1015: 15 Transactions for Week 2

JJ Zachariason (0:02)

This is The Late-Round Podcast with your host, JJ Zachariason.

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It's a 15-transactions episode we've got a lot of moves to make before week 2 hits. So let's do it. Add Hollywood Brown. So the Chiefs are kind of weak at wide receiver right now. Xavier Worthy has a shoulder injury that he's dealing with Rashii Rice. He suspended for the first six games of the season. Well, now he's suspended for five more games. So Kansas City is going to have to rely on Hollywood Brown. And that's exactly what they did in week 1 Against the Chargers, he had a 42% target share. He caught 10 of 16 targets for 99 yards. Now, he's not going to maintain that type of volume. But he was very clearly the top target in this offense when Xavier Worthy went down. And another thing to note here is that according to Pro Football Focus, Hollywood Brown ran 52% of his routes from the slot in that game against LA. He's never finished a season with at least eight games played with a slot rate above 40%. That's the role that we've seen Rashid Rice thrive in in this offense. Now, Brown probably won't be a league winner across the entire season, because eventually Rashid Rice will be back. And eventually, hopefully, cross our fingers, Xavier Worthy is fine too. But we could get some short-term production from Brown. That's why you need to add him off the wire this week. Sell Travis Kelce. Now look, it's no secret I wasn't very high on Travis Kelce entering the season. And then in week one, he had a usable performance. He had that long touchdown against the Chargers. And you might be wondering, was Xavier Worthy injured? Rashid Rice suspended? Why would we trade away Travis Kelce? Well, the idea here is that the market's more bullish on Kelce than I am. Because the market understands that those pass catchers, they're not available. And while he might see a target share bump, I'm still concerned. Kelce finished week one with those guys not in the lineup with a 10.5% target share. It was the first time that he was below an 11% target share in a game since week three of 2017 So even without Rashid Rice, even without Xavier Worthy, he still couldn't see a high target share against the Chargers. And it'd be one thing if this were prime Travis Kelce, but he's going to be 36 years old in October. He saw his yards per round run rate, his yards after the catch per catch rate, they both fell last year. Maybe he can get by on volume, but what happens when this wide receiver room looks better and healthier? Because his stat line looked fine, I think now is an opportunity to get something out of Travis Kelce. Hold Jaydon Blue. So I took plenty of L's last week, especially within this podcast, this episode, but Jaydon Blue might be the biggest L of all. Last week, I mentioned that Jaydon Blue was rostered in 40% of Yahoo! Leagues, and I said that it should be closer to 80%. And then, the Cowboys in week one made him a surprise healthy scratch. So I look like an idiot. But when I take a step back, I'm not that surprised that all of that went down. He's a day three running back and he missed a lot of camp due to injury. I didn't think that he would be a healthy scratch, but in hindsight, I don't think was completely unpredictable. Now, about a quarter of the managers who drafted Jaydon Blue, they've dropped them now. And I'm sure more are going to be doing the same. But don't be one of those managers. Gervonta Williams, he saw a bell cow workload in week one for Dallas. He did nothing to ruin that in the short term. Some see Williams as an obvious sell. I think he's more of a hold. But look at Miles Sanders. What did Miles Sanders provide for this cowboy's offense? He got caught from behind on a breakaway run that was his only successful run by EPA, and he fumbled the ball away during a crucial point in the game. We have years of recent data pointing to Miles Sanders not being a very trustworthy running back. Even if things don't come to fruition for Jaydon Blue this year, this is the exact type of stash that you want on your bench in season long leagues. He's a rookie, so there's the unknown and this uncertain upside, and he brings an element to that backfield that doesn't currently exist, which is the shiftiness in speed. So, I would keep Blue on my roster, and if he was dropped in your league, I think he's a great end of bench stash. Add Kaishan Booty. So, when Kaishan Booty came out, the Zapp model actually liked him quite a bit. He was a day three prospect, but versus where he was drafted, the model did like him. Some of you might remember that. Now, Booty's NFL production through the first two seasons of his career has been kind of Booty, but he had a really solid week one. And I think that's noteworthy, given all the changes that this Patriots team has seen year over year. He ended week one against the Raiders with six catches for 103 yards on an 18% target share. He was top 20 in area yard share across the wide receiver position across the league. Now, keep in mind, Booty's still only 23 years old. He entered the NFL early. So after that performance, I wouldn't want to keep him on the waiver wire in most 12-team leagues.