Transcription
Week 12 waiver wires here, and this actually is a pretty big week. It was pretty light for the last couple of weeks, but lots of injuries to get to. Josh Jacobs, Jaylen Warren, Basil Tutin, uh, Drake London was the big one, Michael Pennock's another big one. Rogers, Dylan Gabriel means we get some Shador Sanders, Calvin Ridley, and then Spitgate, which I will get your opinion on in a little bit, but let's start with the big one.
Shawn Tucker steals the job from Rashad White at about halftime. Goes absolutely crazy. Super explosive. Had a bunch of uh touchdown opportunities out in space, took advantage of that. And the Bucky Irving news, we have no idea where it is. So, how should we treat Shawn Tucker uh from this point moving forward?
Uh, I mean, it really just depends on when Bucky Irving comes back, which is what makes this so difficult. Um, they started this game basically like they've started the last two. So, if you go back in time, when Bucky Irving first got hurt, it was full-on workhorse Rashad White. Over the last two weeks, they pivoted to closer to a 50/50 split on early downs, but White getting literally everything else and all of the receiving and about two-thirds of the snaps.
Um, coming into this week, you know, you could get excited about Tucker's potential, especially against a very vulnerable run defense. And they started with White getting the first drive as they had. Tucker starts integrating on the second drive, and for most of the first half, it was still this committee approach. And then in the second half, they just finally realized like Tucker at that point had busted off this, I think a 50-yard touchdown run or something thereabouts, had already hit for another touchdown, and they decided, "Okay, he's the shot, he's the hot hand," and they made it all Tucker, all the time. They even got him involved on this wheel route touchdown um, and as his third touchdown of the game, which was a big part of his college profile was that he was actually a pretty reasonable pass catcher in addition to being an explosive runner. So, I expect at this point um, Tucker to be the two-thirds of the committee to White's maybe one-third of the committee if they play another week without Bucky Irving. Um, and Tucker is just way more explosive than Rashad White, who is a volume sponge. Um, and you should be more excited about starting Tucker um under that workload than you really would have been about starting Rashad White with anything less than like a 90% snap rate.
Yeah. See, the same way I will be ranking Shawn Tucker ahead of Rashad White this week. The problem is it is the Rams, and they've been very good against the ground. So it goes from like the Bills to the Rams. So not going to be as clean of a slate, but totally agree. Uh, now that they've switched the roles, it's time to switch the fantasy rankings up. What do you think is going to happen once Bucky Irving does come back? Because that could be as soon as this week. He went through like a walkthrough practice. You don't get hit with a walkthrough, so they still don't know about his shoulder. Um, but in theory, that could be this week or the next week afterwards. How do you think they're going to divvy it up? And it's like maybe speak to it through like the Bucky Irving lens as well, because I'm sure a lot of people are waiting for him to get back.
I mean, I put out um a tweet before the season when Rashad White had that, I think it was a groin injury, whatever he had, it didn't amount to much, but he had a he had like an injury scare in the preseason, and I said, "If as a Bucky Irving enthusiast, my preference would be for Rashad White to stay as healthy as humanly possible." Um, because I just don't see him as remotely threatening person in this backfield. Um, all he's really doing is complementing the one thing that that Bucky Irving struggles with, which is pass pro to an extent because he's a smaller dude. He's gotten a lot better at it this year. Um, but still, you have some limitations there.
Whereas Tucker is a guy who if he had a runway to establish himself as someone you want to get the ball in his hands, that infringes on Bucky Irving a little bit more. Um, I also thought when this injury happened, like initially the reporting was it would just be a couple weeks. So I figured, "Okay, it's just going to be the Rashad White show. Tucker won't have enough chance to get a foothold." That was the case early. As it extended, Tucker did get his claws in, and they now realize that Tucker is a is a major force. I will say last year they also had a game like this with Shawn Tucker, and they just did not care. Yeah, they immediately went right back to a Bucky Irving, Rashad White committee and basically stuck Tucker back on the sidelines.
If it were me, I think probably what I would do is just make White basically like a Tyler Batty where it's like, "You only play on third and 10." Yeah. Um, but you don't get anything else. You don't play, even in the two-minute drill, you don't get any carries. Um, you only play as a pure pass pro guy. And then I would give Tucker probably 25 to 30% of the touches. And I'd give uh Irving the rest. So, he'd probably wind up in like the 55 to 60% snap rate range. That's what I'd do. It would be a decline from Irving's early season role. Um, for no reason to do with Bucky Irving, but that's I think the best allocation of the talent in this backfield.
