Transcription
Whether you're going to win or lose this week, today is an opportunity to improve your fantasy team with the waiver wire. And I think we need to approach this week in a very specific way. So, we'll talk through that.
But just quickly, here are some injuries that we're currently dealing with heading into week number eight. Jaden Daniels with the hamstring injury. Waiting on MRI results um to find out the severity of that. Bryce Young with the ankle. Most likely we will see, you know, the old man Andy Dalton start this week. Brian Thomas who's on the buy. Darren Waller, you know, waiver wire for a couple weeks he helped you but it's looking pretty bad right now. Cole KTC, could that be helpful for another tight end? We'll talk about here in a second. And then Kindred Miller.
Now, before we get into my favorite pickups, I want to go to a segment that I'm going to call honey traps. Okay? Because these guys may look attractive. You're probably going to see them in a lot of waiver wire articles and in videos, but in my opinion, they're more likely going to hurt you than not. So, if you're going to pick up any of these names, then you need to spend zero of your fab. They should not be your highest priority. They should be a pickup if nobody else is interested, right? I don't want you to go out there and waste your fab on the following names. Okay? Okay?
Because approaching the waiver wire, you can also save fab for important players or waste it on non-important players. So, for example, a name like Devin Neal. Now, Kendra Miller went down with an injury. Uh, now Devin Neal, let's be honest right now, Alvin Kamara is a starting running back for the Saints and there's very little fantasy value. So, you would need an injury to Alvin Kamara even for Deon Neal to present some sort of value and that might not even be valuable. So, don't waste your time picking him up.
All right, DK from the uh Tennessee Titans. Yes, he had a touchdown uh and he looked pretty good. Four catches for 70 yards and a touchdown. But this could be the the start of something brand new with obviously the play calling changing in Tennessee, but I don't think that it's reliable from one week to the next. So, be very, very cautious picking him up.
How about all of the Commander wide receivers like Chris Moore who had two catches for 59 yards. Like Jaylen Lane who had three catches for 60 yards. Like Luke McCaffrey, who I argued with my live stream for like 30 minutes not to start him and a lot of people did. Two targets, no catches. Even before he had the concussion, even before Jane went out, he did nothing. It's probably going to be Marcus Mariota this week. None of these guys are reliable anyway. Even if Marcus Mariota was there and ready to go.
How about Parker Washington? Well, go pick him up. He's on a buy. You're not even sure if you would start him if he's not on a buy. So, he's on the buy. It's pointless to go pick him up. Let's be honest about that. Uh, okay.
How about Pat Freiermuth? Yeah, we're talking about a guy in week seven, 65% of the snaps, caught five of them for 11 11 yards and two touchdowns and not a single game outside of that over six and a half fantasy points. This is not a guy that you're picking up and starting. There are plenty of other tight ends that you can pick up and start straight away. So, these are not guys that I think you should spend any important fab or priority on in this week.
Now, before we jump into, you know, my pickups that I actually do think you should prioritize in smaller leagues, if Travis Hunter is out there, he definitely should be rostered at this point. Here in week seven, uh, for the first time, they really featured him as the number one wide receiver. He had 14 targets, caught eight of them for 101 yards and a touchdown. This team said they wanted to feature him more as a wide receiver. They did it and for 24 points, the second overall pick in the NFL draft to kind of finally step up, that's someone you have to take seriously. So, if if for some reason he's out there, go pick him up.
Okay. My number one pickup that should be available available in a lot of leagues. Or Gadden. All right. Uh he's only rostered in 2% of ESPN and Yahoo leagues and 11% of Sleeper leagues. This week, Aronda Gadston had nine targets. By far was the most utilized tight end. Right. Tucker Fisk had just 13 snaps. Will Dissly had just three snaps. They are featuring Aronda Gadston, right? On those nine targets, they were down the entire game. So, you have to keep in mind that's not always going to be the case. But in those nine targets, he got seven of them for 164 yards and a touchdown. And what's awesome about Gadston is most of these tight ends, you're just getting dump-off looks and there's not really much ability to stretch the field, high-value targets. But that's the opposite with Gadston, right? They are targeting him down the field. He's able to create big explosive plays. I mean, he actually set a record, broke Antonio Gates's record for the most receiving yards by a rookie Chargers tight end in any game. And uh also, by the way, since 2000, he has the most receiving yards in a single game by any rookie. His participation and routes are going up from week three, 28% to 50 to 64 to 77% of the routes in each of the last two weeks. I mean, this is a real rookie breakout happening right in front of your eyes. So, if you're struggling at the tight end position or even at the flex, I mean, if this continues, I'm not saying it will, but if it continues, right, you could have a chance to have someone as valuable as like a Quinton Johnston or a Keenan Allen the way that they're using him. So, I'm willing to spend about 15 to 20% of my fab to get Gadston on my team, maybe more if you're really, really tight and needy.
