Transcription
The week six waiver wire is here, and Jacob Sanderson and I are going to be going over the Arizona backfield, of course, the Chargers uh backfield. They're always dealing with an injury. Some tight ends, and I think maybe a state of the union at like the low-end tight end one conversation. So, some of those guys are going to be on my drop list. Then obviously, we have some youngsters that are making some noise. But we got to start this thing off with Michael Carter. Last week, uh, he did end up starting. He played about half the snaps but got most of the the work that we're talking about, uh, that we want. So, what did you see out of Michael Carter? And I was just shocked that he's, you know, only at 39% Yahoo rostered in Yahoo leagues. So, I think that's good news for us that there's still a huge market for that that we can grow into as content creators because we clearly are not reaching uh the masses yet. Yes. Uh, dispiriting for for uh, how I, how I thought the show was doing. Michael Carter is 61% unrostered, right? Um, really wild to me that that's the case. Carter, um, I think going into last week, we both agreed, uh, he was the better option played in this backfield. That came out to be the case. Uh, he was basically the early down guy. I think they gave Zonovan Bam Knight like, um, a series or two, and one of them he was really successful on. They let him finish it out for the touchdown, but he played very little. It was De Marcado in the third down role, as he had been, uh, in previous seasons and as he had been in the previous week.
Now, things get even better for Michael Carter. First of all, he looked pretty darn good, uh, to me. I mean, he's not going to be the best running back in the NFL, but this is a guy who once upon a time was a totally viable starting running back. And he looked to me like a fairly viable starting running back, especially a plug-and-play backup. And Trey Benson's going to be out at least three more weeks, but potentially more. This was a meniscus trim. It's like totally plausible he misses five games, six games, seven games, uh, on the spot. And he had one career start. If Michael Carter keeps playing, there's no reason why he can't make this a full-blown committee by the time that Benson returns. And add on top of that, Mari D. Marcado, uh, Ed Mitchell, I'm calling him, made the bonehead mistake that everybody seems so desperate to make of not wanting to hold the ball as they cross the goal line. I don't know if it's lathered in poison or what's going on. It drives me crazy that this keeps happening, but yeah, he wanted no part of it. So, he gets extremely yelled at on the sidelines by John. Be touched, maybe pushed, potentially slapped. Um, either way, I think it's like quite possible that he is punished in some way for this. Um, he could be caught, he could be scratched, he could just have his role reduced. I don't know. And I'll note that Michael Carter has a history of being a long down a distance back. Uh, he played in this role with Jamante Williams at North Carolina. He played in this role, uh, alongside Bree Hall at times in New York. Um, he could totally play in this role again. And maybe they just say, "We'll give Bam Knight 20 to 30% of the early down work, and we'll use Carter as an all-situations back outside of that." That would make total sense to me. Um, Knight looked totally fine. Um, and, you know, we mentioned the issues with De Marcado. So, I think you should be optimistic about Carter being a mid-range RB2 for at least the next month.
Yeah, totally agree on all those points. He had 15.4 for expected points, uh, this last game, and he's a fascinating guy because in the NFL, he's like, kind of been treated as this like early down guy, but in college, he was kind of always like the one B guy, and he's undersized for sure. So you kind of think about pass downs with him, and he's capable of catching passes, but, um, for whatever reason, he's been treated as an early down guy. So I think in Richard or Jonathan Ganon's presser, he said that they're not going to punish Imari de Marcado, though. But we don't even need him to be punished. And if they just reduce that role, like just because they want to get Michael Carter on the field more, um, that's all great news for Michael Carter. Only like bad thing about the situation is their blocking tight end is now out. Their offensive line is bad. So, it's, it's just a bad situation for Michael Carter, but he's getting all of the work, and I don't expect that to change at all. So, uh, I would say very clearly the top ad of the week. We'll obviously get to the Chargers running backs in a second, but before we get to them, there's a couple tight ends that are on my radar quickly. Uh, let's start with Mason Taylor, just because he was the one that played this last week, but it was very promising. And the Jets, uh, the second rounder, they are desperate for somebody else to step up. Uh, especially in garbage time, the defense can't stop anybody. They have no other wide receivers beyond Garrett Wilson. So if he's any good at all, we're kind of looking at a bunch of expected points here. So, what have you seen from Mason Taylor as the prospect and so far in the season?
