Fantasy Football Saturday Mailbag for Week 5

Welcome to this weekly mailbag series! This article will take selected questions from The Footballers’ Discord server that you can join here. In it, you can find a dedicated channel for start/sit questions, public fantasy advice, and a general channel for all things fantasy football. There are also exclusive channels only available to Footclan members. Discord members are great at answering questions and you never know when your questions will appear here.

This is a really fun week for fantasy football. Jonathan Taylor and Cooper Kupp are back. Kyren Williams and De’Von Achane went off again. We have our first bye weeks making roster decisions tricky. Hang in there managers rostering ARSB, Austin Ekeler, and Saquon Barkley (I’m not optimistic). Chaos is good for better-prepared fantasy managers so do your thing and let’s withstand some victories.

Question #1 – Trade

“JT (Jonathan Taylor) or Kyren Williams?” – Echo_333

Answer: This looks like it’s a question for redraft since it’s Jonathan Taylor and not even close in dynasty especially after JT just signed a massive three-year extension with $26.5 million guaranteed. I’m not very interested in playing JT this week. My hunch is he’s going to be rusty even if he is back at full strength, but it’s all a guess at this point.  Meanwhile, Zack Moss sits at RB16 on the year and that’s after missing Week 1 with a broken arm. Moss is averaging 16.4 fantasy points per game in half-PPR scoring when healthy. That should tell you a lot of what JT can be capable of down the stretch and in the playoffs, but it also means Moss is likely to cut into some of JT’s work. I still like JT a lot.

Kyren Williams is the definition of opportunity. He’s being used so much that he’s a plug-and-play every week with no worries about game scripts. I do wonder how long he’ll be able to maintain this type of workload at around 200 lbs. I’m also interested in how Cooper Kupp‘s return will affect Kyren. On one hand, more offensive weapons mean more trips to the red zone, which could boost Kyren’s TD potential even further. On the other hand, having Kupp and Puka Nacua may result in a reduced number of targets.

Sometimes the best thing to do is wait. I’d keep Kyren this week, but I’d love to have JT for the second half of the season and the playoffs. See if you can wait a week or two before springing for JT.

Question #2 – Dynasty

“Inherited a team. Total rebuild. What do y’all think? Giving up Tyreek Hill & Joe Mixon. Getting Rhamondre Stevenson, (2) 1st and a 2nd? – Bganzevoort

Answer: I like this strategy. If your dynasty team isn’t actively competing, you should be shopping your veterans to contenders and stacking up as many picks as you can. The league settings weren’t mentioned, but the top of next year’s draft is looking stacked, especially in PPR leagues. Stacked draft classes also seem to have some sleepers that don’t get the attention they deserve because of the high-end of the draft class so those second and third-round picks can easily contain a few gems.

One of the keys to this trade is where those firsts are. Do they look like top-six picks or later? If there is a shot at landing Marvin Harrison Jr., Caleb Williams, and/or Drake May, that could quickly turn around a struggling team. I personally think Tyreek is worth two firsts by himself. Mixon feels like a late first or early second so the value isn’t too bad here. I’m not sure about Rhamondre Stevenson though. He’ll be 26 next year, isn’t doing a whole lot on New England’s anemic offense, and Bill Belichick is notorious for making RBs irrelevant. I’d probably try to get a little more in this trade. If you can’t I’d take almost any picks I can get for Rhamondre. There are just too many scenarios where he won’t help your team by the time you’re ready to compete.

Question #3 – Start/Sit

“Kirk Cousins or Jordan Love this week?” – Mike

Answer: Can you believe Jordan Love is the QB3 and Kirk Cousins is the QB7? Chalk one up to the late-round-QB strategy. Both have favorable matchups, but Cousins is going to have to throw a ton to keep pace with Kansas City. Given this, I’d go with Cousins. The Footballers also have Cousins ranked higher this week.

The reason I chose this question though is the opportunity you have for a trade. The trade value of Cousins never seems to match what his actual value is in fantasy football so I’d keep him. I’d look to trade Love though. You might be able to tier up with some sort of trade like Joe Mixon and Love for JT.

Question #4 – Chase Claypool

“Should I drop Rachaad White for Chase Claypool?” – Carrbage_Can

Answer: No. Chase Claypool landed in a great offense, but he’s been a failure with two straight organizations. He’s going to need at least one injury in front of him and a few weeks to acclimate to the offense. Even then, there’s no guarantee his football talent can meet his athletic talent.

Rachaad White hasn’t been particularly reliable yet this year, but he’s faced some very good defenses and the schedule eases up. With bye weeks and injuries stacking up, he’s going to be useful as a flex option.

Question #5 – Dynasty

“How are we feeling about D’Andre Swift this week? Should I start?” – Wabadabader

Answer: Swift has been on a roll ever since Week 2. He’s producing at a level that puts him well within RB1 territory with the Footballers ranking him RB7 this week. He’s also benefitting from running behind one of the best offensive lines in the league. Until proven otherwise, he’s a plug-and-play RB1 option. I’d feel a lot dumber sitting him when he goes off than playing him if he puts up a stinker.

Question #6 – Start/Sit

“Should I start Breece Hall or Brandon Aiyuk this week in my flex full PPR?” – Andrew

Answer: The Footballers have Brandon Aiyuk projected for more points, but the Denver defense has been historically bad. No one knows how many touches Breece Hall is going to receive, but he can do a whole lot of damage with double-digit touches. I like Hall’s floor and he’s more than capable of putting up two or more TDs against this defense. If we simulated this 10,000 times maybe Aiyuk does average more points than Breece but I like Breece’s ceiling and his floor is pretty decent too. I like taking a little risk with Breece over Aiyuk this week.