good games, and it falls off the cliff. Is there some level of concern, still, for you that this is just a moment in time for Baker, or are you really all in that this can be sustained?
SAL VETRI: Yeah, I think you have to have that concern. No doubt about it. I think the things that are in his favor, outside of the new offensive coordinator that we talked about looking good, play calling for him-- he has a stable offensive line. It's not a perfect offensive line, but it's better that he's had in the past one to two years. And these are probably the best personnel pieces, the wide receivers in Evans and Godwin, that he's had in his career, maybe since his rookie year, but probably his career. So those pieces around him give you a little bit of confidence moving forward, compared to the past years.
JASON FITZ: All right, you can find more Sal on the Yahoo Fantasy app throughout the week and follow him @SalVetriDFS on social media. We're going to bring Sal in with the rest of the guys, have a little bit of fun here with some play calling. So again, you guys #AskFFL. You can get some questions in, and we'll figure out. Some of these questions have been delivered to specific people, I'm seeing here. So I think the crowd's got their favorites. We'll start with Caleb here. Caleb asks, who do I start-- Mahomes against the Bears or Cousins against the Chargers? Harmon, we'll let you take this one. Who are you going with?
MATT HARMON: [LAUGHS] Oh, boy. Oh, man, is it scary that I'm really thinking about it? I mean, I'm thinking about saying Kirk Cousins against the Chargers because the game's got a super high total. We've talked about it. That should be the shootout of the week. It's really exciting. Kirk Cousins has been on fire. The Chargers defense is terrible, with a capital T. But at the same time, Andy Behrens himself said that his favorite team, the Chicago Bears, are a, quote, "civic embarrassment," and Patrick Mahomes is Patrick Mahomes. So maybe I just can't adjust to this whole thing, but I'm going Mahomes against the Bears.
JASON FITZ: Yeah, there's just something about the words, Patrick Mahomes, that I just immediately nod and say, yes, to. Let's pull up the next question. We'll send this one to Sal. And this one comes from Jason, not me, I promise, although Jason-- adorable dog, by the way. Travis Etienne or Gus Edwards for flex. I have Kyren Williams and James Cook as my running back starters. Sal, what do you think?
SAL VETRI: Well, Jason the answer to your question is Travis Etienne because he's the best running back out of the four you just named. He is your number one running back. You have to start him. His role is elite. 76% of the snaps to start the season, 18.5 opportunities, and his biggest competition, Tank Bigsby, had zero carries last week. This week, yet again, Etienne is going to be in a nice situation. He's a 9-point favorite. They have a nice team total, and running backs in similar situations average close to 17 fantasy points. That's your running back one. Get him in your lineup.
JASON FITZ: So this is where-- again, last week, we established that you know we're the best boy band in all of fantasy football. Now there's going to be some jealousy, some backbiting because it turns out the crowd has a favorite. Brian has specifically chimed in-- does not care what the rest of us think. Brian says, @AndyBehrens, my brother, my brother-- should start Nico Collins, Jahan Dotson, or Jordan Addison in my wide receiver three spot? A couple questions here, Andy-- do you have an actual brother named Brian? Do you have a fan club? And also, how would you answer this?
ANDY BEHRENS: No, we are not actual family here. Man, I hear you on this being how the band breaks up, you know? We're at the peak of our run as a boy band. We're selling out stadiums. And now all of a sudden, the petty jealousies creep in. I get it. Man, we might-- this guy and I might not be bros for very much longer if I blow this because this is a really hard question.
I like all these guys. I feel like Jahan Dotson just hasn't erupted yet. I feel like it's coming at some point. Love Nico Collins. I'm going to go Jordan Addison here. And it's a little bit dicey because it's not as if Jordan Addison is on the field all game, every snap, anything like that. But we've seen touchdowns in each of the first two weeks.
And again, this game has so much appeal. The total is so high. And the Chargers' pass defense has been so poor I just got to imagine that if Addison plays, I don't know, 60% of the snaps, we're getting another couple of deep shots to him. He's got a really good chance to find the end zone-- probably better than the other two guys here.
JASON FITZ: I mean, just got to stir the pot a little bit here because Harmon, earlier, you were like waxing on about Nico Collins. You feel good about this? You want to defend your boy Nico in this situation?
MATT HARMON: Brian didn't ask me. He asked Andy Behrens, his brother, so I'm not helping Brian out. Sorry.
