Fantasy Football Daily - Chris Olave Target Magnet | Week 16 Fantasy Football: Top 10 Takeaways & MUST-KNOW Playoff Insights

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

We just lowered the prices on all of our packages, and promo code 'GURU' gets you an extra 15% off of our already discounted 50% off price tag. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠���⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/plans#⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠/ Theo Gremminger breaks down the most important fantasy football storylines from Week 16 in this must-listen Fantasy Football Daily episode, delivering sharp, playoff-focused takeaways to help managers win championships. From historic performances by Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba to Matthew Stafford and Trevor Lawrence shattering expectations, Theo explains why trusting elite volume and elite quarterbacks still matters in December. He highlights late-season narrative shifts for Saquon Barkley, Chase Brown, and James Cook, digs into Chris Olave’s target-monster role amid chaos in New Orleans, and celebrates massive growth seasons from Bijan Robinson and Kenneth Gainwell. The episode also covers tight end surprises, painful playoff duds, and key injuries that could swing Week 17 decisions, giving fantasy managers a clear, actionable roadmap as the postseason reaches its most critical point. Where to find us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://twitter.com/TheOGFantasy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://twitter.com/FantasyPts ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join the Discord here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/media/discord#/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to Fantasy Points for FREE: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/plans#/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Podcast Transcription Here: Fantasy Points Website - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ NEW! Data Suite - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://data.fantasypoints.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/FantasyPts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/FantasyPts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/FantasyPts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fantasypts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #FantasyFootball #2025Rankings #FantasyFootballAdvice #NFL #FantasyFootball #WaiverWire #Week14 #FantasyFootball2025 #FantasyPoints #NFLFantasy #FantasyAdvice #Sleepers #WaiverPickup Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's going on, Theo Greminger, Fantasy Football Daily, week 16, semi-final week. This is like the final four for most of you. Some leagues are in like two-week sprints, three-week sprints for scoring. But for most people watching this, you're in a single elimination week. This is big-time tilting. For a lot of you, winning this week guarantees you a big chunk of money. For some of you, you get paid for the third place, but it's usually not a whole lot. You're usually going for first or second place.

So it's pride, it's a trophy, it's money. Plus, you've got the holidays right around the corner. Holiday season going on right now. There's so much going on in people's lives and fantasy football this week. Big time tilts, big time sweats. What? What? Why are you shaking your head?

You're welcome. recording this right before Sunday night football and so much has gone on already this week got to talk about it right from the top this is the second week in a row where we've had incredible smash week performances on Thursday nights there's nothing better in fantasy football than when you have a guy in your lineup go off and put up a huge number on a Thursday night and there's nothing worse than the flip side where you're going up in a matchup and Thursday night football goes off and you're going up against a player that puts up a monster number and you have to walk around

all day Friday and Saturday heading into Sunday knowing you're in this major hole. It affects your way of thinking. It affects your whole thought process. You start having to play these high ceiling options instead of floor guys. It happened last week. Kyle Pitts goes nuts. Bejohn Robinson goes nuts. And this week, it happened in an even bigger way.

Puka Nakuwa went insane. The lesson here is Puka Nakuwa is ridiculous. The other lesson from this game is don't bench your studs. This is a classic example of this one. We'll get to it in a minute. But this game was a scary one for fantasy managers. Seattle versus the L.A. Rams, arguably the two best teams in the NFC right now. games in Seattle. Seattle's got an absolute unit of a defense that's been rolling people,

been scoring touchdowns. And the last two times these teams played, it was a 2119 Rams win. And in this one, Sam Darnold had four interceptions, and Matthew Stafford had only 130 passing yards. So people are walking into this game a little bit nervous, and a lot of fantasy managers chose to bench Stafford. We'll talk about that one in a minute. But this game, the whole situation flipped. It was 2119 last time. This time it's a 3837 Seattle win in overtime. An incredible game.

One of the more entertaining games of the entire season. And Pukunakua went absolutely insane. 12 catches, 225 yards, and two touchdowns on 16 targets. This has been an absolutely generational run for Pukkahua. the last few weeks. I mean, just going absolutely nuts. He's the first player in NFL history to go for 150 plus receiving yards in three straight games.

