Transcription
With the injuries this year, it almost matters more who you pick up on the waiver wire than who you actually drafted. Like going back and looking at last week, hell, if you picked up D, if you picked up Rashad White, you probably won your matchup. So, I'm going to go through and talk about the injuries that we have right now and hopefully try to find the next Rico Dattle.
Now, obviously, if any of these players are on the waiver wire for you, you would go ahead and you pick them up immediately. Darren Waller at tight end follows up a very strong season debut with an even better game where he actually comes through and he gives you 18.8 fantasy points, five targets, five receptions, 78 receiving yards, and looks like he'll be a focal point of this offense whenever you have no Tyreek Hill, which will be rest of the season.
Going over and looking at Rico D, the man himself, um, there's not a guarantee that Chuba Hubbard comes back this next week. And if we look at what Dow just did, he was the running back one in week five with 32 and a half fantasy points with over 200 rushing yards and a total of 27 opportunities. He could have had himself an even bigger day if you had another rushing touchdown.
Going over to Rashad White, Rashad White was probably rostered even before the Bucky Irving injury, but I mean, hell, he scored 23.1 fantasy points this past week was the RB7. And realistically, Bucky's probably going to be missing this next week and White will be a must-start name yet again.
And obviously, Jalen Krosky is probably rostered in your league, but if he wasn't, if you're in a super shallow format, then here you can look at him as well. He had his first day with over a 100 rushing yards and his first day with over 10 receiving yards on top of it.
Now, let's look at the players that maybe aren't rostered in your league. These are the guys that are rostered in fewer than 60% of leagues. Um, if you watch these videos, you probably know Michael Carter should be on your roster. We had him as the number one pickup of all Arizona running backs last week. This is who I put highest in my rankings for a multitude of different reasons. One, it's honestly who the underdog projections had higher. And two, also you had the clip circulating where he was saying, "Oh man, it's crazy. Went from the practice squad to being the starting running back." I saw that and went, "Oh, he's probably the starting running back over Dermacado." and he comes through and in his first game that we see with him this season, he actually has himself a fine performance. He has 18 carries and on top of this, you go back to his time coming out of college, we can remember that he was actually a pretty damn good receiving back. This was a dynasty darling back in the day. So he had 23 total opportunities. And this doesn't even account for the fact that when Dermacado did get involved, which was very little, he kind of cost the game for the Arizona Cardinals. Like you saw the coach going berserk under Mcacado on the sideline in this contest. So, I'm going to assume that Michael Carter, who is clearly the starting running back this past week, remains the starting running back for the Arizona Cardinals. If you look at my rankings on the site, you'll see that rest of season, I currently have him as RB 29. I would like to be higher on him, but a couple different issues. One, it's probably still going to be a committee with some combination of Dermacado and Bam Knight. And two, it's the Arizona Cardinals. They don't look like they're a great team. They're not going to be leading the majority of the games they play in. While yes, they were leading this Tennessee Titans game until the very end. It was against the Tennessee Titans. You'll have tougher matchups in the future.
Now, our next running back that is very, very important to talk about is going to be Hassan Haskins. And we can throw in Videll here as well. Now, just like last week, you have to call your shot. We have very little information about either one of these running backs. Very similar to the Arizona backs last week. And I called my shot on Carter. And this week, I'm going to call my shot on Hassan Haskins. The reality of the situation is neither one of these running backs is guaranteed to be anything at all. Keep in mind, the Los Angeles Chargers coaching staff looked at their running back room going into the off season and they went, "Hm, let's go and sign Naji Harris in free agency." And then when they were in the NFL draft, they went, "Hm, let's take Amari and Hampton in round one." So, I think that goes to speak on the talent profile that you have with these two players. Now, I will say obviously you have the um coaching connection for Hassan Haskins who did spend his time in college at Michigan. And then with Videll, this is who this coaching staff decided to take in the NFL draft last season.
Now, if I'm profiling these two RBs, realistically speaking, you more likely than not have Hassan Haskins as the first and second down grinder. Now, can I say this confidently based off what we've had through his NFL career so far? Not at all. The dude's had about 60 total carries in four seasons played. So, we haven't seen him at all. And actually, go back to his rookie season in 2022, he had 12 targets to only 25 carries. So, you'd assume actually maybe he's more like the receiving back. But if we go back to what these running backs were in college, which is really the last time we had them with a very serious workload cuz Videll realistically didn't do anything in his rookie season either. In college, Hassan Haskins wasn't a massive receiving back. Neither was Videll, but he was just to a slightly larger extent. And if we look at the usage of these running backs when Amari and Hampton went down this past week, they did really split this into a running back by committee. Hassan Haskins, he had 14 snaps. Videll had 14 snaps. They both had one target. Haskins had five carries. Videll had four. So, we can't take anything away from the usage that we had this game. And we can't really take anything away from what these running backs have been so far in their NFL careers. We really have to go back to college. And there I think Hassan Haskins was the more impressive running back and I think he does profile to be the lead RB.
