2024 Season Preview, Fantasy Buy Or Sell, 8/31/24 | Fantasy Sports Today

Fantasy Football Spectacular Announcement Hour two of FST. By the way, you can catch George and I. Labor day Monday for our fantasy football spectacular show at noon eastern. And a lot of other times appearing streaming on Sports Grid. So a double dose of fantasy football on your Labor Day as well. Now let's get to some potential flex options. George and I have covered every position as fantasy football draft season, but how about some players that maybe were right outside the tiers that you can throw in on a weekly basis, just not as a starter, as a flex Dallas Cowboys Flex Options option? We'll start off, George, with your guys, the Dallas Cowboys, who by the way, also made a signing this week bringing in Dalvin Cook. But that's not the one we're going to talk about here. It's Rico Dowdle. And what was interesting was the coach commentary basically saying I mean at least to me it felt like the signing of cook. I don't know if it's going to work, but it felt like Dowdle took a hit from that, and it felt like the coaches told us that Dowdle's fantasy value took a little bit of a hit from that. We thought that he'd get a ton of playing time right next to Ezekiel Elliott. I don't know that I'm as confident anymore. How about you, it would be tough to be as confident. I do have doubt on a deeper league. I've had him for years, actually. It's a much a much deeper league here. We knew Zeke was going to be the goal line guy. Right That's his main thing there. Right? He is good short yardage. That's already going to take away touchdowns. And we thought that okay maybe you know between the 20s catch some balls that sort of thing. And now you add Dalvin Cook I guess the good news is cook was put on the practice squad not the 53. So there's some good news there for Dowdle. And also keep in mind McCarthy did say they were going to take him off some special teams work. That's also good reason. They want to keep him healthy for running back. So you could read it that way as well. But as soon as I signed Dalvin Cook, if he has anything left, he's going to take that job, right. He's going to get most of those carries. So the Cowboys run right. They run on their you know name players and Dalvin Cook is a name player Rico is not. He still has to prove himself all over again that he's better than cook too. So yes I would be worried about this if I have Dowdle. I said in that deeper league I thought I could start. Dowdle certainly not doing it week one against Cleveland. It's a good defense. Anyway, we'll see next week against the New Orleans. Yeah I actually on the waivers picked up cook I mean I felt like I had nothing to lose. I threw through you know a couple of bucks out there. You know truthfully do I is Dalvin Cook finished I don't know like based on the Jets last year I'm not willing to make that assessment. They didn't have a quarterback for the entire year. So for me maybe it is a levy on Bell to the Jets situation. But I'm going to at least take a Blake Corum's Rising Fantasy Value flier on cook and just stash them. Now it's too late to do that with Blake Corum, who was so good in college. I mean, Blake Corum, an all time performer and now he is all of a sudden just rising up draft boards because people have realized that Kyren Williams kind of came out of nowhere last year and may even return punts, according to what the coaching staff said. You know, ADP is the 40th running back overall and the projected fantasy points is 100. I mean, George, you could double that if this guy gets the playing time. We think he could potentially get too late to call him a sleeper anymore. I'm seeing drafts where all of a sudden he's way inside the top 15 rounds in fantasy football. So you're going to have to pay up now, I believe, for him this weekend and next week. Yeah, I said I got Kyren Williams in one league and I really wish I wanted I did want to even back then I wanted to take Blake Corum, but I didn't. He went, I think right before me, I wouldn't call it a snipe, but he went. Now I think it's almost a must if you've got Kyrie and you take him around whatever round three, you better be willing to take Corum in round seven. Round eight. Yeah because he's he's flying up boards. Hear this news. I mean this dude is for a loop here that he was going to return punts. I mean Craig when was the last time he saw this? I think it was. You said Reggie Bush, right. That's the last time we saw a running back who does this sort of thing. I mean, this is a worry here. If you have Kyren Williams because he's certainly not going to play a full complement of snaps. He's not, you know, if and you know what I find even weirder. He has an injury history. While returning punts isn't going to help that right. So he could hurt a lot as well. So a lot of concerns here about Kyren Williams. This is once again I put him in the category Craig of I don't want him. I do want him. I'll take him five rounds later and take my chances. But I don't want Kyren Williams anymore. Yeah, no, I think that's fair. We also I mean not me Xavier Worthy's Uncertain Role because again, I'm not stupid enough to draft in July, but a big gut punch to maybe the fantasy value of Xavier worthy Andy Reid on Friday, George telling reporters that he wasn't 100% sure that Xavier worthy was worthy of being the main option in Kansas City right away. This was a little bita stunner to hear this, so I don't know, like I guess like in following camp, I didn't really hear that. And following preseason, I didn't really hear that. But in checking social media on Friday, it sure seemed that some people are a little concerned now that it may take worthy a few weeks, or at least a couple of weeks, to be ready. Now, maybe it's a complete smokescreen and he's going to catch ten balls for 150 yards on Thursday night. I don't know, but that's what the coach said. So I know what you're going to say next. George No you don't, worthy. I would not start in week one against Baltimore, I get I am very worried about, rookie wide receivers. Anyway you know, I don't care about Andy, and I like, I like Andy Reid a lot. But what coaches