Okay, my second pickup here is going to be Kyle Manongi. Now, with the Chicago Bears, um, they obviously dominated this game against the New New Orleans Saints. So, we don't know if it was a more competitive game what the usage would have looked like, but DeAndre Swift had 36 snaps. Kyongi right there at 31. When you look at routes, run targets, carries, they're pretty close to each other. Obviously, Swift led the way with 20 total touches, but 15 touches for Kongai, very promising. And he turned those touches into 81 rushing yards, 13 receiving yards, and a rushing touchdown. 17.4 fantasy points. I want you guys to think about something. What if we talked about all offseason with Ben Johnson and how he deploys his running backs? We talked about look at what he did in Detroit with the names like J.K. Dobbins and David Montgomery. Well, for the first time this year, DeAndre Swift and Kyle Manongi, both great fantasy finishes. Could that be a sign of things to come? I don't know, but I would love to roster him to find out because he certainly is showing plenty of enough uh, you know, flashes to warrant a roster spot at this point. 10 to 15% of my fab on him.
Okay, next up, a lot of you guys probably need help at quarterback this week with all of the buys and all the injuries. So, here are three quarterbacks that I think you can go pick up uh and start them this week. Starting off with Jackson Dart. Jackson Dart, you know, we've been hesitant to really call him like someone that you could stream every week because there's been a really a lot of really bad matchups that he's had ahead of him, but he just keeps performing, man. Versus the Chargers, his first ever start, 19.8 fantasy points. Then versus the Saints, 17. Versus the Eagles, 23. Then versus a really tough Denver Broncos defense, 29.4 fantasy points, three touchdowns. He's consistently getting opportunities on the ground as well as a rusher. There's enough of a safe floor with what he does as a rusher and there's plenty of upside with what he can do through the air. This week he faces Philadelphia. In week six he faced Philadelphia on Thursday night. He had 23.6 fantasy points. Philadelphia's defense is going to be better than they were that week because they had a lot of injuries, but still he's a really safe flex and maybe an upside play moving forward.
Okay, how about Marcus Mariota? This is if Jaden Daniels is going to miss some time. And if he does, and I don't know that at the time of recording this, then Marcus Mariota is a fine floor play, right? In week three versus the uh Las Vegas Raiders, he started for Daniels had almost 21 points. Week four versus Atlanta had 17 points despite having a turnover in that game. Now he gets to face Kansas City, which is definitely a tough defense, but they've given up plenty of of good games against quarterbacks. And with the rushing upside of Marcus Mariota, again, safe floor.
How about Joe Flacco, guys? So, his first game um with the Falcons, sorry, with the Bengals, he threw 45 attempts. 45 attempts. His second game with the Bengals, 47 passing attempts. He has two or more touchdowns in each of his games as a Cincinnati Bengal. He's throwing to Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, he's throwing to superstar wide receivers. I mean, purely from the amount of times this team is going to throw the ball, from the talent that he's throwing to, he's a safe play.
Okay, look. Beyond these names that we've just discussed, there is nothing guaranteed on the waiver wire this week. And I'll be honest with you, beyond those names that we've already talked about, I don't want you to go out and waste your fab on any of these other names. But we'll talk about their potential.
Starting off with Breece Hall. Now, Breece Hall is a little bit difficult to manage right now on the waiver wire. Uh, yes, he looked great in this game, but it was a blowout. The Raiders didn't score a single point, guys. Okay, so this was like the time for Breece Hall to go out there and shine. He had 28 snaps. Now, Kareem Hunt only had 15. However, Kareem Hunt also dealt with an injury. If there was a report out right now that you guys see where Kareem Hunt is out multiple weeks with an injury, the thing is he came back into that game and I don't think Kareem Hunt is just going to go away, but we did see Breece Hall with 19 total opportunities. Now, he turned those 19 opportunities into just 13 fantasy points. Wasn't super efficient on the ground, right? 39 total yards on 14 carries. Not great. Not what you want to see, but he's constantly used in the air. Like their Jet McKinnon, we've talked about this before. The Jet McKinnon role is up in the air and he is the one to fill it. So, look, he's a name that should be stashed. No doubt about it. But this is not a guy that you're looking at and saying, "Wow, 19 touches. I got to go make sure I spend all my fab on him." No. Okay, this was not a competitive game. Who knows what the, you know, usage would have been if it was a closer game. Kareem Hunt's not going to go away if he's healthy. So, yes, you can add him, but don't spend any more than 5% of your fab. He is just a stash at this point.
