Fantasy Football Daily - Semifinal Waivers! | Week 16 Waiver Wire Podcast

Episode Date: December 19, 2023

Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) and Tom Brolley (@TomBrolley) don't have much to talk about in this week's fantasy playoffs waiver wire, but they manage to come up with low-rostered players at each position to help you advance to your fantasy championship game! SIGN UP FOR FANTASY POINTS IN 2024 AT OUR EARLY-BIRD RATE, INCLUDING OUR NEW ALL-IN PACKAGE: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/plans#/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by Fantasy Points.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle. From numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Yo, T-Bro, it's week 16, man. How you doing? What's going on? I'm doing pretty good. Got some fantasy teams through.

If you're still listening to this podcast, you probably also got some. teams through to the playoffs or are you advanced in your playoffs so uh looking forward to this week this is always uh an interesting week uh week 16 we got uh the holidays around the corner um but but we'll try to make the the the christmas season a little more merrier around here by giving you a couple waiver wire pickups here yeah so for sure i mean i'm uh i got a couple of teams through as well also got bit in the freaking butt by i lost by nine in the league where i lost Iriek Hill and Chris Olavay right before kickoff and plugged in Gabe Davis. Yay. Who said the game?

Yeah, Josh Allen completes like four passes in that game. Unbelievable what happened. But, you know, like that's why in some leagues, you know, you pay out for the most points and what have you. You know, I've got a team in the semifinals where I've already cashed the most points. So I'm pretty happy about that because I'll be able to, you know, just kind of enjoy the process here. And hopefully, you know, I advance further. Hey, that's not, well, you're not here to hear about my fantasy team. You're here to help yours on the WeaverWire podcast.

So I want to give an update on what's going on at FantasyPoint.com. First and foremost, our early bird special for 2024 is live. It gets you the rest of 2023 and all of 2024 for 20% off, a massive discount. And if you use code Santa Points 24, I'm giving you an extra 10% off. So really, there's no reason to sign up right now. there is no strings attached, T-Brow. It's literally the most content you can get for the lowest price you're going to get. It's taking you all through the 2024 season.

There's no advantage to waiting later. This is the lowest price you're going to get for all of 2024. So make sure you check that out. Number two, Tom, you and I will be back here next Tuesday to talk about the week 17 waiver wire. Yeah. Might be a little later in the day just because of travel and whatnot. We are actually going to try to enjoy. the Christmas holiday.

So the, and by the way, there's a three-game Christmas slate. So there's no full recap happening anyway. You and I, if there's any injuries or whatnot, we'll definitely talk about that on the Waver Wire podcast next Tuesday. But the article will be, you know, the same as usual. Just wanted to give everybody that kind of update as we head into the holiday season and the fantasy football playoffs. Now, let's get into the week 16 waiver wire, Tom.

And I got to be honest. Yep. Not a lot out there. Yeah. This happens this time of year. The article is massive as we lay out every week. We have so many names on it most weeks. But this time of year, you know, we're not looking at these guys that might be emerged.

You know, we want to really pair it down. These are the best teams are left in their fantasy leagues. They're not looking for really deep reaches. So we try to pare down the article as well. So the names start shrinking a little bit. We try to really keep the top options at the running. back wide receiver and tight end position. We still do kind of write up most of the quarterbacks just because we know people are playing in two quarterback leagues or super flex

leagues and they might be reaching a little deeper at that position. But at these other positions, you know, we're down to the just the top names that should be out there on your waiver wire. So let's start with the quarterback position, Tom, and just get a couple of names out there. First and foremost is old Joe. Joe Flacko's dropped back virtually 50 times in every game that they played so far this year. There is a problem with Joe Flacco, though. They play the Texans this week. I think, I think he could, the Texas run defense is legit. So I think they're going to drop back Joe, another 40 times in this game if they need to. The problem for Joe Flacco is they play the Jets in week 17. Now, you can also easily make an argument that the Jets have kind of quit.

You know, two, it was like what, 22 or 25 in that game. So just keep that in mind. But Flacco's been up and down. I mean, he's thrown some picks and he's missed some throws, but he's also producing yards and touchdowns and touchdowns count in fantasy football. Yeah, I'll give Kevin Stefanski credit. He knows that their best chance to win right now is for Joe Flacko to throw the ball. Their offensive line is pretty beat up at this stage of the season. Running game has not been necessarily working very well, and it's not going to work well against this Texans run defense this week when we saw what Derek Henry did. We were measuring his yardage in inches last week for Derek Henry.

So we're not expecting the Browns to have a whole lot of success running the ball. But this past defense can be thrown on. It's a past funnel defense. So the one thing I would be keeping an eye out as well, if we're going to play Joe Flacco this week, we want to see C.J. Straub playing on the other side. That means that the game would have a better chance of, you know, accumulating some points and more pass attempts.