Yeah, that's how I would play it, too. I don't think that Shawn Tucker is going to have much value once uh Bucky Irving comes back. Now, it's also a shoulder injury, and you just never know. He hasn't taken a big hit yet, I'm guessing, since the injury, and it has lingered for a very long time. So like I'm wondering if he like fully dislocated and just being very kind of coy about the whole situation. But also see it the same way where I just don't think that Bucky's going to be back to the top 12 status. They're missing both their guards now, uh, on top of things. So they might get it more to the perimeter, which is good news for like Shawn Tucker, and that's how he sprung some big things out in space. So yeah, I I like Shawn Tucker. I think he's gonna be more of a one-week rental type and then a high-ceiling handcuff. Um, and then with Bucky Irving, probably going to park him in like the running back 20-ish range uh moving forward.
I'd do that to start. I think he has potential to climb upwards from there. He was, for what it's worth, he was at 18.5 points per game in in full PPR, probably a little less than that, of course, in underdog scoring uh in the first four games. There's a potential he gets back. That was still with White getting like 25% of the work. Um, and it's possible that Tucker just replaces that and all White plays are like some pure pass stuff that he doesn't even get any touches.
Yeah, I would just be worried if like now the goal line role is not like almost 100% to Bucky and that's getting a little bit closer because Sean Tucker's a big dude. So, but we'll see. There's that's possible. I don't I don't think Tuck I don't think they'll give the the goal line work to Tucker. I'm not I'm not as worried about that. They they've they've had this guy on the roster for like three years, and it took like so much for them to get him on the field. I think they I think they might value his explosiveness, but I'm not sure that there must be some reason that they think he's like unreliable or something to avoid playing him. Like every fantasy analyst thinks this guy's been awesome for three years. So, I don't know.
Yeah, for sure. Okay. While moving over to the other big score of the week, Michael Wilson goes out there, career day, pretty much doubles up whatever Marvin Harrison has been doing as the top target. Now, that's with Jacobe Brassette playing out of his mind. Uh, but we're talking about a year three player. I think on film he's been like all right in very limited samples. I thought like he plays on the outside, but he actually kind of has like the possession type of role, like little in cuts, out cuts, pretty reliable, a slant route type of guy. What did you see from Michael Wilson in this one? How stable is this? And I'll just say I'm guessing Marvin's not going to be able to play through that appendix surgery this quick. It's hard to like work over the middle when they like literally removed one of your organs the week before.
Yeah, I have no idea. This isn't like the type of injury that I feel like I've seen a million examples of. So like I have no clue how long. They did remove an organ, so I would guess that's just more than one game, but who knows?
It seems likely. Yeah. But like it's just I don't know. Hard hard to gauge. It's not like I'm like, "Oh yeah, high ankle, you know, two to four weeks." Um, so yeah, I suspect probably median outcome he gets two to three weeks. I do think this coaching staff is very incentivized to get him back whenever possible because they are clearly coaching for their jobs.
Um, so generally speaking, um, I don't know. I think with Michael Wilson, like we've never seen anything in his statistical profile, like just like from a target earning perspective, that would suggest he's really any good. Um, his college profile also was not very statistically inviting. Um, but you had posted, I think last year, and I think you retweeted it today, um, some like really impressive just kind of completion percentage rates on certain routes that like really hyperfocus on the splash zone type stuff. Um, that's certainly interesting. And we've seen like I think in recent years maybe a slightly longer development arc for some ex receivers that we used to think were total duds who became, you know, average starters, even good starters. Think of Alec Pierce, who we've talked about the last couple weeks. You could think of Romeo Doubs um as another example of this. So, like I'm not going to close the door entirely to Michael Wilson being serviceable, especially when the only other guys on this offense outside of Trey McBride are like Greg Dorch and so bad.
Actually, I don't even Who is the third receiver on this card?
I didn't even bother to check. It could have been producer Weaves for all I know.
Like, they threw 58 passes. Surely one of them was thrown to to someone else.
It was going to find out live.
Yeah, let's go for it. Let's see if we can guess.
Okay. Jacobe Brassette literally set the all-time NFL record for completions in a single game. Um, and two of them were to a guy named Xavier Weaver. So, it is producer Weaves.
Yeah, I called it.
You were right.
What were the odds? What are the odds there?
Unbelievable.
Yeah. But wait, with Michael Wilson, just go back to it. I think that he was running more downfield routes with Kyler Murray because that's like hypothetically where he would like throw the ball with Kyler Murray. And now Jacobe Brassette's gonna more willing to throw the ball underneath. He's not going to take as many sacks. He's also working over the middle. So all these like inbreaking slant routes, the little out routes I was talking about uh from my offseason research. I think that now applies uh now that he's the one with Jacobe Brassette. So he's definitely a top 30 guy for this week and moving forward. You're always going to catch the 49ers defense who's super banged up. I do think if you're looking for like a one-week rental at wide receiver, he's probably my favorite. I think we'll get to Christian Watson and Mooney in a little bit here, but I think for just like the next week, I would rather have Michael Wilson than those guys. Uh, but we'll have to like rank those guys.
How could how could you not? He just had 15 catches with
You. Yeah, exactly. Like at a certain point. Like you can chase you can chase 15 catches. You're not going to get around for that.