Now, one thing that's worth mentioning is that you have a chance, just a small one, that this team goes shopping. Whether that's with the New Orleans Saints and Alvin Kamara. And honestly, it's funny enough because when you look at the announcement on Twitter that Amari Hampton was out for the season below it, all it is is gifts of Alvin Kamara with Chargers fans hoping that they get him, which is a very real possibility. And again, I I think it's going to be a split backfield. It's a bad offensive line at this point with the injuries and these running backs are bad as well. So, I'm not going to sit here and try to act like either RB will be a league winner.
Now, what I know is a winner is actually the promo that Underdog Fantasy has been running over the past 10 days. Over the past 10 days, we've had more people join Underdog Fantasy with Code Flock than ever before. And the reason is is they have the best promo that I've ever seen them with. I've been with them for five seasons. And right now, for a limited time, if you use code Flock on Underdog Fantasy, after you play your first $5, you are going to get $100 added into your account. And on top of this, you'll get free questions that you can ask me in the live streams. And I'm going to be live streaming every single day answering those questions until Christmas. And you'll get a free Jaylen Hurts pick, higher, lower, half a total yard for the Thursday night game. Underdog Fantasy is available in almost every single state. And you can find that link in the description as well as the comment section.
Now, moving over to our next best pickup. Kindred Miller is actually a better pickup than Videll for me in my rankings. I have Hassan Haskins currently ranked at RB 42. I have Miller ranked at RB 43 and I have Vidal ranked at RB 50. Obviously, I just wanted to talk about the Chargers running backs together. Miller currently is available in 28% of leagues, which I was surprised to see. But what's really unique with him is his role is actually expanding in this offense. Like you go back and you look at what Alvin Kamara has done so far this year, you can see this chart from PFF where Kamara's snaps, they are just going down and down and down. You sprinkle on the fact as well that you actually have reports coming out of New Orleans indicating that they are willing to trade away veteran pieces. And I think we can clearly see, yes, the Chargers are going to be shopping for Kamara. At least that's going to be the hope. So with Miller, he's had back-to-back games with double-digit touches. And now you have the outside chance of an Alvin Kamara trade, propping him up to immediately being a must-start RB. Because keep in mind, Miller was a great running back prospect coming out of school. He was also a dynasty darling, very similar to Michael Carter. The issue was the previous coaching staff in New Orleans hated Miller. Like the way that they would talk about him was insane. They were acting like he was pretending to be injured so he didn't have to practice. Like unbelievable. So I think he's very much in play to actually be like the next, I I want to say Rico Dattle, but the Saints offense is too bad for that. But I do have him as my probably third best pickup this week or actually second best pickup only behind Hassan Haskins, ignoring the obvious adds.
Now moving over to actually some tight ends. Obviously, we don't talk tight end too often in these waiver wire videos, but Mason Taylor looks viable. Like, if you go over and you look at what Mason Taylor's done so far this season, one, he has one hell of a name, and two, you are looking at a player that has had back-to-back massive performances where he had 11 and a half fantasy points against the Miami Dolphins with volume, 65 receiving yards off of seven targets. And against the Dallas Cowboys, he has 12 targets for 67 receiving yards. So over the past three weeks, Mason Taylor has actually seen a total of 25 targets. And keep in mind, this is a tight end with pedigree. This is a tight end that went in the second round out of LSU in the draft this season. A lot of people were in on Mason Taylor. A lot of people were in on T.J. Hockenson. Uh obviously T.J. Hockenson turning out to be nothing, but you're not going to have every single one of these round two tight ends hitting. It looks like Mason Taylor is the guy out of that group of Elijah Moore, T.J. Hockenson that's going to do something this year. It does for sure help the fact that there's only one viable option in this offense outside of Mason Taylor being Garrett Wilson. And also, the Jets aren't great. So, you are going to see them have to ask Justin Fields to drop back more often than they were, especially knowing that they lost Breece Hall in this offense.
