Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Week 14 Waiver Wire Podcast

Episode Date: December 6, 2022

Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) and Tom Brolley (@TomBrolley) talk top waiver wire adds for the week. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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from numbers to the film room, with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. waiver wires left at this point. This is the week 14 waiver wire podcast at fantasy points.com. and, you know, the NFL, first and foremost, I'm going to give the NFL, Tom, and I know you're the same way. You have a love-hate relationship with five weeks because we love that there are fewer games for us to break down and fewer players for us to rank and all that stuff. But we hate that there's a situation where you've got to be starting scrubs in your fantasy lineup. I especially hate when six teams are on by in week 14 and in some high stakes leagues, this is playoff time, man.

Like, this is pretty wild, T, bro. What's going on? We've got six teams on by this week. And we've got quarterback injuries. We've got Justin Fields on by. We've got Aaron Rogers on by. we've got Jimmy G injured, we've got Lamar Jackson injured. Tom, I think that's where we're going to start here.

I'm Joe Dolan, by the way. That's Tom Broley. And I think we've got to start at the quarterback position to discuss this week's waiver wire. Yeah, this is a unique situation, as you pointed out with the six buys. I wish we would just distribute them a little more evenly. And if we're going to have 16 buys, we'd like put it in the middle of the season when the stakes aren't as high as week 14. I know this is a do-or-die league a week for me. in a lot of my leagues.

This is kind of like the playoffs before the playoffs. If you're trying to get in there, you know, you're the fifth or sixth seed and you need to get into that top four. This is kind of a must win week for a lot of people. So this is kind of brutal to have six buys this time of year. And then we stack on the injuries on top of everything. So the buys this week, we got Atlanta, we got Chicago, we got Green Bay, we got the Colts, we got the Saints.

and we got the commander. So six teams. They're not, you know, there's not a whole lot of fantasy relevant guys off of those teams, but you add them all up. It starts to really hurt the player pool. And then you said we got Lamar. We got Jimmy G. At running back, we have Kenneth Walker, that whole Seattle situation.

We'll dig into that a little bit, but I don't know if there's a whole lot of insight we can give you on this podcast. That's going to be a backfield to watch all week. tight end we lost Hayden Hearst. There's not a whole lot of tight ends out there to really help us right now and just losing one hurts. Cortland Sutton and Trelon Burks who was emerging. So a lot of key injuries across the board. We'll try to help you the best we can here,

but I'll just warn you right now. There's just not a whole lot out there to really swing things for you. But we'll dig into it. We'll try to find some gems out there on the Waverwire here. Now let's start at the quarter. quarterback spot. Lamar Jackson, maybe you lost Jimmy G. Tom, we're going to get into Tyler Huntley, who was very good for fantasy at times last year. But let's start with the guy who I think is going to be throwing the ball a ton. He's been throwing the ball a ton. They want to throw the ball.

That's Mike White of the Jets who, I mean, now he's rostered in close to 20% of Yahoo Leaks. Yeah, they played Minnesota last week. So he was a pretty popular like QB2 pickup. I'll just add real quick, if Jared Goff is out there in your leagues, he's right at that 50% mark. I think he might be out, you know, a lot of people dropped them. You know, he kind of stagnated a little bit, but they do have, I think they have a pretty intriguing matchup. I'm blank, oh, they're playing the Vikings. You know, we just talked about Mike White playing the Vikings last week.

So that's one of the highest totals on the board. So if Jared Goff has been dropped, he is the priority ad, but, you know, 50% of leagues. he's probably not out there except for maybe eight to ten team leagues. But Mike White coming off that pass heavy performance against the Vikings, gets the bills this week. Not an ideal matchup for quarterbacks so far this year, although they've been a little bit more giving in recent weeks until running up against Mack Jones and that pathetic Patriots passing game last week.

But White, we've already seen that they're not going to handle him with kid gloves like they did with Zach Wilson in his seven starts. So Garrett Wilson's starting to emerge. He's he's fringe like wide receiver one territory at this point. Corey Davis and Elijah Moore will talk about them in the wide receiver range, but they saw their snap spike last week. So this passing game is starting to take off and Mike LaFleur has been willing to throw the ball. And this is a situation here. They did win this game earlier. year in week nine, but they're close to 10-point underdogs here against the bills. They're nine-and-a-half-point underdogs. So there's a chance that they could, you know, be playing a lot of