For sure. Okay. Well, let's chase this. I know you're going to be a big fan of this one. Basil Tutin, we've talked about him, I think about every single week, every best podcast. He was like the name for the summer.
We got here. He's splitting reps with Travis ETN. There's no like way to sugarcoat it either way. It just all of a sudden ETN's in. All of a sudden, Basil Tuton's in. Tuton, they were giving these like nice like pitches to to use his speed. I thought that was good utilization. He gets a goal line opportunity. Travis ETN's doing some wildcat stuff at the goal line. It's one versus the next here. It sounds like we've dodged a serious injury from Tuton. We don't have all the details there. Uh, but what have you seen from Bashel Tutin uh recently? And like do you think that this will be a closer to 50/50 split the rest of the way?
Yeah, it was really out of nowhere to be honest. Um, I like looked back at last week's game log. I was like, "Did Tutin have like a better game than I remember?" No, not really. Um, he's had moments certainly in this season where he's popped up, but I wouldn't say that like recently was some like great arrival. So I don't know if this is just like a thing they felt in practice or if they felt like ETN was wearing down. My guess was they went into a matchup where they don't have Hunter for the rest of the year. They didn't have Brian Thomas in this game. They're integrating Jacobe Meyers, and they're playing a defense that's way better against the pass than the run. So, I think they probably went into this matchup and said, "We want to run the ball 35 times." So, we're just going to start from the jump rotating these guys far more evenly because, you know, we don't want to give Travis ETN 28 carries in this game.
And then, um, Tutin just looked fantastic in this game um and was really effective for them. And ETN was fine, too, but Tutin was even more efficient of the two in the spot. And so I think they figured, "Well, you know, we're already kind of have this plan and this guy's looking great. Why not just keep feeding him the rock, you know?" Um, and I think injury concerns aside, that they probably would have continued to do this going through the following weeks. You know, why would you not? You drafted this guy for a reason. He looks fantastic when you give him a real opportunity. Why would you not just keep doing it? Um, so I I think that would have been the plan.
I'm not sure we're out of the woods on the injury situation.
Yeah. Uh, players love to say they're good um immediately after. They're eternal optimists. Um, Brian Thomas returned to the game um a couple weeks ago. He's now missed two weeks with a high ankle sprain. Um, Jonathan Taylor said he was good in a postgame interview on the field against Pittsburgh last year, high ankle sprain. He missed three or four weeks after that. Um, so I think, you know, maybe he is actually good. Um, but I think it's like 50/50 at best that he just straight up avoids any missed time out of this, and that could really halt um really halt the momentum that Tudin gets. So, I wouldn't go crazy on this. At best, even, you know, you're looking at a guy who's probably in a 50/50 committee. Um, I'll note it was 46% snaps each, exactly even in the first half between them. And then at the time that Tudin went out, he had 15 carries. ETN had 12 and two targets. So,
Best case scenario, he's good. You have a 50/50 committee. Um, that's valuable. It's exciting. It would be more exciting if this was in week four. Um, but worst case scenario, he misses a couple weeks or even he plays, but they're concerned about the ankle and they don't give him as many carries. So, um, I think it's like a super fun development. It's just a really crappy timing.
Yeah, I think that's like maybe small odds that he just turns into like a 67% lead back over Travis ETN. It's getting a little bit late, and the Jaguars are like definitely in the playoff hunt here. So that I don't think that's the most likely scenario, but versus some of the other guys we're going to talk to today, it's at least theoretically possible with Tuton. Um, Devin Singletary is in pretty much a 50/50 committee, too. Just wanted to note, uh, with the Giants, first of all, the Giants are very bad. Uh, but secondly, um, there's an actual like difference in like the usage here. Devin Singletary has played all 18 of the snaps over the last three weeks inside the 10-yard line, and then Tyrone Tracy's getting like a majority of the other. He looked pretty good. Uh, both guys I thought looked fairly well uh here. So what what should we expect from Devin Singletary? If you had to like do rankings for like the next couple weeks, would you rather like just try to get the goal line plunge with Singletary or try to play the PPR scam with Tyrone Tracy?
Uh, I mean, definitely in a full PPR, you'd rather play Tracy. He is getting more of the work. Um, in half, it's probably pretty darn close to even.
Yeah. Uh, it's tough because like the goal line back on the Giants is not the goal line back on like the greatest team in the world. So how.
I mean, Yeah. I mean, when Dart's back, you feel better about it for sure, but like this is still the Giants. It's still without Neighbors. It's still even without Slayton at the moment. Like it's not they're not going to be a team that I expect will have like a ton of 25-point team totals going into the week. Um, so I probably still lean Tracy, but I think Singletary is totally start-viable. Um, like for if people read the Hitchhiker's Guide, I'll probably have both these guys in like the tier three, which is like the streamers that I call them, basically like guys you can put in there in the flex. Like I would think of Singletary maybe like a just slightly worse because their offense a little worse version of like Zack Charbonnet.
