Transcription
We are back, but with a slightly different kind of episode this week. Since many of your leagues are getting closer and closer to the trade deadline, and more importantly, many of your enemies are choosing to not trade with all of you, we want to change it up a bit and focus this show on rest of season rankings, mainly notable names that are moving up and down our lists based on injuries and performances for us.
Absolutely. And my league mates must think I'm an absolute maniac because as soon as waivers cleared at like 6:00 a.m., I was sending trades out to get as many of these top 50 guys that we're going to talk about as possible. Uh, but yeah, uh, most of them declined. A couple of them countered, a couple accepted. Uh, but yeah, they definitely think I'm a crazy person. That's for sure.
And don't worry, we still got many, and I mean many, of your questions. We'll answer a couple of them at the end of this episode. But more importantly, one will have Farz's fantasy pros. That's the platform that it's on. Uh, including on Upper Hand Fantasy, his rankings in the description down below for rest of season. You'll see my images and screenshots that we will throw up throughout the episode on top of that. Uh, and you know, we'll compare those, see where Faz and I agree slash disagree, and maybe more importantly, where we are different than consensus, the expert consensus rankings on top of all this.
So, I pulled about six or seven really notable lightning rod players at this moment. And there's no one better to start with than the man of the week, the man of the hour. This is Panthers running back Rico Dattle. I mean, FAZ, in his three starts this season, he's run for 206, 183, and 130 rushing yards. He's both of our running back tens. He's my 16th overall player of the rest of season. Your 21st overall player. And we are much higher than consensus that have him as running back 14 and 30th overall. So why are we right and everyone else is wrong? Well, look at the workload that he's getting. The Panthers, since, you know, over the last four weeks or so, they've been the number one rushing team in terms of usage, right? They're the most run-heaviest team overall in terms of drop back over expectations. So, we're looking at a team that all they want to do is run the ball. They are going to get, they have been getting zero production really from the pass game. You look at Bryce Young's numbers, you know, over the past several games. We're talking passing yards in the hundreds, right? So, you know, and obviously it's affecting guys like Ted Karras and all that. And we wish that he could, you know, do well and he could be poised for a second half breakout if it wasn't for for Rico Dattle absolutely going nuts. Um, you know, there are some questions about the offense and the defense and the offensive line, but at the end of the day, man, Rico is just running wild. Um, and the volume is there and we just have to just assume that he's going to be an RB1 rest of the season.
It's so difficult, I think, to rank him around guys that we were selecting in round one and round two prior to the season. When you look at like the Saquon Barkley's or the De'Von Achane's, the Derrick Henry's, and there's a jump. And then there's, you know, some other guys like Kyren Williams, who we're about to talk about, and some other backs. But again, based on what he has done, how he has looked, how the Panthers are masking offensive line injuries, and again, just the individual talent he has to break these second and third level tackles for chunk yardage. And this should work in many matchups that they have in the future. Like, they have the Saints this weekend, then they face the Atlanta Falcons, they have an injured and battered San Francisco 49ers defense. So those are the matchups when he's going to rush for maybe 180 to 200 yards. And the passing game, like you said, it's much more difficult to throw for anything over 150 yards when you're getting that much rushing production and the clock runs and that's how they want to play. Meanwhile, there are some games against like the Rams and the Bucs in week 16 and Seattle in week 17 that it might not be as bankable as some of the, you know, top elite names that I talked about on just really, really good teams. So, it's this isn't going to be like a perfect system moving forward, a perfect pathway for success every single time. But, you know, you could have some top five and six scoring weeks and then some running back 18 and 19 scoring weeks. Just most importantly for us, what we have now in mind is Dave Canales has gone to him and gone to Rico Dattle knowing that this is the backbone, the foundation of the rushing attack. It is not series in series out swap between he and Chuba Hubbard. He is getting everything until he gets a calf cramp or a quad strain like he's gotten over these last couple weeks. You know, it's really frustrating when we can't depend on rational coaching, but in this scenario, it's like he was listening to us, man. He was on Twitter. He he was hanging out. He was listening to everything we were saying. But listen, I mean, he's he's a smart coach. He, you know, he's benched, you know, a rookie, you know, top rookie quarterback before. He now he did it again. Chuba Hubbard is one of the leaders of the team. This couldn't have been a a tougher decision for him to make, but he did it, man. He he gave the guy the hot hand, the entire keys to the backfield. Chuba was barely involved last week. Uh, and now moving forward, we're looking at somebody who is going to be the engine of this offense. And look, I might even be underrating him a little bit. Again, in his three starts, he's been the running back one, the running back two, and the running back two on those given weeks. And you and I both have him as the running back 10. And again, I think my biggest difference with these expert consensus rankings is that they have A.J. Dillon and even Bucky Irving ahead of him. And we know nothing about Bucky Irving's status at this moment, coming out of a bye week and not practicing is not great news. And then while A.J. Dillon, uh, is more prominent in the receiving game versus where he was in weeks one, two, and three, and that's helping him, he's going to have to have that because their rushing success has just been putrid and terrible this season. So, there's a chance next week for Oz where I have Rico, you know, ahead of Kyren Williams or ahead of Saquon Barkley or even ahead of Josh Jacobs. Like, this could potentially be a top five or six running back the rest of the way. It's just those opponents that are really freaking good in the Rams, the Bucs, and the Seahawks. That's preventing me from making him one of those top echelon guys, even if we've seen those top echelon performances in any given week.
