Late-Round Perspectives: Andrew Erickson

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Speaker 1: Andrew Erickson is a fantasy football analyst at Fantasy Pros who.

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Speaker 2: Previously worked for Pro Football Focus.

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Speaker 1: He's a Patriots fan, he loves betting unders, he's a karaoke king, and according to his co host, he's never met an espresso martini that he didn't love. These are his Late Round perspectives.

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Speaker 2: This episode is sponsored by DraftKings.

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Speaker 3: Now back to the show.

00:01:12
Speaker 4: Why is it called the Cold Open anyway? I wish it was called something different to be honest, because I like the idea of, like you hop in, you just kind of start shooting from the hip, kind of like how I do a lot of my fantasy rankings. Sometimes when you have these ambiguous backfields where you're.

00:01:25
Speaker 2: Not really sure you're doing with them.

00:01:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm gonna get these BS reports about so and so it's going to be the starter, and then they're not the starter.

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Speaker 1: So a quick Google search says a cold open is called that because it throws the audience directly into the action without any warm up such as an opening credit sequence or introduction. So it's the most intuitive reason imaginable as to why it's called a cold open.

00:01:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it does. It does actually kind of make kind of sense. It makes. It makes a lot of sense.

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Speaker 1: Okay, you know, I was thinking every time someone hops on, and you know I say this every week, but I'm like, okay, let's think about like you guys, you're you're going to talk about your background a little bit, and I'm going to think about like, you know, when we've crossed paths and stuff like that. I mean, I think we met a really long time ago, like in Vegas, didn't we I remember you sitting at a bar at one.

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Speaker 3: Point at a Vegas FSGA and I met you.

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Speaker 1: I remember meeting you, and I think Ratcliffe was with us, and it was just a brief conversation. When I first originally like had met you, irl, but I realized also like you, like, I mean, look, I've been in the space for a while, Like it's to the point where I've I've gone from being the young guy to the yunk as the kids say, I'm I'm unk now, right?

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Speaker 3: Is that?

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Speaker 2: What is that what.

00:02:37
Speaker 3: Zoomers say these days?

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Speaker 1: But you've been You've been around for a minute too, despite you being younger than than the yunk on this uh today's show.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't feel like that though. I feel like I.

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Speaker 4: Could still you know, hang out with with the kids as as I like to say. But I am thirty one now, so it's really not the case anymore. And I guess I have been you know, I don't know how many years I've been doing this full time. I think, what this is my third year at Fantasy pros after I spent three years at PFF full time, and before that it was like freelancing several different places and trying to kind of find my way in the industry. It feels good that I'm I'm viewed in that capacity where it's like, you know, I have clout now, like a.

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Speaker 1: I mean, look, you've been around, Here's the here's the dirty little secret.

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Speaker 2: Though.

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Speaker 1: People listen to this show, you know, and they might be in their early twenties or something like that, and they're like, oh, Jja's you know, he's got a family, he's got kids, like he's a dad and and like you know all that. Trust me, guys, I feel no different today really than I did.

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Speaker 3: The only difference way I feel today.

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Speaker 1: Versus when I was like twenty three twenty four years old is that, yeah, I think that I'm more mature and like I have like a different worldview and stuff like that. But like it's it's just like recovering from like drinking alcohol and exercising, you know, like it's just that kind of stuff is just a little different. I don't really feel that old, you know, it's not really that different. But you know, I'm monk, You're you're almost dunk at this point.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: No, I can definitely co sign on the recovery thing. Though, Like the minute that I turned thirty, it was like my body took so much longer to recover from workouts. I can't even do half the workouts I used to do in my early twenties when I was just doing absolutely insane things on very very little sleep, a lot of caffeine, And I don't know how I was able to function at like a normal level based on what I was actually doing on a day to day basis. If I told someone like, oh, yeah, this is like what I do. Like, I sleep like four to five hours, drink a ton of pre workout workout all the time, seven days a week. I can't even go exercise like lifting weights probably back to back days. I need at least like a couple of days in between. Yeah, and yeah, So that's just that's what I was.

00:04:58
Speaker 1: When you get old, Yeah, and then there's people there's there's gonna be a sixty year old listening to this, seventy year old listening to this being like, you guys.

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Speaker 3: Have no idea what's about them, You have no clue what's.

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Speaker 2: About to hit.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, I think that the number one thing that I found with like exercise and stuff is that you can't compare to your previous self because it's just the most moral on earth. You know, like you just gotta you gotta stay as healthy as you can. You gotta, you gotta, you know, work out as much as you can, and just realize that this is the body that you have now, this is the age that you are now. Don't don't compare to your you know, your your lifts or your your your five K times or ten K times when you were you know, twenty three years old.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I think too, putting perspective of round perspectives. So yeah, there are you putting into perspective of what your goals are now, which are very very different in terms of what is important to you. Right know, why am I exercising right now? It's about I just want to feel good?

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Speaker 3: Yeah lo joy, Yeah, I.

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Speaker 4: Want an exercise to not get tired, but exercise to help me wake up in the morning or give me energy, provide me with energy. So where it used to be, you know, ten years ago, I go to the gym, All right, what am I going to annihilate today?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? Right exactly?

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Speaker 4: My body destroy your body. Now it's like I just want to get this over with. I just want to be healthy.

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Speaker 2: That's my new goal.

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Speaker 4: So yeah, so those of that you are if you're in your twenties, you know, teens whatever, and you're lifting, you feel good.

00:06:28
Speaker 2: Keep it up.

00:06:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, create that foundation for sure. Let's talk about your background a little bit. You mentioned you know, you're at Fantasy Pros obviously right now, you're at PFF for a while. How did you get into all of this craziness to begin with?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so lifelong football fan.

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Speaker 4: Started playing fantasy football when I was in like middle school, fell in love with it, played it throughout high school, college, and then after graduating from college, you know, looking for a job, part of me really wanted to do some like fantasy like writing, and I got a start at Great Iron Expert under Mike Riggs. There's actually a lot of industry people that did start at Gridroon Experts. Matt Harmon actually wrote for grid Iron Experts. Yeah, it was, Yeah, so that's where I got my start. It was actually Mitchell Wrenz who works for Chat Sports now. He worked at the marketing company that I got hired by. It was my first full time job. Literally on the first day, I meet him in like the bathroom and I like introduced myself, like did.

00:07:26
Speaker 2: You wash your hands? This is like in this very very awkward.

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Speaker 4: It's very very awkward, but he kind of like pulled the curtain on. Hey, I want to see something cool. Here's fantasy football Twitter.

00:07:37
Speaker 2: It's like, whoa this is?

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Speaker 4: This is crazy and maybe maybe he shouldn't have showed it to me. Maybe I would have better off if he hadn't showed it to me. But it really got me exposed to Hey, this community off fantasy football, and I ended up writing for grind Experts, picked up a couple of other gigs here and there.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 4: Fantasy data was another place that I started doing stuff part time, and eventually I came to a conclusion in my mind that at the time, it's like twenty three years old, Hey, I want to try to pursue this as a career. Right now, I don't have a lot of responsibilities besides just hey, like I have a full time job saving up some money, but I don't have a house and have kids, don't have a wife like any of those things.

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Speaker 2: It was like, hey, let's go for this, like this is going to be my only chance, cause it's going.

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Speaker 4: To be a lot harder to do it in ten years when I'm thirty thirty five years old.

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Speaker 2: So I start.

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Speaker 4: Going to these events like you mentioned before FSGA, those are things that I went to. I ended up going to the NFL Draft, I think in it was the one that was in Nashville. Kyler Murray was the quarterback drafted that year. I remember the exact year. It was, Yeah, twenty seventeen. I think twenty seventeen or twenty eighteen. And that's where I met a lot of the Fantasy Pros team. I got to meet Mike Taglier for the very first time at the NFL Draft, and I just basically asked them, hey, like what do I need to do to get into this space? And you offered a lot of really good wisdom and advice about, hey, you just got to on it, go after it, be hungry and continue to pursue and put yourself into positions and kind of make yourself lucky. Like, no one's just going to give you a job. It's about networking, like it is with any other type of job that you try to get. Every job I've gotten, full time, high school, whatever, it's been, well, you have the requisite skill set to do said job, but like, who do you know here? And that's how I got it. And with getting the first full time job at PFF. You mentioned him, Jeff Ratcliffe. I struck up a conversation with him. I think at again, I get the fsgas and expos kind of mixed up sometimes where I was where it was, but it was at a buffalo Wow Wing's in Canton, Ohio when I met Jeff Ratcliffe. And at the time I was doing charting for PFF, so I knew Ratcliffe because he did the PFF Show and obviously had been PFF for so many years. So I was like, Hey, I'm just going to talk to him and be like, oh yeah, like I do the player participation for PFF, so just an easy way to strike up a conversation and we network. I gave him my business card that I printed off like power point, like a day or two before then. I just like made make shifts like right, but meet people, I got to like give them something.