So keep an eye out in that. If Case Keenham would start, that would probably knock Joe Flacco down a little bit down the rankings. But if Stroud plays, much better chance for, you know, some fireworks in that game. So we kind of touched on the market report a little bit yesterday, but he is still making some big time throws down the field. His A dot, you know, it's up there among the league leaders with C.J. Stroud among them. So he is throwing it downfield. Mari Cooper, you know, Marquis Goodwin, they got going last week, David and Joku.

So this is looking like a pass heavy offense. You wouldn't expect that from a Kevin Stefansky led offense. But this offense is resting on Joe's shoulders here. So I would expect some more, a lot of pass attempts again and probably a great chance at another 280 plus passing yards this week. One of my favorite options right now, I got to be honest. He was named as the starter, and I guess you can make the argument that if he has a bad game, he's going to lose his job and maybe Minnesota gets a look at Jaron Hall. But Nick Mullins' matchups the next two weeks are the Lions and the Packers. Two incredibly beatable matchups.

We just saw Baker just go nuts against the Packers. Nick Mullins has Jordan Addison and he's got Justin Jefferson and he's got T.J. Hawkinson. That's pretty freaking good to me. and I think you can do worse than starting Nick Mullins in your playoffs, Tom. And he's available in virtually every league that's not a super flex league. Yeah, and just even having like Ty Chandler in the lineup, I think, you know, pushes them a little bit more to the past. He's more versatile back than Alexander Madison.

We'll see about Madison status this week. But I would think that we maybe get another week with Chandler as the clear top option in that backfield. So I think that also helps Mullins. But we've seen it with this. O'Connell offense. We were we were petrified whenever Kirk Cousins got hurt earlier in the season that this passing, you know, that the passing volume would go down and everybody would fall off a cliff. And that just really hasn't happened. Obviously, there's been, you know, some decline moving from cousins to Dobbs and now to Nick Mullins. But Kevin O'Connell's still kind of running his offense the

way he wants to do it. They're going to throw it a lot. Got into a mini shootout with the Bengals last week two backup quarterbacks in that game, threw for over 300 yards on 33 attempts. Would expect, you know, this week has the same potential with the Jared Gough on the other side and a lines defense that looked pretty susceptible until they ran into a Broncos offense that can't move the ball on anybody. So if we look at the totals as well, you know, outside that Dallas-M Miami game, Minnesota and Detroit has the highest total on the board. So if you can't get, if you can't at Flacco, I think Mullins, who is even more widely available, 96% available in Yahoo! Ligs, you can probably pick him up and play him this week if you need to.

So looking up for Nick Mullins this week. I have a question for you, Tom. Do you prefer Nick Mullins this week against Detroit or potentially without Michael Pittman, Gardner Minshu? I would go Mullins. I think I would go Mullins, even if Pittman would come back. That Falcons defense has been kind of an underrated unit for as much, you know, as much as we talk about that falcons offense, you know, what they've done on defense has been pretty impressive.

So Minchu, I would be very concerned. I would definitely probably move away from him depending on Pittman status. They do get the extra day. They played on Saturday in week 15, and they play on. Sunday this week. So he has eight days to get through the concussion protocol. So that kind of, you know, I probably put Pittman more on the, you know, more on the likely side to play. But, you know, Mitch was a nasty hit, man. Yeah. And we're also getting Jonathan, might get Jonathan Taylor back. It seems like it's trending that direction. So we know Jonathan Taylor can finish at the goal line. So maybe that,

you know, takes a few, you know, maybe some opportunities for Minshu to throw passing touchdown. So, yeah, I would say I, I prefer. Mullen over Minschu off the waiver wire this week. Yeah. Any interest, bro in H.B. Heineke who's getting to start now? I don't think so.

No, no. I'm passing on that entire offense. It's submarineing at this point. And the fact that they turn back to Ritter, they're just grasping for straws right now. And would you be surprised, you know, if we see some sort of like combo at the quarterback position this week, I could easily, if Heineke gets off to a slow start,

Arthur Smith is full-blown panic mode. I wouldn't be surprised if they would bring in Ritter at some point in that game. So I am staying away from that situation if I can. Running back is tough right now. Nothing. Because it looks like Isaiah Pacheco is going to be back. So that's kneecap Clyde Edwards-Layer. I still think Jerk McCannan is going to be involved if you need like a flex option.

