Tuesday morning means that it is time for this week’s fantasy football therapy and complaint desk. In this article, I answer questions and complaints from the fantasy football community via the AMA channel (general-AMA) in our Discord server.
I want to know who ruined your week and which players you are generally concerned about as we head towards a new month. Here are some of this week’s submissions along with my responses.
- Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups
- Weekly Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
- Fantasy Football Start/Sit Advice
- Fantasy Football Trade Tools
Fantasy Football Advice & Help
Player Outlooks
Can you talk about A.J. Brown and Brock Bowers consistently underperforming?
Boy, can I… First, let me vent for a minute. I have A.J. Brown and Brock Bowers on my most expensive team this year. This week, I lost my head-to-head matchup once Garrett Wilson scored a meaningless touchdown at the end of the game. But in reality, I lost because I started A.J. Brown and Brock Bowers.
I started Brown over both Marquise Brown and Khalil Shakir, and Bowers over Dallas Goedert and Darren Waller. I could have made any of those swaps and won. When I say I feel your pain, trust and believe that I feel your pain. The question is how to move forward.
Bowers’ issues are somewhat related to the injury he suffered in Week 1. Last week, he looked closer to his old self, so I believe he will be fine going forward. But I honestly have no idea how to feel about A.J. Brown or DeVonta Smith. The Philadelphia Eagles have no interest in throwing the ball unless they are losing a game. Jalen Hurts had zero passing yards in the second half last week.
Brown has 27 or fewer yards in three of his four games. The worst part? The Eagles are 4-0. So, it’s not as if they need to change their approach drastically to win games. I wouldn’t drop him to the waiver wire, but I am leaning towards benching Brown this week against Denver. If you can get fair value for him in a trade, I wouldn’t mind moving on from him.
Thoughts on Ladd McConkey?
If you told me a month ago that Quentin Johnston and Keenan Allen would be consistently outperforming Ladd McConkey, I would have called you crazy. However, it’s been four weeks, which is not a small sample size. McConkey has yet to score and has 100 total yards in his last three games.
Johnston has at least 70 yards in all four games, and Allen has at least 60 yards in three out of four games. On the bright side, McConkey started slowly last year as well. He had fewer than 50 yards in five of his first six games in 2024. Slow starts may be an issue for him. Johnston and Allen are legit enough to lower McConkey’s ceiling, but I still think he is a weekly starting wide receiver in all formats.
What’s up with Jayden Daniels‘ injury? I just got offered him for Emeka Egbuka and Quinshon Judkins. Superflex, PPR.
That is a very interesting offer. It depends on your roster. Quinshon Judkins is legit. He looks like a weekly starting running back. Cleveland is giving him a ridiculous amount of work, considering he had no training camp and hardly any practice.
I am not as high on Emeka Egbuka as some people are because he could lose reps once Chris Godwin gets up to speed and Mike Evans returns. But he is a top-20 fantasy wide receiver until that happens, and there’s a chance he can stick as a WR3 in 10- and 12-team leagues afterwards. You’re probably getting two players who will start in most weeks.
Jayden Daniels is supposed to be back this week, and he’s still a borderline top-five fantasy quarterback. Your league being a Superflex league is what is giving me pause. I would do the deal in a 1-QB league because you could find someone who comes close enough to Daniels’ production, while upgrading at running back and wide receiver.
However, if you drafted Daniels in Superflex, I’m guessing your other quarterbacks aren’t that great. Even bad quarterbacks usually start in a Superflex. So you’d probably be behind the curve at both of your quarterback spots unless you have Daniel Jones or Sam Darnold, which is a distinct possibility. Also, keep in mind which player you would have to drop to complete the deal. If it’s someone you would consider starting in most weeks, it may not be worth it.
Trade Questions
Full PPR: Give Kenneth Walker and Chris Olave to get Ja’Marr Chase? I have CeeDee Lamb, Drake London, Tetairoa McMillan. I could flip Chase for a running back upgrade to Cam Skattebo, Omarion Hampton or Trey Benson. Yes or no?
This trade proposal is another one that would have sounded off the wall a month ago, but sadly not so much these days. The Bengals’ passing attack isn’t the same without Joe Burrow under center. Jake Browning has thrown for a total of 265 yards in his last two games. Last year, Burrow averaged 289 passing yards per game.
Chris Olave has at least 11 PPR points in all four games this year. Ja’Marr Chase has only hit that number once. Don’t get it twisted — I still would rather have Chase. But adding Kenneth Walker to the equation is probably giving up too much. Even if Walker is only a Flex player for you, given your other running backs, I like having depth at that position. If you can somehow do this and trade an inferior player instead of Walker, I would prefer that route.
Trade Trey Benson or Quinshon Judkins, and what wide receiver to target?
If you have stud running backs at your disposal in addition to Trey Benson and/or Quinshon Judkins, it makes sense to trade the youngsters to upgrade your wide receiver group. However, I believe both backs are viable fantasy starters for the foreseeable future. I wouldn’t trade them just for the sake of selling them.
I might be in the minority on this, but I trust Judkins more than Benson at this moment. Judkins has 44 touches in the last two weeks. That elite volume is hard to find. If you are looking to trade, I would aim for someone in the high-end WR2 range. Someone like Davante Adams, Tetairoa McMillan or Rome Odunze (preferably after his bye week).
Lineup Advice
I got Lamar Jackson hurt, probably out for at least a week. Got Daniel Jones as a backup, but he’s cooled off lately, and he’s facing a suspect Raiders defense. However, red-hot Drake Maye is miraculously available, and so are lottery tickets Jaxson Dart (vs. New Orleans) and Justin Fields (vs. Dallas). I’m leaning towards Maye due to his consistency, but if I don’t get him through the waiver, who should I target?
I am going to update my Week 5 fantasy football rankings on Wednesday morning, so I do not have a concrete answer yet. My initial lean is that Drake Maye is the best among those options for this week. However, I would not drop any of the significant players to acquire Maye, or even Justin Fields or Jaxson Dart.
Daniel Jones is still a top-10 fantasy quarterback against the Raiders. There are worse fates than starting Jones in this matchup. If you can grab any of those quarterbacks for a player who will not sniff your starting lineup, go for it. Just don’t drop a starting-caliber player to upgrade your quarterback position in the short term.
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