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Speaker 2: So I did that all on my own.

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Speaker 4: And again at the time, it's not like you talk to him and they oh, well you're hired.

00:10:13
Speaker 2: It doesn't work that way.

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Speaker 4: But I at least kind of put myself into the pool of okay, if there's ever an opportunity, you know, hey, at least I'll be one of the candidates that they'll consider. And then there ended up being an opening at PFF where Hey, Jeff Ratcliffe really kind of like stuck his neck out for me to hey, let's bring this kid in. I really like what he can offer. And unfortunately we only overlapped for like a week because then immediately after I got hired, he moved on to FTN, which he told me. He always tells me that wasn't part of the plan that he was like, I didn't leave right after we hired you, just because it just worked out that way. Now, luckily I got to work with a bunch of really great people out PFF. You hired Swi McFarlane, Nathan Yanke who's still at PFF, so a lot of great people got to work with there. But yeah, that's really how I got my start. And when people usually ask me for advice about, you know, how do I break in to this space, I think the easy answer is always, well, if you come up with a really great idea, like that'll work pretty really well, just because there is a lot of oversaturation.

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Speaker 2: That's easier said than done.

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Speaker 4: Of course, because even I don't think I've come up with something so innovative that it's just going to take the world by storm. So the alternative is make sure that you have you're already doing the work. You're getting the reps in. You know, you're recording a podcast, you're writing articles. Nobody could read them, nobody could listen to them, but you're getting better every single time you do them. So by the time that an opportunity does come, you'll be ready to take it head on, and you already have kind of a profile of things that you can kind of show what you've been doing. And the second thing is to your network. Put yourself into situations to get lucky. You know, you canpan behind your laptop sending out resumes that just doesn't really work. All you have to do is kind of go to these conferences like that's the one thing I said, Hey, when's the next FSGA, go to the Fantasy Football Expo. This is how you build these connections with people. And yes they don't offer you a job right on the spot, but it's something that something layer comes down the line. They remember, oh yeah, I remember talking to so and so. I made it that kind of a point where I would show up to so many of these things, and I would introduce myself to the same people over and over again, and eventually I'm like, they're just going to remember me as the kid that always shows up and always introduces themselves to me, even if I have nothing to offer them at that time. So that's something that you know, my parents have always kind of taught me to do, is like, you know, always be remembered for the right reasons, and that has kind of stuck with me. So I would say that how I got to where I was again, a lot of people helped me along the way, getting lucky, working hard, some of the more cliche things, but I'm just kind of going after it, you.

00:12:44
Speaker 2: Know, head first and really being determined.

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Speaker 4: So that's kind of how I end up getting here and again going from PFF to Fantasy Pros again. Joe Piece of PA was someone that I worked with closely out a couple of different projects, did some hit spots with them at Sports Grid when I was at PFF, and he really enjoyed working with me, and he's the one that kind of recruited me to go over to Fantasy Pros. And now I couldn't be happier with the team we have Baptist, Morris, Chris Welch, Derek Brown, Joe, all the great guys over there and girls of course. So yeah, I'm just happy to be I'm just having me part of it, to be honest, Like, yeah, it's a great game to have.

00:13:18
Speaker 2: Never try to take it for granted.

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Speaker 4: So when I'm tired or get frustrated about man, like I'm so bad a wrong this player, it's like, hey, and today it's fantasy football.

00:13:26
Speaker 2: You're doing the best you can.

00:13:27
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I mean a couple things. I mean, number one, I actually had a.

00:13:30
Speaker 1: Conversation with my wife last night where I'm like, I can't complain about my job to anyone because that would be ridiculous because it's such a great job in the grand scheme of things. I mean, everyone hits bumps, and like, there are things you get frustrated with, but like, you know, I feel so lucky similar to what you were just saying, I feel so lucky to be able to do this that I want to keep my seat at the table.

00:13:51
Speaker 3: And that reminds me of just like what Tags taught folks.

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Speaker 1: Like that was the thing that resonated with me all the time, is that he was just so grateful to just like have the game and be part of it and be part of that experience. It's really cool that you got to meet him and then ended up at Fantasy Pros after after he had passed. So it's cool that you were able to to you know, meet him and talk to him because he's a he was an awesome dude, really really awesome guy.

00:14:14
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:14:15
Speaker 4: No, he was someone that, uh, I think about when I'm always kind of in a pinch when it comes to some of this stuff. And even before I worked at Fantasy Pros or even like PFF, I would go to him about like questions about what it's like to have a job in this space.

00:14:32
Speaker 2: I asked them questions about like salary, Like yeah, like it's.

00:14:35
Speaker 4: Like one of the weirdest that you can't just google, like what does a fantasy football analyst make?

00:14:39
Speaker 2: Like it's it's very very weird.

00:14:41
Speaker 4: And but if this is something that is your livelihood, it's something that you have to have the conversation with, Like you're explaining to my wife or a girlfriend at the time, is like, okay, like this is my job, so like this is how it works. It's like, so you're gonna get paid to do this right, Like, yes, I have so going through those things and Tags that obviously been you know, so experienced in this space. He was someone that he offered his guidance to me, you know, as someone that I was just so grateful that he would reach out and check on how I was doing and obviously gutted by you know what ended up happening to Tags. But it's a reminder that you know, we try to at Fantasy pros. Again, no one could have a replace, you know, he meant to fantasy, his family, his friends. But everything that we do, I always try to think, like, hey, you know, do it the tagsway, all out best ever.

00:15:28
Speaker 2: You can and be proud of your work. So I'm in again.

00:15:32
Speaker 4: I mean, and I think Derek has done such a great job with the primer filling in the shoes for Tag, because that thing is just an absolute monster. And I know Derek doesn't sometimes get enough love I think for it because I mean, the dude guy doesn't sleep like during the week, Like.

00:15:48
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know how I mean Tag.

00:15:50
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember when Tags started doing it, and I think I messaged him and I'm like, you're a maniac, Like you're insane for doing.

00:15:57
Speaker 3: This, you know, like it's crazy, no beast of a content.

00:16:00
Speaker 4: It is totally crazy, and it's it's overkilled.

00:16:04
Speaker 2: But yeah, like that's why we love it, right because it's so overkill.

00:16:07
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about some fantasy football a little bit here. So far this season, what to you has been the biggest surprise?

00:16:14
Speaker 4: I think for me, it's Javonte Williams kind of hitting this renaissance running back that was really great as coming out as a prospect. We saw a lot of flashes from him. You know, there was the Javante Williams versus Melvin Gordon off season battles. Who could forget that those long debates. You get that one game where Javonte plays Gordon's out scores like thirty five fantasy points and we're all just like, oh man, Like this is like wheels Up suffers the devastating injury, and usually it's that one year, right that it takes a guy to get back to Okay, if he's ever gonna get basking be one year after his injury. And then it just doesn't happen for Javonte, Like it's like two years of movies like okay, Like he's still really inefficient, Like he's still really bad. Are we ever going to see Javonte again? The Broncos push him to the side, they don't want him anymore. Signs with Dallas, We're thinking, okay, like this is I mean, this is your bread and butter when it comes to like, hey, you got to target ambiguous backfields. Javonte is cheap, but he plays an offense that we expect to score a lot of points. So I think from like a process standpoint, it made a lot of sense to be in on Javonte to some extent this year. Where he wasn't pricey, it was Miles Sanders, who I think a lot of people viewed as like, okay, like he's If anyone's like completely washed, it's probably more Miles Sanders, Yvonte Williams is and then Jayden Blue. It's like explosive pass catching rookie running back, but not someone that profiles as a bellcow in any way, shape or form. So I just think that Javonte getting the job doesn't necessarily surprise me, but for him to be this effective, it's kind of the part that surprised me the most. Like any running back can stumble into some touchdowns on a good offense, but not necessarily be efficient, be more of a play. But he's checked off every single box in terms of well getting Belco usage, but pass catching, breaking tackles, being efficient. And you look up and you think this guy's twenty five, twenty six years old, yright like, is this the beginning of Oh, this is just the start for Javonte because he just has he just missed so much time with that injury. But so for him, For me, it's definitely Javonte Williams and again drafted him a decent amount. But now knowing what I know, I'm like, dude, he should have been an auto click every single time.