And and look at the guys that look at the teams that he went against, too, right? Buffalo, Jets, Dallas, Miami, right? Like pretty bad rushing defenses. So, I I understand any sort of, you know, any sort of pushback people could have on on this type of aggressive ranking, because he he is going to have some tough matchups moving forward. But at the end of the day, like the fact that the Panthers were able to mask the offensive line last week against the Panthers, like that tells me a lot. Um, and you know, is it sustainable? I don't know. But it it was very, very encouraging, you know, what we saw last week against the against the Packers.
Yeah. And I really do think it is sustainable. Okay, let's talk about another running back. And it's not necessarily the rankings that were different, but you have this guy as a top 10 overall player and the running back nine overall. I'm at running back 11 and 19 overall. And that is Kyren Williams, who to me was such a discussion and conversation point this summer because we have seen him be, you know, a top five, six running back in fantasy circles for entire seasons. Um, we heard this offseason that they wanted to split the backfield. And for us, they have split the backfield, but what we have seen is the split backfield is actually making Kyren Williams run better, more efficiently, more explosive. And so, he can still, like I and you and I both have him as a top 10, 11 running back rest of way. I just want to hear from you why you believe he's a top 10 asset overall rest of way.
He's just one of the most dependable guys that you can have. Like when you have Kyren Williams in your lineup, it's really about dependability for me. Um, like last week, you know, Blake Corum was running well, but you you know, you look at the end of the game, he was still on the field for 68% of the snaps. You know, he still had 64% of the rushing attempts. Uh, 100% of the goal line attempts again last week. So he had 75% for the season. That's top seven. And you know, on an offense like the Rams, that's what you want, right? If they're not giving it to Cooper Kupp at the goal line, they're giving it to him. Um, and he's just he's Sean McVay's boy, right? There's like no chance like even though Blake Corum, Blake Corum can run so well, he could, you know, he could do his thing, he'd be efficient, but there's just I just see no way that, you know, Sean McVay ends up, you know, giving him even more snaps. Like Kyren expects it, like even during the during the during the series that, you know, Corum is out there, Kyren's on the on the sidelines with his helmet off, right? Like there is a clear plan there, right? And they know exactly what's what's going to happen. So, for me, it's really about dependability. Um, he's somebody who we know is going to get the volume. We know he's going to get the goal line carries. We know he's on a great offense. Um, and that's really what it comes down to for me. And a couple guys that we're going to talk about coming up here, not the most dependable options.