Just crazy stuff here. And if you look at what Naku has been able to do collectively over the last three weeks, he's looking like the league winner. Unbelievable scoring prowess for him, 35.7 points in week 14. And for some of you, that was the week you needed from him to get into your fantasy playoffs, to get your buy week. And he gave it to you in week 14. Last week against Detroit,

nine catches, 181 yards, 27.9 points. And then this week, a season high, 46.5 points. Unbelievable numbers for Nekua. Nakuas already hit career highs in touchdowns this year, going absolutely nuts in the touchdown department.

And that's despite, despite Devonte Adams scoring all those touchdowns for L.A. this year. Nakua is now the wide receiver one overall, 23.8 points per game. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous stuff. This has been sort of the legacy, the symbolism of Cooper Cup moving on this past off season and Puka Nakua taking over and having a wide receiver one season. Absolute cinema. Career high, nine touchdown catches. For the season, 114 catches, 1592 yards. Ridiculous. And week 17, for all the money in, fantasy football for all the prizes. Smash weak potential. The game against Atlanta, we don't have to worry about weather. There's a chance this game pops off. And next year, Pukukua's not only in the mix with Jackson Smith and Jigba and Jemar Chase to be the wide receiver one overall in redraft leagues. He's in the mix to be the 101. Now, my personal

101 is going to be Jemir Gibbs. When I drop my early rankings, Jemir Gibbs going to be at the very top, but Pucanakua is not going to be far behind. Bijon Robinson's not going to be far behind. J.S.N. Jamar Chase, that's probably your top five right now. I'll drop that sometime right after the new year. Early top 25. If I'm feeling spicy, it might be a top 50. Always look forward to that one. You can check that out at fantasy points.com. Now, Matt Stafford won. This was about as tilting as it gets.

Most sites, including ours, and I'll give a shout out to R. projections people at fantasy points all year long these guys have delivered in a major way dfs ppr you name it all of the projections have been locked in completely locked in but this week most of us like most fantasy analysts were having matthew stafford somewhere in that qb 13 to 16 range it was a cautious cautious approach with a game that vegas didn't put a huge number on not high total in this one and a defense that had already given him trouble before a chance that this game would turn into a defensive battle but it was anything but everyone was wrong absolutely everybody was wrong matthew stafford goes insane qb one overall on the week 457 passing yards

three touchdowns just absolutely ridiculous ridiculous stuff from matthew stafford unbelievable year from stafford stafford is the qb2 overall in fantasy football right now. I mean, wild, wild stuff. You're talking about a veteran quarterback having arguably his best season ever as a pro. Sean McVeigh is an absolute magician, an absolute real one.

And you could say that Stafford is peaking here. Now, Stafford, obviously, Super Bowl, got to Super Bowl with McVeigh before. Maybe he gets to a Super Bowl again this year. That was significant. But this year has been even better for Matthew Stafford, unbelievable stuff.

Stafford is two touchdowns away, only two touchdown passes away from setting the Rams franchise record for touchdown passes in a season. And 42 would be that magic number. And guess what? 42 would also be a career high in passing touchdowns for Stafford in his career. Unbelievable year for Matthew Stafford. Rams are absolutely rolling. Real Super Bowl contender here with the Rams. But Seattle gets the win. Seattle gets the win here. But I think you walk away from this game saying both of these teams are completely awesome. Both of these teams are capable of getting to a Super Bowl this year and I think winning the Super Bowl this year if they get there. Now Seattle's in the driver's seat

now, 12 and 3. They have the best record in the NFC. Okay. So Seattle's in the driver's seat right now. But the Rams are not too far behind. They're at 11 and 4. A lot can happen here. And if we get a chance to see this matchup again in the playoffs, that's going to be incredible. but I think that the two most well-rounded best teams for me personally right now are in the NFC West, the Seahawks and the Rams. A bunch of other teams are going to have a say in it, but I think these are the two teams. The defending Super Bowl champion Eagles, 10 and 5 right now,

Bears up to 11 and 4. Seems like the Bears, this is a team with a lot of youth. Obviously, Caleb as second year quarterback, they're using a lot of young guys there. But the best teams in football, I think, or excuse me, The best teams in the NFC are in the NFC West right now. Seattle and the Rams seem like they're on a collision course to possibly meet again. And talking about JSN, we talked about Pooka Nakuwa for like,

it felt like I was talking for an hour about Pukua, but you go for 225, you get talked about a lot. Jackson Smith and Jigba, eight catches, 96 yards, and a touchdown, delivered for fantasy managers in this one. JSN absolutely delivered. He just happened to do it in the same game that Pukkahua went. nuts. So if you had JSN in a lineup that went up against Pucanakua in the playoffs, you're feeling it a little bit. But JSN still delivered a 23.6 point outburst, a really nice game for

him. And now we're chasing history with Jackson Smith and Jigma. He's up to 22nd all time in receiving yards. He needs 163 to become the seventh player all time with 1,800 plus receiving yards on the season. JSN just an awesome, awesome year for him. really, really strong stuff. And that's a reasonable bet. I mean, I think if we want to say which way is JSN going to go over these last two weeks, 163 receiving yards seems very doable for him in two games. Now, if he goes nuts, 263 receiving yards would make him the third all-time with 1900 receiving yards.