00:18:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know.

00:18:31
Speaker 2: That's the thing.

00:18:32
Speaker 1: I look back at two of my biggest and I I've mentioned this on the show before, but like, I'm okay with like missing on some players because we're going to miss on plenty of players each year as long as like process was logical and sound.

00:18:44
Speaker 3: When doing it with Javonte, I.

00:18:46
Speaker 1: Was like four spots below market and running back rank right, And I was definitely drafting more Jayden Blue than Javonte, just because I'm such a sucker for the pass catching stuff. And you know, even knowing that Blue was not gonna be a bell coow I even wrote that up whenever talked about that backfield. But the thing that really annoys me about Javonte is exactly what you're talking about, you know. It's the ambiguous back like I wish I was more overweight. I drafted him in the King's Classic Snake Draft League. And when I did it, before I announced the pick, I said, I'm about to vomit here, but I'm going to take Javonte Williams. And everyone just started booing me and like no one wanted Javonte, like like that was in like you know, earlish August.

00:19:25
Speaker 3: No one wanted him.

00:19:26
Speaker 1: And right now my team sitting in first place largely because of him, you know. And it's funny too. I had a conversation with Scott Barrett DM conversation with him, and he messaged me and he goes, who's the one player that you are afraid of of being like like not having enough of? And my answer, this is back in July. My answer was Javonte Williams, and it's coming back to haunt me. I just think process wise, like you said, looking back in hindsight, we should have been more in on the At least I should have been more in on this, because I'm not even one that takes running back efficiency metrics and stuff to heart that nearly as much as I would other positions, because we know it's so indicative of what's.

00:20:04
Speaker 3: Going on in their surroundings and stuff.

00:20:06
Speaker 1: Offensive lines playing great there for him, like so many things have broken his way, no doubt, Like this is like a ninety fifth percentile outcome, you know, like let's just be real, But this should have been part of it, more more of it, part of his range of outcomes. I'm taking the l on Javonte this year just just from that perspective.

00:20:20
Speaker 3: It's him.

00:20:20
Speaker 1: Calvin Ridley was the other one where I was higher on Ridley than the market. When every ounce of research that I've done historically that everyone remembers and even hits me up about every year is don't target pass catchers and even running backs center on teams with rookie quarterbacks.

00:20:34
Speaker 3: And I ignored it.

00:20:36
Speaker 1: Because I was like, he's going to see a high target share and it was really really bad process, and I'm really mad about it.

00:20:40
Speaker 2: But yeah, I like that call out about Davonte.

00:20:42
Speaker 4: Yeah he's interesting too from a dynasty perspective, very think because he's not that old. So how is the marketing to view? Again, he's on a one year deal, so it does this open opportunity to Dallas. Okay, he's our running back the view or is it?

00:20:56
Speaker 2: No?

00:20:57
Speaker 4: Like because tradition, I mean, ever since I paid Zeke, been terrified of investing anything in right backs. Right, They're like they're like, no, thank you, Like we'll just take somebody else, take another guy off the scrap heaps. So it'll be interesting to see how Javonte shakes out rest of season. But I mean right now, Like, I mean ten top top ten running back rest of season. And I think that after he kind of put up a dud this past week, I mean, he's a really good guy to try and buy low on.

00:21:22
Speaker 2: All right.

00:21:22
Speaker 1: Another question I have is that this is kind of convoluted, But is there anything out there right now in the fantasy football world the community where people generally accept something as fact, maybe like an anchoring bias going on, where something happened early on in the season, like for instance, I talked about this earlier this week. The Chargers offense not nearly as good as what I think people would believe right, Like the Chargers offense has scored two or fewer offensive touchdowns in every game since Week one. You know, they haven't been near like they have a below average number of touchdowns offensively scored this year. Are there any like situations teams players where you think the market the consensus is feeling X, but you're like, no, this X plus one or X minus one.

00:22:02
Speaker 2: So this is one that I wrote down.

00:22:05
Speaker 4: The statistics for this particular team, and as I wrote them, I'm thinking, in my mind are these real? Are these made up stats? Because I still can't believe them. And it has to do with the Panthers and their run defense. So they're third in run defense DBA this season, no idea. It's insane because I could ask anybody about, hey, how do you think the Panthers run defense is like, oh, it's probably.

00:22:27
Speaker 2: Like the worst in the league, right, because that's how it always is.

00:22:31
Speaker 4: Even Week one, Jaguars Travis Etn has this monster game and you're like, a, right, here we go again. Panthers defense sucks. But that's not really been the case. Even last week I was really high on Javante. I was like, man, like, he's gonna smash. I know that a Chan had a tough game against the Panthers two weeks ago, but you know Miami, their run game, it can a little be like hit or miss, so that was probably more fluky. But than Javonte goes out, it's like two point two yuards preparing them. What is going on here with this Panthers run defense. I'm like digging into the digging under the hood a little bit. Like they've had fifty rushing yards total the last two games total. I'm like, what so, And then then I try and figure out is there like a certain defensive player that got back that is like causing this like a major impact. The only thing I could find was so they Pat Jones is an offensive line or an outside linebacker. They have he's been back the last couple of weeks, but nothing about his individual stats would suggests that he's like this Lynchpin defensive player. So I don't really know exactly why they're playing so well, but something has changed and they're playing significantly better against the run and they actually are getting too. Shaun Wharton back this week of defensive tackle they signed in the offseason who got hurt in the beginning of the year and we're like, all right, they're going to be terrible again. So I don't think this is nearly the same type of smash spot that again, I was talking about Breese Hall.

00:23:49
Speaker 2: I think a couple of weeks ago.

00:23:50
Speaker 4: Fio oh Man like he's got the Panthers coming up, Bengals like this is great, and now I'm like, the Jets can't catch a break.

00:23:56
Speaker 2: Ye, the one thing they can do is run the.

00:23:58
Speaker 4: Ball, and now they're facing a improved Panthers run defense. So that is something that really stuck out to me about this Panthers defense just in general. And it kind of also leans into the Fields question about this week. I know a lot of people have questions just because Fields was so bad last week. But he runs, so is he gonna be fine? But if there's no passing floor without Garrett Wilson, I get you want to play fields, you just trust the spreadsheets. He's gonna run, does a matter of everything else. But at the same time, I don't know how you feel super super great about it because we've seen what he does and he doesn't have that fourth quarter spike, especially when it's without Garrett Wilson.

00:24:38
Speaker 2: You just get really really concerned.

00:24:39
Speaker 4: And then when you throw in some of these facts about the Panthers defense maybe not being as bad overall as we all think, I think that was something that really surprised me.

00:24:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, that is pretty surprising.

00:24:49
Speaker 1: That reminds me because I'm looking at my adjusted fantasy points allowed numbers. This adjusts for strength of opponent, and they're bottom five as an opponent to running backs this year, like one adjusted for strength of opponent, And then like, this reminds me of the I tweeted about this and I talked about on the ten Trends episode. Atlanta has been unbelievable defensively this year too. Like Atlanta's literally top three against every fantasy position and adjusted points allowed so far this year.

00:25:13
Speaker 3: You know, like.

00:25:14
Speaker 1: There's stuff like that where you know, I think that obviously there's going to be some variants and some just like some noise to stuff like this, But it's really easy to just make assumptions about certain matchups and certain things that we do at the gut check at times, and like have these moments where we're like, oh wait, this is not actually nearly as good or as bad of a matchup as we think or this is not nearly as good or bad of an offense as we think. I think the Panthers call out really really key, And I too, am worried about Fields.

00:25:41
Speaker 3: Like my initial rankings on Wednesday had.

00:25:43
Speaker 1: Fields, you know here wherever I had them, and he's just been going down the list as the week's gone on, because it's just frightening it, Like it's really really scary the thought of him without Garrett Wilson this week.

