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00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on SportsGrid each and every Saturday morning 7 a.m. to
00:069 a.m. Eastern.
00:07You can catch me and George Kurtz breaking down the latest in fantasy football.
00:11We thought we would bring George Kurtz in because it's a big week on the WaiverWire.
00:15See if we can give you some tips and get ahead of it.
00:17George, great to have you back here on Newswire.
00:19What's going on?
00:20What's this?
00:21Always good to be back with you, Craig, here.
00:23What's going on?
00:24I mentioned WaiverWire Tuesday in the NFL.
00:25We've got playoffs, Major League Baseball, and Craig, the NHL starts in earnest today.
00:30This is the North American schedule.
00:31It starts today at the first game, believe it or not, at 4.30 p.m. Eastern time.
00:35Yeah, looking forward to it, having that, and then the NBA back soon, college basketball
00:39in November.
00:40All right, so let's touch on some of the players that could be available in some leagues.
00:45Now, you know, as somebody who watches Dallas Cowboys very closely, you certainly can speak
00:49to the idea that they're going to need some contribution outside of CeeDee Lamb at wide
00:55receiver, and maybe they have found the guy.
00:58Jalen Tolbert had another nice game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night.
01:03Brandon Cooks is on IR.
01:05George, is he somebody that you think is a startable player moving forward?
01:10Startable, we are in bye-week territory, all right?
01:14We're going to bye-weeks the next, what, seven, eight weeks here.
01:16So yeah, in that case, he is startable here.
01:18We need Dak to trust him more.
01:20We sort of saw that Sunday night, right?
01:21He had the big play, the 50-yard grab down the left sideline here.
01:24Granted, that was a broken coverage by the Pittsburgh Steelers here, but he also had
01:28the game-winning touchdown, right, that fourth-down play.
01:31It wasn't designed for Tolbert, don't get me wrong.
01:33I think that play was designed for Jake Ferguson, who fell down on his route.
01:36CeeDee Lamb was covered.
01:37Tolbert was the third choice, hey, made the play there.
01:39So Dak needs to trust him more, but we know the Cowboys defense is going to be a problem.
01:44Running game, granted, was good against Pittsburgh, may not be there all season.
01:46They're going to have to throw the ball, but so yes, I think Tolbert is a pickup for you,
01:50especially with Cooks out, Cooks on IR, Dallas does have a bye next week, but this week should
01:56be a shootout against Detroit.
01:57They're going to have to score a point, throw a little bunch here, and then I believe they
01:59have San Fran on Sunday night, another game they're going to have to score a point here.
02:04So yes, Tolbert, at least in the short term, should be a pickup.
02:07All right, meanwhile, if you watched the Monday night football game, you probably were shocked
02:11to see the amount of targets that Juju Smith-Schuster got for the Kansas City Chiefs.
02:15I mean, he was the primary guy in that game.
02:19Xavier Worthy, the deep guy, and of course, Travis Kelsey still got his looks.
02:23But all of a sudden, George, it's been a surprise to see Juju back in the mix.
02:28Now, remember, he played for Kansas City a couple of years ago, played for New England.
02:32He just, simply put, hasn't been the guy that he was in Pittsburgh, I don't know, six, seven
02:37years ago, eight years ago.
02:39But if what we saw last night continues, he becomes a must-add in all leagues.
02:45The problem is, isn't he the ultimate tease?
02:47All right, we're going to find out that, oh, next week he gets two targets, all right?
02:51One reception, eight yards, and no touchdowns, because they're using Justin Watson next week.
02:55All right, so that's the problem here.
02:57We do believe that Rasheed Rice is gone for the rest of the year.
02:59There was conflicting reports yesterday, he's at LCL now.
03:03Is he gone until November?
03:04Is he gone until next season?
03:05So I wouldn't be counting on Rice here.
03:07If Juju's on your waiver, is he a pickup?
03:10Yeah, right?
03:11But like I said, I think there are going to be some weeks you're like, what the hell?
03:14Why is he not a part of the game plan today?
03:16I think that's the way Mahomes is going to work it.
03:18It's this guy today, it's this guy next week.
03:20He's going to go to the open guy.
03:21There is no number one target here, outside of maybe Travis Kelson,
03:24who's volume obviously is picking up now with the injury here.
03:27So yes, I'm claiming that he's on the wire here, but I'm fully aware there's going to be a week
03:32where, oh man, you have to be kidding me.
03:34And remember, Kansas City, off this week.
03:38A couple of wide receivers probably available in most leagues.
03:41Darius Slayton, Darnell Mooney.
03:43Both have different situations going on right now.
