9/28 MON (amET)
Today:
-- Week 3 Executive Report Part 1 of 2...doing ‘Three Things’ Monday, then Adding ‘Five Players’ in pieces Monday night through to completion by Tuesday early evening (before Tuesday Night Waivers’.
-- Week 3 Game Reports begin.
-- New Rookie Card giveaway...the lottery for the five rookie cards revealed below. There’s gonna be a contest between the 5 finalists for the pick order in Week 4.
-- Two Scouts Talking YouTube Video (breaks for the weekend + Monday, back at it on Tu-W-Thu-Fri this week)
This past week:
Jonah Coleman: https://youtu.be/1PgxRk1Sqdc
Oronde Gadsden: https://youtu.be/zpqx5v_M-dQ
Kalif Raymond: https://youtu.be/fQsruq7zvaI
Rookie WRs Week 1: https://youtu.be/bDbYorHydQc
Devaughn Vele: https://youtu.be/1aHFMgfQI14
Kaleon Black (+30 extra random minutes of talk): https://youtu.be/LphU-KrbqMs
Drake Maye: https://youtu.be/MnrK3foEQNQ
-- Miscellaneous reports on things that come my way and more scouting reports to come. I have a backlog of them to get published already.
--------------------------
NEW DISCORD NOTIFICATION SYSTEM/INVITE: FFM Discord Notification System
*This is not a chat room. It is a one-way channel for FFM notifications about newly posted items and critical breaking news.
== NEWS & NOTES & Xs ==
-- HEADLINE: Bears QB Tyson Bagent has cleared the NFL’s concussion protocol. Bagent has no game status designation for Monday night against the Eagles.
I am so looking forward to MNF now. This changes everything about this game...as we get a glimpse of the Bears offense with a backup QB, a legit (maybe) backup QB.
Teams that will now be operating with the starting QB out for multiple weeks/months...
CHI
TB
NYG
We’re averaging losing one per week, so far.
Honestly, there are so many injuries right now...there’s so much injury research that we need to go through all week...I don’t know which end is up.
It’s not just ‘this big name got hurt, what now?’ We got plenty of those, but we also now have entire team cores, essentially, wiping out--forcing a complete re-scouting of a team’s situation. Example: You know about the SF 49ers’ woes and the substitutions and all that...they got devastated by injury again Sunday. But did you know the Carolina Panthers are falling apart at the seams as well? They lost both their ace starting corners Sunday, in-game. Unsure of the severity. It was a strength of the team...then it was their weakness in real-time.
Here’s the injury list from Carolina from Sunday Week 2 to Sunday Week 3...
Devin Lloyd
Damien Lewis
Jalen Coker
Jaycee Horn
Mike Jackson
Nick Scott
Bryce Young
Jonathon Brooks
Bobby Brown
Claudin Cherelus
Xavier Legette
Both starting corners, a key starting guard off a team already missing its starting tackles before the season kicked off for Carolina. They lost their big free-agent signing linebacker. They lost their key DT/NT. Bryce Young played hurt for half of the Week 3 game. Jalen Coker is not 100%. The Panthers have gone from a top 10 team to bottom 10 team in the span of one week...not due to ‘injuries’...due to MASS injuries.
We are entering a new era of Fantasy. It started last year in earnest. We used to have to interpret the impact of 1-2-3-4-5 key ‘name’ players hurt. Now, honest to God, we have to re-scout the entire NFL every week. There’s not enough time...there’s never enough time...now there’s even less time.
The NFL doesn’t stop its schedule so we can re-scout its entire league’s 32 rosters and the injury impacts. Tuesday night is most people’s waivers. Thursday night football waits for no one. Sunday will be here before you know it. Injury news on Monday is different than Tuesday, which is different than Wednesday...and so on. It’s a constant box of marbles dumped onto a hockey rink.
We could give you ‘buy low’ and ‘sell high’ advice each early week, and it could be brilliant--but then the whole thing blows up the following week when the player you acquired, or the player’s QB or left tackle gets hurt. The entire 49ers offense changes if Trent Williams is really down/out.
We have always considered the injuries and the subsequent personnel chaos ‘good’ for FFM business. We have consistently been ahead of the curve on player scouting and deep scouting and injury adjustments. Now, just 3 weeks in...whole teams are getting wiped out. The injury issues are coming at us out of a firehose. And if you think this week was bad, worse than Week 2...what do we think is going to happen next week?
I’m not dismayed by this...I’m just kinda stunned right now and trying to figure out how to adjust. I used to spend most of my time in a week breaking down game tape and trying to get a ‘feel’ for things. Now, in a few cases, last week’s game tape for some teams should be erased from my memory banks because for that particular team...that team doesn’t exist anymore. The 49ers and the Panthers and the Buccaneers and the Packers (as a few examples)--they don’t exist the way we knew them in Week 1. Next week at this time, more teams will likely join that list.
It’s getting to be we are spending as much time with injury reports and injury questions as we are game tape itself, to try to ‘see into the future’. I’m constantly thinking about what we need to do/change/add to accommodate for all these injuries.
All I can say about what this week, and the rest of this season is gonna be like with the injuries... https://youtu.be/KSdmONyPhkc?si=kftMizpXCJcoU9zX
== INJURY CENTER/WARD ==
-- QB Baker Mayfield dislocated his right thumb, per coach Todd Bowles. MRI tomorrow. But likely to miss time.