00:25:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, Fields to me, and it's something I need to put on a sticky note somewhere when I'm drafting, Like Best Ball Team Tams Right, Fields is such a better in basketball quarterback because when you don't have to worry about how you because there's emotion in this game, right, and when Field puts up a dud like last week, nobody feels good about playing in the next week.

00:26:13
Speaker 2: Right, But you all know, well, he's probably.

00:26:15
Speaker 4: Gonna score twenty points because he's gonna run an eighty r touchdown. But mentally it's so hard for you to capture that. But in Best Ball you don't worry about that.

00:26:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, It's like.

00:26:23
Speaker 4: It's not because you don't have to end up putting him in your starting lineup, but every single week you're looking at fields in your line to be like, do I drop this?

00:26:30
Speaker 2: Do I drop this guy?

00:26:31
Speaker 3: But then at the end of the season he's the QB seven in points per game.

00:26:34
Speaker 2: Really exactly like the roller coaster quarterbacks.

00:26:37
Speaker 4: I know, Kyler Murray's kind of in like this too, where you just never feel confident starting them, but you know that at the end of the season, Okay, his total output is going to be a top twelve quarterback, Like draft those guys in Best Ball, where it doesn't matter. You know when you have to start them, you don't need to be right about it. I think the predictability of it is the emotional side of justin fields and maybe it's just him specifically because his passing his low passing games are just so bad.

00:27:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the weapons in New Yorker are horrendous, like objectively horrendous, So it's just like it's just compounding that whole idea.

00:27:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, all.

00:27:09
Speaker 1: Right, let's talk about Rashid Rice here, because he's returning this week.

00:27:13
Speaker 2: How do you feel about Rice?

00:27:14
Speaker 1: Like I've seen some people saying that people are being too aggressive in ranking him and how they're using him this week and they don't necessarily see like top ten right away because he's coming off with an injury, and et cetera, et cetera.

00:27:27
Speaker 3: How do you view Rice coming back this week number one? And then how do you think he impacts the rest of the pass catchers and playmakers and the chiefs offen?

00:27:34
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that he'll have a substantial impact coming back. I know we said Jeremy Fowler report that talked about how they're going to be full bore with Roshie Rice, and then somebody asked Andy Read about it, and he was like, well, you can ask Jeremy about how Rice's snaps are going to play with like tongue in cheek about it, like with a smirk. So I think that he's going to play enough to be a usable fantasy asset. I think that I have him in the high and wide receiver two range. That's kind of where he is in Fantasy Pro's ECR ranking. So I would say that the ECR is probably pretty aggressive on him. I think that if you have him like, you're probably gonna start him, especially if you've been waiting out this long.

00:28:12
Speaker 2: I know.

00:28:13
Speaker 4: I think Yahoo did a poll where they were measuring you know, what's your record with Rashie Rice, and most people are like two and four, and I know, like specific I have a team with Rossi Rice, and I am definitely two and fours, So I'm like, I'm ready to put them back into my starting lineup for sure.

00:28:29
Speaker 2: And I do think that the matchup.

00:28:31
Speaker 4: Is pretty good for him against the Las Vegas Raiders when you look at what he did as a rookie against the Raiders because he didn't play them last year before his injury. He double digit targets in both games against the Raiders. The Raiders run a lot of zone coverage. I know Matt Harmon and his reception perception has talked about how great Rashie Rice is as the Chief's zone beater. I just think that he's different from every other receiver they have on that team. I mean, like Juju, I guess is like the closest thing to a Rice type of Colonne. And then obviously the rookie they draft h He's been obviously banged up, so they haven't really able to really use him. So I think Rice could could They could drop him in, and I think he could leave the team in targets. The game script could kind of gets kind of weird it'so the Raiders because this game looks like are the Chiefs going to just put up like a forty burger and like we're back? Like and so is that why Rice doesn't hit? Is because like the Chiefs are just blowing out the Raiders. So he just has to do enough to be like, hey, I'm back. So I guess kind of that's my expective or expectation for him when it comes to his impact on the other players. I think you've done a good job of outlining this where I mean we saw last year like Travis Kelcey's like numbers like Tank when Rice is out of the field. So Kelsey has been every week just like Sell Sell. So just like, you got to move off this guy sooner ride than later, because I think he's going to be hit the most. Obviously he has touchdown appeal attached him homes if he's gonna be throwing three or four touchdowns every single week.

00:29:53
Speaker 2: But besides that, I'm not feeling great about him.

00:29:56
Speaker 4: I think Worthy is probably the hardest guy to peg because we haven't seen this worthy with Rice on the field the same we're seeing a rookie version of Worthy very very raw, where they're still trying to figure out his role. I do think though, that the Chiefs have kind of shown their hand with They're ready to go back to twenty eighteen with these launch codes and just blast Xavier Worthy down the field. So if Worthy does pay off this week, it's because he is used as a vertical threat, as a passed that catcher down the field. But I think that his production is going to definitely be more volatile on a week to week basis, especially if Rice is gobbling up all the underneath targets and then the other guys just kind of fade into the background. So I don't think Worthy is totally dead. I kind of want to see at least one week of him with Rice because it's a chance that they kind of like are molding all these different pieces together at once because they've been this high flying attack We're trying to attack downfield because that's the receivers they've had, is like Thornton and Marquis Brown and Xavier Worthy. But now they get their underneath zone beat or back, so maybe the A dot comes back a little bit down.

00:30:56
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean, I really.

00:30:58
Speaker 4: Wish I had all the answers to it because I think it's definitely interesting to see. It's funny because like the first thing, you know, I write a recap every week about every team, and like what I was most interested in the first thing.

00:31:09
Speaker 2: But it was like cheefs okay. So Russian Rice was back and here's what happened.

00:31:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm to the point where it's like we can definitely make the downside case for Rashi Rice, you know, like like we know he's coming, you know, he hasn't played in a really long time at this point, but the upside case is clearly there too, Like clearly he has like top five upside in Fantasy, and the wide receiver position overall is such trash in Fantasy this year that I could understand someone being really bullish on Rashi Rice, you know, like I get that that argument for sure.

00:31:39
Speaker 3: I'm hopeful that we see a decent amount of Rice this week.

00:31:42
Speaker 1: Definitely worried about Travis Kelsey, like you said, and then Xavier Worthy. I don't know, man, I mean like last year down the stretch when we saw them sort of like like him get better Fantasy production and even in the playoffs, and he was performing better his Adot fell a good bit and now his Adot's not necessarily as low and Rashi being back means that that's probably gonna, you know, like Rice is gonna get a lot.

00:32:03
Speaker 3: Of those lower lower right out books. And that's a little bit scary to your point.

00:32:06
Speaker 1: It's like the volatility of Xavier Worthy could be there and it's not like he's been.

00:32:10
Speaker 3: Like unbelievable in fantasy even now.

00:32:12
Speaker 1: So I definitely think there's there's like Rice is the dude, in my opinion, who's going to be the most stable in that offense.

00:32:19
Speaker 3: Let's talk about the Patriots backfield.

00:32:21
Speaker 1: Trayvon Henderson Romandre Stevenson both playing out of their minds poorly. Do you think that there is going to be a shift eventually this season where we see less Remondre and more Traveon Henderson.

00:32:33
Speaker 4: It depends on if Trevon Henderson starts to play well or not. That has kind of been the biggest thing with me. You can get upset, and so I am a Patriots fan, so like I watch a lot of these games, like really really closely, and to me, it's really been not due to lack of usage for Trevan. I mean, he's getting around ten touches a game.

00:32:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's getting He's getting enough work to be able to see what is this guy about exactly.

00:32:59
Speaker 4: So I'm not gonna like put the blame necessarily on like the coaching staff.

00:33:03
Speaker 2: Now.

00:33:03
Speaker 4: I don't like how they just continue to go back to Ramandra every time he fumbles the ball. It's becoming like a joke at this point where it's it's getting ridiculous. But if you just look at the PFF grades for running backs, three of the four lowest grade running backs are all Patriots running backs.

00:33:21
Speaker 3: That's not great.

00:33:23
Speaker 2: So they all have been really bad.