catch-up in this game and could lead to higher pass totals again for Mike White. A guy who's pretty much guaranteed to be available in your league, and it's someone who we know put up some fantasy numbers last year. He had a game with 35.9 fantasy points when he was starting for Lamar Jackson last year, not nearly as good in the other games, but somebody who can run around and make some plays as Tyler Huntley. If you're just looking for somebody who is going to be available, you know he's going to run. Huntley's, Huntley's your guy. Yeah, and it looks like, you know, especially if you've had Lamar, you've been using them all season, it looks like that injury could be a multi, you know, John Harbaugh went from

day to week on Sunday to saying week to week in his press conference. on Monday. So I'm guessing the news that they got was less than ideal. So we could be looking at a multi-week absence. And Huntley, you know, right out of the gates, through 32 times and three quarters in week 13 against the Broncos, ran it 10 times. So the ball was in his hands a lot. We saw that running game. I mean, the running game has been very inconsistent all season. And you take, you know, the Lamar Jackson element out of it. Nothing against Tyler. Hunter Huntley, but he's not nearly the type of athlete that Lamar Jackson is. So the running game's going to hurt a little bit more.

Probably means that Tyler Huntley is going to have the ball in his hands just that much more. And we've seen some pass heavy games from him last year. Average 205 yards and passing yards and 61 rushing yards in his four starts last season for 17 fantasy points. Not like spectacularly good, but at this point of the year with a lot of injuries and some key guys on buy. he can play right away here. It is a matchup against the Steelers. This game has a point total that's 37, 38 points. They're expecting a real slog in that game.

But Huntley should throw it enough and run it enough here to, you know, maybe he sneaks into that high-end QB2 range here for the next couple of weeks while Lamar Jackson's out of the lineup here. And there's other guys. I'll touch on Purdy a little bit here. Brock Purdy. So let's, because his team is really good, right? Like the 49ers are really good.

And I talked to our guy, Fran Duffy. And he kind of, he kind of likened Purdy to Gardner Minshu. And, you know, when I think of Minchu, I think of an undersized passer who doesn't have a great arm, but he's confident he can go out and execute an offense. It's the Ryan Fitzpatrick. mold and you know Fitzpatrick might have had a little more mobility a little more talent um than some of these guys but like that's the mold that i think of that Ryan Fitzpatrick mold case keenum heck Tom you can even throw Mike white in there these guys who came from not all of them from small schools in college but a lot of them who played in these kind of air raidish systems who are designed through college

get the ball out quick understand your reads let your receivers make plays and we've seen throughout the years that these guys can come in, can execute an NFL offense, can win some games. You know, if I'm drafting on day three of the draft, and I'm looking for kind of like a guy who, you know, if things work out, this guy's going to be a long-term backup for my team, I'm looking to these guys who are coming from these kind of air raid offenses who are used to getting the ball out quick, used to being coached. I almost seem as kind of coach's pets type. And I think that's what Brock Purdy can be for the 49ers. Yeah.

And as he said, he has a lot of playing time under his belt. So he shouldn't be completely overwhelmed. It's not like this guy started 12 games in college. I mean, he played a full career, you know, in Iowa State most recently. So he has the reps under his belt. I think it works, you know, just going back to the preseason, you know, he was drafted as Mr. Irrelevant. It was basically the fourth guy in this roster.

Probably was unlikely to make it. And then, you know, I had a good training camp. The 49ers essentially ate $2 million to cut Nate Sudfeld to keep Purdy on the roster here. So I think Shanahan likes him a lot. They did add Josh Johnson to the, you know, off the practice squad. I think he was in Denver at the time. So, but I think that Shanahan loves this kid. I think they're going to give him a semi-long leash,

as long as he doesn't borrow a Mike Tomlin-Fraise pissed down his leg here. I think he's going to be the guy the rest of the way. They're going to let him kind of learn on the job here. They, I mean, Josh, you know, he's a, you know, a 10-year veteran at this point. We kind of know what he is. At least Purdy or some...

He can put up numbers for fantasy, though, if he starts. I just don't know if he's going to start. Yeah, I think they're going to get Purdy the chance to do it here. and really, you know, let him develop here and see if he can, you know, kind of be the guy moving forward here. But we saw, uh, this, this running game has been kind of, you know, hit or miss in recent weeks. Uh, they did lose Elijah Moore, Laja Mitchell. So we're down to Christian McCaffrey, who's, yeah, he hasn't been running all that well.

He's been much more effective in the passing game. So this, this offense could be, you know, might have to move more through the air. than through the ground in future weeks here. So I'm not telling you that I want to go out and start Brock Purdy, especially against Tampa Bay, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this week. But if you're playing in two QB leagues and you've been riding Jimmy Garoppolo, you might not have much of a choice here.