Well, once again, another all-time Justin watch the games performance from our guy Justin Fields. Uh, he always gets there. Don't watch the games and don't tweet during the games. Just, just let it ride and then see what happens at the end is the rule of Justin Fields. Uh, yeah, Mason Taylor is in a good spot because the only way that the Jets can do anything on offense basically is in fourth quarter comeback mode against prevent defenses when everything is completely lost. And they get in those situations a lot because they're total ass. Um, so I expect that he's going to continue to have four and five catch fourth quarters for very usable, especially for a tight end premium or PPR format fantasy games. I, I could see him being in the low-end tight end one mix for sure. And you also have the benefit of, hey, maybe this offense actually takes a step forward at some point. Maybe they play Tyrod Taylor at some point and run a real offense. Um, Mason Taylor, easy path to being the number two target behind Wilson. They have absolutely nothing at wide receiver. It's a joke. So looking at the usage model, he's gone up in five consecutive weeks. Like no exaggeration, every single week it's gotten better, and it topped out last week, season high 15.2 expected points, and he had three targets in the first quarter cuz I was watching this game for a recap show. But then like the targets just kept coming, and like that, like you said, in fourth quarters, you're just going to get that. So if you only took his like last three games, uh, where he's like actually grown into like a real player, uh, he's the tight end four in usage. So, and I think he looks fairly good. He's like, kind of a no-nonsense yards after the catch guy. He's not like physically dominant. So, we're not talking about Gronk and K.T. Lyles and all that type of stuff, but he's just gonna be someone that's gonna catch passes, sit in zone coverage, and has enough speed to get to the first down marker. And that's like what 85% of tight end receiving production is, just knowing where to sit down. So, I think pretty promising start for for Mason Taylor. Uh, and the Jets are just once again just beyond desperate for him to step up. And part of the fun with Taylor is he's a real boy tight end. Um, like he can actually block, he can play in line, so you're not hopefully, especially as the year goes on, having to deal with weird platoon and route issues and stuff. Like I would put him in the world of like the the Jake Ferguson to the whole K.T. something in that kind of range, and that's totally viable. Yep.
Uh, another one that I think is going to match what Mason Taylor's just grown into, but we have not seen it yet is Colston Loveland. Uh, so I'm not sure if he's going to be healthy enough to come, uh, back out of the bye week and play immediately. Truthfully, I don't really care. Uh, Cole K.T. had one of the worst tight end games of the year in week four before the bye week. Uh, post-bye rookie bump for you guys that are new to it, it's just once these coaches come out of the bye week, they start learning the weaknesses of the offense, they start envisioning that this rookie, like he's going to save the season, and all of a sudden these guys start playing more. So, Colston Loveland's a top 10 pick. Where we go with him pre-draft, and do you think there's a chance that he kind of overtakes Cole K.T. as like the 1A? Uh, because they run a lot of two tight end sets, some even three tight end stuff, but he needs to be like the first guy and play all the snaps. What do you think his odds are of like completely supplanting, uh, Cole K.T.? I loved Loveland pre-draft. He was my tight end one pre-draft. That was obviously wrong. Um, Tyler Warren rules. But, uh, but hey, maybe Loveland will be just as good. But the moral arc of the universe is long. So, um, I, I'm a big fan of Colston Loveland. I think he's a super talented player. I think he has upside to be like the second most talented pass catcher on this offense, quite frankly. Um, I think that with the Bears, you had two rookies, both of whom missed a lot of time in camp with two different injuries. And I, I always kind of baked in the possibility of this post-rookie bump where maybe Ben Johnson looked at it where, look, I have this really early bye anyway. We have these two rookies we want to integrate, but we have serviceable veterans. We're installing a brand new complex offense. Why don't we sort of use these four weeks as almost like an extended preseason for the rookies and work in them after that week five bye? I think that's totally viable. As you mentioned, Cole K.T. sucked against the Raiders. He had multiple killer drops. He got absolutely abused by Max Crosby repeatedly throughout the game. And that to me is the more compelling part of this, because no one realistically could argue that Cole K.T. is a more gifted athlete down the field running seam routes, anything that's breaking than Colston Loveland. Loveland used to split out wide and be corners at Michigan. So the reason why Cole K.T. in theory could ever be playing ahead of Colston Loveland in one tight end sets is that he can handle edges and blocking. If he's getting killed in blocking assignments, there is no benefit to him playing at all in those situations. And so I think they should at least give Loveland a share of the 11 personnel sets and see how he does. And if he can handle himself as a blocker, which I was pretty optimistic on his blocking, then I think we're going to see that just continue to he becomes the clear one tight end set guy and Cole K.T.'s only in there on two tight end sets. I bet we see that scale up over the next few weeks if and when Loveland is healthy. This seems also just passing the ball maybe a little bit more than people would would expect in neutral situations. Their defense, running backs, suck. Yeah, they can't run the ball. Like that's just simple answer. They can't block or they don't have the running back to do it. Their defense, if you guys haven't noticed, also stinks. So, this team just going to be really high up in drop backs the rest of the season. And Caleb just looks better each week as well. So, I think there's a lot of potential here. Uh, what about Luther Burden? Uh, I'm more optimistic on Colston Loveland like supplanting and being in maybe like the lead tight end than, uh, Luther Burden getting into two wide receiver sets, which I think he'll have to do to like actually be startable in like redraft leagues. But, uh, it's certainly possible. They can definitely use some more explosiveness out of their wide receivers. What, what, what's your outlook?