00:33:25
Speaker 4: So and you think, okay, well Antonio Gibson, if he's out of the picture. Now it's a two man backfield, makes literally no difference because they are committed to using at least two guys in this backfield because I do think that they don't want Henderson to break down. We saw at Ohio State that Henderson was always more effective when he was used in tandem with another running back. We saw it with Queen Judhn Judkins because when Ohio State over used him with touches, he got hurt and he would get injured. The thing with him is he just hasn't ripped off any of these Marquie big plays that we were sold on at Ohio State and in the preseason, right, all he did was just every time he touched the ball. It's like thirty yard game, fifteen yard game, twenty yard game. He has like no explosive plays this season, which to me feels like more of an outlier than anything else, because we know he's explosive. Yeah, Like it's in there, right, Yeah, Like we know it's there for him. And it goes back to kind of your point when we're talking about running back efficiency, the run blocking is nelso not there. It has not been a good run blocking unit. The offensive line of the Patriots is not great. It's been better in pass pro than run blocking, for sure, And a lot of the reason why it's better in passbro anyways, is just because Drake may is playing like Superman, so he's definitely covering up a lot of the offensive line woes. I do think that something else that's important to note is in the two games that Henderson has the most targets this year, those are the games of the Patriots, both lost. He hasn't really seen as much negative game stript as you'd expect because the Patriots have had a really easy schedule, so they've been able to play with more leads than I think most people would have anticipated. And that's not necessarily great for Henderson, who, Okay, you want him Patriots down ten two minutes drill, they're driving, Let's get him more targets in the past game that really hasn't been the case except for those two games against the Raiders and Steelers where he had three and six targets. So that's kind of why the receiving hasn't been there as well. So I think right now, if you have Henderson, it's really more of a hole for me. I don't think that you want to sell low on him because for the reasons I laid out, it just takes one play for him to kind of get going. I really think that the first time he rips off one of these big exposive plays, I think that's going to start to build him some momentum. And Mike Frable was actually talking about how or is either Mike Fraber or someone that talked about one of his press conferences where he thinks that the running backs are running too afraid because they're afraid to fumble the ball, so they're running really they're playing really, really tight, and that's why you're not seeing as many explosive plays because they're afraid about the security. It's like, you can't fumble the ball, and they're not running freely. So I think those are some of the issues that the Patriots running backs are kind of dealing with.

00:35:59
Speaker 1: I have a new too, with how they're deploying Henderson. They're not really swing them to the outside very frequently. There's a lot of runs up the gut, especially like last week. I mean, if you look at his like next Gen stats chart of his rushes, it's just up the gut over and over.

00:36:13
Speaker 3: It's not his game.

00:36:14
Speaker 1: Like they need to get him some swing passes, more wheel routes from a receiving perspective, and even just just get him to the outside on runs and give him some outside looks.

00:36:24
Speaker 3: Because that's where he can thrive. Like you can't use trade.

00:36:27
Speaker 1: Like to me, they're kind of using Travion the same way they'd be using Madre and they're just two completely different running backs.

00:36:32
Speaker 4: You know.

00:36:32
Speaker 1: It's just it's just not the way that I would have expected them to deploy him. I was really high on Henderson entering the season. There's no doubt, and so I'm I'm upset about how things have gone for a lot of reasons, right, but I think one of them, like if I were to say what I'm frustrated at with what New England's done, I don't blame them necessarily for like giving him the share that they're giving him, Like you just talked to you know, like, like you said, like his workload isn't like that insane for a rookie running back during the first half of the season. What I do have a problem with is I don't think they're using him to his maximal like skill set. Maybe part of that is the fact that he's been the opposite of what everyone pegged him as from a pass pro standpoint, and so like they just don't want to get him in certain sets, in certain plays.

00:37:17
Speaker 2: With that would push me outside because his pass.

00:37:19
Speaker 1: Pro is so poor and they want they don't want the opposing defenses to see something that's that's obvious coming their way. But regardless of the reasoning, like get him in space more, let him use that's that speed and explosiveness, and that's where, like you said, we can hopefully see him thrive. But I kind of agree. It's like, let's just give him Like all of these rushing metrics. I actually talk about this in my Mailbag episode, But like all of these rushing metrics this time of year, let alone, even during a seventeen game schedule, they can be very very skewed by just one big play. And even Remandre Ramandre's numbers right now are very skewed by him playing Miami, Like the majority of his rushing yards overexpected came in that game against Miami when Henderson was benched, like when he couldn't pick up blitz pressure and it was past pro was horrible, and so like there's just a lot of funkiness going on here.

00:38:11
Speaker 3: I'm not like overly optimistic at this point.

00:38:13
Speaker 1: I'm I still think he's a hold, like you said, but I just want them to use him a little bit differently, get him out in space a little bit more, and hopefully we see some of that this weekend. But like you said, probably a positive game script against Tennessee, you would.

00:38:24
Speaker 4: Think probably a twenty five carry game for Remond.

00:38:27
Speaker 3: Right, yeah, right, exactly exactly.

00:38:30
Speaker 2: What about RJ.

00:38:30
Speaker 1: Harvey, Like, are you in sort of the same boat with him, like or are do you feel differently because the competition for RJ. Harvey seems to be there, seems to be a bigger barrier for him with JK.

00:38:41
Speaker 3: Dobbins versus Rimandra Stevenson.

00:38:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree with that statement there where Dobbins is playing well, like he's been good this year for the Denver Broncos. However, I do feel Harvey has impressed me more than Henderson has just what he's actually done on the field. So he's been the lot as a receiver. I mean he's been dusting Dobbins as a receiver. He's at thirty percent target raate perrauh and that's top five among all running backs. And even when we're getting little sprinkles of Tyler Bidet or j Leon McLoughlin as pass catchers, still Harvey is the guy that has the most running back targets on the Broncos. So I think that's pretty telling of how Sean Payton is using him. And I mean Sean Paynon does this with every single running back he talks. But I know in the broadcast in the London game, he talked about, well, you know, I'm the guy that's holding this guy back.

00:39:30
Speaker 2: It's like, dude, you stay this. It's like you say this about every single player that you draft.

00:39:35
Speaker 4: It's like, man, if only we get this guy on the field more, it's like, wow, crazy if you're the guy that controls that. So you can't really take anything. Sean Payton says, like too legitimate. Again, he knows that Harvey's obviously a talented guy. I do think that Harvey has a chance. It's more of an injury thing with him. Yeah, but I would say Dobbins has a pretty strong track record of not staying healthy for seventeen games. So when you're going to like comparison Harvey to Henderson, I don't. We've already seen it where Gibson's injury didn't unlock anything.

00:40:07
Speaker 2: With Henderson.

00:40:08
Speaker 4: I don't think anything changes. It's more about how he's schematically used in the actual offense, and that doesn't matter. If Remandre goes down, they're just going to bring up someone for the practice squad to be the hammer. Ten Henderson, So I don't think that his overall volume is going to change, Whereas if Dobbins does get banged up, well, now you're adding in.

00:40:24
Speaker 2: At least basework for n J. Harvey along with the receiving.

00:40:28
Speaker 4: We've already seen him start games for the Broncos this season, so there's already been that opening crevice where it's like, hey, the Broncos view him as a one B to one A of JK. Dobbins, And I mean, yes, you want to continue to play Dobbins while he's healthy and he's being efficient. So I do think that Harvey still has a really high ceiling. And again, we see running backs go down every single week this year, so I think that Harvey is definitely a hold, and if not a cheap by low because we've seen this before with Dobbins, like he has never been a guy that stayed healthy for the entire season, And I would be really excited about Harvey if that were to happen to him, if he were to miss time, because I'd like putting Harvey's down on the field. So far, we are talked about the pass catching, Oh, you need a little bit more base work. You get him some red zone usage, and le Broncos actually have a good run blocking unit unlike the Patriots. So although they're probably viewed kind of similarly in rest of season rankings, I'd much prefer Harvey for a lot of difference.

00:41:23
Speaker 1: The difference too, is that when Harvey's on the field, they are doing the things.

00:41:26
Speaker 3: That I wish the Patriots would do with trade Van Henderson.

00:41:29
Speaker 1: And you know you mentioned this targets per our run rate, Like that's intent, right, Like that is we're trying to get RJ.

00:41:34
Speaker 3: Harvey the ball when he's running these routes.