say right about now, I don't care one little bit. They're all lying. All right, try to get that edge there. Yeah, I'm not even going to say I'm not going to say what you think I'm going to say. I thought you were going to say you're lying. Never saying it again. Never saying it again. Really? But, because you made fun of me, and I'm not going to say it. What do you mean? That's your go. I didn't make fun of you. It's your go to line. Nope Not going to say it again. You ruined that line for me. It's not going to happen. When? When can you tell a coach is lying? When his lips move? That's the line Craig wants me to say. There you go. And at this point in time, at this point of the year, it's so true. They're all lying. I'm not saying Andy Reid is, but you said it could be a smokescreen. It could be. Maybe he's trying to get maybe worthy's, you know, a little too, what's it say? His breeches are too big. Maybe he needs to get his ego checked down. Maybe that's what Reid's doing here, no. Marquise Brown, we do know that he's not going to play week one. All right, he's out. That was made official yesterday. On Friday. Rashee Rice not going to get suspended. So he's still going to get more targets. Travis Kelce is still going to get more targets, Pacheco I mean everything works well. You're talking fourth option for worthy on Thursday. I think he'll get some deep shots Greg I do I think they're going to want to get those safeties off the line of scrimmage, and they're going to take some shots with worthy. But to see him being a big fantasy of play, not unless he connects on 1 or 2 of those shots. I do love him long term. I love worthy, but, week one, probably not going to go with him. Let's go to Jamison Williams: A Star in the Making another player. Superstar at the University of Alabama, Jameson Williams. You may remember he was suspended for betting on Hideki Irabu of the New York Yankees. No, I'm just kidding. That didn't happen. But he was suspended for, sports betting. Sam doesn't even know who Hideki Irabu. Do you know who Hideki Irabu is? Sam, do you remember that name? No, he has no idea. I know, I know, I know, but no, the Jameson Williams. Wasn't he betting on sports? It was gambling. He was gambling? Yeah. Sammy trying to. He's trying to ruin the show halfway through. I mean, normally I'm the one that ruins the show. I read like the stuff. That's for Sunday's show. I didn't do that today. I love Jameson Williams. George. I'm going to have him on like, all my teams, man. Like, I look, he was awesomt Alabama and he's been derailed by different things injuries and also by sports betting. He's going to be a star I think I think he and Amon-ra Saint Brown one two combo. Fantastic. This year I have no argument. I am right there with you. All right. I love I think he's going to be that guy because I think Laporta clears out over the middle. You know Saint Brown is the number one wide receiver. And that leaves one on one coverage for Williams. And no one's sticking with that man. He is fast and he is good. He's not. He's not just a one trick pony. So I am right here with you. I think he's a guy I'm trying to target in a lot of leagues. I want this guy. Second target on Detroit. Absolutely no Josh Reynolds either. Right. He's gone. So there there's there are balls to go around here. And we you know we joke. When in doubt, take someone on Detroit. Right. Take someone on Detroit high scoring offense. Love Jameson Williams. Yeah I honestly think that people have forgotten how good he was. And Jaylen Waddle was. And also there was a receiver I you know maybe at this point people forgot about him. He had a very serious injury named John Metchie. I forget if he's even on a team anymore. But John Metchie was really good at Alabama. The three of them played together and Jamison Williams was just as good as Jaylen Waddle. So I really feel like he is on the verge of a big breakout, Josh Palmer I know, Josh in the CFL. Thank you. Sam we got that one. Josh Palmer is a player I know you like Gee I'm not as high on the Chargers receivers. I don't think you're actually high on them either. But he's the guy that you think is the guy there because you can get him late. You can get him around 1415. Someone's got to catch balls there. So I'm not hiring him. I don't want to spend a top pick, but you can get him so late here. I think the value is there. All right. Speaking of Superflex Quarterback Options I. Really love the idea of the Superflex leagues with two quarterbacks. More and more, I think we're headed there. I mean, these are the most important players in all of sports. Why are we not playing two of them in fantasy football? I'm on board with that. So we're going to dive into some potential names that you can use in that Superflex option. Maybe these are just outside the top 12 or maybe even beyond. And you know, George, it is sort of crazy for me to think that we're here with Justin Herbert, that he's a super flex option when if we're doing shows two seasons ago, he is the fourth or fifth best fantasy football quarterback off the board. And you may say, I wouldn't be surprised if he's number one. I mean that that's how good Justin Herbert we thought he was going to be. But he's had different issues with his receivers. There's no doubt about that. The coaching staff, a lot of people were very critical of him to Brandon Staley, I believe was the former quarterback coach there and of course head coach. Now Jim Harbaugh is there, but there are no weapons. And so I don't know how to look at Justin Herbert. I still think he's got one of the best arms in the NFL. And he probably, as they say, can make the best throws of any quarterback in the NFL, 6070 yards deep to just anyone but they drafted. Quentin Johnson didn't work out at least thus far. Still, early and you look at their roster and Jim Harbaugh is kind of like, all right, let's just go with what we got. They really didn't get anyone. So I got to say I don't really love him as a superflex option. Love I dislike I don't want him. It's really that simple. Here is this nothing is Herbert. Everything you said is true, right? NFL quarterback he quarterbacked the Dallas