Yeah, I don't know about him getting into two wide receiver sets. The DJ Moore stuff's been weird. Um, I thought he's like looked better than he did last year to my eye when I thought he played actively bad. Yes. But he still has been used in this really weird role where most of his touches are on clear designer stuff that's outside the rhythm of the offense. They just don't seem very interested in designing first read stuff for him, which is kind of what I thought would be the case. Like I thought he would be more of a gadgety player in this offense because it didn't look like he could win on anything downfield last year. This year he does look like he can. They're just not using him that way. Um, so there's maybe some upside if Burton really flashes to supplant Moore, um, in two wide receiver sets at the very end of the year, is what I'm trying to say. I think the far more likely scenario is that he supplants Zakius, who's I think become sort of a less key cog in this offense since he was in week one, and then if they are out on Cole K.T. at some point, maybe they just run more 11 personnel with Burton. That's the upside with him. Yep. Yeah, I could totally see. I think deeply play he's going to be in there. I think in baseball is a totally different discussion there where you don't have to predict when he's going to have his big week, and obviously Luther Burton could absolutely fly out there, and he was on the receiving end of that flea flicker. So I've noticed that he's kind of in there for some of the gadgety plays. Um, and then DJ Moore is actually playing a little bit of running back, which I'm a little bit curious about if they're going to keep doing that because I like the result of it. Yeah, there too. I mean, I think Moore and Burton are the two best running backs on this team. Yeah, honestly, not an exaggeration at all. Um, the same thing would be true about this backfield. Omarion Hampton goes out, no one even knows exactly what play he was injured on. All of a sudden, he's in a boot. The next day, we get boom, injured reserve. So, he's going to be out for at least the next four games here. Went back, it's Han Haskins and Kamani Vidal. Uh, what happened this last week is, uh, Hassan Haskins was actually mixing in. When Omar Hampton was relatively healthy, he was the guy that entered in first. Kamani Vidal also got a little bit of run. They would play like four or five snaps in a row, and then they would move on from the situation. Uh, Hassan Haskins leaves with the, the starters because they were getting blown out, and Kamani Vidal stays in next to Trey Lance. So these two guys, like stylistically, complete opposites. I don't think any one of them are good. Like, if you want to have a, a stance that one guy is much better than the other, sure. The answer is probably neither are very good. So, what's your kind of just outlook of this Chargers backfield? You can throw out names like Gus Edwards or somebody else too, if you want to. Uh, just, what's the status for Chargers?