00:41:36
Speaker 1: He's had a thirty percent plus targets perl run rate and each of his last four after starting not at you know, like at seven percent and ten percent to start the season. So good call out there. With Harvey being more involved. We got to talk about the Panthers backfield. How do you expect this to go down? Obviously this week might be a little bit different because Tube is coming off an injury, but like let's say we're looking at like week eleven. I don't know where when they're by, but let's say we're looking at like week eleven, how do you see this backfield split looking between Chewba Hubbard and Rico Dwell.

00:42:06
Speaker 2: You know the Seahawks backfield.

00:42:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, right right.

00:42:11
Speaker 2: I think it's going to be that. Yeah, that's that's what I think.

00:42:14
Speaker 4: So I think it's going to be a disaster, yeah, for fantasy football purposes, because I do think that the Panthers think they have two starting running backs on their team, and I don't like when it's a binary case where well, Rico Daddle is the man, he's great, and Chimahbbard sucks, because I don't really think that's the case. Both of these guys rushed for over a thousand yards last year.

00:42:36
Speaker 3: They're both solid.

00:42:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, they're both good running backs, and even this year, look at rushing success rates, so that's kind of taking it. I like success rate because it takes out the large runs as this really boosting your yards per carry. It's just like on a down to down basis, is this a good running play or a bad running play.

00:42:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, And both Rico Dowdle and Chibba.

00:42:56
Speaker 4: Hubbard are top four and rushing success rate, just like they were last year. So it's a good problem for the quote unquote real life Panthers to have because oh, we've got two good running backs.

00:43:06
Speaker 2: This is fantastic.

00:43:08
Speaker 4: Obviously, it's a disaster for fantasy football because I do think that when Hubbard is back up to speed, to your point, this week might be a little bit different because he's coming off a calf injury. If they're both healthy, I think it's going to be more of a fifty to fifty split, and it could be drive by drive, it could be okay, more situational base. Maybe they liked out a little bit more on third downs. I know that that's kind of what we got from like the preseason usage, although Hubbard kind of had like encouraging receiving stuff.

00:43:35
Speaker 2: This shit, it was so weird.

00:43:36
Speaker 3: To start the year Tuba Hubbard.

00:43:38
Speaker 1: I look, I mean part of this was me being tilted because I've mostly faded Hubbard this year, but like the fact that he had two garbage time receiving tochdowns in those first two games. Now, I'm like, I'm sitting there watching the games, like you've got to be kidding me right now that he's just getting these because like it just they just came, like he was just happened to be on the field during the two minute drill whenever they you know, we're doing what they were doing, and then he gets like the exact same play.

00:44:00
Speaker 3: Really when he gets that. But now, I mean, i'd be worried that Dawdle's on.

00:44:03
Speaker 4: The field at that point, you know, yeah, so I yeah, I think it just hurts both guys. I would say, straight up, who do I want right now? I think your best bet is just bet on Rico being the guy in terms of maybe Hubbard doesn't come back or maybe he gets reinjured, right, and then you have that ceiling path with Dowdell as just give me the guy who I know is one hundred percent healthy, and that is Rico Data.

00:44:26
Speaker 2: It's a calf injury, right, and this calf.

00:44:28
Speaker 4: Injury was something he had already reinjured before, right, So it was at the it was the Patriots game where Hubbard wasn't playing at the end of the game and on the broadcaster're talking about, oh, like, he entered this game questionable with a calf injury and he reinjured it and that's when he missed the next two weeks.

00:44:43
Speaker 2: And it's all when we obviously saw Rico Data have these monster games.

00:44:46
Speaker 4: So that's kind of why I'm like, hold on to Rico, do out just you know, like one more week if you can, just to make Hubbard prove that he is healthy and back, because if he comes back, oh no, like my calf gets retweaked these calf achilles injuries really really weird. Then you're going back to Rico dadle as, you know, a bellcow running back that you're obviously super excited to play. So yeah, if both guys are healthy, it seems like it's going to be a disaster. And at the end of the day, it's the Panthers offense too, and you know what is the actual ceiling when they're not playing the Dolphins and Cowboys.

00:45:17
Speaker 1: Right right, right, right exactly, let's talk about Camp Scataboo. I think this is one of the more interesting topics in fantasy right now because obviously the vibes are there for him in the Giants offense and people get really hyped about it.

00:45:29
Speaker 2: Like I'm all for people just like getting.

00:45:31
Speaker 1: Really into a player in fantasy football and just wanting to root for him, and then you know, maybe paying a premium on that just because it's fun.

00:45:37
Speaker 3: That's fine.

00:45:38
Speaker 1: But I saw a lot of like, you know, here are the running backs that would take over Camp Scataboo rest of season after that Thursday night game, and it was like five running backs. You know, It's like that's it, just these these these five dudes. So where are you at with Skataboo. Do you think he'll come back to Earth a little bit? Do you think Tyrone Tracy will be a little bit more involved? Like how do you look at this giant's backfield at this point?

00:45:57
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:45:57
Speaker 4: So I had a lot of soul searching after Camp Scataboo's Thursday night game because in my piece written every Week, I talked about Scataboo as a sell high candid because I thought the vibes are already.

00:46:07
Speaker 2: Good too early on that. So that was a big l on my part.

00:46:15
Speaker 4: But a lot of that stemmed from not the player himself, because I remember, you know, I try to write all my thoughts in these articles about how viewing players in buying and selling can be so market dependent, and really it's like, well, what what are you getting back in return? If this is the value, if this is what the trade market has on this player, like he should be a buy or now he should be a sell, because like you said, I've seen someone trade CMC and Skim for Camp Scatabough, like like those are the types of trades you're potentially getting here. It's like sick, like take CMC, like like that's what I would do. So I think with Skataboo and what I was really frustrated about, I mean, this is going back to like a process standpoint. I didn't necessarily hate the process of talking about him as like a cell high in terms of, well, look at the schedule, right, He's facing the Eagles, it's good defense. It's going to the Broncos this week, and he's facing the Eagles again on the road next week. But then Jalen Carr doesn't play. I'm right, man, If I had known that, I probably wouldn't have been as aggressive as like trying to sell this player as a cell high. And that annoys me that I didn't bring that type of information where it's like if Jalen Carter was injured and even a couple of weeks ago, like with Trey Benson too, Like there were some rumors that he was like potentially banged up after that Thursday night game, and I didn't read into it enough and I'm like recommending Trey Benson as a BILO and then he gets put on an injury reserve and I'm just.

00:47:33
Speaker 3: Like yeah, yeah, yeah. Then I didn't give us much information on Ben.

00:47:38
Speaker 4: So, like I was kicking myself for that too, because I'm like man like I want to be because at the end that I really want to try to be detail oriented and not miss these types of things, especially when it's not like subjective, right, it's like, no, like Jalen Carter is not playing in this game. Yeah, that means it's like a much better matchup now for Camp Scataboo. So those are things I'm always trying to look at, especially with some of these defensive players and sometimes offensive linemenes. Games like those stuff aren't talked about nearly as much, especially when the market completely overlooks it. I know last week, for example, the Broncos had one of their starting guards, then powers that didn't play, and then their offensive and then they don't run the footba effective. So it's like, is that you know, was that the reason why they were so inefficient? So just trying to take advantage of things like that. But just Scott, it was specifically, Yes, the schedule is getting a little bit tougher. I didn't think Tyrone Tracy was going to make much of a difference, Like he wasn't really a moving needle if anything. Was just like, well, like he's also coming back, so maybe that does factor in like a teeny tiny bit didn't really make a difference up on Thursday night. But going back to offensive line issues, Giants lost their starting center John Michael Smith's to a congression on Thursday. So what if he doesn't play? Now, how effective are they running the football? So I think that because he's such a he's a three down workhorse, I think that there's always going to be a floor with Skataboo.

00:48:57
Speaker 2: And his prospect profile was pretty fantastic.

00:49:00
Speaker 3: Spi from crazy production profile.

00:49:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, aside from just like the general like speed things from him, I think he was one of these players that I talked about day two or he didn't have Day two draft capital, but if he had Day two draft capital, he would have been one of like six or seven running backs that was able to enter the year with at least thirty receiving arcs per game on his resume. And then the rest of the guys in that list are like Najee Harris, Travis etn Saku bark Lee, Joe Mixon, like all these Ejremior Gibbs, like all these like absolute running back studs. At Shargona is also in there too, and you know, he probably would be good if he had a backfield to himself. But so yeah, that's kind of my take on Scataboo. It's if you can take advantage of the hype and get someone to really really overpay, I think it makes sense. But I do think that he is a good player, and even in tougher matchups, yeah, maybe they won't be as productive, but I do believe in the talent. And that's kind of why I was also kicking myself on selling him, because I don't like to sell players that I do believe in. That Like, I think that he is a good player. So it does depend on what your return was, And obvi, you would have rather been selling now because you're getting definitely a much higher return than you would have before Thursday Night.