JASON FITZ: Oh, that's amazing. OK. Well, fine. I'm not saying-- this is curious. By the way, Brian's the Yoko Ono of the world. Matt H asks--
MATT HARMON: [LAUGHS]
JASON FITZ: Matt H should answer this. Who would you pick for wide receiver three this week, from these three? Thanks. Drake London, Nico Collins, or Courtland Sutton. I'm going to say, Nico Collins, with that depth in my chest every time. What do you got, Matt H, from Matt H?
MATT HARMON: How do you know this isn't me trying to send in Andy-- I should have said, Andy Behrens, my brother, can you help me out with my fantasy team? No, I would never have Courtland Sutton on my fantasy team. He is the guy that I'm not picking here. He is third on the list. It is tough for me, between Drake London and Nico Collins-- two guys I've hyped up so far on the show, two guys I've been hyping up for a long, long time. Ooh, this one's tough. I really want to kick this one down the road a little bit.
But I'm thinking game environment-wise, the Falcons-Lions game just seems like much more of a fantasy-friendly environment. I mean, the Houston Texans will be throwing in garbage time, most likely, against the Jacksonville Jaguars this weekend. That's not a bad environment for fantasy. But indoors, in Detroit, Jared Goff and the boys always put up points. And I think they will bring Arthur Smith out of his shell a little bit. There'll be more passing opportunities there, more targets for Drake London. So I will go Drake London. But I had to filibuster quite a long time to tell you one of those two guys, and definitely not Courtland Sutton.
JASON FITZ: I appreciate that. All right, let's get one in here for Sal. DVP asks Sal-- he didn't ask, specifically, Sal. I did. Jerry Jeudy or Matt Breida, #AskFFL. What do you got for us, Sal?
SAL VETRI: All right, I'm going to I'm going to make DVP's night a whole lot better here. Maybe this will avoid a confrontation with your significant other, a fight. Just don't play Matt Breida tonight. It's going to ruin your night. So that just gives us Jerry Jeudy. He played 68% of the snaps in his return. That's pretty good-- not great.
But he was out there for almost every single passing play-- just two less routes run than Courtland Sutton for the team lead, five targets. And it's probably only going to get better from there as he gets healthy, which could be this week, as they're touchdown underdogs-- going to have to throw the ball more. Just give me Jerry Jeudy, almost by default, here.
JASON FITZ: Let's get one more in. This one goes to our guy, Andy. Way Beyond the Arc asks, Big Mike Williams or Michael Pittman. Already, they starting Keenan Allen and Josh Kelley. What do you think?
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, that's an interesting predicament that you've put yourself in. Michael Pittman, obviously, tied to a little bit of a murky quarterback situation right now. Not that it matters, necessarily, in terms of his projection. That should be a fun game. But I am, once again-- and this feels weird because I'm going to end up telling you you've got three Chargers in your starting lineup. But I'd go with Williams here, and I'm banking on that game reaching that point total that we've talked about several times. I think that's going to be a really fun shootout. I want as many investments there as I possibly can get.
JASON FITZ: Welcome back to "Fantasy Football Live." You know the guys-- Matt Harmon, Andy Behrens. I'm Jason Fitz, hanging out with you all the way up to kickoff to get you ready for tonight and the entire weekend. And speaking of the entire weekend, guys, we've talked a lot about injuries for tonight. But let's take a look at the injury report coming out of practice today and who we are monitoring.
You can see it here-- David Montgomery with a thigh issue, Jaylen Waddle in concussion protocol, Christian Watson-- we've talked a little bit about with the hamstring. Austin Ekeler, obviously, somebody that has talked on our network about the ankle issue. So take a look at some of this today. Particularly when you look at Waddle in concussion protocol, Matt, what are we supposed to do with Waddle right now if we're looking at him in the lineup?
MATT HARMON: It's tough because Waddle was already entering this week a little bit dicey. He actually ranks fifth in wide receiver expected fantasy points and 43rd in targets per route run among guys who have 10-plus targets so far this year. Like, he hasn't been getting the usage that people would have expected. Yeah. Not ideal there, and now he's in the concussion protocol. I would make plans to have another wide receiver available that you can trust this week.
JASON FITZ: It just feels like, this year, Andy, there have been so many big dynamic moments from wide receivers. But it's hard because this seems to be happening a lot right. So it's like you have to have a deep bench of somebody that can get you double-digit points, which, in a deep league, by the way, is easier said than done.
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, and it certainly wasn't that easy at the wide receiver position either. I felt like that was a position, in drafts , that just sort of fell off a cliff at a certain point. For me, you hit Nico Collins, and you drafted him, and then it was just like a wasteland after that. So I don't know that people have extreme depth at wide receiver. I do think, at least in Waddle's situation, it's a concussion. And if he's able to return to practice, he's probably going to return to his full workload. This isn't, like, a soft tissue thing where you have to worry about them managing him if he plays. I think if he plays, you'd probably have to lean on him.