But just based on what we saw and his pedigree, you know, maybe he can climb into being a fantasy relevant type of quarterback in two QB formats in the playoffs. We touched on Bam night last week. And we don't need to, I don't know if we need to rehash that conversation. He's been rostered in virtually half of Yahoo Leagues. He's the priority pickup if you need a running back. I'm not terribly excited about Cam Acres because I'm not terribly excited about that RAM offense.

One guy, though, who I am pretty excited about, and as somebody who had a Devon Singletary overs on Thursday night against the Patriots, I knew right away as soon as, as I saw James Cook involved early, I'm like, well, I'm not winning that bet. James Cook is starting to get more involved for the Buffalo Bills. Naim Hines was a little more involved as well in week 13. But James Cook, the second round pick, has given Buffalo every reason to keep going back to him here for the playoff stretch. I think he's starting to do what they wanted him to do when they drafted him.

Yeah, and what I liked the most from that game last Thursday was his usage in the passing game. That's all we heard about coming out of Georgia in the draft when they select him in the second round. Was that just how effective he can be in the passing game and, you know, the best receiving back in the, in the 2022 NFL draft. And we started to finally kind of see that with the six catches. We thought that was kind of going to be his role this year. And it really hadn't, you know, really materialized until the last, until last week. So that's what has me the most optimistic here. The problem, I don't want to get too excited.

I think Singletary has played relatively well. He's a rock-solid pro. So I don't think he's going to just completely disappear here. I don't think James Cook is going to start seeing 70% of the snaps moving forward. But if he can just get the lead here in one of the best offenses, maybe he can be a strong flex play, maybe even get into that low-end RB2 range moving forward here. So it's been trending up for basically the last month.

The Thanksgiving Day usage was a little. It kind of got us off the scent a little bit. I think he only had four touches in that game. But other than that, over the last month, he's been pretty heavily involved here. So I hope they continue to ride them. The thing is, he elevates the ceiling of this offense a little bit. I'm not, yeah, running backs rarely do that.

But he's dynamic enough that. need to get him more in the mix here. The difference between them and the chiefs at the top of the AFC might not be, there might not be a ton of difference between them. And if you can get some sort of edge, maybe at running back with James Cook, I think you have to explore it. So I do think that his playing time should, you know, at least stay consistent here coming out of week 13 and maybe it even picks up a little bit. So yeah, I think he's a guy that should be added here with hopes that his role continues to grow here in the next couple of weeks. The Seattle situation, I think, is problematic.

Yes. DJ Dallas, so Kenneth Walker gets injured. So does DJ Dallas. Travis Homer's inactive because he has a knee injury and was sick. Tony Jones Jr. spent some time in the medical tent. He was the guy who was the healthiest of this group coming out of that game. If Kenneth Walker were to miss time, though, Tom, I think you are just guessing here.

in this backfield. You know, DJ Dallas was deemed doubtful to return. He had to play just because they didn't have anybody else while Tony Jones was getting checked out. I'm not really sure what to say about this backfield other than pray that Kenneth Walker's okay. Yeah, it didn't seem like the Walker injury was too serious, but, you know, even if he misses a week or two, that's crucial at this time of year. I'll just say, I know we're going to, you know, I'm already getting questions in discord

about this situation. and I don't really have a great answer. The one thing I will say is don't use a waiver priority. Don't use Fab on this situation unless we get more concrete news from Pete Carroll this evening. I think he might speak to media on Tuesday evening. So I think he was on the radio station. He does like a radio spot and he didn't really say much yesterday. So just keep your ears peeled on it.

I'll say if Kenneth Walker doesn't play, the fact that Dallas, DJ Dallas did come back into that game, I think is at least a little bit of a positive sign. And I think he is kind of, you know, between the backups here, I think they ideally want to use Dallas as kind of like the runner, Travis Homer, more in passing situations. So if it does start to look like Walker isn't going to play and Dallas is maybe getting some limited practices in on Wednesday and Thursday,

that's where I would lean. I would lean toward DJ Dallas. us. But this is a situation to monitor. Don't blow fab budget. Don't blow waiver priority on a, on a situation here that's very much up in the end. One more guy who needs to be mentioned before we get to wide receiver where there's really only one situation I want to mention. Jordan Mason of the 49ers was the clear number two behind Christian McCaffrey. And if they're going to run the ball, he's going to be involved. And I think they will run the ball with Brock Purdy. Yeah, I think they will want to try to do that a little bit more.