Yep. Um, great. Like similar vibes, although probably more reliable to actually get the inside the 10 carries. Like Charbonnet is probably the favorite for them, but it's not a guarantee as we saw last week.
Yep. Yep. Okay. Uh, Kenny Gainwell is another one where you're just waiting for news with Jaylen Warren. It was a committee before Jaylen Warren's uh injury. Kenny Gainwell went absolutely nuts uh overseas when Jaylen Warren did miss that game. It's been a committee since then. Uh, I'm not sure if you've seen anything on the Jaylen Warren injury update. And then do you do you think it'll be like a very similar split where Gainwell goes crazy and Caleb Johnson just mixes in just for a couple snaps?
Yeah. So, first thing I'll note is I saw some people tilting about the usage at halftime. Um, they didn't run a ton of plays and they had this 10-play two-minute drill drive, which is Kenny Gainwell time anyways. So, I didn't really view anything that happened in the first half as being particularly out of the ordinary. It was just Kenny Gainwell's a two-minute third-down back. They happen to have a long two-minute drill. Um, then of course Warren picks up that injury, I think pretty immediately into the second half. Um, some people were saying he returned or or was looking like he was going to return. He never got another touch, so I don't know if he played a snap or two. Um, after that point, I'll note Kenny Gainwell had six carries um at the time that Warren got hurt, uh, because he had had that inordinate two-minute drill. He gets three carries more for the rest of the game. Caleb Johnson actually had five. Yep. Uh, so despite Gainwell having the big game, the breakdown in the second half was much more even between the two than what it was over when we saw them in London or whatever European country and city that they were in for that huge Kenny Gainwell game. So I actually would project that if Jaylen Warren does miss, we see a committee. You'd rather start Gainwell, but I'm predicting it as more of like a 50/50 carries and Gainwell gets all the passing work committee versus um what they were when it was total Kenny Gainwell workhorse season. Just kind of seeing how they immediately got Johnson involved like Warren went out of the game. Next series was a first and 10. They gave three straight Caleb Johnson carries at that point, not Kenny Gainwell carries. So, um, I think it's it's things have shifted a little bit. Um, on Warren, what I've seen is best guess is a low ankle sprain. So, probably more in the one to two missed weeks than in the three to four missed weeks. Um, but we'll see. Definitely potential for him to miss some time.
And then complicating it, Aaron Rodgers, uh, probably going to miss this next game. At the same time, it's against the Chicago Bears, who haven't really been able to stop anybody. So, that I agree with you. I think we'll see more Caleb. It would make more sense to get the rookie more involved as the season continues, but it'll be Kenny Gainwell in my rankings. So, this is where I talked about like in the beginning of the show. There's a lot of names here. None of them are like actually like that awesome. It's like cool that we have a bunch of different options depending on what your team needs, but none of these guys are like absolutely slam dunks. The next one, Emanuel Wilson. If Josh Jacobs' knee is an actual like big deal, which it doesn't sound like it is, Emanuel Wilson would be an awesome handcuff type. He played pretty much all the snaps after Jacobs left. But I believe it's just a knee bruise. I went back and watched it. He really did land like straight on his knee. Like there was no like hit like sideways or anything like that. He just like landed on his knee and then played the next snap and then was removed from the game. I don't know what a knee bruise means for Josh Jacobs. I don't know if it's a bone bruise or just a regular bruise. Who knows? But Emanuel Wilson for the Packers. Let's pretend Josh Jacobs misses uh the next game or two.
Yeah, just based on like how I'm reading the reports, if I had to guess, like I would guess Josh Jacobs misses one week. Um, and I I would rate it like the most likely is he misses one, the next most likely is zero. And then it's like a big tier break. And then the third most likely is he misses two.
So, um, if you like really need a win next week to get into playoffs, especially if you are the Josh Jacobs owner, it's a no-brainer. Just go all out on Emanuel Wilson. Um, but if if you're looking at anyone who could help you in the playoffs, I don't think Emanuel Wilson's going to be that guy unless you get a subsequent Josh Jacobs injury. Also, just note Jacob is just a tough dude. Um, and like whatever scale you have of of missed weeks for like most guys, I would just always push him way more on the edge of playing because he just plays through everything. So,
Yeah, I the role was incredible. Um, Wilson had 94% of the snaps after Josh Jacobs went out. He's easily ranking in my low-end RB1 range if we do miss Jacobs this week. Um, but just don't go crazy. The Chris Brooks like I thought they actually might play more just from like a past pro perspective. They didn't. Um, and Marshon Lloyd apparently they're gonna he actually exists. I've heard there's rumors of it. Um, barely. And they're apparently going to open his practice window next week, but I don't view that as being any threat to Emanuel Wilson.