Cowboys anytime, anytime. Fantasy quarterback. Where's your upside I mean we all know what Harbaugh wants to do. He wants to play 21, 17, 24, 21 games. Fourth quarter. See if we don't make a mistake and we can pull it out here. He's trying to build a game in the trenches. Boring. Football is what he wants to play here. He's rebuilding the team in his image or the kind of team he likes there. It's going to take a couple of years. There's not much offensive talent here. I like kind of like Ladd McConkey and I mentioned I do like Josh Palmer, but these are late, late additions here. Guys who are looking for value here. This team's not going to score a lot of points here. Superflex there are a lot of quarterbacks a lot. And as much as I love Herbert NFL wise, I don't want him fantasy wise. Nope I'm not taking him. Yeah me either. So now the next one is probably your least favorite quarterback to take. And at Superflex. And that is Deshaun Watson who you know I mean I'm trying to make a case for like super late in the draft and just say you r know another player. It's kind of crazy again. Two years ago Watson not playing for Houston sitting out that whole year. Is he going to go to Miami. Remember all that and has just looked so bad with Cleveland. And look, when you hear rumors about players and we've seen a lot on social media this week that Watson like doesn't like looking over his shoulder and a backup quarterback, I think you have to take those with a grain of salt. I do, I think it's not fair. But sometimes when there's smoke, there's fire and maybe even if it's not 100% true, maybe it's 50% true and it's just a bad look for him. If that's the case. So what round would you even consider taking Deshaun Watson and how many I mean would you take him as the 22nd or 23rd quarterback in a superflex league? Is that even fair at this point? I'm looking at a list here. 22nd is Geno Smith. 23rd is Baker Mayfield would take both of them easily over Deshaun Watson I think I think Geno Smith is highly underrated by the way. Highly underrated. Baker Mayfield was you know good wide receivers Evans Godwin 24 is Will Levis Daniel Jones I would probably take Watson over Levis Daniel Jones with the running ability I'd probably take a shot at that at that point here. Yeah I'll you know I had a I really I had a draft list. I really didn't have a draft. A buddy of mine, somebody used to work with me with the Fantasy Sports Network, with me. He needed a 12th person, but I told him I couldn't make the draft, so he said, listen, will you at least set your roster if I put you on auto draft? Dalton. Yes. Why not? It's a super flex league. Guess what? Quarterbacks. I ended up with? No way. Deshaun Watson and Geno Smith how that happens I mean what is the auto draft doing here. Saying I'm going to just punt quarterback. Thanks buddy. So that's a super that's right. Oh my third quarterback is Justin Fields I'm saved. You know so I didn't look at the draft I want to know who who the auto draft I like fields to eventually I want to know who the draft passed up on. What round do they go for quarterback 1012 I mean, little little. So a little annoyed about but it's a non-money league. So I don't care, I told him just don't put my name on it. I will set the lineup down. I'll give it a shot, but I think if Deshaun Watson, NFL wise, if he's 80% of what Sean Watson used to be in Housto, Cleveland's a dangerous, dangerous team. I just don't know. He is that and not even 80% Greg I don't know you know something just seems to be wrong here. Right. He's still got the sore shoulder he's complaining about here. Does he want to play football? I mean, he got the guaranteed money, which is I guess I'm thinking, the worst contract in sports history, or certainly one of them here. Yeah. It's just not yet. Oh. Not yet. Oh, man, that's guaranteed money. Guaranteed money they can't get out of. I don't know, man. 207 million. Got to let him. I mean Russell Wilson got some you know a lot to I think there's a way out of some of that stuff always with these quarterbacks. But Watson Watson is pure guaranteed. Can't get out there yet. We're not there yet. We're not there yet. No. But I'll give you that I'm not there yet. I share a similar sentiment, but not the same. I think the bottom line is I don't. We got him. I understand you made your point clear. We got to move on. Kirk Cousins he only had 18. Touchdown passes last year. So when you see the graphic understand that he missed a lot of time. He's with the Falcons. Now for those of you living under the Non-fantasy rock Michael Penix Jr was drafted. So cousins does you can't see it in that picture there. But he's looking like this. He's not looking over his shoulder directly but he's got to look over his shoulder. I don't know what Atlanta was doing here. I do like Kirk Cousins is super flex option I do. But I don't love the fact that he's like what would you say George? He's like a closer in baseball. If he like blows two games in a row that third game you're going to be like all right. They're going to bring in Penix, right? I hate that, I agree with everything you said. I like him. I think he'll have a good year. I wouldn't mind having him as my quarterback, too, but I think it's a perfect analogy. If he has a bad game or two. We all know rookie quarterbacks tend to play. They tend to play. You got to get those Blues out here that being said, I think he'll be okay this year. I'm still willing to roll the dice, but you know, if it's cousins or someone else. I have ranked close to him. I'm going with the other guy that I don't have to worry about. All right, let's close it out Aaron Rodgers Matthew Stafford yes Jared Goff those three. Yes yes those three. The one I want most is Goff. We love the offense. You look at the numbers he put up last year. How can you not like Goff. You're so good I'm not taking Aaron Rodgers I mean I don't I don't dislike him or anything. Like I know a lot of people do I just I don't know man I missed the whole year last year. I just can't do it. Guy I love his saying I don't want to know anything, he told the team. No distractions this year. First thing, he does not show up to mandatory