Yet. The reason I want to bring this up is twofold. One, you and I are both ahead of consensus. They have him as the 22nd overall player. Uh, but two, it's kind of in comparison to Rico Dattle, who has the backfield to himself, but obviously not on as good of a team here as the Rams. So, I'm choosing Rico slightly there. You choosing Kyren Williams slightly. I think to me, and when I go back and watch these games, Kyren Williams and Blake Corum this past week, despite some of the touches being slightly different, they did each get a series. And I'm not saying that truly is a negative here for Kyren Williams. It's just a very different uh outlay versus what we've gotten previously. Like, he's gone from 92% snaps in 2024 to still 72% snaps this year, which is still amazing. And there are very few running backs across the NFL that get, you know, 72% of the work. It's just not the same 92%. And I I hear you on the inside the five-yard line work, but he's just not getting as many touchdowns in that area because of the emergence of Cooper Kupp, who by the way has seven red zone receptions and seven touchdowns on those red zone receptions this year. Just to put that in perspective, Kyren had 12 rushing touchdowns from inside the 5-yard line last season. This year he only has three. And that big of a difference. Again, we're about halfway. So maybe that gets to six or seven or eight rest of season. You know, that's a 24 to 25 point difference here versus where he was last season. So, I really like Kyren and I've actually appreciated him even more this year because he doesn't have to be out there in every single snap. And again, just visually, it is helping him uh be more explosive and be more evasive against these linebackers and safeties.
Absolutely. You know, and and I I it's so close between these two guys. And I think the tiebreaker is really just the quality of the offense and the parity and, you know, he's just done it for longer, right? So, it's just it's one it's just it's just one of those things. And with Matthew Stafford, as long as he stays healthy, like this offense is going to be humming. And I'll say this, if the Rams, as we get closer to the playoffs and they have more difficult games or they are trailing, it wouldn't shock me at all if Sean McVey just abandons the split backfield and he just gives it all to Kyren because like you said, that is his guy and that's like his most dependable player on this offense.
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Next name, Marvin Harrison Jr. Before I get into the rankings for us, just overall, what have you thought about Marv and his connection with Jacoby Brissett versus Marv's lack of connection with Kyler Murray? That's really why I wanted to bring up his name here.
I am not convinced that there's that much more of a connection.
There's a clear connection with between Jacoby Brissett and Trey McBride. Like that is >> that is clear. But with if Kyler if Kyler played in this game against the Cowboys, >> I think Marvin would have been fine. >> Wow. >> I think he would have been just fine. I just I don't think Jacoby Brissett, you know, did anything amazing in this game against the Cowboys that Kyler Murray couldn't have done because it was a great matchup. Um, I I do I am of the opinion that he has outplayed Kyler Murray. Uh, I'm also of the opinion that that uh Kyler Murray has usually stoops down to the level of competition even in great matchups. Um, you know, he doesn't do as well. Like he might not throw for that four touchdowns that other quarterbacks might do against a defense like this. Um, but, you know, seven for 96 and a touchdown last week. Great. Awesome. Nothing crazy though, right? It wasn't this like 150-yard game that we that someone like Marvin Harrison Jr., that pedigree should be capable of. 36% target share. Awesome. But only 18% target share the week before that. 18% targets per route run before uh the week before when he got concussed. So before he got concussed, only 18% targets per route run. Um, Trey McBride the last three weeks, 31% target share, 36%, 29%. The touchdowns that he's had obviously has is well documented. So >> Totally >> I I think Brissett is playing better than Kyler were was and, you know, Call of Duty is coming up so like they're preparing for that. Um, but let's not forget that it's it's still Jacoby Brissett. It is again, to me, Jacoby Brissett is playing extremely well right now. Uh, you look at any third and five, third and seven, heck, even third and 12 scenarios, he's ripping these passes. And it's not just against the Cowboys. And I think maybe everyone is focusing in on that game because it was a prime time contest and you know how it is. We expand someone's entire season based on just when they're on national television. Go back and watch the Green Bay Packers game. I'm not telling you, I'm telling everyone else. Jacoby was standing in there and rifling these passes down the field. Tough, tight window targets. So maybe I'm overreacting here a little bit and we are quite different in this one. You're at wide receiver 32 rest of season here for Marvin Harrison Jr. 66th overall. I'm 49th overall and wide receiver 22. Comparing that, expert consensus rankings are right in between us. Wide receiver 25, 53rd overall. And my ranking really doesn't have anything to do with still believing that Marvin Harrison Jr. is this outstanding, unique, generational talent. That's kind of done in in my opinion. But to me, at least now he has more of a consistent platform of success, which Cobra said, like we saw on the isolated outside routes against DaRon Bland. Uh, we also will see the middle of the field tested, I think, way more often and Drew Petting is going to be able to call those middle of the field routes more often, not just for Trey McBride, who thrives in that area, but also for Marvin Harrison Jr. So, look, wide receiver 22 to wide receiver 32, it's any given week with any of these guys. I mean, it's an absolute roller coaster. So, it might seem like a huge difference between us. I think I'm just more in the pro end of finally this Cardinals offense looking consistent and rhythmic series in series out versus where it previously was with Kyler.