Yeah, that'll probably just be another setback for him, which the way his career has gone. Um, yeah, how about one of his teammates, Christian Watson? We've talked about him on the show since then. It's the same exact role. It's just he's connecting on them uh more frequently right now. Had two uh awesome touchdown plays playing ahead of Golden. It sounds like Jaden Reed's like getting closer to return but not like necessarily the next couple weeks here. So, where should we go with Christian Watson? Like without Tucker, Jordan Love's like kind of like heaving the ball down the field. Christian Watson's coming down with him. How like where should he be in the rankings for like the next couple weeks?
I mean, he's remarkably volatile. Um, I like them this week because the Giants are just an otherworldly man coverage heavy defense, and so you just always want to take advantage of those spots when you have this vertical X-wide receiver type going against those spots. Um, but they now get a lot or they they get the Vikings, who are an interesting matchup in that they're like bad overall versus wide. They're a bad matchup overall for wide receivers, but because they're so blitz heavy, they will leave you in single coverage um in a high proportion of snaps. And Watson's a guy who could take advantage of that. And then they got the Lions, which are a pretty susceptible secondary. So, you got some fun matchups coming up for Christian Watson's skill set. I think he's clearly I mean, he's shown more in like three games off a torn ACL um than than Matthew Golden has all year. Um, so, I I think he is pretty clearly like behind Doubs weekly, but probably the highest ceiling guy every week if you're attacking the Green Bay Packers, especially in a DFS context. Um, and probably the second guy in just median projections. I'd view him as like a a volatile but very high-end wide receiver for if you're deciding between him and someone else that's similarly ranked and you're an underdog in your matchup like just firing Christian Watson because he adds a little bit of juice to your lineup.
Yeah, he's like in a very similar role to Alec Pierce. I don't think he's as well-rounded as Pierce is. And then the Colts pass a lot more. Like the Packers are so frustrating, slow pace and whatnot, but similar roles and and just downfield threats. Um, big one here, Darnell Mooney. I mean, my gosh, did we already see this exact scenario where you had Drake London miss, it's supposed to be a huge Darnell Mooney game and then absolutely clanks it. He's been clanking the ball off his chest the entire season. Now, on top of that, it's Kurt Cousins for the rest of the season. So, uh, general vibes around the Falcons. What have you seen from Kurt Cousins, Darnell Mooney? Is there any hope that last year what I saw on tape and in the box scores that we can return to that uh while Drake London misses the next like month or so with a PCL injury?
Dude, it is just unbelievably bleak over at Darnell Mooney HQ. Um, I believe he's sitting on 36 targets, 16 catches this year. Um, yeah, it came out last week, I think midweek, that he this the mysterious shoulder injury he suffered in preseason was actually a broken collarbone. Yeah.
Um, and like I've never broken my collarbone, so I can't say what it feels like to play football three months after, but watching Darnell Mooney makes me think it hurts because just something ain't right with how he's playing the ball at the catch point at all. Um, I of course had the closeup on him two weeks ago um in the Germany game versus the Colts. He killed them in that game. Had multiple just awful drops.
And they just don't really have any choice, I guess, but to use him as the wide receiver one because after him and London, it just gets so bleak so fast. So bad.
We're talking about We're talking about former USC quarterback recruit David.
Sills. Yeah.
Um, we're talking about. Is Cadrell Hodge still on this team? I think.
Barely. Swag news on it. Yeah, Jamal. Swag news on it. Casey Washington.
Casey Washington.
And their offensive line's all banged up. I mean, Chris Lindstrom and Matthew Bergeron have been like barely playing if if they have been playing backup right tackle and then Kurt Cousins. Like.
I try to watch it, man. I'm worried that he just like does not have the V.O. anymore, like at all. No.
He's just it's not coming back. It's just it is what it is.
Yeah, I think he's completely cooked. I think this team is completely cooked. I think this regime is completely cooked because they're about to give like the sixth overall pick to the Los Angeles Rams, and I think they should just fire every single person.
Um, and yeah, I mean, you're also like panics. I don't think he's going to be ready for week one next year. Like I think it's totally plausible that it's just new GM, new team president, new head coach, new quarterback. You keep Bijan, you keep London, um, and you keep the the two edge rushers they got in Terrell and everything else. Nothing else is nailed down to the floorboards as far as I'm concerned.
Yeah, I was like looking at their roster like even like Jake Matthews, their left tackle who's been there forever, he's like 34. So like you're gonna have to find a left tackle in the next couple drafts as well. So, and who knows what the Penn would be his third torn ACL um surgery, man. I mean like how much could you actually have faith in that? They might be in the quarterback market.
Uh, yeah, I mean, he hasn't been any good this year. His entire offseason that he's going to need to progress is going to get completely harpooned.
