🏈 Houston has problems
Kalen Ballage sighting, Kenny G injury, and why you want Jaylen Waddle on your roster
I missed you guys - the support & love has been amazing - thank you. As always, we’ve got your daily dose of fantasy football news, tweets, and memes.
Enjoy.
Fly Deshaun Fly
The biggest headline of the last 24 hours is this little nugget of a tweet from Chris Trepasso detailing a Deshaun Watson trade. It’s sent people speculating on the compensation going back to the Texans and had those same people asking “Why Eagles why?” when the legal process for Watson still has to play out.
That said, it’s fun to think about some of the young weapons in Philadelphia getting a quarterback upgrade over Jalen Hurts, of whom you’d have to figure would be sent to where he grew up, Houston. Although, given how bad the Texans front office is, you never know…
Kenny Golladay out for 2-3 weeks
This is not the first hamstring injury to new Giants free-agent Kenny Golladay. We still remember last season when Golladay missed some time with a hamstring pull (but it was weird - you never knew what was going on).
In my wide receiver rankings on FantasyPros, I have Golladay down at WR40, in the Mike Williams, DeVante Parker, and Antonio Brown tier.
Remember this?
The Hall of Fame game happened
And the Steelers actually played their starters?
Me watching the game hoping it would feel like Sunday again:
Some notable moments
Kalen Ballage lives!!!
Chase Claypool caught a 45-yard bomb then appeared to be injured… no status update, but you can see him celebrating here after this great punt return - he’ll be fine
A FG was blocked #BanKickers
Najee’s first carry went for a first down
I fell asleep
The case for:
Jaylen Waddle: After the Dolphins acquired Will Fuller (adding to an already full group of WRs with DeVante Parker, Albert “the goat” Wilson, Preston Williams, and Mike Gesicki), people weren’t too excited about Jaylen Waddle’s arrival. In keeper/dynasty leagues, that’s a big mistake.
The second WR drafted in this rookie class (also, Devonta Smith is only 166 pound #avoid) is Jaylen Waddle - the Dolphins used the 6th overall pick on him. High draft capital is always a good sign, especially when it’s to pair a QB with his former WR, on a team with expiring WR contracts. Just look at these deals:
DeVante Parker can be cut after the 2021 season to save the team $9 million
Will Fuller is on a one-year, $10 million deal
Mike Gesicki is also a free agent in 2022
Albert Wilson is a FA in 2022 too
Sure, they may bring back some of these guys - but not all of them, especially with an athletic FREAK in Waddle on the roster. We all know how important opportunity is for fantasy football.
Already flashing in camp - despite still recovering from an ankle injury suffered during his final collegiate season - Waddle is a top target in dynasty and keeper leagues. I don’t expect him to explode this season, but the opportunities available in the 2022 season will allow him to shine.
That being said, Will Fuller was injured every year except 2020 (when he used steriods?) & DeVante Parker isn’t much better.
ESPN's Cameron Wolfe reports the Dolphins are prioritizing downfield passing aggressiveness in offseason practices. Jaylen Waddle is fast, and defenses can’t guard him and Fuller.
He also looks like Tyreek Hill. Like Tyreek Hill, Waddle is an incredible returner, averaging 24.7 yards per punt return in 2019 - better than any returner since 2014. Don’t sleep.
A few clips & tweets:
Look how open he is…
4.28!!
That’s all folks - I need to go trade for Jaylen Waddle
As always, thank you for reading, thank you for sharing, now go trade for Jaylen.
Also - to help justify writing this every day (and because I love fantasy football) - I created a live draft pack for fantasy leagues - think stickers and draft board, but so much better. You can check it out (support the Morning Huddle, and save $30 using code MHUDDLE69) at draftwithredzone.com
Let’s get it!
Who should we do a deep dive on next?