Welcome, everyone to the score fantasy football podcast.

I'm your host, Justin Boone, the lead fantasy analyst at the score.

Thank you so much for riding along with us today. We've basically reached the midway mark of the fantasy season. I mean, we still got the Monday game to go for week eight, but this is basically the middle of the fantasy calendar. So I think it's an important time. Take stock of your roster. Let's try to set ourselves up here for the next stretch, and especially for a playoff run and for a title run that's what's most important you want to finish first in your league that's what we're aiming for and i'm going to help you out with that every step of the way so we're going to keep that in mind we're talking about top waiver wire ads a little later we're going to be thinking about not just this week but about the rest fantasy season. First, though, we got to go over the injuries from the weekend. So let's start with quarterbacks. Jordan Love went down again. He was limping throughout the game. He sort of had like a hitch in his step. Matt Lefleur told the broadcast team that Love really couldn't move very well and that they were going to have to adjust the play calling in the second half and then it got worse and then Love just eventually dropped to the ground in pain and that was the end of his day so Malik Willis came in we saw Malik Willis earlier in the season he was able to hold on and help them get the win I think there's a good chance we're going to see him start in week nine in large part because the Packers are on by in week 10. So Love could miss one game here with the groin strain, which is what they diagnosed it as. The MRI didn't reveal anything more problematic, thankfully. So he could sit

out week nine and then he could get two plus weeks to rest up here before their next game. And Willis,

he got the job done when Love was out earlier in the season. He was okay. So maybe Leflare won't be too scared to go with Willis because they've seen him help the team out and keep the offense moving enough. I think fantasy managers should be worried though because it's going to be pretty tough to trust any of the pass catchers in this offensive love is sideline. That's what we saw in those games earlier in the season. Yes, they were able to get through with their defense and their rushing attack and Willis make it a few plays through the air. But when Love's not out there, this passing game really screeches to a halt and it is a lot more difficult to have faith that they're going to come through, especially when you got a bunch of different receivers, the four wide outs, you got Tucker Kraft a tight end. It's really hard to think that enough of those guys are going to be able to get through with Willis under center. That's also assuming that love is sideline. We don't know that for sure yet. I'm just reading the tea leaves here. So Willis would be a streaming option. Josh Jacobs, he's got a tough matchup going against the Lions. So he would be more of an RB2 for fantasy because they're going to be able to just key in on that rushing attack. And then the receivers, they're going to be tough to start if love is out in week nine. We also had Drake May. He left the Patriots game with a concussion. He's in the protocol now. And that means Jacoby Brissette likely going to get the start in week nine. Normally I'm basing that on guys just missing one game if they're in the concussion protocol. That's normally the case. It doesn't always happen that way. we're going to have to watch his practice participation and all that sort of stuff just to see if he

can advance through the stages of the protocol let's hope he does too because brissette he is just a

placeholder he has not done much in the games that he's played in this offense may has shown well he's

been out there he can elevate some of the other players in this attack he can produce for fantasy

we know that he only played 30% of the snaps this week this attack. He can produce for fantasy. We know that. He only

played 30% of the snaps this week because he left early. He had 46 rushing yards and a

touchdown on the ground during that time. He was well on his way to another solid fantasy

outing. He is a sneaky ad right now with that rushing ability may have shown. He can be a high

end QB2 the rest of the season, maybe even with some low-end QB1 number so if you need

quarterback help I think he's a guy that you could stash because people aren't going to be thinking about him because of the injury and then the other QB injury that I saw it didn't turn out to be an actual injury but Anthony Richardson he left at one point it appeared like he got hit on his leg he running with the ball. I thought maybe he was going to miss some time, but he quickly returned after one play. And then when he got asked after the game, what happened there? He said he was just tired from running so much and he needed a breather, which you don't see very often from starting quarterbacks. But that's apparently what happened. So if you haven't already, I think you could drop Richardson in one QB redraft leagues. He just, he hasn't looked good as a passer this year. And even though the rushing production, it has gotten a little bit better in recent weeks. He's not doing enough with his arm to really make him a viable fantasy starter. And he's still making a ton of mistakes out there. So I don't expect that it's going to improve with the upcoming schedule too. If you look at it, the Vikings, the bills, the Jets, that's his next three weeks. I also wouldn't be surprised if they go to Joe Flacco again at some point. A. Rich has just been that bad. And when Shane Stuyken was asked about it today and about Richardson starting, he said they're going to evaluate everything. So is that kind of leaving the door open for potentially Joe Flacko to start in weeknight? I don't know, but it's something that we'll be watching for. We can jump to the injured running backs next. And I suppose we've got to start with Jordan Mason, leaving another game. He's been trying to play through that shoulder injury. It's the AC joint sprain to be more specific. this is the second time now that we've seen him get hurt in game. He's been trying to play through that shoulder injury. It's the AC joint sprain to be more specific. This is the second time now that we've seen him get hurt in game, leave for a little bit, try to come back, only to have to leave again and not be able to return at that point. And there's good and bad news here. The good news is that the 49ers are on buying week nine, so he's going to have some time to rest up. The bad news is that Christian McCaffrey might be back in week 10. And that's great news if you're a Christian McCaffrey manager, not so good if you've been relying on Mason or really hoping that anybody else in this backfield was going to step up. So Mason, if McCaffrey returns, Mason is back to the bench if he's healthy. We also have their teammate, Isaac Garendo. He would be an intriguing ad this week. Garendo, he's produced well in his opportunities. If Mason and CMC were unable to go in week 10 after the buy, then Garendo might have a chance to start coming out of that buy week. I think it's worth stashing him for the time being. We'll talk a little more about him when we get to the waiver wire section. We also had Kendry Miller on the Saints. He suffered a hamstring injury. And this is again, another hamstring injury for him. He's dealt with so many injuries in his young career. I think that's a big reason why Dennis Allen really always talking negatively about him to the media.

I think they're just frustrated because he can't stay healthy.

And if this is anything like the last injury, not impossible that the team could put him on IR again.

So Alva Kamara, he's healthy. He's not missing any time.

That means Miller was just a stash anyway.

And now if Miller's out, then Jamal Williams, he would be back in play as the number two option in that Saints backfield. We might also see Taysam Hill get some more work at the goal line. And that's at least a little bit noteworthy because they play the Panthers in week night. And Carolina, they tend to even let backup running backs get home against them. You have Jaliel McLaughlin and Tyler

Al Jair and Roshan Johnson and Zach Moss. All those guys have hit double-digit fantasy points

despite being the number two backs on their teams and not starting against the Panthers. So they

began the game as the number two back and they still put up good stats against them. So Hill, I think

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