Um, you need a week one starter anyway. It's just it's a disaster situation. I mean, they have some fun young guys um on offense and defense, but uh, yeah, just a really tough spot. I I'm not very interested on Mooney. Like, I I'm sure that he will be on the the Bone model every week from now until the end of the season, but like he's been playing like crap all year. Kurt Cousins has been playing like crap all year, and this offense without Drake London just has nothing anyone needs to be afraid of. I'm even concerned for Bijan. Like I I'm not saying you're benching him obviously, but like
Where where would you rank him now rest of season among running backs? Cuz I I think he's now like solidly below the group of CMC, JT, Hall, Gibbs. Like he's now dropped into another tier. Like I wouldn't be that surprised if he's more like a Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry. Like I I know he's going to get the reception volume, but like if I'm game planning against a completely immobile Kirk Cousins who can't throw more than eight yards with no wide receivers on the roster, I mean, you're just sticking nine guys in the box and daring that team to try to throw over the top. It's It's going to be an ugly situation.
Yep. Full agree across the board. Uh, maybe more positivity here, though. Uh, Luther Burton, we have a depth chart change. He passed me Zakius here. um had some drops of his own, I will say, in this last game, but the signs are starting to to break through that there's a chance that he could be in two wide receiver sets by the very end of the year, or he's one injury away, or he's just a big play hunter um on an offense that looks at least like somewhat capable here. So, uh, any like last hopes for Luther Burton as we get to the last couple weeks?
Yeah, big Luther Burton guy. Um, I think this is a long time coming. Although I will continue to say this is the most socially acceptable outcome, I actually don't think it's the optimal outcome. I think their best offense would be 12 personnel heavy all the time with Rome and uh Luther.
Yep. And I get why they've been in this dilemma all year with because their whole offense revolves or his role revolves around these choice routes, and you don't want a rookie running them, and DJ Moore can't run them. He got one against Cincinnati. He converted into a post and ran right into Roman Tufele's shoulders.
Um, so I the role that Luther should be in is DJ Moore's role, but there's like $30 million of reasons why that can't happen. So they found this alternate solution. I'll also note there's even more room to grow, I think, than what we saw. They played Colson Loveland and Cole Kmet each 75-plus% snap rates in this game. That's in part because they were leading the whole time and they were being as cowardly as humanly possible. So they were just running the ball relentlessly. Um, and also because you want to have max protect situations to deal with Brian Flores and his blitz packages. So if they keep this same distribution of snaps, we're going to see all three of Rome, Moore, and um, Burton snap rates go up in future weeks. Um, I think he is, drop issues aside, just very obviously the second best separator on this team um and the best chance for for explosives down the field. So, um, definitely think he he is like a started bullish option, um, rest of the season, and maybe even some upside to be a smash for best ball tournaments and stuff the last couple weeks.
Yeah, in my drop list, I had DJ Moore listed on there. Like, you don't have to drop him if you're in a really shallow league, though. I do think that he's like one of the like the big name guys that there really is just not like a very straightforward path to him being a top 36 guy before the week starts. So, I think he was on my list.
He has one catch the last two weeks combined.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's not it's it's not been good. And he's he's going to be Yeah, he's not going to be a Bear next year. Uh, on top of that, um, yeah, let's go to two quarterbacks real quick. Jacobe Brassette since week four, he's or since week six, he's the quarterback four.
He's under contract with the Cardinals for this next season. He has just been I mean in a garbage time heat, and he keeps slinging the ball, man. And like I don't know how close this is to like the Joe Flacco stuff that we saw. We also saw what the Joe Flacco rug pull could look like. That's going to be coming for Jacobe Brassette eventually. But I mean, where the hell am I supposed to be ranking Jacobe Brassette these next couple weeks here? Um, if you're Michael Pennix or Rogers or you somehow had Dylan Gabriel instead of Jacobe Brassette, help these guys out as we head into like some by-weeks.
I mean, it's like incomprehensible what's happening. Um, we watch last year look like the worst quarterback of all time on the New England Patriots. Um,
And that was obviously a horrendous situation, but like then he just comes in here and just. This isn't a good one. This offensive line.
Repeated. No, I mean the situation was horrible. They have a bad offensive line. They're in trail script the whole game. They don't have Marvin Harrison Jr. So like he's just out here throwing a Michael Wilson and producer Weaves, and he sets an all-time record for completions in an NFL game.
Um, I mean, he's still like turning the ball over. He's taking sacks. He's he's not like, you know, he's not he's not going to be lighting up the EPA charts, but like from a fantasy perspective, he kind of rules and they don't have any running backs, so they have no choice. It's just let him sling the pill repeatedly. So, yeah, it's I guess he's like a low-end QB1. It's
It's crazy.
So, it's it's it's kind of like the Jameis last year, I guess, is probably
Yep. The easiest comparison. Um, where just some of these situations really spiral and like like Aidan O'Connell could have been this last year too on the Raiders, where they were just racking up all this play volume. He's just not very good.