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Talking about those Super Bowl champion Eagles, Sequin Barclay is trending up. So you got the Saturday game. Saturday game's starting up again. It's nice to see football on additional days. Saturday was wild. Saturday we had college football playoffs and we had NFL playoffs,

or excuse me, NFL regular season. and crazy stuff there. College basketball going on for all the college fans out there. Really, really just an unbelievable day for football. Philadelphia wins against the commanders, 2918. Again, Philly needed this one.

Commanders, really, really rough season from them. But the story is Saquan Barclay. A.J. Brown, of course, had a nice game as well. Devanta Smith caught a touchdown pass. But Saquan Barclay is the interesting one. A bust at ADP at his price tag for most of the season. regressed in his second season as an eagle. Now, people are going to say,

Theo, why are you talking about Saquan? He was a first round pick. You just said he was a bust. Those teams are done. Not necessarily. Not this year. This year, there's power law players throughout the draft. You could have drafted Jackson, Smith, and Jigba inside of the third round,

and that would have more than over compensated for your Saquan Barclay. So teams get through. There's going to be plenty of Saquan teams in playoffs that are, still listen to this show. Saquan Barkley, again, a bust for the regular season based on his ADP price tag. And it's sort of all hit a bottom. We talked about the holiday season. Holiday season starts with Thanksgiving week.

Some people think it starts November 1st, but let's call it Thanksgiving week on Black Friday against the Bears and that loss, 5.6 points for Seekwan, really a low bar. Then the last three weeks, he's completely trended up. Week 14, 18 points. Big, big week for fantasy managers. Then week 15, 17 points. This week, 21.2 points. 21 carries 13 yards and a touchdown. The volume in production are trending up. And now week 17, we get a Philly Buffalo game, a game that could be a potential shootout. We're hoping this is a shootout. It would be a great thing in fantasy football to get a Jalen Hertz, Josh, Eagles Buffalo game that really, really tilted up. Josh Allen rough, rough game this week, but he'll bounce back next week. So we're looking forward to Philly, looking forward to Buffalo next week. That's a great way to sort of close out the fantasy regular season in a game that we think

could fly over. Let's hope we get some good offensive football on that one. Speaking of good offensive football, the Saints have now won three games in a row. Really, really fun stuff. We're seeing Kellyn Moore sort of end. the season on a very, very, very positive note for him. 29 points for the Saints today completely steamrolled the New York Jets. Jets are an absolute train wreck, an absolute disaster of a team.

Need to go get themselves some for Fernando Mendoza in the NFL draft. Don't sleep on the Jets trading up and getting Mendoza. The Saints have won three games in a row, though. Let's take the positive story here. And with this Saints team and the Saints offense, there's been so much change. throughout the season. Brand new system with Kellan Moore. Quarterback starter change went going from Spencer Rattler to Tyler Shuck.

They traded Rashid Shahid when he was playing well for them. They lost Alvin Kamara. Then they lost Devin Neal. So they keep, they've had guys getting it. They lost to Von Vele. They keep losing guys. They've had turnover change here. A quarterback change, a coach change.

Lose Kubiak to Seattle, who's absolutely cooking over there. as OC, but Kellan Moore steps in and has done a very, very good job, an admirable job where the team is playing well at the end of the year, exactly what you want to see for a team with sort of low expectations. And the only constant for this team throughout the season is Chris Alave. Now, today Alave went nuts. A season high, 36.8 ppr points, 10 catches, 148 yards, two touchdown catches on 16 targets. Chris Alave has played in. every game this season, which is great. Last year, we had all those concussion worries. Eight games played in 2024, big disappointment in 2024, and now an 80-piece steel this