I think one little point that you brought up that I think I completely agree with, Marvin Harrison thrives on those digs and the in-breaking routes, right? And that's the difference. Like Kyler Murray just wasn't attacking that part of the field and we're going to see Jacoby Brissett doing that. So that's the real upgrade that Marvin Harrison gets in my eyes. Um, and they just kind of continue if they can continue to work on that and get those going, like one or two of those a game. Um, that really is where Marvin Harrison Jr. can shine. But at the end of the day, it's like he's just overall he's hard to trust. And am I going to put all my eggs in the Jacoby Brissett basket, you know, moving forward? And I agree with you, like for the Cowboys game, like I I think I think Jacoby Brissett played better even before the Cowboys game, to be honest with you, than than the Cowboys game itself. But Marvin Harrison Jr. didn't necessarily stand out um, you know, you know, until, you know, this game. So that that's my only concern. What is he going to do in tougher matchups? Um, you know, and are they going to be able to get him uh in space and and, you know, as as long as he can separate, I hope that Jacoby Brissett can get him the ball, but I just I can't get that aggressive on him. Well, and I think another part of this too is he would have had much more production earlier in the season with Kyler if he just didn't have the case of the drops. Like his hands were awful. And as we talked about, other than Brian Thomas Jr., drops aren't necessarily sticky the entire season. And so even if he just cleans those up and has one or two the rest of the year, that's much better than where he was to open this year. And again, like they're on the road against the Seattle Seahawks this week. They're not going to be projected for many points, like 19. I will add at home against Seattle in week four, Marvin Harrison Jr. was the wide receiver 14 in that matchup. Now, Seattle's defense has played even better than they were at that point. So, I never thought I would get on a podcast and be the pro MHJ guy on it, but uh, apparently I am here.
I love it.
All right, let's talk Chase Brown. Uh, as you know, the Bengals have been a roller coaster to discuss all season long, but ever since Joe Flacco has been in the fold, it's not just the passing game where we've seen Ja'Marr Chase go nuclear, Tee Higgins's pass game have an outstanding performance. It's also the running back room here for the Bengals has really taken a step and kind of stabilized itself for us. So, you're at running back 15, 36th overall. I'm at running back 14, 32nd overall. And even expert consensus rankings are at running back 17, 40th overall. Just speak on Chase Brown and if you believe, seems like you do, this will come back to be a kind of a good pick based on being a disaster in the opening through such a disaster. Such a disaster for me and everybody who listened to my advice about drafting Chase Brown. Dude, it was so bad. Uh, but I will say, uh, this could end up working out. Now, RB15, that that is me straight up hedging. Okay, because this dude, as of right now, he has top five upside. Samaje P. Ryan is out potentially for the next few weeks with that high ankle sprain, which is a huge deal because I don't think people realize that he was splitting the work like 55-45 versus last year he had 96% of the snaps.
Exactly. 63% of the snaps and 54% of the snaps. The two games before P. Ryan was playing a very significant role and and once P. Ryan got hurt early in the game, the dude was literally on the field for almost every single snap.
Okay. And it turned into 14 targets out of the backfield, which is exactly what makes him a potential top five guy rest of at least while P. Ryan is out. Now, what happens if he just continues to kill it? The coaches again see what they saw last year. this the same coaching staff and then they just decide that they want to give him the same role he had last year or something maybe a lot closer to it. If that happens, you were looking at a straight-up league winner. And that that pick that looked terrible to start the year is now looking like a potential league winner. Now, this is that would be a similar role or the same role that, you know, he was the RB he was the overall RB3 in fantasy points per game once he took over last year uh after week nine and he had the second most receiving yards behind only Jahmyr Gibbs and De'Von Achane at that point. So, we're looking at potential monster. Now, I don't and that's and that's why I only have him in RB RB15 now, right? Like I could have him a lot higher, but I'm just hedging a little bit because when P. Ryan comes back after that high ankle sprain, is he going to get his two-minute role back, his passing down role back? That that's my only concern.