Um, but like sometimes you do get these teams where they will just rack up play volume consistently from behind. They don't have a running game, and you have for whatever reason a coaching staff that's willing to just lean into that and chuck from behind, and and it all lines up for for us here. So yeah, it's it's totally doable.
The next two weeks, Jacksonville then Tampa Bay. So those are two like pass-funnel defenses too. So I think those two weeks you can possibly get away with choket. Then you get the Rams and the Texans afterwards. I think we'll be waving the white flag for those games. But yeah, it seems like the Cardinals like trying to prove a point with the style offense that they they could run without Kyler Murray. So I just thought that was uh pretty fascinating.
All right, let's end this on um couple dropless candidates. We're going to go with Jerry Judy and David Njoku right at the top of this list because
It's it's Shador Sanders for this week. It looks like I'm not sure what you saw. Actually, I do know what you saw from Shador Sanders, but does that mean that like what is what do you think the team total is going to be for this next week for the Browns? Let's start there. And then like is there a Quinchon Judkins is the RB26 or something like that, and then everybody else is for sure benched?
Yeah, it's I mean, Judkins has not been very useful at all recently. Um, and it's not his fault. I thought he looked fantastic in this game early. He had like a couple of beautiful runs. It's just they don't throw to him. They don't throw to anybody, and they stink. So it's it's just a brutal situation for him.
I don't think anyone else is startable, and I think Judkins is like a very low-end RB2.
Yeah. It remains so bizarre, just the experience this offseason of like being told all college season like, "Yeah, this should Sanders like he might go in the top five," and then you just start watching the film and you're like, "Like what? Like what are people seeing here?" Because like he looked much like he did last year at Colorado. This exact same.
He catches the ball and he starts stumbling backwards, and he doesn't seem to be going through any sort of progression. He's just playing Madden out there, just like running backwards. Schoolyard. I hope something winds up popping open. He's actually not very fast at all. He's he's quite slow despite his desire to play this scrambly style. Um, and yeah, he looked uncertain of what he was seeing. He his pocket movement is like uniquely atrocious to a level I've maybe never seen in in the NFL. Um, and just throwing the ball on a whim, trying to get away from dudes that he can't get away from because they're NFL athletes. Um, and it's just it's ridiculous. So, uh, yeah, I think sure he's going to get the first team reps um this week.
That'll that'll solve it.
You know. Um, great. Uh, he gets a great matchup. He gets the the Las Vegas Raiders. I think Max Crosby is going to sack this dude five times.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think the team total is going to be like at 13 and a half or something. I think I think it it could be the the lowest of the entire season here. Um, yeah, it was it was a total mess. They're going to blitz him like crazy. That's what the Ravens did. He had no answers uh to the test. So, yeah, Jerry Judy, David Njoku, Harold Fannon, everybody aside from Quint Junkens, I think it's just droppable for right now. It's just a pathetic showing for the Browns as usual. Keon Coleman's also on my drop list. I mean, you get suspended and guess what? Like, you sleep through a meeting or something like that. If you were good, you're not you're not suspended. You you miss a a series like we just saw with the Cowboys, and then you're right back in the lineup. You're only inactive if you're not very good. So Keon Coleman's had the one game where he went crazy in week one in trail. Um, but aside from that, he's it's just almost like a lost cause at this point. So Keon Coleman's on my list. Jordan Mason, he scored a really nice touchdown, but the JJ McCarthy stuff is really really bad. There's like not a clean path to him being very fantasy viable. Do you have any notes on the Vikings offense?
In the early season, they were going basically drive for drive. Mason of course then got to be the starter after the Jones injury.
Jones comes back and it was mixed that first week. The next two weeks was kind of a two for one situation, and they even dispensed with that in this game. I think they knew this game was their season. Jones plays the entirety of the first two drives. He even starts the third drive, catches a pass. Mason comes in for second down. He gets one carry. They say, "Thank you." Goes right back to the bench. He happened to be on the field to break that long run. I still think he's a a useful player, but um yeah, he he is no different than 20 other backups. Um, he doesn't have any sort of standalone role. Aaron Jones, just an every week mid-range RB2.
Yeah, I think for just the handcuffs, the Vikings are going to be bottom five, bottom 10 in, and I think team total the rest of the way. Like they're going to keep probably starting JJ McCarthy, and there's just no end in sight with the JJ McCarthy stuff. Looks way behind in no matter how you slice up the the film, he's just way behind on everything. There's just no way. He's a backup level quarterback right now. So, we should have like real real low expectations for all these guys, which means Jordan Mason's no different than like Dylan Samson or something like that right now.
Yeah, he's he's stunningly bad. Um, I I don't like what odds would you put it that he's the week one starter for the Vikings in 2026? Because I I don't understand like I get this is his first year starting. Um, but at the end of the day, you know, best abilities, availability. We've seen Anthony Richardson, Trey Lance, highly touted quarterbacks drafted higher than he was with teams um well, well, Lance's team had legitimate Super Bowl expectations. I guess the Colts do too, but nobody thought they did.