Yeah, I mean, I'll note that I, I legitimately do think they'll sign Gus Edwards. He's available. He's a free agent. He was on this team last year. He's been with Greg Roman forever. Um, it's this reminds me of how the Chiefs wide receivers have been the last couple years where they keep doing the right thing. They keep trying to add wide receiver talent to address the room, and it's like, look where it brought you back to me, Justin Watson running routes. Um, you know, the Chargers, they go out, they sign Naji Harris, they draft Marian Hampton in the first round, and look what it brought you back to a potential committee of Gus Edwards, Vidal, and Hassan Haskins, just like they had in like week 12 last year. Um, if you remember how that looked last year, none of them were startable. Um, there, when J.K. Dobbins missed time last year, zero Chargers running backs were worth putting in your lineup in fantasy. They just leaned into the pass. They never threw to the backs. They basically only used them when they had to, and they completely deprioritized them in the structure of their offense because they weren't any good. Um, Greg Roman offenses historically have never thrown to running backs. That's changed the last three weeks for the Marian Hampton. I think it's in part because their offensive line has gotten settled with injuries and they need to get the ball out fast. But I also think it's in part because they have this talented athletic back, and they're trying to find ways to get them the ball in space. I don't think there's going to have that same level of intent with either of these two goofs or any other free agent. They sign off the street. If you're asking me to give you a talent evaluation of them, I mean, I liked Vidal more as a prospect, but like, but like whatever conviction that I had and Vidal's like a fun flyer last year out of Troy has been like deeply surpassed by the available evidence that he was in one of the worst running back rooms in the NFL last year and got basically zero opportunities except for one very fun wheel route. It's pretty unlikely that he's good at this point. Um, and I'd also just say Hampton in the games without Naji Harris has played like between 80 to 90% of the snaps. The fact that they still feel the need to divvy up like eight backup snaps per game between these two just tells you everything you need to know about how little confidence they have in either of them that they don't think either is capable of handling like seven backup snaps per game as one single running back. So, I, I think the most likely scenario is none of these guys are any good. They also bring in the third guy, and the real winner is like the three wide receivers who just continue to get peppered with more and more and more targets.
Yeah, that's that's where I'm at with this situation too. Remember like the Chargers offseason, they immediately bring in Naji Harris, and then the first round pick is another running back, and they had Hassan Haskins and Kamani Vidal on there. So, just this is not going to be a fun situation. I guess I would go Hassan Haskins like breaking ties. He's a Michigan alum, you know, that's got to mean something for Harbaugh or something. I don't know. So, he just, the fact that he was playing earliest, uh, in the rotation, and he's theoretically bigger for the goal line stuff, but it's, it's pretty bleak. And I think this week there's only two teams on bye. So, yeah, in like standard leagues and stuff for flex play, I think that he's probably that threshold. But this is not the situation that we've been talking about in previous episodes. I'll, I guess I'll go the other way. My real answer is neither. If I had to pick one, it would be Vidal, just because I, I guess like whatever remnants of a prospect that I like still exist a little bit, and mostly just because I, I think he's the better pass catcher of the two. And so if either one of these guys is going to get four or five catches for PPR value because they can't block anyone, I think he would be the better bet. Um, for what it's worth, he also played more than Haskins last year. Um, but you mentioned Haskins was the guy who got into the game first this week, so it's a toss-up. Yeah, for sure. I'm sure people in the comments feel very good about one of these guys being very much better than the other, and they just, they shouldn't. Um, how about this though? All right, Kendra Miller, there's no standalone value yet. So, we're talking about the Saints backfield now, too. Uh, he closed out the game. They won the game, and I was looking at my like timeline charts that I post with the running backs, and it was obviously more Alvin Kamara early when they were projected, you know, it was supposed to be a close game, and then as like the winning percentage goes up in the Saints' favor, Kendry Miller goes out there, plays a little bit more after the game. Kell Moore made sure to shout him out. Uh, he's just in the handcuff category to me. But the one other caveat and just thing that can break in his favor is if Alvin Kamara does get traded at the deadline. They are one and four after all. So, what have you seen out of Kendrick Andre Miller and like, would you rather have him than these Chargers backs, like even for the next like couple weeks and the rest of the season?