JASON FITZ: By the way, I should mention-- not on the injury but the reports out there, all over the Trevon Diggs ACL injury in practice today-- is the expectation. That obviously impacts the Cowboys defense. I think it's just a little different when we're talking about offensive guys versus defensive guys, but want to make sure we at least give some thought there. Does that change the way either of you would play the Cowboys defense, Andy?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ANDY BEHRENS: I mean, they still have Micah Parsons, and he's still just an absolute game-wrecker. He's the trigger for every good thing that happens for that defense fantasy wise. The things that drive it, really, are sacks and turnovers, and he's the real disruptive force there.
JASON FITZ: Well, one thing I know is that Austin Ekeler is on this list. I also know that Matt Harmon hangs out with Austin Ekeler all the time. And in fact, rather than have all of us talk about Ekeler and how he feels and what he's going through, this is a little bit of what he said, specifically about that, with Matt on "Ekeler's Edge." Check it out.
AUSTIN EKELER: As far as me, yeah, dealing with the ankle-- and I've dealt with ankles in the past. And so you just got to get it to a point where you feel good, where it's taped up and you can actually feel like, OK, if I get tackled, it's not going to be re-aggravated and set me back to where I was before where I could barely walk on it. And so it's like-- it's not that it's going to be like, ah, he's out for you know several months, type of thing. It's a day-to-day, week-to-week type of situation. And I like the progress that I've made so far, so hopefully back sooner than later.
MATT HARMON: So this is a day-to-day type of situation.
AUSTIN EKELER: Exactly. And it's-- for me, too, and just for all players, man, it's so annoying, especially when it's nagging things like an ankle. I can still go in there and crush like a leg workout, but I can't run right now, something like that. But it's like, OK, let's continue to keep working. You got to stay patient because you can't speed it up by wanting it to be better. That's not how the body works.
You have to make sure you don't skip steps, get the proper treatment, because if you didn't know, football is a violent sport. And when you're dealing with injuries, it's not the best because you tend to try-- you try to stay away from that area. But you don't care if you're hurt or not if. You're on the field, it's full go. And so you got to keep that in mind when we're going through these and coming back, and deciding when to come back. But I think we're making progress, man. I'll just say that.
JASON FITZ: Always love Austin Ekeler's honesty when he hangs out with Harmon. By the way, short update, everybody. He did not practice today. So we'll see, tomorrow, where that goes. And I know that fantasy football owners, all the way up until Sunday morning, will be keeping their eye on their phone for the latest and greatest update they can get on it.
So we will now move on from somebody not on the field to somebody making dynamic things happen on the field-- a little bit of "Fantasy Faceoff" because it's the second straight week that we've had a Ram in the face off because-- Puka Nacua-- although it sounds like "Hakuna Matata," and I feel like, every time, I'm listening to like a "Lion King" song, Puka Nacua's rise is absolutely undeniable. It continues to absolutely destroy.
The real question, though, is Andy's got him ranked as wide receiver seven, currently. Matt has him at 15. So before we get to the faceoff, Matt, why do you hate Puka Nacua?
MATT HARMON: Oh.
ANDY BEHRENS: [LAUGHS]
MATT HARMON: Absolutely outrageous, bro. Absolutely outrageous for you to say I hate Puka. I guarantee you I knew about Puka-- I was hyping up puka before Andy. So don't want to hear this, like, oh, Andy Behrens is higher on Puka Nacua than me. I mean, give me a break.
JASON FITZ: By the way, I'm old enough to remember when people wore the puka shell necklaces and thought that was cool in high school. So you know, old guy on the block.
ANDY BEHRENS: Oh, yeah, it was.
MATT HARMON: Yeah.
JASON FITZ: Yeah. Oh. [LAUGHS] Andy said it was cool. If this continues, does the show just start rocking puka necklaces-- just maybe a puka segment with puka necklaces?
ANDY BEHRENS: Honestly, I'm willing. If he lives up to his-- I've actually I've gotten wide receiver six now. Every time I look at my wide receiver ranks, Puka goes up another spot. If that happens, I'm definitely bringing back the puka shell, sure.
JASON FITZ: If he goes to one, the whole show wears puka shells, and we try and get him on. All right, so let's do some "Fantasy Faceoff." You know the drill here. It's going to be either/or. We'll give you Puka Nacua or this guy. So we'll start with Andy. Puka or Keenan Allen?