03:46Slayton in particular playing because more or less,
03:49you know, the Giants wide receiver Malik Nabors has been out and injured,
03:52so he's getting some looks.
03:54Mooney, on the other hand, had the game of a lifetime last week.
03:57I don't know if anybody played him, George, in fantasy,
04:00but it's given his overall numbers this season a big bump.
04:03Yeah, I've got him in one league and I sat him last week.
04:06Still one of the leagues, so I guess I can't complain.
04:08But yeah, he was on my bench here.
04:10Now, he's probably claimed in a majority of leagues here,
04:12so I don't know if he's going to be out on your waiver wire.
04:14If he is, he's a must claim there.
04:16We're seeing Kirk Cousins get much better as the season goes along here.
04:20He trusts that Achilles.
04:21Now he's stepping into his throw,
04:23and this team can move the football here.
04:25So yeah, Mooney's an absolute claimant, a starter, by the way.
04:28Not only are you claiming, he's not someone who's going to ride your bench.
04:30He's starting for you more than likely here.
04:32Good, really good play.
04:34We thought this way he might be just planning to play with Chicago.
04:36It didn't work out. It's working out in Atlanta.
04:38So he's someone you definitely want.
04:40As for Darius Slayton, yeah, his volume definitely ticked up last week
04:43because no Malik neighbors.
04:45I do expect neighbors to play this week.
04:47That being said, they're playing Cincinnati.
04:49We expect a shootout.
04:50Granted, I expect that on Sunday, too, in Seattle.
04:52It didn't quite happen there, but we expect a shootout here.
04:54I think Slayton still has value for you.
04:57He's not an every-week starter.
04:58You're going to need the right kind of opportunities here,
05:00but this week's Sunday Night Football,
05:02I want to set the meta lens, at MetLife,
05:05should be a pretty good opportunity for Slayton.
05:07Yeah, Cincinnati's having problems stopping anyone.
05:10Starting anyone at tight end has been almost impossible.
05:13This fantasy season.
05:15You know, I guess anyone that catches passes in the NFL
05:18as a tight end and is not blocking is worth adding.
05:21Kate Otten has 148 yards on the season.
05:23I mean, George, it's hard to recommend anybody
05:25with these sort of numbers
05:27over the first several games of the year,
05:28but what can you do? There's no one else to pick up.
05:31Well, you already said, tight end is anyone with a heartbeat
05:34might have some value at tight end, right?
05:36And with the bye weeks, too, we're losing people.
05:38So no Travis Kelsey this week.
05:40Hockinson could be back, by the way,
05:42but Minnesota is off this week,
05:43but he should be back the week after.
05:44So we're going to get him back in the mix here.
05:46If he's on the way of the wire,
05:47just in your league, forgot about him there.
05:49Otten is a low ranked tight end,
05:50but Mayfield is throwing the ball up and down the field here.
05:53They played New Orleans this week.
05:55You know, Lattimore generally takes Evans out,
05:57or at least keeps Evans in check here.
05:59So Otten could be a one-week play.
06:01I'm not looking to start him multiple weeks here,
06:02but he could be a one-week play for you here.
06:05Engram, we think he's playing this week.
06:07That was the ultimate tease, right?
06:08He's coming back. Oh no, he's not coming back.
06:10Sorry, just kidding there.
06:11But we did have a Mark Andrews sighting.
06:13We had a Mark Andrews sighting, Craig.
06:15Right?
06:16By the way, if you watch that,
06:19oh, he should have had, that should have been a touchdown.
06:20A good throw by Lamar Jackson to walk in,
06:22touchdown, he threw it low.
06:24And it'd be out the one yard line.
06:25But on the next play where they scored the touchdown,
06:27we saw the throw.
06:29If you really couldn't tell from the angle,
06:30you saw it eight, you knew it was a tight end.
06:32And he, oh, it's 80, not 89.
06:35So we got teased again here. Annoying.
06:38Yep.
06:39Hottest pickup in all of fantasy this week
06:40will be Tyrone Tracy.
06:41He looked great for the Giants,
06:43but, you know, remember Devin Singletary
06:46was close to playing last week.
06:47It was questionable than doubtful.
06:49Has Tracy earned himself a role?
06:52I know he'll be the number one pickup this week,
06:53but if he doesn't play, then you've wasted,
06:56you know, budget to pick someone up or a waiver spot.
07:00I think he has earned himself a role.
07:01I think we may be a thunder and lightning situation,
07:03Singletary and Tracy.
07:05Most teams do that anyway, right?
07:06And Tracy at least could be the goal line guy.
07:08So maybe we can look at it that way.
07:11All right, George, thanks for coming on.
07:12Anytime, my pleasure.