minicamp and Kickers in Fantasy Football We've reached the pinnacle of fantasy sports today. It's time for us to take a look at kickers in fantasy football. Now, George, do you play in? I play in one league where we still use kickers. How many leagues do you play in where you use kickers? Unfortunately, I think nine for nine. Oh, no. Eight for nine. One League doesn't have. I think all the others do. But I'm with you. Get rid of them. Yeah It's tough. I don't mind it actually. It's actually okay. But I feel like the first person to take a kicker in fantasy football is somebody that feels like, man, I had a really bad draft. Let me make sure I get the best kicker out of the way. I've always I've always looked at it that way, like, oh, I did so bad. So let me take Justin Tucker, so Justin Tucker is, you know, one of the few players that's like a guaranteed Hall of Famer that you could talk about oa show like he is. He doesn't have to make another kick, and he's going right to the Hall of Fame, so that's cool for him. Still the number one kicker in fantasy. Brandon Aubrey who was so good with the Cowboys last year. He's back once again. And then you know Harrison Butker he's okay. You know he's all right. He's fine. But he's playing on the Chiefs. So like that that's a product of that I very much would rather have Tucker and Aubrey than Butker. Generally when I look for kickers, if we're going to k strategy here, hey I'm not taking any to, you know, round 15, round 16. All right. I'm not taking the kicker early. But I like kickers who kick indoors, especially if you get any kind of bonus points for 50 plus yard field goals. Right, Aubrey? Forget this guy. What do you think? A 65 yarder in a preseason. This guy's got a bomb here. So. Yeah, I'd rather have Aubrey. How about Fairbarn? Tucker is a different category. You're talking. He's just got, these guys. I kind of like their maybe younghoe koo in Atlanta. Somebody you can look at. I want indoor kickers because I want those bonus points here, but like I said, you just taking the best guy available. I don't put a lot of thought into this, but the dome guys, I do like more. Assuming your league awards bonus points for 50 plus yard field goals. Yeah I do like a couple of kickers very late. I'll talk about them later. But first, let's get to the tier two kickers. So you mentioned Fairbairn, who is playing on a great offense in Houston. So no surprise there. Jason Sanders with Miami Jake Elliott is a super reliable on Philadelphia. So that's why he shows up. Moody plays in a great offense. That's why he's there, another very reliable option. Tyler Bass is going a lot lower than he has in the past. Just because, you know, there's some notion that maybe Buffalo is not as good. And the same could be said for Evan McPherson, who was so good in year one. And then, you know, their offense wasn't as good as year two. And so naturally, you're seeing him drop in year three. It really doesn't make any sense because Joe Burrow was back. But again, it can take it or leave it with many of these guys. I'm just not someone that's ever going to invest a high pick here. Agreed. I don't might have McPherson week, but Jake Moody up here too, right. San Francisco kicker. They should score some points, do you believe in the Jets? You you seem to have your doubts at Rogers, sort of. Why, by the way. But Greg Zuerlein could be an option here, if, maybe Santos. I mean, we're going down here. Probably passed here to Santos with Chicago, could be an option. Jason Sanders, your boy in Miami, right? Certainly, we expect dolphins to score some points there, so we like him, nicer weather too. So, I'm good with that, Bates in Detroit, I understand when we get down here. You know, we just talked about, quarterbacks. You know, cousins could lose his job a bad game or two. If kickers have a bad game or two. Oh, by next, tier three. And then I'm going to give you the kicker that I like. He's not on. He's not even on this list. So Matt Gay, Cameron Dicker, Cairo Santos, Jason Myers, Dustin Hopkins these are all the bottom of the barrel. The guy that I like and I know it's the weather situation. So that's why maybe you would think twice, but Anders Carlson I mean George, that guy is really good on green Bay. He won a lot of games for them last year. And, you know, I guess people are just, you know, throwing off. You. Look, your point is fair. The Packers late in the season not going to play in great weather. But this guy is I saw him in the preseason two kicking like crazy kicks. He's really really good. The problem is, he's no longer the green Bay kicker. All right. He was released, so they they went with Narveso. They they what? They released him a while back, they went, right now they're kickers. Brayden. Narveson. So, yeah, you're probably not going to do too much Packers Kicker Controversy with. And I don't think it's a great thing I didn't either. So, but by the way, if you're going down this far, how many kickers are you starting with the Packers in the preseason that I was seeing kicking all those kicks, he got released. I think he got the week one or maybe week two, the preseason. Yeah, he was there. He just got released. I'll find out when for you. Exactly in a second. But why are we going down this far? How many kickers are we starting in this? In this league here? Anders Carlson is a free agent. So we're certainly not going to take it. They waived him on August. Oh, they waived him four days ago. You know, on the 27th. So there you go. I know, cause I was following the Marlins the last few days. I wasn't paying attention to Packers kickers being released. So if you drafted, if you drafted call, you're going to have to you're going to have to draft a different kicker than Anders Carlson because he's not on the Pa Thursday Night Football Preview: Ravens vs. Chiefs Welcome back to Fantasy Sports today here on Sports Grid. Thursday Night Football is here folks. Just a few days away it is the Baltimore Ravens taking on the Kansas City Chiefs opening night football should be a lot of fun and we'll have complete coverage of course here on Sports Grid. But by the time George and I are here with you