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, well, spoiler-- I'm going to end up taking Puka over pretty much everybody in the field because I've already told you that there's only five guys that have above him, and Keenan Allen-- not one of them. I think Keenan Allen is a great start this week. Again, he's in that shootout match-up that we keep talking about.
Nacua, though-- come on. The target totals are crazy. This is 35 targets in two games. We've literally never seen it from a rookie. 15 targets in his first game, and then it got better in the second game. The guy is on pace for over 200 catches right now. And he's facing a team that's in-- certainly backs against the wall, a little bit of disarray for Cincinnati. Stafford is playing as well as any quarterback in the game. Certainly throwing it as well as any quarterback in the game. So I'm going Puka here. I'm leaning on volume.
JASON FITZ: All right, Matt, what about you on Puka versus DeVonta Smith?
MATT HARMON: Oh, I'm going DeVonta Smith on this one. Look, I love what I've seen out of Puka. Co-sign everything Andy just said. He's so technically sound for a rookie receiver, and he was this way at BYU, too. He could beat man coverage, and it was very impressive. And he's beating man coverage. Like, you just can tell that Stafford trusts this guy. And Stafford, when he trusts somebody, dials in. But DeVonta Smith is white-hot right now. And I think this match-up against the Bucs is going to be really interesting for both of these wide receivers. So yeah, give me DeVonta Smith by just a hair here.
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JASON FITZ: All right, let's see if this one tempts Andy to take somebody other than Puka. Puka? I love the fact that these are names I'm giving you now. Puka or CeeDee? I can't believe I'm saying that. Puka or CeeDee, Andy. What do you got?
ANDY BEHRENS: Wow, you're bringing out the big gun here. Puka or CeeDee Lamb. I will say that this is-- finally, we're talking about a player who's actually-- who's actually worthy of having his name mentioned in the same sentence as Puka Nacua. Lamb, obviously, coming off an 11-catch game facing a defense that ranks bottom third against the pass. It's a great spot for him. I'll give you that. I
Can understand how someone might mistakenly rank Lamb over Nacua, as perhaps Matt has done. It's still wrong, but I get it. Again, think puka is going to continue to be fed. I don't see much of a way to stop this. By the way, Puka has joined the Breakfast Club. Puka is now part of the Cooper Kupp, Matt Stafford Breakfast Club thing. He's a made guy at this point.
JASON FITZ: I love the pass-- I feel like I'm at dinner with my mom and dad when I was a kid. The passive aggressive little digs at each other here is spectacular. All right, one more, and we'll go to Matt on this one. Puka or DK? Are we go going [? Abs, ?] or we going Puka?
MATT HARMON: We're going Puka on this one. Look, really like DK Metcalf. Of course, he's been playing great this year. He's actually routing guys up, and he looks really technically refined. Love to see that from DK Metcalf's game. It's kind of an evolution there. But I don't think Seattle is going to have to do too much to beat the Carolina Panthers. I think they can rely on Kenneth Walker. They can spread the ball around a little bit. I mean, my God, Andy Dalton's starting on the other side of this thing.
So it's just an environment right now where Puka is absolutely eating and he's playing up to the production. That's the thing. People are like, oh, it's a fluke. It's a fluke. No, he's playing up to this level of a production right now. Like he looks that good as an isolated individual. He's definitely the guy I'm taking here, over DK Metcalf in this one.
JASON FITZ: By the way, for all the jokes I've made, you guys have both made an important point about Puka and why I think it lasts. When you have a veteran quarterback and a smart coach that have found rhythm with a young player and it gets hot, it takes something to turn it to not, right? As long as it stays hot-- and sure, teams are going to look at it and try and figure out how to defend it.
But the Rams have made it clear that they are comfortable with him in big situations. Stafford has made it clear he's comfortable with him in big situations. I think this shows you that you're going to see that throughout the rest of the year because this isn't young guy getting to know young guy. This is seasoned vet and brilliant coach figuring out how to use young guy? Now it's up to everybody else to try and figure out how to stop it. And they're a step ahead. I think the usage will continue throughout the course of the year. So good work by you guys on that. And I'd love to see the Puka love continue.
I don't have a lot of love for the next segment because this is the time, every single week, where I feel like a golden god. It's like the beginning of a Raiders game. I feel like everything's good. And by the end of it, I realize my life is just an abject disaster. You see it there-- it's primetime picks so we pick somebody from each night of primetime action-- Thursday night, Sunday night, Monday night. For the second straight week, we have two Monday night games. We go snake draft a team in last place-- that's me yet again-- picks first, and then we go through the whole process. You can see the standings here.
