Welcome to Week 6 of the 2023 Footballguys Roundtable. Our intrepid panel of fantasy pundits discusses and debates four topics every week. We split the conversation into separate features.
This week's roundtable features these four topics:
Let's roll.
For Real/Fool's gold
Matt Waldman: Pick three players from the list and tell me whose current value is for real and whose current value is fool's gold.
- Cole Kmet TE3
- Puka Nacua WR3
- George Pickens WR13
- Christian Kirk WR20
- Kyren Williams RB5
- David Montgomery RB8
- Justin Fields QB4
- A.J. Epenesa DE 10
- Nik Bonitto DE 11
- Ernest Jones LB6
As Andy Kaufman used to say, thankyouverymuch . . .
Gary Davenport: Kyren Williams is fool's gold. Sure, the volume has been off the chain. But the efficiency has left a lot to be desired, and I don't think it's a coincidence that Williams' worst fantasy day of the season came in Cooper Kupp's first game back. It was a fun ride—but it's already slowing down.
A.J. Epenesa is fool's gold. Epenesa is a quality edge-setter, and he's had a couple of big games—including a fat stat line last week against the Jacksonville Jaguars. But Epenesa has never had 7 sacks or 20 total tackles in a season. He may well have another nice game in Week 6 against New York's dismal offensive line, but he's not a weekly IDP starter—and probably never will be.
Ernest Jones is for real. There's a reason that Jones was such a trendy breakout pick in IDP circles—opportunity. We might not have expected that Jones would crack the top 10 at his position, but we did figure that he was going to have ample chances to rack up stops, given the lack of competition for said stops around him. He's just taking advantage of that opportunity, and there's little reason to think that will change any time soon.
Dave Kluge: Kyren Williams is fool's gold. He's being propped up by volume and a touchdown rate that is almost assured to come crashing down. He's an undersized and relatively unathletic back who has been a massive liability in the run game. Sean McVay has fed running backs short-term volume before, making them valuable fantasy assets (Malcolm Brown, Darrell Henderson, Sony Michel). But Williams' struggles as a rusher make it likely that his volume won't stick.
David Montgomery is real. He's got the vaunted Jamaal Williams role from last season and looks much better. He has a stranglehold on the backfield in one of the league's best offenses and behind one of the best offensive lines. He's getting passing-down and goal-line work. Finishing the season as a top-5 running back wouldn't surprise me.
Justin Fields is real. This is the third straight season he's started slowly. But once he gets warmed up, he's one of fantasy football's best quarterbacks. An elite rusher with a powerful arm puts him in the same archetype as Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts. And now that he has his WR1 in DJ Moore, his ceiling is as high as any other quarterback's in fantasy.