Now, Theo Johnson will be our next name. What's very interesting to discuss here with Theo Johnson is his prospect profile coming out of college because keep in mind with Mason Taylor, with Theo, it is going to be very important to remember what they were coming into the NFL because they are extremely young and we really haven't had a chance to see them too often. But Theo Johnson was just a freak athlete in college. He really didn't produce. He really didn't do much at Penn State. But similar to other Penn State players like Mike Gesicki, he goes to the NFL combine and it was unbelievable. The dude ran a 4.57 40 dash, which is obviously great for a tight end, but he did so built like I am. He is 6'6", 259 pounds. Like I can't fathom me at my size running a 4.57 40 yard dash. So the ceiling from an athleticism perspective is already through the roof. The issue was he just really didn't produce in school. So he's a raw player coming into the NFL. So obviously you're not expecting him to do much as a rookie. And he doesn't do much as a rookie. He averages 5.7 points per game. He has 3.6 targets per game, 2.4 receptions, but now all of a sudden we are actually seeing him get more involved. And I think this should be something that we expect going into the future as well. Because keep in mind, Malik Neighbors went down in week four. And in weeks four and five, you now have Theo Johnson with a total of 12 targets. And with those 12 targets, he's had three touchdowns. Now, of course, that touchdown efficiency is going to get scaled back. There's no way that that keeps up. But it goes to a reason that a 6'6" player is going to score touchdowns at a higher clip than the average NFL option. Between the two of them, I would prefer Mason Taylor over Theo Johnson. I have them tied in 20 and tight in 21 in my rest of season ranks, but both of them are very viable pickups, not only as streamers, but players with long-term upside.
Now, Kendrick Bourne will be the last guy that we talk about. Um, with Kendrick Bourne, I'm going to have him on the lower list of priorities here unless we have word from 49ers practice on Tuesday that you are going to see Ricky Pearsall and or Jauan Jennings missing practice or missing the game because if they both miss, we saw last week that Kendrick Bourne will have to be in your lineup because they will have legitimately no other weapon in this offense where they decided to just force feed him. 11 targets for 10 receptions and 142 receiving yards. And we've seen this a couple times in the past where there are a few players in the NFL or at least a few teams in the NFL where frankly it doesn't matter who's out there. The coach is going to scheme points and the coach is going to make it where the offense is effective enough to get to the end zone. And that looks to be the case in San Francisco. And if we get to a spot where Bourne's the last player viable, then obviously you can start him.
Now, let's go over and let's look at the DST streamers. I lost my matchup this week. Sadly, I've now fallen to 4 and 1. I know that um, it's the worst thing that's ever happened to fantasy football YouTube. Trust me, I get it. You're very disappointed. But a big reason was I started the Seattle Seahawks DST last week. I thought Seattle was good enough where I didn't have to stream and blah blah blah. No. Um, I should have learned my lesson. We know that we are streaming defenses every week. The number one defense this week, and it won't even be remotely close, the Green Bay Packers get to play Jake Browning and the Cincinnati Bengals. If somehow somebody dropped the Packers in week five, you would go ahead and you would pick them up.
Now, going over and looking at what we have with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers will be a must-start defense. They get to play the Cleveland Browns and there's a chance somebody dropped them because again, they were on bye. The Philadelphia Eagles are going to be a great play on a short week against a rookie quarterback that has no Malik Neighbors. So, I would go ahead. I'd play Philly with confidence. Um, the Raiders get to play against Cam Ward. The Raiders aren't any good, but neither are the Titans. The Broncos get to go up against the Jets. They're probably already rostered in your league. The Rams get to play the Ravens with no Lamar Jackson. So, if the Rams DST out there would be a great name, um, the Los Angeles Chargers get to play the Miami Dolphins to with no Tyreek. The Indianapolis Colts get to play the Arizona Cardinals who obviously look like they are just spiraling. And then you have the New England Patriots playing the New Orleans Saints. And the Patriots defense actually looks a lot better now that they got Christian Gonzalez back in comparison to where they were earlier in the year.
But I think that's all I got for you. Again, I want to remind you and I want to thank everybody. Again, we've had more people sign up to Underdog Fantasy with Code Flock in the past 10 days than we've ever seen. Obviously, it's because Underdog is doing the $100 bonus when you sign up and play your first $5 with Code Flock. It's insane. Never had anything like it. And on top of that, you'll get a free Jaylen Hurts pick. More than less than half a total yard for the Thursday night game. And you'll get free questions you can ask me in the live stream that we're doing every single night. And on top of it, Underdog Fantasy is available in almost every state. You can find that link in the description and comment section. But I really appreciate you and I really hope we get to see you out in the live stream later.