America liked my picks last week. America loved my picks last week. I was cocky last week. And I wasn't even in this thing. But there's hope. There's hope for me because now each of you has won once. I'm only one game back. I'm not two games back. One game-- and all of a sudden, snaps for this. Harmon, go ahead. Chime in.
MATT HARMON: Fitz, who did you bribe? Were you in Dan Harris's pockets giving him giving him a check that we buried this thing in the C block? Who did you have to pay off to get this segment buried this late in the show? I mean, give me a break, bro.
JASON FITZ: [LAUGHS] The football gods have reminded me not to rub my mouth too soon because I spent all summer reminding everybody of my championship accomplishments. And now in every single league I'm in, I am just getting-- I am getting beat down like a fat kid playing dodgeball in fifth grade. And I can say that because I know what that felt like personally. I'm just saying. OK, let's get to this week's primetime picks draft, now that I've given you my trauma.
And shocking-- breaking news-- I'm picking first. And so we have Thursday Night Football, Sunday Night Football, two Monday night games to pick from. And I'm going for Thursday Night Football out of the gates because I think it's going to be a slaughter and because Christian McCaffrey's name is there. So I typed in, Christian McCaffrey, from the group text, and I'm so frail, I questioned myself for three minutes before I pressed send on it. I questioned Christian McCaffrey because my confidence is shaken. Andy, you're on the clock. Who you got next?
MATT HARMON: Don't be trying to give my--
JASON FITZ: Oh, Matt's next.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
JASON FITZ: Matt's next.
ANDY BEHRENS: I'm the champ.
JASON FITZ: Andy's the next-- my bad.
MATT HARMON: Andy, you like how Fitz, at the top of the show, is like, so if this is going to be a blowout, do think Christian McCaffrey is like not going to get the work, or what? And then we pulled-- we pulled the rug over him here because you know what's going to happen? McCaffrey is going to get 12 touches. They're going to take him off the field. And Elijah Mitchell is going to run this clock out. 25 carries for Elijah Mitchell tonight. So the curse has been put on Christian McCaffrey.
I will tell you who's actually going to crush the Giants tonight on the 49ers side, and it's Deebo Samuel, who I'm confidently taking with my second pick here. Deebo Samuel has run 81 routes. Shout-out to my guy, Jacob Gibbs, on this stat. 81 routes without Brandon Aiyuk on the field since the start of the 2021 season. 41% targets per route run, 25 catches for 428 yards. That's 5.1 yards per route run. 5.1 yards per route run right into the heart of Fitz. I love it. Deebo for my second pick here.
JASON FITZ: 12 touches for six touchdowns, and I'll still take that. That's what McCaffrey does in the first half. 12 touches, six touchdowns. Now Andy's on the clock. What do you got?
ANDY BEHRENS: First of all, I want to just remind people if you're playing the Fitz drinking game at home, he did mention his fantasy championship from last year, so you have to chug. I'm going to take AJ Brown here, I think. If you're going to give me, like, a diva wide receiver in a week following a sideline blow-up, yes, that's easy money. I want it.
He's still AJ Brown. He had a touchdown negated by a Rashaad Penny holding call last week. He's had other near misses on deep shots. I think it is definitely happening for him here. Tampa Bay's pass defense currently ranks 24th in the league. And it would be much worse if my Bears were able to exploit absolutely any opportunities at all last week. I think Philly carves them up here. I think it's a huge day for AJ Brown.
And then my next pick-- and this is kind of a bouquet that I'm giving to Fitz here. I'm going to take Josh Jacobs. And listen, I've heard it from people all week. I know that they're disappointed with the minus-2 rushing yards. I'm going to choose to focus on the fact that Josh Jacobs still has, like, 35 touches on the season. He's the centerpiece of the offense. He's the rushing champ. And he's about to face Pittsburgh defense that is allowing 193 rushing yards per game, 5 and 1/2 per carry, and the most fantasy points to opposing running backs. So I think it's a great spot for Jacobs.
JASON FITZ: Single-handedly the best pick you've ever made. Go ahead, Matt. I'm just sitting back here waiting.
MATT HARMON: I love how Andy tried to throw this shade at me like, oh, Harmon's ranking CeeDee Lamb behind-- or ahead of Puka Nacua. How ridiculous. And he can't adjust to the new reality that Josh Jacobs was so last year, and the new hotness this year is Kyren Williams, Rams' running back. He talked about it earlier in the show, man. Kyren Williams-- dual-threat guy, played 96% of the snaps last week. Cam Akers-- they showed him the door.