I think you're also hedging with the fact that this is the Bengals. They are basically now out of contention. Uh, we are relying on Joe Flacco to stabilize everything, who has an AC joint injury in his non-throwing shoulder. If he takes one bad sack, that could mean the end of Joe Flacco for the season. That brings us back to Jake Browning, which brings us back to, you know, Chase Brown not having a single game inside the top 20 scoring running backs. Whereas recently, he's been, you know, running back 17, running back five, and running back eight. And on top of that, for us, I look at the rest of the schedule. It's the Pittsburgh Steelers after this week 10 bye, right? So that's week 11. Uh, and the Steelers defense played extremely well prior to this week against, you know, Jonathan Taylor and the Indianapolis Colts. Got off that offensive line like no one has so far this season. Then it's the New England Patriots. Fantastic at stopping the run this year. Then a reworked, reinvigorated, healthier Baltimore Ravens defense and Buffalo. And then Baltimore again. So that's like could be a potential difficult spot from week 11 through week 15. But then, hey, fantasy football semi-finals at the Miami Dolphins. So, I'm with you. I could see this being fantastic. I could see it going quite bad, and you and I are kind of going and aiming right in the middle of this one.
It's Yeah. Here's the thing, though. It's not even He's relatively matchup proof in my opinion because it's not even about the efficiency on the ground. Like, it's just it hasn't been about that last year, too. It's really all been about the targets. It's been about him getting racking up six, seven catches a game. And, you know, in half PPR, PPR formats, like that floor is really high and that ceiling ends up being high because of it, too.
I think at the very least, it's gone from, oh, these Bengals were the worst imaginable picks that you could have made when Jake Browning was at quarterback to now, oh, you can start these guys every single week.
Feel good about it.
Yeah.
Okay, let's talk about a fun backfield here. The Chicago Bears. I mean, ever since the bye, they figured it out in totality. Uh, I have never been a D'Andre Swift guy. No one in the fantasy community has been a D'Andre Swift guy. And yet, since the bye week, you know, it was the Saints and the Commanders and all these teams, this running game and D'Andre Swift has played well. But we just saw him held out of a game and in his absence, bing bang boom, our old friend Khalil Herbert returns from, I think, the first show that we did, said that we should, you know, pick him up prior to their week one contest. Um, he pops up here and just has a fantastic day, 150-plus yards, you know, the most rushing yards over expected of the week. So, Faz, basically, I want to ask you, how are you ranking Swift and Herbert together? And then how are you ranking them as in, is there a chance of Herbert to take over as the 1A in this backfield?
Okay, so I have Swift still RB18, 49th overall, and I have Herbert 72nd overall. So I still have Herbert as, you know, the player who can potentially get some more work. But like you, you got to last week, Swift basically just, you know, he didn't practice all week, right? And like this week, he's coming into this week, he practiced already, so we're already trending towards Swift playing. And like you mentioned, since the bye, the completely different team, right? Like sixth run-heaviest team in the NFL um when we look at drop back per expectation. Um, and Herbert definitely made a case, you know, for him to be a bigger part of the backfield. But we got to remember that this was the Saints, right? Um, it was a really, really good performance. But Swift was performing really well too since the bye, right? Like this run game was carried by D'Andre Swift and that offensive line. 14 carries for 108 yards. Um, plus 67 yards through the air in week six. 19 carries for 124 yards and a touchdown in week seven. All while banged up. Like he had that groin injury uh throughout. Right. So this is not uh, you know, they know that too, like he was playing through injury. So, and we we heard Ben Johnson talk about like, we have to kind of protect him from himself, right? Like they know that he was going through it for the team. So this is not a similar like when people talk about, you know, Chuba and Rico, I I don't see this in a similar manner. Um, I do think Swift is just going to continue to be the clear one here. Is there a chance that Herbert becomes like a clear 1B in this situation where it's a 1A 1B situation? Maybe um, but I do think he'll be more of a fantasy asset moving forward now after this performance um than he was kind of coming into the week.