Uh, yeah. Yeah, I would, cuz I, I think he has, he's a very clear handcuff. He has an actual role. I mean, he's basically splitting carries 50/50 at this point, and Kamara is just beating him out on the targets. Um, so yeah, I'm, I would go Miller over both of them. Um, and you also still have the trade outs and everything that we discussed before. So, yeah. Okay. Um, quickly, just Saquon Barkley popped up on the injury report, knee injury. Uh, quickly after Rap Sheet said it's not a big deal. Just wanted to note that because they play on a short week. It's, you know, MetLife turf. It's revenge game. It's all that type of stuff. Uh, this would be a very similar situation to what we're dealing with the Chargers where A.J. Dillon and Will Shipley rotated. Uh, since they've had Will Shipley, they signed A.J. Dillon. And I forgot after I tweeted that that they had traded for Tank Bixby, uh, too. So, it would be a complete disaster situation. Uh, once again over there. Um, the Bixby trade continues to confuse me. I mean, how dare I or smirch the genius that's Howie Roseman, but like, they traded two day three draft picks for this guy, and they don't even use him over A.J. Dillon. I, it's really confusing to me. They must really like him as a kick returner. Um, which I haven't seen him like make big plays on. I, I'll say like, if we somehow get more bearish news throughout the week, I mean, we got it on Hubbard and on Benson after we reported last week, so who knows? Uh, I would still be strongly Shipley. I know that Dillon has been mixing in more in the recent weeks. I just still go back to first game of the season. Will Shipley was getting touches on the first drive of the game. Um, and and I thought that showed a legitimate contention with him. Then he gets hurt, and they've been slow playing him since he got back. Maybe he's still hurt to some extent, but I just feel like, like what could Shipley have possibly done outside of the injury to have lost trust with the staff? Like I don't, I don't see anything. And he seemed clearly the dude that they wanted to make a point of getting involved on the very first drive of their season. Um, you know, versus A.J. Dillon has really only worked in, uh, after Shipley has gotten hurt and, and has not been as much of a player of intent, even besides Saquon Barkley. So, I'd go Shipley.
Yeah, same, same with me. He's also the better pass catcher, and this team the last two weeks have actually been pretty high up in neutral pass rate. They have like really lost faith, like running the ball for, for whatever reason. So, I think that would lean into his favor too. Uh, quickly, just want to mention two other, just this is like really dart throw tight end territory, but A.J. Barner and Theo Johnson both had quality games in this one. Very involved in the red area. Both of these guys could block, and they eat up a bunch of snaps. So, if they start flashing higher target shares, they're actually involved in first read looks, or if these offenses take the, the next step. I know the Seahawks are looking good, and that's why Drew Barner scored those touchdowns. But if the Jackson Dart starts breaking out, A.J. Barner and Theo Johnson, not for now, but like for just for deep leagues and just to have your eye on these guys, I do think that there's something with A.J. Barner and Theo Johnson. Have you seen anything with those guys?
Yeah, I mean, Theo, it seems like they made it a point to get him involved in the red area. You look at who's on this team. Well, Robinson's not a red zone guy. Yeah. Uh, Slayton is hurt now and is like more of a deep threat and is kind of bad. Um, and everybody else is totally bad. So, like, yeah, who would you throw to the red zone? Probably just the big guy, post him up. I mean, he was clearly the schemed up read there. Um, that second touchdown especially. So, I think he's going to have a continued red zone role. Anytime if your tight end is hurt, if you're a K.T. team, if you're a Bowers team, whatever, you can stick him in there. He probably has as good of a chance of getting a touchdown as anyone you can get off waivers. So, I'm, uh, I'm pretty optimistic on Theo. Uh, and Barner, same idea. It's going to be a two tight end heavy team. He's the commit to, you know, whatever we were talking about, uh, with Loveland, sort of more the A.J.O.Y.O., and I think it's going to stay that way. He's a way better blocker than A.J.O.Y.O., and he's been totally serviceable as a pass catcher. So, yeah, like both of them. Uh, last tight end, I wanted to mention, Brock Bowers, we got an injury update that it's not just the PCL injury, it's a bone bruise. And my understanding of that is like this early into your into their his career, and that the Raiders are now one and four. The bone bruise, like it's a risk tolerance thing, and there's just no reason to like have him out there. So, there could be setbacks, it can get worse. So, I think the plan would be to rest him for at least another week or so. Um, and Michael Mayer by that point, hopefully has cleared concussion protocol. So, if you're just looking for like a one-week fill-in, if you are the Brock Bowers, uh, draft or if George K.T.'s not going to be coming back this week, or you just drafted a bust, um, I do think that Michael Mayer has a chance to maybe be, um, a sneaky ad, uh, probably very, very cheap because he missed his last game.