Ravens' Key Players and Strategy next, this game will have gone off. So, George, let's take a look at it and take a look at both teams here. The Baltimore Ravens, of course. Back where you know that they belong again with Lamar Jackson once again on the road trying to win a big game. Chiefs have had good success against the Ravens. We do know that very bizarre game for the Ravens in the playoffs. By the way I would add last year the big wrinkle for the Ravens is Derrick Henry is now the starting running back. And you know speaking of Hall of Famers, that's one that's actually a future Hall of Fr Derrick Henry. If he didn't play another down he'd be in. But beyond that Zay Flowers will he take the next step. Will we see anything from Rashod Bateman? I think that's a big name that could potentially go off. George the guy that I have on my keeper league. Not that anybody cares is Zay flowers. A flowers was so good last year in fantasy down the stretch. What do you make of the Ravens going into the season. And what do you make of this game there. What do they need to do to win on Thursday night? I think the Ravens are a good team. You can make a pretty good argument. They're the best team in the AFC. So I expect big things from the Ravens I do. That division is the division from hell. I think Cincinnati is a good team. Cleveland could be a good team depending on Deshaun Watson and Pittsburgh. Well they always manage to win eight nine games. I don't know how they do it, but they do a really good division. But I think Baltimore is the class. I think they might be the best team in the AFC. I think it's a great game. Thursday night, I don't think it'll be a high scoring game. Craig. I think it's a game. 2420, 21, 17 somewhere around there. So I don't thk we get a lot of fantasy gold out Fantasy Football Picks for Ravens vs. Chiefs of this contest. That being said, I mean, you're starting Lamar Jackson, right? You're starting Derrick Henry. These guys are every week starters. You're starting Mark Andrews and you probably and Zay Flowers is probably an every week starter as well. He may not be a wide receiver one, but I don't see him falling anywhere further than wide receiver three as far as a weekly basis, you know, so I'm probably starting all those guys. But yeah, I don't expect a million points to be scored. So if you're looking for that and maybe an issue here, but Kansas City, it's the same thing, right? You're starting Mahomes, starting Pacheco. You're starting Kelce. You're probably starting with rice. And that's as far as I'll go. Te top four guys. But like I said Rashee rice is probably my one question mark here. There's a chance you might have better you know, because when she was a top 50 wide receiver, you might be able to have three wide receivers better and a flex on your roster than Rashee Rice. I can see that. And like I said, I like what she rice a lot and I'm going to like him a lot this season. I just don't see mega points being scored Thursday night in Kansas City. I think it's gonna be a very good game, very tight game. So what we saw last year between Detroit and Kansas City on Thursday night, which was was a 24, 23 was the final or something like that. I expect a similar score to that. Yeah, I do too. I think it will be a good game, probably a lower scoring game than people anticipate. Thursday Night Football is always that way, you know, I'm interested to see Xavier worthy. Remember Hollywood Brown, if you missed any of the media reports this week, looks like he is out for week one on Thursday night. So Rashee rice, Xavier Worthy, Travis Kelce among the options for Friday Night NFL Game in Brazil: Packers vs. Eagles Kansas City in that game, and then we go from Thursday night to Friday night and they're going to play an NFL game on a Friday night in Brazil. I'm sort of partial to high school football. I can't believe the NFL is opening up on a Friday night against high school football teams. So a lot of the kids are not going to be able to watch this game. Never thought that day would come. Packers. Eagles. This is another really good showdown I think George. But I guess we'll see. Packers coming off a great run. You know this is the story is very easy. The narrative is very easy for this game. Although I don't know what Brazil is going to be like. The air the weather, the field I have no clue. But one team on fire at the end of the season going in one direction, one team completely falling apart, going in the other direction, and they'll face each other on Friday. Yeah, they will, and by the way, speaking of the Friday game I wanted this is at the beginning, you know, the NFL always looking for more money, right. Next revenue stream. They've had games on Friday in the past, mainly on holidays when, you know the Christmas holiday would fall or Christmas Eve or whatever New Year's, so they would have games there, but I wanted this is the beginning here, where next year we're going to see a few more on Friday. You know, the ratings are high. I think it's going to be the beginning of, well, the NFL taking over Fridays as well. Money money money money money. It's all the NFL cares. As for this game, I mean this this question marks or things you want to see for both teams. Right. Philadelphia did implode last year ten and one. It just fell apart here. They got rid of both coordinators. So we're going to see how that offense works. No Jason Kelce is the tush push going to still going to be as effective I think it will be you know does that take away touchdowns from Saquon Barkley. We'll see. You know green Bay all right love got paid. He had eight good games. And the playoffs youw is he worth that money. Can he make that offense go with all those different receivers there. How is Josh Jacobs going to play there. You know is he the back he was you know for I guess the first half of the season with the Raiders or the one at the second half where he didn't really do all that much here. There's a lot to look at here. And these are two of the best teams in the NFC. Right. As much as we like the Kansas City Baltimore game because two best teams in the AFC. The NFL has done us a favor. Two of the best