They really didn't do it much in that game against the dolphins. He had eight carries. Look good for 51 yards. I think his snap share was only about 19% in that game. So a pretty limited rule. It was McCaffrey's backfield for the most part. But it was, you know, it's notable. We were all wondering what's going to happen here.

Is it, you know, is Tyrion Davis Price going to jump right back in, you know, after being inactive recently into the number two spot? Nope, that didn't happen. He didn't play a single snap. there was some talk that maybe Tevin Coleman could come off the practice squad and be the lead, you know, the second runner behind McCaffrey. Nope, he stayed on the practice squad.

So I think we got some confirmation. We were saying Mason was kind of the guy that we would lean towards last week. And yes, last week was a confirmation that Mason is the number two. And this is the time of year where we got to get, you know, this is a situation where it's a little fragile right now with McCaffrey dealing with this knee soreness. you know, if there's a chance that he misses a game or two in the upcoming weeks, Mason would be an RB2.

I think they would probably split up the backfield a little bit. Tyrion Davis Price would probably get some work behind them. But just with the situation with McCaffrey's knee, I think Mason is a guy that should be owned in most legs, and he's only owned in 15%. But that 15%, as you said, might have been more because of the uncertain nature of that backfield. Now that we have the information, Mason should be owned now going forward, just in case. McCaffrey would miss some time. I mean, for the wide receiver situation, James and Williams

played like eight snaps. Here's the problem I have with Jameson Williams, Tom. And there's another wide receiver situation I want to talk about because this one I didn't even really know what to say about it. You need to see it from Jameson Williams before you put him in a lineup, right? Yes. And we're in week 14. There's not much time left to see it. So I still stand by the notion that it is highly unlikely that Jameson Williams is going to be fantasy relevant this year. But heck, I don't know, he played eight snaps. Maybe he comes out and plays 60 this week and catches five passes for 90 yards. That's within the realm of possibility. But we're running out of time here for this. Yeah, absolutely. But I still think he is a priority here. I mean,

we're doing a lot of speculating on the waiver wire at this time of year. We touched on Mason if he would get a chance. If Williams, he has the pedigree to be a difference maker. And I think we're betting on pedigree a little bit more than actual playing opportunities at this point. So eight snaps. It was basically, hey, get out there and run some sprints. Get the feel of the turf again under your feet. Bang some shoulder pads around. And so he got his feet wet last week.

Now the next step is probably, you know, we'll get you out there for 25, the 30 snaps. And we'll throw you a deep ball or two and let you go try to catch a pass or two. So it's going to be a progression probably for the next three to four weeks. I'm with you. If I had to bet odds here, you know, I'd do the betting for the site. And I'd say he's probably like minus 500 to be like a fantasy, a non-fanty relevant player the rest of the way. But there's just like that, there's just that chance that he, you know,

has a good showing here in the next week or two. And we feel some confidence to play him. And he certainly has the pedigree as a, just an absolute burner, the 12th overall pick in last year's drafts. And this is an offense that is trending upward here a little bit in recent weeks. So I think it's worth a stash, but if I had, you know, it's unlikely that he's a relevant guy down the stretch, but there is that small sliver of a chance that he is. So I think it is worth a stash.

The other wide receiver situation to mention is the Jets. When you have a guy like Mike White who's throwing the ball 50 plus times. Isn't it weird? Like you've got Zach Wilson's throwing the ball like 18 times a game. Meanwhile, Joe Flacco and Mike White are throwing at 50. Gives you a little bit of a view as how they feel about Zach Wilson. If a guy's throwing it 50 times, it's going to make receivers relevant.

And Corey Davis and Elijah Moore are guys out there. Davis is rostered in a much lower percentage of leagues than more. But I think you can make the argument. He's the better option right now. Yeah, I agree there. I just want to add real quick DJ Chark. If you're looking at just a one week play, if you got guys on by, they got the Vikings match up this week.

So just throwing that out there with the James William, James and Williams talk. But I'm with you. I think Corey Davis is probably the more reliable option of these two right now. We saw that Mike White really walked onto them, 10 targets, 17% target share. But Elijah Moore, you know, back. back to the pedigree talk. I mean, that's, he's the, you know, he had the wide receiver, you know, first round talent kind of, in 20201 was drafted 34th overall by the Jets.

But I thought it was promising that Denzel Mims and Braxton Berrios's roles were reduced last week. Of course, Berrios got like the fourth down target on the, on the, the maker break, make or break play at the end of the, I know. I was like, you got to be kidding me. Of all the receivers you have on this roster, we're going to go to Braxton Barrios for the critical play of the game. Like, why are those touches not going to Elijah Moore? Like, why do you even have Elijah Moore if you're going? He's a better player than Braxton Barrios.