They traded Cam Akers for a conditional pick swap in 2026. Are we even going to be on the planet in 2026? Are we even still going to have a show in 2026? I mean, fingers crossed. I mean, for God's sakes, but 2026-- it meant nothing. That's how easy they were ready to get rid of Cam Akers. Just get him on the roster because Kyren Williams has been that good. He's been that guy. I expect them to beat the Bengals on Monday night. I expect Joe Burrow not to play, and Kyren's going to get plenty of work here.
JASON FITZ: I am back on the clock, and I'm just telling you now-- sweet baby Jesus. Well, I think it was last week, we were picking Eagles receivers. I picked AJ Brown. Confidently picked AJ Brown. And I did not confidently pick DeVonta Smith. And AJ Brown did nothing, and Smith did everything. And so now I'm watching you pick AJ Brown, realizing I'm about to pick Smith. If this goes the opposite way, they don't make enough Jager to get me through it.
MATT HARMON: He so is. [LAUGHS]
JASON FITZ: You know what? I'm going to run around my basement singing "Fireball" by Pitbull while I just continue to take those little nips and work my way through it, all right? Because I'm taking Smith, and this better work for me. I snake around. I get the next pick here. And you know what? I need some love. I need some help. And the only game left for me is Sunday Night Football. The only night left for me is Sunday Night Football.
And I try not to pick my beloved Raiders. I do. But I need help, and help comes in one form. It comes in the form of Davante Adams. Davante Adams, at least, was back up in the chair last week. Week one, he was a little invisible. Week two, it looked like he and Jimmy G were getting on the same page. I do think that there's going to be opportunities for Adams against this defense. I think there's opportunities for Jimmy G against this defense, to at least get a couple of touchdowns in the air.
So I'm taking Davante Adams, with the level of confidence on a scale of 1 to 10, that's a negative 37. That's where I am on it. But if anybody can get me-- if anybody can be my slump buster, it will be DeVonta Adams. And that means, Matt, you're back on the clock. And I'm sure you're going to pick somebody that destroys my heart.
MATT HARMON: Yeah, Sunday Night Football-- some dreadful options here. But I think one guy who stands out, that can just absolutely merk, I mean, destroy that pitiful excuse for a Raiders defense-- is George Pickens, baby. 70-yard touchdown, all on his own last week. This guy can absolutely burn. Kenny Pickett is going to finally have some time, because they've got Maxx Crosby. I get that. He's a game wrecker.
But they got nobody else on defense, Fitz. And you know it, in your heart of hearts. In your donut-crusted heart, you know that they've got nobody there on defense that the Steelers offense has to worry about, other than Maxx Crosby. George Pickens gets loose for 150-plus yards and takes my title home this week.
JASON FITZ: Andy, just wrap this. I've got nothing to say because he's right, damn it. Andy, just get me out of this pain.
ANDY BEHRENS: 150, I like that. I'll take that. Well-- so I have to-- I have to pick from the Thursday game. And I hope everybody knows that I'm not touching any Giants here. There's no Giant who's tempting me. I'm going to go George Kittle. Every other Niners playmaker has made a little bit of noise at some point in the first two weeks. I feel like it finally comes around to Kittle here. We've got no Brandon Aiyuk in this one. So that obviously-- there's going to be some volume that goes Kittle's way.
We're also talking about the tight end who basically made Brock Purdy last year, right? Who caught seven touchdown passes from him. Kittle wasn't entirely healthy entering the season. But then last week, in a really strong indicator that he was back, he played 55 of 57 possible snaps. So I think he's healthy right now. He's going to have to see some volume in this one. I think he finds the end zone.
JASON FITZ: I'm lightly rooting for you because that might or might not have a Darren Waller, George Kittle touchdown parlay in tonight's action. OK, we'll let you guys see how we did in this. America, don't back me. Just don't. Just vote for somebody else because it never works for any of us. But we'll let you know next week. When I've tied the score, I will come back. The comeback will start this week.
Speaking of comebacks that need to start, I got to, at least, mention here that the Bengals suck, and I can't figure out why. Everybody tells me they start slow every year, and it's fine. But like, guys, are we really convinced that the Bengals are going to be just fine? I mean, I know one in seven in Joe Burrow's career in the first two games, so he always starts slow. But man, Andy, it's looked ugly so far.