games in the NFC should be a great game. We'll see how it works out here. As for who's starting here, I mean, you're starting love. You're Fantasy Football Picks for Packers vs. Eagles starting hurts right. You say both quarterbacks there. You're starting Jacobs. You're starting Barkley. You're starting you're going to start Brown. You're going to start. Devonta Smith. Yoe going to start Dallas Goedert. More than likely the tight end could be interesting. The wide receivers for green Bay is where it gets interesting Watson Dobbs Reid Wicks pick your poison here I'm going to start Watson while he's healthy. And I'm probably starting Dobbs. After that I'll probably take off. Yeah. And look I think for, you know we'll we'll go back to the Packers and let's go to the Eagles here. You know for the Packers. Anders Carlson will not be kicking. That's the one thing we learned from the show. But but, Emmanuel Wilson is a name that I believe he made the team. I hope I hope I'm not wrong about that, he will be the backup running back to Josh Jacobs. So again, that's an interesting note for the Philadelphia Eagles. I think that you said it best, George. I mean, you're looking at a lot of different options. And you wonder how the Eagles are going to use those running backs, especially on the first night. Saquon Barkley naturally you would think with the amount of money that they paid him to join the Eagles, that he would be that guy. But the Eagles have used a lot of quarterbacks through the years. You're just not going to know which direction Sirianni is going to go with those running backs. I think until about halfway through the season. Remember last year, Georgia and even the years past, a lot of different running backs carry the ball for them. Yeah, they've never had one. Somebody like Barkley, right? They've never had this guy. So but that's also the curiosity factor because you're right. They've always split it around 2 or 3 guys here. Now they have a guy right. So we'll see how they use that I think I think they'll use Barkley. My question is going to be inside. You know the 53 yard line. Are we still put still doing the you know the brotherly shove and risking hurts because I think what happened I think hurts got hurt last year on one of those shows. I think he got hurt. I think that's what really hurt him in the second half of the season where they're like, you know what? It's not worth it. We've got a real guy in Barkley, right? He can score touchdowns here. I just wonder if they will go in that direction. I think it's very curious to look at because if you told me right now that Barkley is going to be the guy, they're not going to do it anymore. We're not drafting him early enough. We're just not. That offense is going to cook here. It just be a matter of can Barkley stay healthy, something that's been a problem throughout his career. So let's get two predictions out of the way here. Baltimore at Kansas City, week one. Are you taking the points you're taking the Chiefs. Who do you like here George, to begin the season? I like Baltimore, I like the Ravens. I think it's going to be a close game. So I automatically want to take points, I just think Baltimore is going to win this game. So I'm going to take the Ravens over the Chiefs. All right. And then I'll I'll take the under on Thursday night because it feels like that's always the right thing to do, Brazil Friday night. Like what to make of this game George. Like, I have no idea, man. Like I feel like the conspiracy theorist in me wants to take the over on Friday night because they're not going to go to Brazil. And, hey, listen, you know, let them play here a little bit. You know, we're trying to make some money here in Brazil. I'm going to take the over on Friday night with these two teams. Yeah. We're agreeing too much because I like the under in the Thursday night game as well. And I do like the over Friday night. I don't love it. So it wouldn't be any kind of big bet here. But I will take the over in this game as well. And I think I'm going to take the points. Also, I think it's a close game. Both teams are really, really good. There is no I don't know if there's a home field advantage. Maybe, I don't know. Maybe Brazil loves the Eagles I don't know. We'll find out. Although the Packers are generally more of a I mean in the US they have a traveling team right. Packer fans. So I would think they'd have the advantage here. But I'm going to take the Ravens. The Packers under Thursday over Friday. All right. Fair enough. We'll take a quick time out here on the show. Time for a little buy or sell coming up next here on this edition of Fantasy Sports Today. Don't forget coming up on Monday night, Labor Day. We've got some great college football action that will be following on all of our shows. We also have a fant Welcome back to Fantasy Sports today here on Sports Grid. George and I are back here with you and we'll be with you every Saturday morning exclusively here on sports Grid, talking fantasy football with you, helping you set your lineups and some daily fantasy talk as well. But before we leave you on today's show, it's time to play a little game of buy or sell. So let's get Buy or Sell: Tight End Predictions started here with the tight end position. George and I have been breaking down tight ends all show long. Let's talk about Trey McBride. You remember him from last year? Everybody saying he was going to be a huge sleeper? I don't remember because that didn't happen. So now all of a sudden, Trey McBride has gone from an undrafted tight end in fantasy to a top ten tight end in fantasy this year. Buy or sell Trey McBride will finish the season. George as a top five tight end. All right. We've been saying how deep tight end is right. There's a lot of tight ends out there now. I do have him ranked as my fourth tight end, so I expect him to finish top five. I think he's got the capabilities of doing it. I think they need Harrison to hit. If Harrison can be that guy, then a lot of wide open room for McBride during the middle here. I'm going to say I'm going to buy this. Craig. I think he is going to finish as a top five, I think he is that good. And remember