-- Breece Hall
Concern for: Grade 2 quad strain
Projection: 3-6 weeks missed
Likely gets MRI
-- Josh Allen: https://x.com/DrJesseMorse/status/2104357849853837379?s=20
-- ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports surgery is “not entirely off the table” for Puka Nacua (hip).
Schefter noted that the team doesn’t believe he will need surgery, but it could be an option if things don’t improve. The team is listing it as a hip injury, but the main issue has been a groin injury which would presumably require core muscle surgery. That would sideline him for multiple months. Schefter added that Nacua could return as soon as Week 4 if he does improve.
-- Week 3 injuries (so far):
De’Von Achane - R knee, ACL?
Justin Jefferson - L medial/high ankle
Mike Evans - rib cartilage/fracture
Breece Hall - R thigh, strain?
Jalen Coker - quad, strain?
Travis Etienne - hamstring
Mark Andrews - hand, returned
Garrett Wilson - evaluated concussion, ok
Jalen McMillan - knee (reinjury?)
Tyjae Spears - ankle (reinjury?
Marcus Mariota - left briefly but returned
Kenyon Sadiq - left briefly but returned
Mike Gesicki - left briefly but returned
Rachaad White - shoulder, returned
Bryce Young - left briefly returned
Ollie Gordon - cramps, returned
== Unique STAT Center ==
-- It has now been 1,442 days since the Cleveland Browns allowed a 300-yard passer.
That’s 48 straight games
-- Troy Fautanu & Max Iheanachor were tagged with only 3 combined pressures allowed on 35 drop backs today versus the Bengals, via Sumer Sports initial charting.
Cincy came into this game ranked 8th in pressure rate.
-- Joe Burrow is now (1-34) when trailing in the last 8:00 in the NFL.
-- The Bucs make history losing 12 in a row against the spread going back to last season... Bucs franchise now owns longest SU and ATS losing streaks in the Super Bowl era.
-- Jaguars Snaps at WR:
50- Parker Washington
50- Jakobi Meyers
23- Josh Cameron
23- Brian Thomas Jr
5- Travis Hunter
RC vs. Ross Coffee bets (through Wk2):
More targets this season...
14 = Raymond (RC)
06 = D. Swift (Ross)
== QUOTES & QUOTABLES ==
-- Liam Coen raved about Josh Cameron in his postgame press conference.
“He’s the personal protector on punt, he catches a touchdown in the end zone on a critical down, then he runs down on kickoff and gets the tackle, then he gets a kickoff return out past the 50 on an explosive.”
“Everything that he does, he does like a pro. He understands how to prepare, he’s super smart, and he’s selfless. And really so many ways what we’re looking for in a Jacksonville Jaguar.”
-- Here's Texans QB C.J. Stroud with a not-so-subtle comment about the conservative play calling from his OC (Nick Caley):
"We can't just play conservative. We gotta be aggressive and attack and not be 'the attacked'."
-- Hafley says De’Von Achane's injury outlook does not sound optimistic, with details still pending.
Jeff Hafley: “Yeah, still gathering information, and hopefully I'll have more for you tomorrow. To be very honest with you, it does not sound very optimistic at this moment, but I can't give you any other details until I have them.”
-- Pretty accurate: https://x.com/FantasyPros/status/2104266430829187195
-- AJ Brown: https://x.com/NFLMemes/status/2104320946471362592
Your moment of Zen for this day...
-- They’re coming for Drake Maye this week: https://x.com/FantasyPros/status/2104277210194661666?s=20
-- I told you: https://x.com/stoolgambling/status/2104262476066128341
-- It won’t end: https://x.com/MBFantasyLife/status/2104291277076365757?s=20
-- Endless: https://x.com/NFLMemes/status/2104263225076551950?s=20
-- Kyle Williams: https://x.com/Ihartitz/status/2104293537692975128
-- Mike McDaniel Ladies & Gentlemen: https://x.com/Ihartitz/status/2104276849933324768?s=20
-- Parker Washington rules: https://x.com/Ihartitz/status/2104288926454161800
-- ‘My’ Astros won their division on the final day of the season, Sunday: https://x.com/TheAstrosLocker/status/2104324668614234347?s=20
*SPORTS CARD Giveaway:
Five cards to give away
The five people being entered into the lottery...
#1: Bma..... @gmail (from the video show end group from a couple weeks ago)
#2: Ch.... @msn = Random from the OG group of longest-term FFM subscribers
#3: Oli... @yahoo = Random from the 2026 new subscriber list, any category/item.
#4: Mit... @go...com = Random from ‘Betting’ subscribers/Private Club
#5: Ser.... @gmail = Random from all sources of subscribers
Going to have a FF mini-contest Week 4 to determine picking order. My Week 3 schedule got blown up to do this Week 3.
----------------------------------------------------------
*How to sign up for our monthly or annual access: https://ffmetrics.com/total-football-advisor/total-football-advisor
*Draft Guide season access $24.99: https://ffmetrics.com/draft-guide/draft-guide
*How to get the free FFM App and FAQs on how to use: https://ffmetrics.com/5663-how-to-get-the-free-ffm-app
*Our Betting Subscription offering (including private Discord chat access): https://ffmetrics.com/betting/betting
=====================