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, it's one thing to start slow when Joe Burrow is healthy. But when we're coming off a game in which we saw-- especially late in that thing, Joe Burrow grimacing, limping, had one of those little massage guns that you buy at the airport that he was taking to his calf. He's clearly not comfortable right now, and we have an open question as to whether he's even going to play on Monday night. That is a worry. And pretty much every NFL offense is really just a house of cards that can collapse if the quarterback can't play.
It's also-- like, there's some skepticism out there, certainly among people who set betting lines, about whether he's going to play, right? Because we saw the line in the game move 4 and 1/2 points in a blink, just as soon as Zac Taylor made those noncommittal comments earlier in the week about Burrow.
So I won't say that I have long-term worries about this offense, necessarily, because it's a calf issue. I think it gets better in time. We're still talking about a young corps that's amazing with Higgins and Chase and Burrow. But man, I don't feel great about it this weekend. I certainly don't feel great about it to if we have to see like Jake Browning behind center for the Bengals.
JASON FITZ: Yeah, Matt, wouldn't you panic a little bit if you've got Ja'Marr right now in your lineup? Like, who's throwing him the ball?
MATT HARMON: Yeah, I mean, Jake Browning? Give me a break. I don't think that's ideal. And I think a big problem here is-- like Andy said, he'll get better in time. But the only way that Joe Burrow is going to get healthy is if he doesn't play. Like, I think if you're the Bengals, you have to take the long view here. And you got to think like, OK, maybe we get in a little bit of hole. I realize that we need to win some games here, but we want Joe Burrow around in December. We want him in late November, and certainly into January where they hope they're going to be playing. They're not on pace to do it right now. So I think they have to sit him--
And my biggest concern for Ja'Marr Chase, who-- yeah, if Burrow is out there, I'd feel better about it. But they haven't adjusted the offense to the fact that their quarterback can't push the ball downfield because he has no power coming out of his lower body. I chartered his first two games. His two most commonly run routes? Nine routes and deep out routes. Joe Burrow is not going to be able to hit those throws routinely, like he normally can.
JASON FITZ: I think a lot of people are missing one word. He might be healthy, but he's not going to be healthy enough. He's not going to get back to the point that he's healthy enough unless he gets some serious time off. OK, we're not taking any serious time off. We're getting to the most exciting, electric part of the whole show, "Hurry-Up Offense."
You guys know what we're going to do here. We're going to put your questions up. We're going to put a 25-second timer on. And then we're going to see if the guys freak out every time the whistle blows. That's the main objective here. Let's pull the first question up, and it comes from Brian. Brian asks, Mattison or Javonte Williams? One-point PPR. Matt, what do you got for us on this one?
MATT HARMON: Yo, I'm really not trying to play anybody from the Broncos offense, number one. Not an ideal match-up. Vic Fangio over there. And by the way, they're splitting up the running back rotation. They're splitting up the wide receiver. Nobody ran more than 81% of the routes in the game last week. So give me Alexander Mattison, a potential bounceback spot, against Brandon Staley's joke of a defense.
JASON FITZ: All right, next question coming up on the list comes from Copper's Dad 55. And he asks-- tough times over here. Feel you on that one, buddy. Breida tonight or C Reynolds.
ANDY BEHRENS: [LAUGHS]
JASON FITZ: Andy, what do you think on this? This is brutal.
MATT HARMON: [LAUGHS]
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, this is just a sort of vomit-inducing question. There's no right answer here, right? I hope we can all agree there's no right answer here. Craig Reynolds might see volume because they--
[WHISTLE BLOWING]
--seem desperate not to give it to Jahmyr Gibbs. I'm probably going to-- I'm probably going to go Breida here just to get the pain out of the way because it's going to hurt either way.
JASON FITZ: Yeah, by the way, that's-- just concede the week. Just wait till next week. You're just like, you know what? I'll. Check the app next week. All right, let's go to the next question on the list we got Dominic coming in saying-- Dominic says, Drake London, Terry McLaurin, or Gabe Davis in my flex? Matt, what do you think?
MATT HARMON: Well, you spelled Terry McLaurin's name wrong, so we can't pick Terry McLaurin. Those are the rules of the game. I do actually think that Drake London is the best option of the three here. Of course, I always love Terry. But Drake London-- again, he's just set up so well. Talked about him many times over the show. I like that game environment for fantasy football.
[WHISTLE BLOWING]
Boom.
JASON FITZ: Oh, look at that. Are you the grammar police over here, by the way? All right, Holly coming in-- next question.
MATT HARMON: Hey, show some respect. Get the guys' names right. Get the guys' names right.