we all love Kelce. But they're going to manage his snaps. You know if he were to suffer an injury or two maybe he's not a top five. Love. Or Andrews has injury history as well here. There's a lot going on here. But we're not asking top three. We're asking top five. I'm going to buy this. Yes. And from my own home, home league fantasy team. I really hope this happens here. Buying Yeah I'm going to sell. I'm going to sell, you know, I look, he was excellent. McBride. He definitely was. But again, I'm more of a regression to the mean. So I think that he was a lot better than what we thought last year. Probably won't be as good this year. I think the point that George makes, though, is fair. It's like you're looking at some of the others above him, and you wonder if they could be in for a little bit of slippage. I think McBride is tight end seven going into the year. That's where I have him ranked. So just outside that top five. So I'm going to disagree with George. I'm going to hit that red button. And I'm going to say McBride is just outside the top five. I'm Buy or Sell: Quarterback and Running Back Predictions going to say sell all right. Last season the quarterback for the Cleveland Browns that had the most success was Joe Flacco. But the Browns said, you know what? We're going back to Deshaun Watson in that $60 million. And we're going to let Flacco go. Not even as a backup Joe Flacco. But Flacco is gone. He is no longer in Cleveland. They went to Jameis Winston who by the way is pretty good. You know when he gets in the game. But Njoku's success with all with Flacco. So will it happen with Watson. Buy or sell David Njoku is not a tight end one with Watson at quarterback. Buy or sell. Yeah you know I think they they didn't want Flacco as the backup because they didn't want to put any additional pressure on Watson, which I find amazing because of how well Flacco played last year. Wow Joe I mean the joke is the tight end that's falling right? He's falling in rankings. So there is some validation to this. I assume we're talking if we're talking a ten team league which most leagues are I can certainly see thi. You only need Goddard Bowers Schultz you know two you need two of these guys to get above him, to get him out of the top ten. That's. It's a lot to ask, you know, but I understand where it's coming from here. I know Joe Pease appeared and I talked about this as well that he doesn't he doesn't believe in Njoku at all here. But still the fall out of the top ten. I'm going to I'm going to sell, it looks like a red button, by the way to me. Not it looks like a pink button. Not a red button, maybe my eyes are wrong here, so I'm going to sell, though I think he. I don't think it'll be top five, but I think he'll be in the eighth. I think he's 8 to 10, he he doesn't get hurt in my mind, really? Not to get top ten. We're not asking for all that much here. Top ten. You know that pick. You know who that picture looks like. It doesn't look like Njoku to me. It looks like Anders Carlson. You know it has like an Anders Carlson. Are we sure that's not Anders Carlson. I am going to sell Njoku is good no matter wha. I feel like he finally came into who we thought he was going to be for several years. I also saw this kid play at the University of Miami. Not a kid anymore, I am going to sell. I think Watson is in that range of tight end. One definitely within the top 12 tight ends in fantasy football. I am in on that. All right. Well, the Dallas Cowboys basically did nothing in the off season as far as adding a really good running back. They got a, you know, potential Hall of Fame running back in Ezekiel Elliott. But I mean is Elliott is 2 or 3 years removed from being an RB1 in fantasy football. And so Rico Dowdle was thought to be potentially the backup to Ezekiel Elliott, the Pollard to Elliott. Remember how that went. But then they added Dalvin Cook this week. Buy or sell Rico Dowdle will score eight touchdowns or more this season. Buy or sell. Oh come on no no he's not doing this. I mean, Ezekiel's, one thing we know Zeke can still do at this point in his career is the short yardage. He'll get the touchdown even. Sure. Are we even sure of that, though? Are we even sure of that? His numbers were still good last year. I think he over 90% on, on the short yard. So yes, I mean it's a it's a year removed. Could it, could he be done. Absolutely. And I didn't listen I hated the Zeke signing. Everybody knows that it's idiotic. That was going backwards here, Jerry Jones actually I think lives in the past thinks I think that Zeke is still Zeke here, but Daniel's not scoring eight. I don't think Zeke scores eight either, by the way, maybe around there, he better because I don't think he has much, much other value there. But you throw Dalvin Cook in as well. And cook might be using those situations before before Dowdle is no this is an easy sell. Yeah I'm on I'm on the same page here. I mean there's eight eight or more touchdowns. I mean we just got talking about, you know, McBride or I forget what Kincaid with two. And I'm going to bet on Dowdle with eight. I'm not going to do that. I got sell here also. I think Dalvin Cook may play for the Cowboys. That's what I think. I think Dalvin Cook may play for Dallas this season. All right Thursday Night Football MVP MVP right two MVPs at quarterback basically Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes. Buy or sell a non quarterback will be the biggest story after opening night. So again could be anything but you got to kind of think that one of these quarterbacks is going to get talked about a lot. But I don't know. We'll see when the biggest story in the NFL after week one last year was what Aaron Rodgers being hurt for the season fair. Oh absolutely fair right. That was definitely the biggest story. All right Baltimore Kansas City a certain tight end is dating somebody maybe something big happens there with Taylor Swift right. That wouldn't be the biggest surprise. I could certainly see that, I listen, I'll take the field. I'll take the story is going to be something other than Mahomes and, Jackson, although I do expect it's going to be one of those two, so I'll buy it. But