I like all of that. So since the bye week, when Swift was healthy, hit well, let's say when Swift was playing a lot, Herbert had finishes of running back 38, then running back 12, and then running back 51, and then obviously running back three this past week as the lead dog. I asked this question because you and I are almost incredibly in sync with this one. He's my running back 17, 45th overall as D'Andre Swift is, and then I have Herbert around the 70th overall player, whereas consensus rankings have them only 10 spots different, 56th overall and 66th overall. Um, I think Herbert, like there's a nonzero possibility that he does become the lead ball carrier for this team, or let's say he does become the lead ball carrier for them inside of the 10-yard line, whereas D'Andre Swift had gotten, you know, that work as the veteran player and as someone that had played in this Ben Johnson system. Herbert, since the preseason, where he was really poor in pass protection and, you know, a seventh-round rookie, he's only stacking good weeks and good days. And so I call attention to his finishes because he was still getting some work. It was like, you know, 35 to 65. I don't think this is going to be a complete 50/50 split, but it could be very, very close. I still believe that D'Andre Swift has the, you know, clear lead in this for the rest of the season. But just overall, I believe both should be viewed as top 70 talents, which is very different than where it was. I don't know, even in week four, week five, week six. It really paid off for everybody who ended up picking Herbert, you know, after a couple couple good weeks, right? There was a a week early on where he was really involved and, you know, he was like the hot name on the waiver wire. Um, and for those people, he was a little disappointing after that, right? Like a lot of people overpaid uh in FAB. But at this point, you're looking at somebody who's relatively startable. So, you know, you could throw him in your flex, like even this week with Swift probably not 100% still. Um, and because he's not 100% this week, Herbert is probably after the week he's coming off of, he's probably going to get some decent amount of work. Like, I wouldn't be surprised if he had 12-13 touches in this game.
Totally. I think there are certain weeks you can do that. Again, the Giants have been run over by everyone this week. That works. But then, like, they face the Cleveland Browns in week 15. Not sure I want to have both Bears running backs in my starting lineup with that. Final point here with this one. I'm just looking at consensus rankings. The two running backs in between D'Andre Swift and Herbert for them are Kenneth Walker and David Montgomery. So like ranking Herbert in this area where there are split backfields next to D'Onta Foreman, next to Bill, next to the Patriots guys is really intriguing to me ahead of Zach Charbonnet. And so I think it does speak to just overall the Bears' ability to run the football with Darnell Wright back at right tackle and then Braxton Jones at left tackle has just been a revelation in terms of run blocking, not necessarily in pass protection. Um, yeah, it's it's such a and, you know, Ben Johnson wanted this from week one for us. He just wasn't able to produce it. And so the bye week, they were able to self-scout, self-evaluate, and they've come out being one of the best rushing teams in the NFL. It's cool to see.
The difference in yards before contact before the bye and after the bye is just incredibly different and, you know, a credit to that coaching staff.
Speaking of coming out of the bye, let's talk about the Philadelphia Eagles.
Let's discuss DeVonta Smith versus A.J. Brown, or for us, should it be A.J. Brown versus DeVonta Smith? How do you rank these guys?
It's super interesting, right? Like cuz we were looking at where we have each other and I was when I looked at the show notes before this, I was like, "Oh, look where Josh has him." We're basically split, dude. I have DeVonta Smith at wide receiver 21 and I have A.J. Brown wide receiver wide receiver 16 rest of season, right? So, this is um and and this might be a little people I can totally see people pushing back on this one because simply put, DeVonta Smith has not only been the better fantasy asset, but he's I I would say that before the bye, he's he was the better wide receiver. Like, straight up, like if you just watch him, you know, solo, he's just been that dude. And he makes it he makes you want to root for him even more because of the fact that like he wasn't the one talking, right? Like A.J. Brown has been the squeaky wheel all season long. Um, but I kind of think that's part of the reason why he's going to do well rest of season. It's kind of like why I rather have A.J. Brown. Like it is part of the reason, to be honest with you. I I still think overall A.J. Brown's the better player. Okay. DeVonta's been balling. He's looked better. Um, but like the guy who who can have those blow-up games in your lineup, I think moving forward, like I want A.J. Brown, man. You know, he he had the wide receiver, you know, two finish in week seven, okay? Um, baller, but uh, you know, DeVonta Smith did, but A.J. Brown is the one with two top five finishes this year. DeVonta Smith only has one. And again, a lot more volatile. Um, I I I think rest of season this evens out a lot more. Um, and I think both these guys are going to have their games, but like this week against Green Bay, seventh most fantasy points allowed to perimeter wide receivers. Um, then he has Detroit, Dallas, Chicago, the Chargers, Vegas, Washington. Like A.J. Brown, like you want him in your lineup in in these matchups. And, you know, I think they could figure some things out after this bye week.