You didn't know at the time.
The Vikings are in a spot where the rest of their roster is ready to go.
Yeah. Um, like if if through two years in the NFL, this is the what you've put forward, and I understand that there's limited games because of two separate injuries, like I don't understand how you can be part of a team's plans with that. Yeah. Um, you're you're dealing with one of the best playmaking groups in the NFL, one of the best offensive minds in the NFL. It's just sub-viable. The footwork is ridiculous. It's his feet are like crossing. He's clicking on everything. He's so late on some of these progressions. The interception that he threw, the first one. Um, people were saying, "Oh, he got hit." It would not have mattered if he got hit. Kelvin Byard is is dropping in the zone all the way back. He throws into double coverage. He just never sees him. He's not playing fast enough. He's not processing well enough. Um, and he only throws at one speed. Everything is a fastball. There's no touch. It's just it's just deeply concerning. He doesn't look like he has the physical attributes to succeed. Doesn't look like he has the um uh the skill, the footwork. Doesn't look like he has the mental capacity right now either. It's just a way way way off.
Yeah. I think it's just like matches up with what they've been saying in the media too. Like if you want to like take it like very literally, like they've been warning us that this was going to be the result, and even some like his teammates like before the season were just kind of talking about this. So, uh, I would put it at like 20% that he's like the starter next year, 25%. Um, there's not very many good free agent options. Um, like like the M. Jones and Jacobe Brassettes that we're starting to see, like they're actually under contract for another season. So, it's going to be a little bit difficult to find like a real um viable option. Maybe it's in the draft again, but uh, it's simply not good enough.
Um, I mean, you could trade for like Gino. You could trade for Kyler.
Yeah, Kyler Kyler can get released, and then maybe like that would be the dark.
Tua might be available.
Yeah. Well, yeah, there's there's some like big dead money.
I bet Tua would would do fine in this offense.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, this would be very similar from like three years ago. You get the dome environment. So, um, yeah, I think that would be pretty interesting. Out Flores into a uh that gets a little.
So we'll see about that, but uh, who knows? They're desperate at this point. Um, last ones, we've already mentioned these guys. Jakori Kroski, Merritt, nothing's really changed too much there. Chuba Hubbard, nothing's changed uh at all. And then yeah, I wanted to float out DJ Moore just uh as like a little bit of a spicier name to kind of round out the drop list. Okay. Uh, one final question. Um, you're a lawyer, and I wanted to hear your opinion on the Jamar Chase defense. Rap sheet said Jamar Chase is appealing because if he were to spit on Jalen Ramsey, he would have spit in his face and not at his jersey or the ground. Is that the worst defense since the certain leather glove defense from about two decades ago? Where would you rate that one?
Well, well, that defense worked, if I recall correctly. So, I guess that that was a pretty good defense. So, it's certainly worse than that. Uh,
Yeah, this is this is very interesting. It's it's like you're basically someone gets um prosecuted for attempted murder and they're like, "Look, I can't be prosecuted for attempted murder. If I was the one who shot him, I would have killed him."
And it is like it you saying you didn't spit on someone is raising a lot of questions that are answered by your "This is how I spit on people" t-shirt.
Yeah. Like it's tough to be like, "Look, I'm such a good spitter. I've done this so many times. I I would never miss." Um, it is hilarious. Um, I I saw that tweet where they were like, "He denies it," and it was just like, "Deny it, brother. Like it's on camera. We see you."
Blame it. He could have used the AI. This would actually been very interesting if he said, "No, that video is actually AI." That would actually been a much better.
That would have been better.
That would have been a way better defense. That would have You should be a lawyer.
I should be a lawyer. I'd probably get more money. Uh,
Yeah, that was very, very, very funny. Um, he'll probably be suspended this game. Uh, Noah Fant, maybe like a a deep league uh tight end kind of streamer. He's been popping up. Uh, Yoshi Voss, we should maybe mention Yoshi Voss. Any.
I mean, anything there?
Yeah, I mean, it's going to be it's going to be Gonzalez on T. Higgins all game. So, I I bet one of these other Bengals has a has a startable performance.
Okay. All right. We'll end it there. Uh, Jacob, what do you got on the other feeds?
Yeah, I'll have stuff up. I'm thinking about taking this week as always. We'll have some sort of midweek column. We'll see exactly what it is. Um, we'll have the Hitchhiker's Guide out Saturday as usual. Um, glad ranks are updated, regular podcasts, and I guess I I won't see you next week. I'll be in London next week. So, I'll see you guys um when when I'm able to see you guys.
Okay. All right. Uh, we'll have a normal show this week and then Thanksgiving for us. So, next week would have been Scrooby on our channel anyway. So, uh, for this week, Sat versus Film tomorrow. Tons to talk about more Shador Sanders takes. I know that's what you guys are here for. I'll see you then.