I don't feel great about it. Yeah, I am going to sell this. It's a quarterback league. It's all about the quarterbacks and it's going to be all about the quarterbacks. Again, I know there's a nice little picture there of Carl Pickens. No I'm just kidding. And is Carlson Ja'Marr Chase Welcome back to Fantasy Sports today here on Sports Grid. What if I told you that Deshaun Watson is the highest paid quarterback in the NFL this season. And he was making $63 million on the year George. I mean what in the world was Cleveland thinking. I guess it's easy for me to say. But even with the Shawn Watson as good as he was, it still feels weird, man, that that that Cleveland committed so much here. And by the way, this is a really good football team too. Like imagine if they did have a good Deshaun Watson. If they had a good Deshaun Watson this this might be the team to beat in the in the AFC. If not all of football right. This team won the 53 is really good. But they don't have the quarterback right. There's all sorts of question marks about Watson. The sore shoulder. Is he that guy. I listen I think it's fair to say that he was never going to be able to show Watson. He was in Houston, not in Cleveland. I mean you're throwing the ball outdoors in Cleveland. November, December, January. It's not easy, right? The weather is brutal. It's wind, it's cold and all that. So you couldn't expect him to be that guy. But yeah, he's not. He's nowhere near close to that player. Even when healthy. He hasn't looked all that great there. What I find amazing, you look at the top quarterbacks that have played there right. Shawn Watson 3.8. Really hasn't done anything that can't get past the divisional round. If that Kyler Murray has done anything in the playoffs Daniel Jones nothing. You know you have to go down to Stafford who, before you really get the top four quarterbacks as far as, most money per, season haven't done anything right. So you're the lower in the list. The guys that have there, the Stafford Mahomes, of course. How much money could Mahomes theoretically force Kansas City to pay him? Double 7475. Yeah, right. That's that's nuts, Lamar Jackson sort of like Dak. He hasn't done really anything either in the playoffs there. Josh Allen could ask for more than double. And he could easily more than double right. So it's a it's crazy when you think about it. Quarterback is so important. I've said this so many times Craig for me the two most important positions in all of sports. Quarterback and starting goaltender. If you don't have one, you're not going to win consistently. Yeah fair point by George. All right let's wrap it all up. It's time now for the sports grid 60. Fantasy Draft Tips and Strategies All right. This is a huge weekend for fantasy drafts right. It's the number one weekend, really? There is. I never understood why, by the way, Craig, because I never drafted this weekend. It's Labor Day weekend, we have other things we have to do, but, that being said, the numbers tell us this is where most drafts happen. Maybe it's the easiest time to get together during a barbecue and, go out. Go at it, I love fantasy drafts. I always have, like I said, for me, it's Christmas time for adults. You know, I get to open up my gifts and see what I have. Or maybe I got Cole and I draft it terribly, but generally, you know, a draft, to me, a draft doesn't win it for you. Doesn't lose it for you. It's the moves you make during the season. And staying healthy. You know, you got to stay healthy. It's the most important thing. Something we can't control. Which is why during a draft, we're all going to take players that get hurt. All right, that have an injury history. The key for me is, though, I make marks. Okay, this guy, I. I'll highlight him because I don't want 3 or 4 of these guys. I draft 3 or 4 of these guys and they all get hurt. I have no one to blame but me, okay? I always believe in a 12 team league. Three teams are going to be eliminated because they just don't pay attention, right? They don't make, you know, it's not there. Three other teams will be eliminated because of injuries or so that means if I can stay away from the injuries, I only got to battle with six teams for a money spot or a top overall prize. Just something. I believe that it usually pays off in home leagues here. Just have to avoid the injuries. So make sure of that. Just because you love a player, you get 3 or 4 of those guys. You're going to be regretting it in a month from now. Yeah. And George is right. I think they said on the ESPN leagues that over 80% of people who draft in fantasy football are drafting, starting now through next week. I mean, think about this entire fantasy football draft season and more than three quarters of the people who are going to play this season are drafting, starting now. So that tells you that. And George also brought up a good point that I'll end on, too, is that so many things have happened over the last week that you better do a reset before you draft, like who is Emmanuel Wilson on Green Bay? Who is Blake Corum on the Los Angeles Rams? I mean, these are things that can win or lose you a fantasy league in the end, not knowing who these players are, especially the backup running backs that you may say, well, look, I'm not going to draft this guy until the end anyway. Yes, at the end anyway, as opposed to after week one where you're trying to on a waiver system, pick them up, or using a budget of money and you can't do it now and then if it doesn't work out, just cut the guy, stash those backup running backs at the end of your fantasy football draft. Going into the season next Thursday. That'll do it for the show, George. Have a great Labor Day weekend. We'll see you again next week. Absolutely. Like I said, if you're drafting this weekend, which I guess most of you are. Good luck. Have a good time. And remember, first round won't win it for you, but it could lose it for you. Yeah, well, thanks for that, George. All right, that'll do it for the show. Great note to leave you on their doom and gloom, George. Thanks to our producer, Sam, I'm Craig Mish. I hope you enjoy the rest of your Labor Day weekend. We'll see you next