season. Tied with Amon-Ras-St. Brown and Puka Nakua with 145 targets on the season, a career best 16.1, PPR points scored. And with Chris Salave, we're going to have a little bit of quarterback continuity heading into the offseason. Barring something unforeseen, New Orleans is going to roll with Tyler Shuck next year. And Tyler Shuck, you get this experience under his belt. I think a lot of us can admit that Tyler Shuck looks a little bit better than maybe we anticipated he would look like this season. Tyler Shuck, a career high, 308 passing yards today. So Chris Alave, unbelievable stuff there, a draft steel for anyone who drafted to lave and staying in the division stay in the afc south here bejean robinson got to talk about

him it's kind of boring to talk about bjohn robinson on this show because we could talk about him a lot of weeks and we talked about him last week but we'll talk about him once again he went over 2,000 total yards this season a massive accomplishment for a back like this he's second among all running backs now with 776 receiving yards on the year insane stuff for Bijon. He'll probably have north of 900 receiving yards by the time we get to the end of the season. Ridiculous. And when you look back at him as a prospect coming out of Texas, there were people that said, can he put up reception totals like this? Now, Atlanta didn't have that sort of trepidation. They've always said this is a back that they think could be a really good pass catcher

for them. But I think we could agree that Bijon has sort of exceeded expectations, even for for those of us that thought he'd be a good receiver at the next level. Maybe not quite at this level. Really, really strong stuff. Seven catches for 92 yards today and a touchdown. Crazy stuff. He also added 76 rushing yards. So Tyler Algier still plays and plays well,

but Bijon produces both sides, receiving and catching. And he's had 29 plus ppr points in back-to-back weeks. Bejohn is in the mix right now to be the 101. next season in 2026 Redraft League's awesome player. Let's talk about the Pittsburgh backfield. Let's talk about Kenneth Gainwell. Kenneth Gainwell makes the all waiver wire team for the season. 100% he does.

Gainwell has six RB1 weeks on the year now. Crazy, crazy stuff. And five out of his last six games have resulted in an RB1 finish. Five catches, 78 yards and a touchdown today as a receiver. he also added 50 rushing yards huge win for pittsburgh in this one pittsburgh goes into detroit gets the win over the lions 2924 you can argue this is the best win of the year for pittsburgh and an important one i'm recording this before sunday night football but pittsburgh this year with erin rogers they're up to nine and six on the season and a big reason i think like

we love to beat up on on arthur smith i know i do i know a lot of of fantasy analysts do. Arthur Smith, it was like malpracticed some of the things he did with Bijan his rookie year with Kyle Pitts. And I know there's going to be people out there in the comments. They don't like when I talk about this, complaining about him, whatever. But I'm going to give Arthur Smith some props tonight. A big shout out to Arthur Smith. Arthur Smith has gotten a lot out of this backfield. Jalen Warren's over 14 points per game. Kenneth Gainwell's almost at 13 points per game. Go into the season. A lot of fantasy managers were betting on Caleb Johnson. He's completely invisible this year.

It's the two veteran or not like old, but veteran running backs here with Kenneth Gainwell coming over as a free agent, Jalen Warren, the incumbent, Arthur Smith has gotten a ton out of these guys. Jalen Warren went nuts as a runner today. 14 carries, 143 yards, two

touchdowns on long touchdown runs. But the story's really gain well. Five out of his last six games played, he's been an RB1, PPR cheat code, he's got 62 catches on the season. And I mentioned Jalen Warren, and there's probably some Jalen Warren fantasy managers seeing his performance today and saying if there was no Kenneth Gainwell this year, Jailen Warren could have been going absolutely nuts. If the target volume went to Warren, which was a lot of the argument pro argument for him this year, Warren's been fine.

He caught the ball well early, but they've shifted so far over to Kenneth Gainwell. And it's a perfect storm for Gainwell. There's no real underneath receiver of note, a bunch of tight ends over there, and then D.K. Metcalf. So, like, Aaron Rogers has locked in on Gainwell. Gainwell's a free agent this year, too. Gainwell either is going to stay in Pittsburgh with a solid role, or Gainwell is going to end up going somewhere else and he's going to get paid because he earned a contract here. Let's put Gainwell in, I don't know, the Austin Echler role in Washington. I think he could do well there.

You could come up with a bunch of scenarios here of Gainwell turning this year into, uh, longer-term contract. He's got this role as a pass-catching back on Locke, and he's only 26 years old. Pittsburgh 9 and 6 on the season, look like their playoff bound out of the AFC North. Chase Brown, AFC North will stay in it. Cincinnati beats Miami. Chase, Jamar Chase, big game, of course, Jamar Chase stud, but Chase Brown smash week. And this is the second season in a row that we've had Chase Brown looking like a league winner in the fantasy playoffs. Just awesome stuff from Chase Brown.