Okay, at number five, similar deal here as a stash. That is Israel Abanikanda. U now Breece Hall did leave this game with an injury. Um and it was to his ankle. Now we don't have exact details on exactly how severe it was. I can tell you that he did come back into the game. Uh defender landed on his ankle a little bit awkwardly. He did come back into the game though. He went into the locker room just before half, came back in, played more um snaps. So, I don't know uh that we're really going to see Breece Hall miss some time, but often if it's an ankle injury, these guys can play through it and then it swells up. So, if you guys are watching this later and Breece Hall is going to miss some time. Of course, we can prioritize Israel Abanikanda a little bit more. He's the most obvious name after Breece Hall. Uh he had 29 snaps compared to 33 for Breece. Was there in a lot of routes, uh running a lot of routes, sorry, in obvious passing downs, had only five total touches. And the reality is like even if Breece Hall misses this game next game, are are you really excited? I guess you know there's a possibility that we could see a trade for Breece Hall. Um but even then, you know, how excited should we be about an Israel Abanikanda with this team, right? With this Jets team that is just so, so bad. They face Cincinnati next week. So, I will say if there is a legitimate chance that Breece Hall misses time, then Israel Abanikanda would actually be a pretty decent start against a terrible Cincinnati Bengals uh defense.
Okay, look, news is constantly changing in the NFL, which means so are rankings, so are projections for the rest of the season. If you want my latest up-to-date rankings as soon as I hit submit, then become a season pass member with my promo code LAND. It's a $34 one-time purchase. When you use my code LAND, you're going to get all of my rankings, uh, some premium assets on the Flock site like the trade calculator, all the cool tools over there, as well as some vouchers to come on our live stream and ask us some questions.
Okay, at number six, let's quickly talk about Xavier Legette. He was almost in the honey trap segment. Look, Xavier Legette came out there and had 11 targets, caught nine of them for 92 yards. To me, it felt much more like a matchup issue than a Legette breakout. As in, they were very focused on stopping Tee Higgins. Uh, but before this, right, two targets the previous game, three targets the game before that. I just don't want you to go out there and spend like 20% of your fab on Legette or something. I don't think this is an indication that he's going to be startable each and every week. If anything, 0 to 5% of your fab.
How about Theo Johnson? Well, Theo Johnson actually had quite a few drops in this game and that was obviously very frustrating for the Giants. U because you you don't really want to see that. Daniel Bellinger also got some work. He played 52 snaps, but most of the targets did go to Theo Johnson. Seven versus four to Daniel Bellinger. And with no serious wide receiver outside of Wan'Dale Robinson, you can obviously consider a Theo Johnson. But again, between Theo Johnson, Daniel Bellinger, both of these guys are streamable, but they're both going to be boom or bust every single week.
Honestly, I should have this next name ahead of Theo Johnson because I think there's a a higher upside with him. And we're going to talk about uh Cole Kmet. Okay, the first round rookie tight end who hasn't gotten much work just yet, but the Bears did rule out Cole Kmet in their last game with a back injury. If Cole Kmet is going to miss some time, we could finally see Lovelin in a future role. What's really held him back is Cole Kmet, honestly. But this week, he had a career-high in targets with four, career-high in receptions with three, and had 24 receiving yards. If we can just get a game without Cole Kmet, what could Cole Kmet do? So talented. Anybody who's a Michigan fan would know that.
But look, I'm going to jump into some defensive streamers for this week. But just before I do, whether you won or lost in week seven, week eight presents a brand new opportunity to win some money with the DFS contest. Here are six players I like in week number eight. Bijan Robinson versus Miami. He should have a huge day against that Miami Dolphins defense. We're gonna put Chase Brown having 23 targets. Roman Reigns has a great bounce-back opportunity against the Baltimore Ravens. Breece Hall against the Cincinnati Bengals if he plays, right? Drake London, Courtland Sutton against the Dallas Cowboys. Uh you can set your own lineup. All you got to do is download the Fast Draft app. Use a promo code LAND. I'll match your deposit up to $50 and then you're going to get my week eight rankings completely free. You can check that out in the pinned comments below.
Last thing here on today's video, streamers for defense. Week number eight, the Colts play the Titans. That's the best matchup for your defense. The Patriots face the Browns, the Bills at the Panthers, and the Bucs at the Saints. Uh those first three are top 10 matchups for your fantasy defenses. The Saints, uh Spencer Rattler kind of unraveled a little bit last week. So, I like the Bucs against the Saints that week. But guys, I appreciate you so much watching the video. Do me a favor, hit the like button, show some love, subscribe if you like the content, and I'll see you guys in the next video. Nothing but love.
Draft with me every night this week on the Fast Draft app where there are thousands of dollars to be won weekly. Getting started is easy. Download the Fast Draft app. Use the promo code LAND at signup to get your deposit match up to $50. That's up to 10 free entries on us. And when you finish your first DFS contest, I'll send you my weekly rankings completely free. Check out the link in the pinned comment to start drafting today.