And I just I just I like A.J. Brown, man. I just it's hard for me to rank DeVonta Smith over A.J. Brown moving forward. I just I'd rather have A.J. Brown in my lineup.
So, two points here. One, I wanted just to reinforce since based on kind of the schedule that you put out there and then also, you know, that Jalen Hurts just prior to the bye week had seven passing touchdowns in those two games uh that while all of these Eagles assets were frustrating to start the season, it's still a really freaking good team and they've probably figured it out. We've talked about, you know, the under center passing off play-action and the downfield shots off of that, six offensive linemen, the shots off off of that. Um, they have figured out elements that have worked here. Expert consensus rankings agree with you. They have A.J. Brown as 34th overall and DeVonta Smith as 52nd overall. And I'm the opposite. Again, I have DeVonta as wide receiver 14, 34th overall, and then A.J. Brown as wide receiver 21 and 47th overall. And it's not just this season, which again, DeVonta has been the wide receiver 17 in points per game versus A.J. Brown's wide receiver 32. If you even look back a full year, so week eight and on to end last year, DeVonta was a wide receiver 15 and A.J. Brown was the wide receiver 22. So I'm with you. Our eye test has seen that DeVonta Smith is and has been the superior player this season. To me, I think A.J. Brown looks a bit more lethargic, not as explosive or evasive with his routes to create separation. He's more of like a power forward type and boxing out, which he can totally do and it can totally work. I just think DeVonta's like in his prime right now and it showed up on the field and but just overall I think there's a chance for both of these players to finish much better than how they have started this season.
Yeah, I can see it. You know, and listen, I expect volatility here like for both of these guys. I expect more volatility for these guys than we used to for, let's say, top 24 players, wide receivers overall. You know, DeVonta Smith had three finishes outside the top 48. A.J. Brown had four outside the top 48. I I think they're going to get this fixed. I think there'll be a little bit less volatility here. I just um, you know, I I do I just they the Eagles still operate as A.J. Brown as their number one wide receiver. Um, the a lot of the first read looks have been going his way, but then a lot of the first read target share has been going DeVonta Smith's way. So, and it's been up and down, you know, game to game. So, yeah, I you know, it's really about just making a bet on a player here because it's really hard to tell if you look at who's been the better player. You you look at DeVonta Smith and, you know, he is overall like if you had to put uh, you know, your money on a player of who's going to have the better season, I probably think that DeVonta Smith has, you know, better odds here. Uh, but yeah, I think A.J. Brown is just really, really tough for me to bet against him.
All right, time for a couple of your trade questions. The first one from the average Jim Jones.
I've been offered by a league mate and division rival a package of Rico Dattle, Chuba Hubbard, and George Pickens in exchange for me sending him Kyren Williams, George K.D., and Jordan Mason. I support using George K.D. since I have Wan'Dale Robinson to help improve my team, but I don't know if Rico D is quite to the point where he's a better fantasy asset than Kyren Williams. Plus, this week having bye-week issues, I have Javonte Williams. He's on a bye. Kyren and Jordan Mason are my only startable running backs, and I'm only getting one startable running back. What do you guys think about this trade?
For us, this hits on all the points. I mean, two names we've already discussed and also a strategy in the past that we've had conversations about of if you have two starting tight ends and you use one of them in your flex, trade them away to maybe improve your team. So, do you approve of this deal of giving away Kyren, George K.D., and Jordan Mason and getting back Rico, Chuba Hubbard, and George Pickens?