Season high, 32.9 points scored. And he's consistent here. Eight straight weeks of 15 points or more for Chase Brown. And if we remember last year, it was like a perfect storm usage-wise for Chase Brown, where he was drafted alongside Zach Moss, ended up being the best possible running back pick you could have made last year

in the year of the running back. last year at ADP. Chase Brown, you got him late. This year, he steamed up crazy early. He was like a second round pick. And like Saquan Barkley, it was a rough sledding at the beginning of the season. But it's really turned around here.

Again, eight straight weeks of 15 points or more. And Chase Brown's made big steps forward as a receiver. Tied for fifth among all running backs was 62 receptions on the season, tied with Gainwell behind sort of the Christian McCaffey. Afris, Devon A. Chan's, Jamir Gibbs, Bejohn Robinson's. So he's right there. A significant improvement from his 2024. And the receiving numbers for Brown continue to trend up. 21 catches over his last four games played. Today we saw the two-way ability. We also saw a bunch of touchdowns.

109 total yards, four catches for two touchdowns as a receiver. And then he adds a rushing score. and a great spot for Chase Brown, a great spot for Jamar Chase, a great spot for Joe Burrow, a great spot for T. Higgins, a great spot for everybody. Bengals, Week 17, we're starting all of them. Bengals today look like they're playing for pride here.

We love to see that after a big loss. Certainly with Joe Burrow back, they're trying to have a little positive momentum going into the off season. And next week, in Cincinnati on Sunday, December 28th, You get the Bengals hosting the Cardinals. The Cardinals secondary so beat up and so porous, you could end up seeing the Bengals putting up 40 at home.

Let's hope that the weather looks good and we don't get anything weird there because we can end up seeing the Bengals put up 40 and Chase Brown could end up with another smash week. If you have Chase Brown in your fantasy roster, you are feeling great. We mentioned Buffalo earlier. James Cook is the touchdown king.

Buffalo wins again. against Cleveland. James Cook scores a long touchdown in the first quarter, ends up with 16 carries, 117 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns. He had three touchdowns last week, five touchdowns in the fantasy playoffs now for James Cook. Just an insane, insane runout for Cook this year. And I can't get over this enough when it comes to James Cook. James Cook last year had like the best touchdown season anyone could possibly imagine and this year is he's been even better as a pro so last year ran so pure in the touchdown department he's running pure in the touchdown department again this year he's got 14 touchdowns on the year 12 rushing

but the rushing yardage just nuts for james cook i mean james cook leads the nfl with 1532 rushing yards now. James Cook, I can't get over what a great pro he's become. You talk about James Cook, if Buffalo would commit to James Cook and say, I'm going to use this guy in the passing game big time. I'm going to give him the Bijan Robinson, Jamir Gibbs, Devon A. Chan treatment in the passing game. And we're going to eliminate using guys like Ty Johnson in this role. And we're just going to get the ball in James Cook's hands in space out on the outside on little dump-off passes. James Cook could be the RB1 overall next year if they give him that sort of opportunity. He's got that kind of talent. And James Cook is getting better and better every single

season of his career, 12 rushing touchdowns this year, two receiving touchdowns. He's got five touchdowns inside of the fantasy playoffs. Awesome, awesome run out from James Cook. And remember, James Cook has that contract insulation from last year. Sign that contract in the off season. So long term, James Cook should be viewed as an elite asset in Dynasty and a player next year. James Cook, there's going to be a massive correction. Talk about James Cook, 2024, steel at ADP. This year, still a huge value, arguably a steel at ADP. We talk about values inside of round three.

You could add James Cook in round three. That would have turned out to be a great pick. But James Cook, there's going to be, when we say round three for James Cook, too, we're talking about like drafts where he was like the three four turn guy 36 overall 37 overall 35 overall like not like one of these guys is like 25 overall and people again rolling your eyes that makes a difference in ADP you're talking about guys who were valued like second rounders valued like late third rounders that makes a difference when you're building your drafts so James Cook next year will be a huge correction I will have him somewhere comfortably

inside of the top 20. I mean, even I'm like underrating him now. James Cook somewhere in the top 15. I'm going to try. And 19.5 points per game this year. Again, Buffalo. If anybody note, shout out to all the media guys in Buffalo. Get in the Buffalo front offices ear.