Yeah, it's just so, um, frustrating how they've handled this injury. It feels like they just had him playing hurt as a shell of himself for three weeks for no reason. If they had just rested him at the beginning, it feels like he could be playing now at full health and look like the player he was in week one instead of having to deal with a completely compromised version and then probably still miss until the bye week. Um, it's a big bummer. Uh, and yeah, for Mayer, I, I, I bet Bowers, the most likely scenario is he's rested until the bye. Um, so I think you got probably a couple weeks on Michael Mayer as a startable low-end tight end one, assuming he gets back from the concussion. I will note he's had multiple concussions now in his career, so I wouldn't take it like as totally assured that he comes back this coming week, but we'll see. I mean, the Bowers situation, doesn't that completely sum up the Raiders like offseason and rebuild where they're halfway in, halfway out, and like, if they would just play the long game for once in their lives, they would actually, you know, get better results, uh, in the future, but they were trying to win now, and they can't. They're incapable of winning now. So, yeah, that's just like classic Raiders situation there. And they knew he was hurt. I mean, look at the routes that they designed for him in week one, where they were doing these long crossing routes and this really creative usage, and you can quibble about the snaps, but like when he was on the field, the usage that he got was fantastic, and they were force-feeding him the ball on those spots, and then they knew he was hurt because all they designed for him in the next three weeks was a bunch of seven-yard stop routes. So, they knew it, and they did it anyway, and it was, it's just so frustrating. Yeah. Anyway, okay. Uh, is there any other ads before I get to the drop list? Like anyone like scrolling down for you?
Yeah, not a whole lot. I mean, I'll mention Kenny Gainwell. Um, you know, Warren's back at practice, so I don't think you're like pumped to start Gainwell, but he played really darn well. Um, and so maybe you get a committee there. We talked about him last week. Um, and then the other guy I'll just mention, he's still only 58% owned, which is remarkable to me, but, um, Rico Dowdle looked like Adrian Peterson last week. Uh, so if you happen to be in the 42% of leagues, I, I don't imagine that you need me to tell you to pick up the guy who had 234 yards last week, but I think you should if he's available.
Yeah, well, maybe if you are in that league, maybe you do need your handheld. So, who, who knows? Who knows? Um, all right. So, drop list. Uh, I mean, you can't start this week's drop list without putting Amari De Marcado, just the drop himself, right at the top of that list. So, uh, he only played on third downs pretty much. Like, I think he had like 16 to 18 third down, uh, snaps. So, he did not graduate out of that role. He's firmly droppable. Uh, the Cardinals might make that decision. Going to increase his role after that, uh, yeah, performance. Yeah. I mean, you literally can't make the drop list any clearer than dropping the ball yourself. Literally on the drop list. Yes, absolutely. Um, couple guys that, um, just we're talking about so many tight ends, so I want to include a couple guys. The T.J. Hockenson stuff. He's at 90% rostered. You can keep keep on doing this thing, but he's heading into the bye. They don't know what quarterback they're going to go with. They have two complete star wide receivers to throw the ball to. And I just think that he's not going to be the same like target earner that he was previously. He's not like popping out to me on tape, uh, all that much. He's not getting any first read stuff. He's just getting checked down. And why would you, and why would you design stuff to T.J. Hockenson? So I think like the Mason, like, would I drop T.J. Hockenson for Mason Taylor? Absolutely. Would not think twice about any of that. Uh, Mark Andrews, very similar situation. No Lamar Jackson this week, then they go into a bye week, and Isaiah Likely is coming back. Uh, I would put Rashod Bateman into that same exact category. You're not going to be using these guys for multiple weeks, and then even when, when they do come back, you're like, just praying for a touchdown. Uh, so don't like those situations. Uh, last two, Geno Smith, um, just over, uh, no left tackle, no Brock Bowers, not going to happen. Um, and then, uh, Ollie Gordon's at 25%. He's a touchdown or bust guy, but they can't run the ball at all. The offensive line is completely dreadful. Their second rounder now playing left guard. He can't block anybody. He's like, he's got maybe the worst recovery, uh, speed, uh, I, I've seen from a rookie. So, um, all those guys, I don't think you really need any of them.
No, big agree. I mean, Hockenson is not like, I'm not saying to drop him because he's worse than the guys we've mentioned. He's kind of like the same as most of the guys you've mentioned. But that's the point. Like, you have to pick up a streamer anyway while he's on bye. So you're going to, don't roster two tight ends. These guys are all the same. There's like five tight ends that matter, and all these guys are the same. There's even less because two of them are hurt. So there's probably like, what? Two tight ends that actually matter. Three, I guess we got to count the Ferg. So, um, yeah, at this point, just drop T.J. Hockenson. And yeah, there's way better running back handcuffs than Ollie Gordon. That's what he is. He's a running back handcuff. His standalone role is a fugazi. Um, let's take one more just like dart throw. Uh, you wanted to mention him. Uh, Breece Hall. He's playing like as we're recording. It's only the second quarter here, but whether he does well or not, P.C. got 100 yards, it doesn't matter. There's just like an intrigue with Breece Hall, the rookie. Tell us about his situation right now.
