Fun game to watch. I love watching top QB’s and we sure had them.
I have been impressed with Herbert since he came in. His reads are soo fast and precise and for a kid, WOW! I was thrilled to get him with the last pick in the 5th, a great value. The pick was on the TE turning the wrong way but wanting to come out exhausted before the play.
Mike Williams went off with #1 Allen out and looked great doing so.
Ekeler was improved from week #1 but still not himself.
I’ll let Ed take KC as he is a Big fan but may be hung over from celebrating.
Let’s start with the basics: I hate KC with the passion of a thousand burning suns. I was literally rooting for the Chargers last night. I had no fantasy skin in this game, other than my opponents.
I went to bed shortly after halftime, since I had to get up early this morning. The Chargers looked ok at that point, although still close.
Looking across my 5 fantasy leagues, Herbert was the only player last night who finished slightly above projections. Unfortunately for Herbert owners, he might not play next week. We’ll see.
The game certainly wasn’t bad, though I had expected a higher scoring affair.
The game was very relevant for my main dynasty league, as I have both Mahomes and Herbert there (SFLEX), and Ekeler is my RB1.
In a last minute decision, I had decided to also start Josh Palmer over Diontae Johnson, who had been limited in practice all week. That almost backfired, hadn’t Palmer caught a TD in the final moments of the game.
It was still not good to see him obviously having no connection with Herbert early in the game. As Herbert is usually an accurate passer, I can only guess that Palmer’s route running leaves some room for improvement.
Herbert’s rib injury is the next bad news for my team. At least, I have a moderate matchup next week, in case Herbert needs an extra week to recover.
As for the Chiefs, they so far look pretty much as I had expected: the passing offense is strong, but Mahomes passes the ball around a lot. Just like last week, 10 different players saw at least 1 pass. If that trend continues, no Chiefs WR will be fantasy relevant this year.
I’m all the happier that I started Palmer, now that Gabe Davis is suddenly questionable for MNF. Diontae seems to be good to go, so I will probably start him on FLEX, instead of Davis. If Davis is ruled out shortly before the Monday night game, the only player I could start in his stead is KJ Osborn. Not a neck breaker, but I certainly prefer Diontae then.
This is one of the toughest conundrums in fantasy football: What to do with a Monday night player who’s “questionable”.
First, you look at the questionable tag. Is it a serious injury, or just coaching chess games with the injury report? Is there a chance the team might let the player sit this week just because the backup is ok?
Second, if the first question doesn’t really have any good answers, you have to decide to risk waiting for Monday night, or take a chance on a lesser player on Sunday. Do you have good options? Is there somebody on your bench, while not as good as your starter, at least provides a half decent floor, or incredible upside (admittedly at a lower probability)?
In your specific case, Diontae is an awesome option to have.
That is one detail many fantasy managers tend to overlook (myself included, every other week): always man the FLEX spot with the player who plays last this week. That gives you a greater variety of replacements, should he be ruled out shortly before the game.
But it’s still a conundrum when it comes to TNF players that you wouldn’t necessarily start. With my top WRs in that league being Ja’Marr Chase, Diontae Johnson and Gabe Davis, Palmer was far from being a must-start, even with Keenan Allen out.
But if I hadn’t started him, he’d been locked on my bench until next week. If one of the other starters would then be ruled out after TNF, I’d have to man the FLEX with Jakobi Meyers, DJ Chark, Breece Hall or Rhamondre Stevenson. Not a neck breaker, and there is every chance one of them would have scored more than the 11 FFP Palmer gave me. But Palmer looked like a solid start, and was, in the end, even though the way there wasn’t as pretty as I had hoped.
I love such situations. Did I lose games because of last-minute lineup changes I made? Plenty. Did I yell at the wall when it happened? Absolutely. But isn’t that part of the fun?
In my second dynasty (full PPR), I have to replace Michael Pittman. Ja’Marr Chase and Jaylen Waddle are locked in on WR. And I will start Nyheim Hines alongside Travis Etienne on RB, as Hines could benefit a lot from Pittman’s and Pierce’s absence,
But whom do I start on FLEX now?
Jakobi Meyers? Always solid, never great. I’m behind in projections, which kinda rules him out.
J.D. McKissic? Is he still the pass catching back? Last week made me wonder why the Commanders did bend over backwards to bring him back.
Pat Freiermuth? Dalton Schultz is my starting TE. I have no issues whatsoever starting 2 TEs, but Muuth’s matchup vs. the Pats doesn’t exactly scream ‘upside’.
Kenneth Gainwell? He looked solid last week. But that was against the Lions. Now they play the Vikings.
KJ Osborn? As long as Thielen is healthy, I’d rather start Meyers. Osborn’s time as a FLEX candidate will come as soon as Thielen goes down.
Which leaves me with the candidate I currently have on FLEX: Kylen Granson. That’s the Colts’ TE. It looked last week like he had the upper hand against Mo Alie-Cox, and if that impression was correct, he could see double-digit targets today.
But do I really double-down on the Colts with Hines and Granson? Everything about it feels wrong, but I don’t really see a setup that would give me more upside. And that’s what I need. I was trailing by 10 FFP in projections already, and then my opponent started the Chiefs DEF on TNF, which gave him 6.5 FFP more than projected.
I have a tricky decision to make in my SFLEX dynasty league right now.
My QBs are Mahomes and Herbert. The latter is still limited at practice and may or may not play on Sunday. My #3 QB is Trubisky, and he plays in an hour. He certainly isn’t an exciting option, but he does have a fairly okay matchup vs the Browns.
I’m playing against the weakest team in my division, so I’m well ahead in projections. If Trubisky gives me 15 FFP, I should be safe, unless it will be one of those weeks where all your starters go on a scoring strike.
So - do I start Trubisky and risk losing 10-15 FFP if Herbert starts?
Or do I keep Trubisky benched and risk having to start Michael Carter or Jakobi Meyers on SFLEX, in case Herbert is ruled out as a game time decision?
Trubisky is averaging 12.54 ppg; in PPR scoring Carter is averaging 13.5 and Myers is averaging 14.4.
Seems like you might as well wait to find out about Herbert, because if you have to start Carter or Myers, you have a higher expected ppg than you have with Trubisky anyway (at least in PPR scoring).