Get in their ear. James Cook needs to get the ball in the passing game more and more. He could be the RB1 overall, like a 25 point per game season if Buffalo would lean into him. He's going to have nearly 300. rushing attempts this year too. Unbelievable volume, really, really great the career trajectory for James Cook. He gets better and better every single season of his career.

The guy is just awesome, an unbelievable asset for you to have in any type of fantasy. Speaking of an unbelievable asset for you to have in fantasy, shout out to the Harold Fanon Jr. dynasty managers out there. And shout out to the Harold Fanon Jr. redraft managers who are just using them right now. Harold Fanon Jr. is awesome. He's one of the youngest players in the NFL. He's 21 years old. He won't turn 22 until July.

He's also coming from Bowling Green in the Mac. And no disrespect for the Mac. The Mac's produced a ton of really good NFL players. J.J. Watt. Antonio Brown. Can't forget Antonio Gates, basketball. But there's been a lot of Mac players that have come and had really strong careers. but usually it takes a year or so. It's not usually first year in the league you come out and you crush.

And again, a lot of college leagues are like this where you come from like the mid-D-1 kind of level or if you come from like an FCS level, it takes a little bit of adjustment. It takes adjustment for SEC and Big Ten players, but it's a little bit less of an adjustment than a guy maybe coming from the Mac. Harold Fanon, Jr., of course, dominated, though. He put up those huge numbers against Texas A&M, huge numbers against Penn State last year, set all these records for reception totals, yardage totals, target totals, was a ridiculous, ridiculous performer.

Had arguably the best season ever by a tight end in college football last year. And it's been seamless. The guy stepped in, and again, the offense for Cleveland, If anything, they've held back Harold Fanon from being more of a national name here. Because Fanon should be viewed as a top five tight end in Dynasty and maybe a little higher. We'll call him top five. And we'll also call Harold Fanon Jr. A top five redraft tight end next year.

Anybody who doesn't consider Harold Fanon to be in their top five redraft rankings, way too early ones heading into 2026, is not looking at it from a big picture. If Cleveland has improved quarterback play next year, Harold Fannin Jr. could completely take off. Today, he scored two touchdowns. One is a runner, short little rushing touchdown, but hey, he earned that rushing touchdown. Four catches for 34 yards, but he caught another touchdown. He's an absolute dog. Two touchdowns in the playoff semifinals.

And right now he's the tight end one overall on the week. this would be his second tight end one overall week in three games played and he's had four straight games with double digit points scored and if we look at fanning juniors season as a whole 70 catches five touchdown catches 7101 receiving yards on 105 targets leads cleveland in all categories here again leads cleveland in receptions touchdown catches receiving yards 100 targets. He's 21 years old. He's coming out of the Mac. Harold Fanon's the truth. Harold Fanon is an awesome player. And there's a lot of people who try to give you very complex ways to attack the tight end position and a bunch of nuanced analytical stats and all that kind of

stuff. And there's some really good people out there in the way they approach tight end. But when you're looking at the tight end position, if you want to keep it simple, you want to want tight ends who can lead their team in targets and lead their team in receptions. If you attack the tight end position and you manage to draft a tight end who leads his team in targets and receptions, you're going to have very good tight end production. Harold Fanon could lead Cleveland in targets for many, many, many seasons to come. And they could add a legitimate wide receiver this offseason, and that's fine. But Harold Fanon Jr. earning 100 plus He's going to end up with 125 targets by the end of the season, 120 targets potentially.

Let's call it north of 115 targets. And that's five targets the next two weeks average. Maybe he gets a lot more than that. And with what happened to Quinch on Judkins, they're going to have to lean into Fan in the next two weeks. We'll talk about Judkins in a minute. But Fanon Jr., awesome way to end the season. If you're a dynasty manager with him, be excited because you've got a really, really strong asset here. Just a beast. Fanon's an absolute beast. I love to see it. I think he's going to be

an absolute star for Cleveland. Staying in state, going for the guys from Ohio, goes to Bowling Green, plays his NFL games in Ohio. Harold Fanon Jr. is a movie right now. And speaking of movies, Trevor Lawrence, the turnaround story, I'd watch that. You put that on Netflix. I'd throw that on there. Who's going to play Trevor Lawrence? Who's going to play Travis E.T.N. in that movie. and who's going to play Liam Cohen? Will Ferrell is Liam Conan? Are we going to go comedy in this one? Or are we going to keep it like serious drama?