JASON FITZ: Thanks in advance. Need three in PPR-- Chris Godwin, Jordan Addison, Drake London, Nico Collins. Andy, what do you think?
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, again, love Jordan Addison in that game. Love what I expect from that game in total. So I'm going to play him. I'm going to play Chris Godwin-- also tied to an offense that's been pretty frisky. And then it comes down to Drake London and Nico Collins. I'm going to go-- man. I like all these options. I'm going to go Nico Collins, though.
JASON FITZ: I like, frisky, coming back into the show. That's when you know things are good. When you've got, frisky, coming in as a descriptor, we have really hit our rhythm. All right, let's get to the next question on the board in the "Hurry-Up Offense." Jim asks, Burrow or Stafford? Simple question, complicated answer. Matt, what do you got?
MATT HARMON: Yeah, play the guy who's not dealing with a calf injury right now. So you're going to go ahead, and you're going to play Matthew Stafford, all right? We don't even know if Joe Burrow is going to play in that game. Honestly, buddy, you're lucky that you drafted Joe Burrow and you have a very good alternative there in Matthew Stafford. So you are lucky. That's five seconds I left on the clock.
JASON FITZ: I also appreciate the fact that you stretched a simple answer into that much of the clock. We appreciate that work for the drama and suspense. The next question on the board comes from Craig-- half-point PPR-- Michael Pittman, Jr, Breece Hall, Jaylen Warren. Andy, what do you got?
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, this is another one of those Breece Hall questions where I'm not even really thinking about him. And I feel terrible about it. I think he's really talented. But we've got a PPR aspect to this. They're not throwing to him. Zach Wilson can't throw to running backs anyway. So I'm not that interested in Hall, not in a job share. I'm going to go Michael Pittman here. Again, I think he's kind of impervious--
[WHISTLE BLOWING]
--to whatever the quarterback choice is.
JASON FITZ: Next question on the board comes from J Pro Designz, with a Z. It says, start-- Jeudy or Addison, one-point PPR. Harmon, what do you think?
MATT HARMON: Yeah, like I said earlier, not too interested in anything that's going on in the Denver Broncos offense right now. Wristband or no wristband, what will we do? No one cares. I do care about the Chargers, Minnesota Vikings game. Jordan Addison-- I'd love to see him playing a little bit more. But I do think the big play potential is there. I'm chasing it this week.
[WHISTLE BLOWING]
JASON FITZ: All right, let's get to the next question on the board. We're flying through this offense. Astronaut Mike Dexter-- can neither confirm nor deny if he's actually an astronaut. Kenneth Gainwell, Elijah Moore, or Dameon Pierce in flex. Andy, what do you think?
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah, I feel like if you're really an astronaut, you don't have to go around telling people you're an astronaut, so probably no. But I digress. Not going to go Gainwell. We don't know exactly where he is in the hierarchy right now, but he's probably behind Swift. Pierce has been really dicey.
[WHISTLE BLOWING]
I'll feel better about this if it's any kind of PPR, but I'm going to go Elijah Moore.
JASON FITZ: I will forgive the delay of game on that because the astronaut line was so good. One more comes into us, and it comes from Tyler. Tyler asks, do I start Brock Sturdy or Watson on Sunday? Harmon, what do you think?
ANDY BEHRENS: [LAUGHS]
MATT HARMON: Oh, geez, we're not starting Deshaun Watson-- yo, Watson's got such a good match-up, right? The Titans are the biggest pass funnel in the NFL. They're allowing the highest average depth of target. Do you have any faith that Deshaun Watson can take advantage of that? I don't. Go with Brock Sturdy. I'll allow a pun on the player's name, even if you didn't spell it correctly.
[WHISTLE BLOWING]
JASON FITZ: [SIGHS] See, that's what makes it great. We appreciate you guys hanging out with us, not just tonight, but every single Thursday. We are always here at 7:00 PM Eastern, 4:00 PM Pacific to keep you up with the latest analysis and projections. You can look at everything in the app. You can check out the podcast at Yahoo Fantasy throughout the course of the week.
We're also with you Sunday morning for the latest on player injuries. And even better, our own Scott Pianowski will be answering your last minute lineup questions on social media. Just keep hashtagging us all the time. #AskFFL. One thing I can promise you is all three of us are thankful for the people that watch, and we're thankful for the opportunity to try and answer these questions. Good luck to all of your teams in week three. Of course, for everybody behind the scenes that works their tails off to make this show happen-- Andy Behrens, Matt Harmon, I'm Jason Fitz. Thanks for hanging out with us on "Fantasy football Live."
