Welcome everyone to the PFF fantasy podcast. I'm your host John Macri fantasy analyst here at PFF. And I'm joined by the great Kate Maju Kate. We made it to week one. The off season. It always feels like forever. I'm very ready to get the season going. How about you?

I'm so ready. Let's rip this bandaid off now. I will say totally devastated, saying my prayers for the potential, you know, maybe sitting out Travis Kelsey, who knows. Hopefully if he is out, it's not a learned long term injury.

But I feel like this is still like Patrick Mahomes is the best way to open up any NFL season ever because you know whoever's catching the balls, like he's going to do some ridiculous stuff that's going to set the tone for the 2023 NFL season fantasy football. Let's kick it off because we've got a full game slate to talk about. And I'm so excited. John so excited.

Yeah, yeah, me too. I'm excited to get the season started. I'm looking forward to setting like 30 something lineups every week and combing through just as many waiver wires. But that's the beauty of the fantasy season, right? Is is grinding through all these lineups to get them into optimum form and, you know, basically staying on top of this stuff because that gives you an advantage in all of your leagues as well as staying on top of the waiver wire and staying active. And that's what we're here for as well is is to get all the best information out there so that everyone.

Can stay on top of these things like waiver wire targets starts it's match up to target and avoid all that fun stuff. And it is supposed to be fun after all. So this should be another great season. I'm looking forward to getting into it here.

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All right, let's get it going here start things off with the game you mentioned the chiefs the lions. This is the kickoff where a few short hours away depending on when you're listening to this. It may have already happened. So we'll see if any of our predictions came true.

But either way, let's start with our predictions for this one. Kate chiefs lions. What do the people need to know for this game.

I you know, I think that we've seen, you know, some decent line movement in this game chief started off at six and a half point favorites heading into gay like just hours out from the game. Obviously, we don't have official news on Travis Kelsey, but

chiefs are down to four point favorites, which we're seeing some money coming in on the lines. I think people are starting to to grasp on to this idea that Patrick Mahomes can't overcome with Travis Kelsey off the field.

You know, I've seen some interesting notes about, you know, the potential that, you know, maybe we see Travis Kelsey suit up, not play so many reps, but I think the biggest question for fantasy football managers heading into week one is if you have Travis Kelsey and he's active. Do you trust him in your fantasy football lineup, Sean.

I mean, I, I'm probably playing him. I just, I just feel like it's hard to imagine that they would play him or make him active. If he wasn't capable of contributing, right? Like why risk it for week one otherwise. So I think if he's active, you kind of have to play him. It's, it's risky for sure. Maybe you know, re injury or whatever. But there's no real replacement for Kelsey. So you're aiming for the high end, you know, tight end one upside anyways. So

worst case, you get a goose egg, which is is a is a lot of the possibility with with most tight ends anyway. So yeah, I think I think you play him.

That is that's my exact thought process here for Travis Kelsey. Like no matter who you pull off the bench, whether it be, you know, no gray as like the sort of direct replacement or

one of these other waiver wire tight ends. There's always going to be inherent risk that tight end position. So volatile to begin with that like a Travis Kelsey. He might give you some of that same volatility. If he is on the field and active, though, I have to imagine they're going to use him, you know, he's not going to be an ever down tight end.

Probably see a little bit from more from Noah Gray this game. But I think it's going to be in these critical situations that they would be to, you know, employ Travis Kelsey in the red zone. Like I think these would be the situations, those very valuable

scenarios for tight ends. Like I think those are the situations in which they would utilize Travis Kelsey the heaviest. So I do think that, you know, if he's active, you have to, you absolutely have to start him.

I don't think he carries that much more risk as long as he's active than most other options. Are you, you know, tempering any expectations for Patrick Mahomes in this game knowing that, you know, we have an injury to Travis Kelsey his favorite target. There's not a ton of depth at receiver.

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