So let me know in the comments. Who's playing Travis E.TN? Who's playing Brian Thomas Jr.? Who's playing Jacoby Myers? And who's playing Trevor Lawrence in this one? Who's playing Cam Little? That's going to be a decent movie. Because the Jaguars, they beat Denver in Denver.

Statement win. Absolute statement win. We pick the games every week at fantasy points. all of us as a staff, and almost everyone was picking the Denver Broncos in this one. Denver was the number one seed heading into today's games in the AFC. Depending on what happens with New England on Sunday night, and again, I'm recording before that game. There could be some shift there. But Denver now falls to 12 and 3.

Jacksonville goes in, beats them. Jacksonville scores 30, four points in Denver. And it's Trevor Lawrence. Last week, Trevor Lawrence goes nuts against their jets, was the QB1 overall in the week, had like five passing touchdowns, had a rushing touchdown. Well, guess what? This week, the Liam Cohen effect continues. Trevor Lawrence, three touchdown passes and another rushing score. Four total touchdowns today against Denver, the Denver Broncos on the road here.

Jacksonville, really, really good. Last week, he had three touchdown passes to Travis ETN. ETN saves his day with a touchdown catch today. Travis ETN managers live to fight another day. Get into week 17. They get out of Denver here. ETN catches another touchdown pass. But Jacksonville with Trevor Lawrence, the Liam Kohn effect.

We talked about it last week. Last year, Baker Mayfield finishes as QB4 overall. Well, this year, Trevor Lawrence is going to be close to that at the end of the year. 26 touchdown passes and seven rushing touchdowns for Trevor. Lawrence awesome stuff trails jalen hurts trails josh allen in rushing touchdowns that's it uh jackson dart also up there but Trevor Lawrence in some serious company there they've won seven out pull up that uh quarterback one i'll give you i'll give you guys the the exact stat on that one i don't want to misspeak on this one but Trevor Lawrence just fantastic stuff this year

Jacksonville just fantastic stuff who wants to play jacksonville in the fantasy playoffs, or excuse me, the NFL playoffs right now. I mean, that's a, that's not a team that I would want to go up against. They're red, red hot. Jacksonville is red hot. And like, just putting up crazy numbers. They've scored 34 points or more in three straight weeks. And they've won seven out of their last eight games played. Again, career high numbers for Trevor Lawrence. And I'm pulling up the rushing yards because this one I didn't research before my show exactly. But Trevor Lawrence, I mean, unbelievable stuff here. And when we talk about the rushing production for Lawrence,

we knew that was sort of in the bag and we've seen it. But I don't think anybody planned on this one where Lawrence was this effective with the seven rushing touchdowns. So for the season, again, Josh Allen, 12 rushing scores, Jalen Hertz, eight. And then yes, Trevor Lawrence is third. He's tied exactly with Jackson Dart, seven rushing touchdowns apiece. So Trevor Lawrence, you see, in the two-way ability. Gotta believe in these Jacksonville Jaguars. Liam Cohen, unbelievable, unbelievable job as

head coach. Let's talk about the lump of coal. We'll go Christmas time theme here. Lump of coal goes to a players who didn't deliver this week. Trey McBride outscored by Elijah Higgins. I mean, give me a break here. In the same game, Jacoby Brissette has been a QB1 in every single week. We benched Jacoby Brissette last week. And the end. and he delivers against Houston. And then this week, first game where he's not a QB1 on the season in a week that everyone streamed him. We were excited about him this week.

I had him in a lineup or two. That one hurt. Luckily, those were in two-week sprint weeks. So I had Brissette rocking, you know, whatever. I lived a fight another day. You don't want to hear about my fantasy team, but certainly not a good start. Bucky Irving, only seven points. Bad stuff from Bucky Irving, really ugly stuff from him.

in terms of production. Now, Bucky, it's going to be an interesting case for the off season. Rashad White, unrestricted free agent, probably moving on. So Bucky, I think people will reevaluate and he'll end up being drafted lower than he was this year, but not that much lower. He'll still be in that like third, fourth round, but really, really a slow way to end the season for Bucky Irving. Javante Williams only six points scored, ugly stuff there.

CD Lamb only 11 points. Ugly stuff there for a player that we were maybe hoping for. George Pickens, huge bounceback, though. If you have George Pickens, you're feeling good about things. Two bad weeks in a row for Pickens. Turned it around this week. Had a really, really strong performance. How to touchdown catch.