I I I actually have Wan'Dale Robinson ranked over George K.D. this week. So, the fact that you have Robinson in there, I think trading away K.D. is perfectly fine with me. And, you know, Kyren, Rico, like we mentioned earlier, it could be a wash. Rico could be better, so I'm okay with that. Obviously, you needed RB2. Jordan Mason was that guy for you. Uh, Aaron Jones, uh, the last I saw, he was not practicing. Maybe he'll practice today. I don't know. But you get Pickens, too. You get George Pickens. George Pickens has been relatively solid. Now, the only thing that he hasn't had over the past few weeks were touchdowns, right? That's really the only thing he's been missing. He's been getting the targets. He's been getting the receptions, and once he scores, once he gets into the end zone, you'll be looking at some top 15 weeks from George Pickens. So, I would do this trade. And I know you're losing your RB2 and Jordan Mason for this week, but yo, listen, just throw in Rico and Chuba in there in your RB1 and RB2 spot this week. Get your get your running back back next week. You'll be fine. You know, you got Javonte. You'll be good to go. I I'm okay taking this trade personally.
Me, too. I have a hyperaggressive ranking on George Pickens the rest of the season. He's my wide receiver 12 and around 31st overall. So like the gap, as we discussed, between Kyren and Rico, whichever end that you're on. Uh, to me, the gap between like George K.D. and George Pickens is much larger, and I'd rather have Pickens in that. Yeah. While Jordan Mason is a fun just runner, as he doesn't catch passes, uh, he hasn't even been able to like sustain success with that this season. So, yeah, Chargers and Commanders for the Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs, too, the fantasy football playoffs. Those are definitely some defenses that we want to attack.
All right, final one here from the Drubinator. Hey guys, how's it going? Thanks so much for taking the question. I really appreciate it. So, I'm in a 12-team full PPR league and I'm looking to make a couple more moves to the end of the season so that I can really upgrade and make that championship run. So right now I have an offer. Give away Jaylen Waddle and Cole Kmet, and in exchange for Kyren Williams and Trey Tucker. So this gives me a solid upgrade to RB2, which is currently running, you know, a rotation of Bam Knight and Kenneth Gainwell, but it weakens my flex play, which is Jaylen Waddle. Let me know what you guys think. I also have Terry McLaurin on the bench. Is he droppable? Uh, I just need to kind of fill in my depth and make so I have a solid team for the rest of the year so I can approach for that championship. Thanks.
For just overall love having a core of your fantasy team be Drake May, Josh Jacobs, Kyren Williams, Puka Nacua, and Rashi Rice. To me, that is like championship caliber stuff. So, I would be making this deal. Would you?
Yeah, 100%. That's a huge upgrade at your RB2 spot. When you're talking about positional advantage, you know, you're you were at a serious disadvantage at your RB2 spot. So, Kyren Williams puts you at that probably plus EV point. Uh, and then, you know, you do have to downgrade from Jaylen Waddle, who I believe is a top 12 wide receiver, but, you know, you're going out to Trey Tucker. But hey, Trey Tucker, I think will be a usable flex, you know, moving forward after the Jakobi Myers deal. Um, will it be consistent? Will it be amazing? Probably not. Um, but one thing to note is that the Raiders in the two games, two healthy games, week one and this last week with Brock Bowers, they've been the the basically the number one pass-happy team in the NFL. Uh, in those two games. So, I think there could be some more targets going Trey Tucker's way. So, like, yeah, I'm I'm perfectly fine with this deal. I'll take it.
Um, yeah, I mean, and with Jaylen Waddle, who knows what's going to happen with the Miami Dolphins the rest of the way. Like, if they want to see what Quinn Ewers has or what Zach Wilson has, there's no guarantee that's even as good as what we've gotten with Tua Tagovailoa. So, I think there's more bottoming out potential here with Jaylen Waddle than there is with Kyren Williams. And that's something we want to look for when deciding between these two players that you know you're going to be starting either one of them in your lineups. And in terms of your flex, like one, maybe Trey Benson comes back, even though we haven't really gotten any update on his injury. And then two, there's going to be some type of PPR scam wide receiver that you're going to be able to pick up. Like DK Metcalf, Washington has been that in the last couple weeks, too. Maybe that is like Josh Jacobs with the Raiders or Tyler Lockett with the Raiders. Like who knows? There's there's going to be someone over the next few weeks that you can feel decently well that gives you some type of a floor with receptions on any given week uh in your flex spot.
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