Yeah, he might be the last running back out there that you could make a, a very plausible case of how he is the starting running back without an injury within like the next month, you know? And, and what starting running back means for Breece Hall is probably different than what it means for other running backs because he does have limitations. Seventh rounder, more of a pass catcher type. But like I'll say, I, I've only watched the first half of this game. Kareem Hunt just had a big run. Um, but like I know, what are the odds of that? Yeah, I won't say that it was like the most impressive big run. It was sort of like he got through the hole and nobody was home. It was a 33-yard gain, and it was negative rush yards over expected. The next was like he should have busted that for 48. Yeah. Uh, the safety kind of was like, I'm not too concerned to kind of angle him out, but, but hey, it worked. Um, yeah, I'll also say they just designed a, a really nice angle route for Breece Hall that was very Jerick McKinnon. So, point being, Czech and Kareem Hunt, these guys are total Jags. Um, and, uh, Breece Hall, if he continues to impress, and he's flashed a couple times, and they use him in interesting ways. If you could just get him up to what the actual Jerick McKinnon role used to be, which was these designer plays on early downs, but also they would use him on passing downs. And then who knows, you know, maybe they even give him some more actual carries and stuff instead of just purely these kind of designer plays. It's just a guy that's interesting to have on your bench because, you know, there's so many pure handcuffs in these redraft leagues, but this is one dude who I think you could at least squint and see how he's a 12 to 14 point per game guy late season without any injuries.
Yeah, I do like him in full PPR redraft leagues. You got a deep league. Uh, I, I would be interested in that. I also just think the Chiefs are about to take off. Just, I think Xavier Worthy is a big deal. The offensive line has been kind of hit or miss, and hopefully they start gelling with some new, uh, pieces, and I think that Mahomes is playing extremely well. And then just looking at the box score while recording this, Mahomes is 12 for 14, 162 yards at a touchdown. Taquan Thornton. I like to me, like even just Taekwon Thornton, what he brings versus Justin Watson, DeAndre Hopkins, and all those players. I think this offense could like get back to like 28 points per game plus type of territory. And like, and there's only one game left until Richie James. Exactly. So I think they're just going to go crazy here. So like adding any Chief, I think you could do worse than that. So to make your point on Breece Hall. So, um, all right. What do you got? And by the way, congrats on the new gig. Tell us about about that, and then what you got for for for more writing.
Yeah, so, I mean, you can always find my usual Hitchhiker's Guide on Thinking About Thinking. I'm going to do a bit of a dynasty mailbag there this week as well. Um, and the new gig, uh, so it'll be a monthly feature. Um, I wrote the first edition of it last week for The Athletic, and it's redraft trade value tiers. So, I sort of built these quantified trade value tiers that are based off of, uh, my Dynasty Points co-host Lucas's wins over replacement model. Um, and then just sort of scaled my rest of season rankings into that model. If you know you want to use the same type of math, um, in the weeks that I'm not writing the column and you want to input your own rankings, you just do that, and you basically assign it to the model, and it kind of gives you a reasonably fair trade calculator where you can start to piece your head around the two for ones, the three for twos, stuff like that. So, um, go check that out on The Athletic. Check the rest of myself out on Thinking About Thinking, and I'll be back here next Monday night.
Yeah, that's a really cool tool. There's a lot of questions that Josh and I get that are like on the fly trying to answer them. It's like so confusing. It really depends on like the rest of your rosters and all that type of stuff. But I do think like the best trades are usually like across positions, and it's a little bit harder to wrap your your brain around it. So, just having some, some math, some like high-quality rest of season rankings is super impactful. So make sure you go check that out. Uh, Thinking About Thinking is excellent. Is, uh, Twitter handle also excellent. So, uh, we'll be back here Stats Versus Filmwise tomorrow. Got a lot to break down. Um, got my own model up there, uh, that you guys will have access to, and then rankings for the rest of the week. So, more teams coming back from bye than going on to bye. So hopefully our fantasy scores improve. All right.