So Pickens, like, we had some start sick questions on George Pickens this week. And we said to start them, but there was a little bit of, like, a lot of pessimism going on with Pickens. But again, this week, seven catches, 130 yards, a touchdown, 26 PPR points. So George Pickens' bounceback week, but it cost us C.D. Lamb. And there's other fantasy managers saying, yo, Theo, I would love to take 11 points in my lineup. Nico Collins, fewer than 10 points. Amon Ross St. Brown, fewer than 10 points scored.

Really, really disappointing games for Collins. Amon Ross St. Brown. Drake London, huge dud in his first week back. really, really some ugly stuff. Lumpa Cole goes around to those guys. If you survive with them, expect to bounce back next week. And then again, really, really end the show sort of on a sad note. Serious injury for Quinn Sean Judkins.

Judkins had a tremendous rookie season, was able to accomplish a lot, missed the preseason, missed game one. Judkins was really an ADP steal, depending on what time of the year you drafted. Even if you drafted early, he was still a very good bargain. but when you were drafting late and he was falling into like the double digit rounds because people had fear of the off-field stuff Judkins, really, really strong rookie season

ends short and a dislocated ankle and a fractured fibula not good news. I mean, the timing of it, the fact that this happens so close to the new year, it's almost 2026 and he gets this major injury,

huge setback for a player that we were very, very bullish on. I would have had Quinshawn Judkins inside of my top 30 overall, maybe inside my top 25 overall. You felt like if Cleveland would have made improvements next year a little more consistency on offense, Judkins could have been a sort of a household name, a huge, huge year two breakout. But again, this is a big setback for him. Dynasty leagues, I want to go get yourself some Dylan Samson in Dynasty if you don't have them. Like, there could be a chance that he's starting out the season leading this backfield with the way Judkins is.

is sort of trending here. Don't want to speculate. And then the show on a big positive. Huge happy holidays to all of the listeners of Fantasy Football Daily. All of the viewers here on Fantasy Points YouTube, this is the last one for me of the season. I'm taking a family trip. I'm going to be gone next week.

So look for a couple other podcasts that are dropping, but this particular one, not dropping one next week after Fantasy Championship Week, could be a fill-in over here on Fantasy Football Daily, but I really want to give a big shout-out. This is the first year we did the top 10 takeaways here at Fantasy Points. People seem to really enjoy it. I love breaking it down.

Solo pods are weird. You end up sort of talking. You kind of talk in circles a little bit, but a big shout-out to everybody who sort of enjoyed it. And I enjoyed it. I love breaking the games down. It was a really pleasure to deliver it to you guys. Really big shout out to all of my colleagues at Fantasy Points.

My first year at Fantasy Points, it's been an awesome one. And so excited about where we're going here at Fantasy Points, so excited about where this show is going. Fantasy Football Daily, every time I pull up like Apple Podcasts or Spotify and it pops up at like kind of where it's at, I really feel a big sense of accomplishment for this show and this audience. And this particular one, the Takeaways one, was such a pleasure to deliver. So again, happy holidays, everybody, end to Hanukkah. Happy Hanukkah to you. Happy New Year to everyone.

Merry Christmas. Christmas holiday right around the corner next week. We got games on Christmas, three games on Christmas Day. And then that's all she wrote next Monday night. So you have less than 10 days left of this thing of ours. It's been such a blast. We'll see you at the Waver Wire show a little later this week. If you're watching this on YouTube, make sure you're subscribed.

We had so much growth. this year at Fantasy Points on the YouTube end. A big, big shout out to everybody who's consuming the content. If you're listening to this on the podcast, go ahead and subscribe to us on YouTube. Helps us a lot. It doesn't cost you anything. If you're looking for a last minute gift, go check out the early bird special over at FantasyPoints.com.

It's the best price of the year. Easily the best price of the year. Go check that one out. Make sure you're checking out Dynasty Life, my Dynasty podcast, School of Scott, Scott Barrett and I, a big thank you to Ryan Heath, who's filling in for me this week on School of Scott while I'm traveling. And next week, Brett Whitefield filling in for me on School of Scott. Make sure you check those ones out. And then the NFL draft podcast, excuse me, the 2026 NFL draft podcast, Brett Whitefield and I covering everything NFL draft related.

That's going to be a blast. Make sure you subscribe to that wherever you get your podcast. One more week left, we're going to help you crush your fantasy playoffs. this season.