They should have won that football game. Oh, I know. They had two chances, essentially, at the end of that game, but couldn't come through. But this offense is, you know, the passing game is trending up. The bills have been surprisingly like a top 10 in terms of giving up fantasy. production to wide receivers so far this year. So I do think they're trending up.

Moore is more of the, I think he's kind of more of the stash, and you hope that he has a big week or two, and then we feel some confidence to play him. Davis is the more of the guy. I could pick up and I at least have some relative confidence that I think he could produce wide receiver three numbers this week. So Davis is more of the eight. I need a guy this week.

And more is, he's more of the projection over the next couple of weeks. Do we have to talk about the tight end position? Oh my God. Joe, it is so sad. Like, I, I'm like just, I'm like, I have to write up guys for this. I'm just like reaching for. Let me, let me mention one guy. First and foremost, we've talked about Greg Dulcich a hundred times.

He's the guy. Like, he might be Russell Wilson's most reliable receiver right now. Cortland Sutton's hurt. Jerry Judy's playing a limited snap share. Dulcich is the guy. There is one guy who I guarantee. guarantee you is available on your waiver wire. It is a guarantee he's out there. And all he's done is make big plays recently in a low volume passing offense. So you have to understand a goose egg

is potential. But all these guys have goose egg potential. His name is Chigakanquo from the Tennessee Titans. He's undersized. He's 6-2. He's about 240. So he's a small guy at tight end. But this guy, if Traylon Burks misses time with the concussion, he is their most explosive receiver. It's amazing to say that that's a tight end, a rookie tight end at that. But Chica Conquo is the Titans' most explosive receiver. And there's names out there at the tight end position who I'd much rather be starting a Concoe over. Yeah, I'm with you, Joe. And he has been at least a little bit consistent.

He has 31 yards and five straight, at least 31 yards and five straight games. How many tight ends can say that, by the way? Not a whole lot. I probably, you know, it's probably got to be less than eight, I would say, at this time. So I, he has been trending up for a while. As you said, Traylon Burks, if he's out of the line up here, kind of expecting him to at least miss one game after that nasty concussion at the end of the game, at the beginning of that game against the Eagles.

So the script worked out perfect for him to have more run. You know, they were losing by multiple scores to Eagles. So he got the chance to spread his wings a little bit. But I think they should be looking to get this guy more involved, especially if they have to throw the ball. They got a match up with the Jaguars where they're three and a half point favorites. So it's not exactly an ideal situation. But, you know, this total is a little bit higher than we're used to seeing for a Titans game. It's sitting 41 and a half to 42 and a half.

So that's a little bit higher than normal for a Titans game. And the Jaguars have been, you know, at least a little bit more of a past funnel defense. They have been somewhat effective stopping the run here. Derek Henry hasn't been nearly as effective running the ball in recent weeks. And so, you know, maybe they have to go to the air here a little bit. So I'm with you on a quanko as a, hey, you know, a hope and prey kind of a guy here. There's just not a whole lot of options. The other guy, I think on a little bit higher end, more consistent types are Evan Ingram and Noah Fant in recent weeks.

He's kind of emerged as the number three receiver in that Seattle offense. And we already touched on their running back situation. They could be forced to throw it a little bit more this week if Kenneth Walker is unavailable. So I think Fant would probably be my number two guy behind Dulcich if you're looking for a guy that's not as big of a dart throw. but Daniel Bellinger is the other guy. He came back into the lineup. So he played 97% of the snaps after a five-game layoff, which is really strong.

Caught all five of this target. It's only one for 24 yards. So, you know, he's going to be more of a low calorie. Like, hey, get me three to four catches and hopefully get me 30 yards. But those kind of guys, those guys are on the radar at this moment. the tight end position. It's a really sad state of affairs there, but I think Bellinger's another guy if we're really digging deep here, and we are with a lot of these issues at the position. Tom, this has been a painful waiver wire to get through. We only have like two or three of these

podcasts left, I mean, at this stage. It's unbelievable where we're at right now. I hope everybody has a wonderful Tuesday. I hope everyone has a wonderful week 14. Stay tuned to fantasy points.com for the super early bird special that will be coming in the next couple of weeks. If you want to re-up for the 2023 season, you will not get a better rate. Follow him on Twitter at Tom Broly. I'm at FG underscore Dolan. Thank you, everybody, and we'll talk to you soon. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast.

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