00:50:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, look, I think that you're right, like it's a volume driven play at this point where I don't know if there's like legit we like top five rest of season ceiling, but I do think that there's gonna be a nice floor for sure. You know, for Scatabu, I think that what we saw in college and what his production and what his profile in general said is translating like really good at breaking tackles a maniac on a football field, but also doesn't necessarily have that like explosion and that you know, his explosive run rate was terrible in college, and so that's all translating in my opinion, it's just that. And I do think that Tyrone Tracy is like a good compliment to Cam'skataboo, like that that's a backfield tandem that makes a lot of sense hypothetically. But yeah, I mean, like I have a hard time assuming making the assumption that the Giants offense is just gonna wreck like they did last week every single week, you know, like we have have to at least be moderately like logical and rational about that side too. Teams, Like I love Jackson Dart, super love that Jackson Dart, but you know, teams are gonna get more film on them, like they're gonna figure him out a little bit more, They're gonna contain him a little bit differently, Like there's there's stuff like that that we have to think about too. And they obviously don't have that pass catcher with Molik Neighbors going down.

00:51:19
Speaker 3: So I like Skataboom.

00:51:21
Speaker 1: I don't think that he's like an obvious cell just because, like you said, the market's kind of all over the place with him.

00:51:26
Speaker 3: But if you can sell for like a legit RB one, I think that you should real quick.

00:51:31
Speaker 1: We're gonna go through like a rest of season this guy or that guy thing. Okay, you can give me a brief, you know, answer. You can just give me the player if you want to too. But I know that you're You're one that would probably want to give at least some logic. But I'm gonna go through a handful of these. I've been doing this on perspectives. People seem to like it. First one, Brian Thomas versus Jalen Wattle.

00:51:51
Speaker 2: I will go with Jalen Wattle.

00:51:53
Speaker 4: I've just seeing it more with Wattle in Tua to be like him as a wide receiver. One versus Trevor Laura and Brian Thomas Junior, which I feel like is still like a work in progress.

00:52:04
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah. How about Ashton gent versus Saquon Barkley.

00:52:08
Speaker 4: Genty for me, give me the the young legs. The Raiders somehow have like a decent schedule rest of season for running backs, and Barkley.

00:52:16
Speaker 2: Has it's been bad.

00:52:18
Speaker 4: She's been bad this year and the Eagles offensive line has issues. Egles offense again, that was almost one of the things I put for Surprising Stats. Although I think that most people believe the Eagles offense isn't good, I'm not sure people would believe like how bad it's been, because it's been like really bad.

00:52:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been not great. Cortland Sutton versus Tedoroa McMillan.

00:52:39
Speaker 4: Yeah, so Courland Sutton, I've tried to have too many takes on him after I called him out as like, so, this was a couple of years ago. I called him this year's Cooper Cup after Cup had his like monster year year.

00:52:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, but one nod on Reddit also lets me forget it.

00:52:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sure really, but it was one.

00:52:59
Speaker 4: Of those things where it did kind of humble me a little bit and like, hey, understand how things work when you have a hot take, like yeah, it's all fun and games and you do it, but then you gotta you gotta pay the repercussions if it doesn't work out. So I feel like I've learned and matured from that from that experience. That being said, so I try to keep my son and takes very very limited. I think he's I like the player, but I will go with a Tetrovic villain here. Yeah, I really liked what I've seen from him, really high floor first five weeks of the season, has the touchdowns last week and if they turned to Andy Dalton, great, like like sign me up.

00:53:35
Speaker 1: Suddon's so bizarre because he's literally if you go look at his target chairs every other week he has a high target chair, it's it's high and low, then high and low. Then it's just there's an there's an inconsistency there that if he doesn't score on those lows like we saw last week, it's just it's it's rough, whereas it's the Bonix and yeah, right right, yeah, it's just not the you know, I think Sutton's good and fine, it's just hard to to like, you know, if he could only have those and he'd be great.

00:54:01
Speaker 2: Kenneth Walker versus Jackry Krossky merrit, I'm gonna go with Bill here.

00:54:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you gotta go Bill.

00:54:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's sad.

00:54:09
Speaker 4: He's the he's the rby one on his team and Walker is in this committee. Really we just need one of these guys to just not be as involved and they would be a hit the Seahawks love to run the football. Yeah, and right now, it just it pains you every time I look at the box score when it's ken carries for Kenneth Walker eight eight point nine yards per carry. Yeah, jarmon a two point two yards will carry two touchdowns.

00:54:35
Speaker 3: Yeah. I talked about it on the show this week too.

00:54:38
Speaker 1: They have the Seahawks running backs this year have sixteen total targets across the entire season. Christian McCaffrey in Week three had fifteen, right, Like, that's also the problem is that, like the issue with Jacory Crosssey Merriot is that he doesn't catch passes, right Like, they're not using him and deploying him as a receiver enough, and he's you know, seeing these sub ten percent target shres week in a week out, and they use Jerry McNichols in that role. But we're not getting that from Walker and Sharbonay anyway. So there's not even upside from that perspective. Obviously, if Sharboney were to get hurt, I think the answer would be a little bit different, but it's it's this is the way it is right now, Drake may versus Baker Mayfield.

00:55:13
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go with Drake May.

00:55:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, I am too.

00:55:17
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:55:17
Speaker 1: I mean, look, props to Baker beating my regression allegations so far this season. Although he has regressed and touchdown right a little bit, but he's balling out, man, he's balling out. And and here's the tough part.

00:55:29
Speaker 2: I had.

00:55:30
Speaker 1: I had Baker as more of a fade this year, Like I didn't think that he was like a great great pick at like QB whatever seven or whatever he was. But he's just so fun that I'm not even mad about it, you know, like he's just he's a he's a really easy guy to root for.

00:55:43
Speaker 2: But I agree with Drake May.

00:55:45
Speaker 1: Here, let's go Juwan Jennings versus Matthew Golden.

00:55:51
Speaker 4: So Jawan Jennings has shaven up to be this year's Michael Pittman playing through. He's gotta be out there playing through like a broken back and all these juries.

00:55:58
Speaker 3: It's crazy. Yeah, Matt Matt Brida. I remember when Matt Brido would do that.

00:56:02
Speaker 2: For San Francisco.

00:56:02
Speaker 1: He would just be out there, He'd have like one limb and he's just he's still doing it.

00:56:07
Speaker 4: So I don't think we're going to get the same season we got from Dwan Jennings from last year, especially with all the quarterback injuries and who do we know is going to be available for the San Francisco forty nine ers by the time Jennings is healthy enough?

00:56:20
Speaker 2: Is I yuke back? He's Pierce all Back?

00:56:21
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:56:22
Speaker 4: What is the state of this office? Who's the quarterback? So I'll just call with Matthew Golden. I like what I've seen from him. I think he looked really impressive. He's looked apart man like he's one of the He's one of the guys that I feel like Jordan Love third down, Hey, who's going to catch this?

00:56:37
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:56:37
Speaker 1: Like obviously Romeo Romeo Dobbs is getting his, you know, and it's it's great and fine. But like like I have Golden on like and again one of the my My King's classic lineup. I drafted him, and it's he's a perfect player to have when you have a really big starting lineup, right, Like you're not trusting Golden when you have two wide outs that you're starting and maybe one flex or something, but when you have three wide outs and three flexes, like, he's a perfect you know, has it has it's a decent enough floor and then and then maybe you know breaks a big one, and just because the offense is obviously solid, speak of that offense, Josh Jacobs or James Cook.

00:57:10
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go with Josh Jacobs here. Yeah. Would you have said that two weeks ago? Though I don't, I don't know. It's close.

00:57:19
Speaker 4: I actually have them bank ranked back to back in my rest of season ranking. So this was a good pull for you to pick these two guys. I like Jacob's schedule rest of Season's one of the top schedules for running backs on the Fantasy Pro Strength of Schedule tools.

00:57:32
Speaker 2: So I like that.

00:57:33
Speaker 4: And in the Packers, they like to spread the ball between all of these receivers, but when they get to the goal line, we know who's getting the rock.

00:57:41
Speaker 2: It's Josh Jacobs.

00:57:42
Speaker 3: Yep. All right, last one you mentioned Michael Pittman.

00:57:45
Speaker 1: Will say Michael Pittman versus your Patriots Stefan Diggs.

00:57:51
Speaker 2: Gotta buy Stefan Diggs.

00:57:52
Speaker 4: Guy got jipped from a fifty one yard game last week on some bs OPI goal. So because I went back, I was so mad at it. I went back and did the math. I added that catch in if he had counted to Diggs's yards per route run the season. So if he if that catch counts, he's over three yards per rout run the season.

00:58:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean they're not deployed.

00:58:11
Speaker 1: They're not even deploying him like that much, which is the crazy like he's he's still getting it done.

00:58:17
Speaker 3: For the most part after you know, a little bit of a hiccup to start the year, just like from a deployment standpoint. But yeah, man, I mean he.

00:58:23
Speaker 1: Uh, let's just let's just see what happens with all the trade rumors too.

00:58:27
Speaker 2: You know, let me let me just give you hypothetical.

00:58:30
Speaker 1: If Jacobe Myers goes to New England, are you still taking Stefan Diggs over Michael Pittman.

00:58:36
Speaker 2: Probably not.

00:58:37
Speaker 4: I think that would probably move the for me, especially if Josh Downs, I know he's dealing with his concussion now that he has a thing, and Pittman is is solid, has been much better.

00:58:48
Speaker 2: He can probably score touchdowns.

00:58:50
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the Lord finally all I needed was Daniel Jones go figure finally find the end zone. So I think both players are good. Obviously, Pittman has a strong resume of one hundred and fifty tar good seasons. I remember drafting Pittman this year just on the sole purpose of he was like wide receiver fifty and adyp orts. Yeah, I'm just thinking there's not forty nine receivers that are better than Michael Pittman, So I'm just going to take him.

00:59:14
Speaker 2: I just don't believe that.

00:59:16
Speaker 4: So I think, yeah, if everything stays the same in New England, I would go with with Digs here. But if there is a receiver that gets moved Jacoby does come back to doing newing, and I probably would go with Pittman.

00:59:28
Speaker 3: All right, favorite buy candidate right now.

00:59:31
Speaker 4: So it actually was going to be stefand Diggs. Like, that's someone that I am really really excited about. I like this matchup this week against the Titans, thirty second in DDIO against number one wide receivers.

00:59:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's one of the guys I want to buy.

00:59:44
Speaker 4: I think after the bad week, he's someone that I want to take advantage of.

00:59:48
Speaker 2: PFF six highest greater wide receiver this season. Stefaneah, he's playing well.

00:59:52
Speaker 3: All right, favorite cell candidate right now.

00:59:55
Speaker 4: Drafts DN, I think that he is screaming cell. Matchups coming up are definitely not great for his production. He benefited earlier in the year from good matchups and a lot of really long runs. Going back to the yards per carry versus rushing success rate type of metric, Etn still averaging over five yards per carry that looks absolutely fantastic. Success rate is sixteenth worst in the NFL. It's actually nearly nine percentage points lower than his backfield teammate Mischelle Tuton. Who Tun I think that they're kind of keeping in bubble wrap a little bit.

01:00:32
Speaker 2: He's got shoulder like every week.

01:00:35
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, so he's been in the injury report every single week, and then he gets taken off and then he ends up playing like a handful of snaps here and there. So I don't think that he's one hundred percent healthy. That might change after the Jacksonville Wars like go on their bye week, which is going to believe after this week because they're playing in London, so rams this week in London, then thereby Raiders been decent against the run, and then the Texans, like those are just not great matchups for running backs.

01:00:58
Speaker 2: So Travis Etn.

01:01:00
Speaker 4: I still think that he has enough of that early season production that you can sell him for a decent return. And I love Bschelle Tune. I think that guy is so so good, and this is the week where you start to see him hit the waiver wire like like I just like I knew it was gonna happen because eventually people just get sick of these like hyped up rookies. They're like backups and handcuffs. And this is the week that he starts hitting the waivers. So just if he's out there, like just just scoop them up just case.

01:01:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, at the very least, he's a high upside handcuff. And if there's an injury that happens to Etn, like you know, it's a great it's a great run scheme that you want your running back to be playing behind, you know, playing stuff.

01:01:39
Speaker 4: And Etn has done this act before where starts out the gates d even his best year twenty twenty three, where he was an absolute monster, hell off in the second half of the season, Like he does this every single time. He falls off in the second half of the season and fades. So if he starts to fade, I think Tune can be a big benefactor.

01:01:57
Speaker 3: It's a really good point. All right.

01:01:59
Speaker 1: Last thing I've been asking everyone bold prediction for Week seven.

01:02:03
Speaker 4: All right, so this could have been also my by low player, but I wanted to feature during the bold prediction because I feel like that's more emphasis about how I'm excited. I think we're going to see a breakout game from not Rashie Rice, but Isaiah Pacheco. Like that's who I actually think could be a big game player for the Chiefs this week.

01:02:23
Speaker 2: I with Pacheco.

01:02:24
Speaker 4: What I've noticed is the snaps have climbed the last two weeks, seventy seven percent snaps. In Week six, he had the majority of red zone carries over Kareem Hunt, and I thought that he looked a lot better. He had four explosive runs production stats rushers of fifteen plus yards against the Lions. He had four of those combined runs leading up two week six. If we see this Chiefs offense turn back into a fantasy wagon and they're just scoring thirty points every single week, well I think that's going to benefit They're starting running back. I get the Chiefs to throw the football, so Pachecko's going to have to do it through efficiency, and in this specific matchup against the Raiders, I think that there actually is a chance that he can rip off some more big runs. So with Pacheco this year against stacked boxes, he's averaging seven point five yards per carry, which is third highest in the NFL, fourth highest and success rate. The Raiders leave the NFL in terms of stack box rate. So I know that stack boxes can kind of sound scary for a running back going bump against that team, but what it really means is, yes, there's a lot of more there's more stuffed runs, but it also means that you make one guy miss, you're not one, and then you're off to the races. So Pachecko, the reason he's also like kind of like a by low for me is because dude, people want nothing to do, like get and and the state of the running back position, like people are hurting right now. You want to start Zach Sharbone, like like you want to start a Texas running back right So it's really tough times. And if you can just get Pachecko for a bench wide receiver Chobbe Myers, Oh but maybe gets traded like take them like your running back that I think actually has a high ceiling. I think you'd have a big week in Week seven, and I think it'd be glad that you scoop them up while he was really really cheap and basically free.

01:04:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, love that call, man, Love this conversation.

01:04:11
Speaker 2: This is great.

01:04:12
Speaker 3: Love to having you on. I'm sure people will will agree.

01:04:14
Speaker 1: Let everyone know what you're working on, where they can find you all that good stuff.

01:04:18
Speaker 2: Yeah.

01:04:19
Speaker 4: So it's Andrew Rickson over at Fantasy Pros and also at Betting Pros. So that's where I do all of my weekly content from my Fantasy football Waiver Wire Beyond the Waiver Wire column where I basically write about every single team, bilo sell high trades, waiver ads, breaking all, breaking down all thirty two teams, team by team analysis, and then throughout the week I have betting articles that come out the feature picks against the Spread, my favorite props for every game, anytime touchdown bets, tons of fun if you just kind of want my perspective on the game from my betting lens, and I throw in some fantasy wrinkles here and there as well. That's over on bettingpros dot com and you can find all these articles. I tweet them out over on Twitter at Andrew Erkson Underscores, same handle on Instagram, Blue Sky All the socials even on TikTok. You can find my ugly face up there on the fantasy pro side of thing, the betting pro side of things, just having fun. Not as good as the kids are at generating the algorithm the best I can, but I do what I can.

01:05:15
Speaker 2: Love it.

01:05:16
Speaker 1: Make sure you guys are following this podcast, the Late Round Podcast anywhere you can get your podcasts and subscribe to the YouTube channel YouTube dot com slash at Late Round FF. Thanks for listening everyone, but more importantly, instead of saying thanks for listening, thanks for tuning in.