But certainly that's going to be barring a setback. Pacheco is going to play. you this week. Zemir White, I think Josh Jacobs has an opportunity to be back. That's a tough situation too, because they play on Christmas Day, and you would have to, you know, there's

only three games, so 13 of the games would be already off the slate. So that makes it a little, a little more difficult situation to maneuver. But I'm with you. It was initially like called like a knee injury, then it kind of got moved to a quad. And it seemed like Jacobs may have had

a chance to play last week if they had the full week to get ready, but they, of course, played on Thursday night. I would certainly, you know, if you're just looking to stash a guy, I think picking up White and, you know, keep them on your bench and maybe Jacobs has some sort of setback and you could plug them in, but I do think Jacobs is probably more on the more likely to play side this week. And it's also a terrible matchup because they're heavy underdogs to the chief. So it's not like Zamir White's a guy who is going to have an independent role. Tom, there is one running back who stands out to me. Okay. And he's available in about 90% of Yahoo Leaks. Keaton Mitchell just went down with an ACL injury. And that Baltimore backfield had been

kind of a gross three-man rotation because they really trust Justice Hill in hurry up and pass protection situations. Kind of like how the Eagles do with Kenny Gainwell. Like not like a great player, but they trust him in those situations. With Keaton Mitchell out of the middle, I wouldn't be shocked if Justice Hill can give you eight to ten points in that flex RB2 kind of spot if you really need them. And he's available in most Yahoo League. So he is somebody I think you can pick up and he could end up playing 50, 60 percent of the snaps down the stretch here.

Yeah, and the situation this week, you know, it's not a great match up against the 49ers, but I think it could lend itself to more playing time for Justice Hill. This is going to be one of the rare occasions where they're understice. underdogs. That line is moving up to five, five and a half. It's going to be one of the higher scoring games on the board. So I do think that we could see Hill on the field a little bit more. And if we think about their depth chart a little bit, Melvin Gordon, I don't think is going necessarily take snaps away from him in those situations. So we'll see just, you know, kind of how it splits up. But I do think Hill, we know Lamar is not going to check it all that, check

it down a whole lot to his running backs. But I do think that Hill is probably going to be out in the field more than Gus Edwards this week. Of course, if they do get down inside that three-yard line or so, it's probably going to be Gus Edwards on the field. But we have seen Hill score some goal line touchdowns this season, you know, while Edwards has been dominating most of those touches in recent weeks. But I do like Hills, you know, if you're really desperate at the position and,

Or maybe if you were just even using Keaton Mitchell and in some deeper formats in the 14 or 16 team leagues, maybe he'll could be a viable option here. Trey Sermon, Tom, I think you just have to keep an eye on this. Tray Sermon Tyler Goodson. I don't even know which of these backs would be the lead. But if you are dying for carries and Jonathan Taylor, and there's a lot of ifs here. If Jonathan Taylor doesn't play, if Zach Moss doesn't play, those would be the backs in Indianapolis, but not a whole lot. Not a whole lot. That's more of a situation just to watch, I think.

It does. It feels like both like both Taylor and Moss could be available this week. They were talking like Moss should be healthy enough to play this week. And Taylor, they didn't put him on IR. He's missed three weeks. It's always felt like week 16 was kind of the target date for him to return. But Sermon is the backup plan. If you're monitoring injury reports, maybe not necessarily putting in a waiver watch.

waiver a fab, you know, a fab bid or anything this week. But if you notice on Wednesday that both Moss and Taylor are out of practice, might be time to go look at that waiver wire and pick up sermon. Let's go to wide receiver, Tom. The top target is clearly Noah Brown. I would venture to guess he's rostered in most competitive leagues. He's available in about 60% of Yahoo Leagues. But with obviously Tankdale being out, Nico Collins still being banged up,

C.J. Stroud potentially back this week and even to C.J. Stroud, is in fact. Case Keenham threw the ball to Noah Brown. He is a rock solid wide receiver three here in a matchup with the Browns. And I will say there might be a chance he might be available in your leg. He had a very cold.

There was a, you know, he had that blowups two weeks there in like weeks nine and ten when Nico and Robert Woods out and it kind of elevate him into a more prominent position. But he picked up a knee injury and it was very cold the last couple of weeks. So there's a chance that somebody might have been

frustrated and you know they saw that case keenan was starting and they dropped them but so there's there's i would definitely he's the top player out there on the waiver wire for me this week i would definitely uh you know if you're you know wherever you're searching your players that that would be the name i would type in just to see if he's out there if he may have been dropped um we'll see about nico collins's availability for this week uh not the easiest match up against the browns but uh that brown's defense has been much better at home this year and hasn't traveled nearly as well. This is a game that's going to be in Houston.

And we do think this is going to be one of the higher scoring games on the board. So maybe not necessarily, but it's not one of these sub 40 totals. And there's some chance for some back and forth here if we get a Flacco versus Stroud matchup. So Noah Brown could be a wide receiver one if Nico Collins misses again. And we saw earlier in the season that Stroud was capable. of producing multiple fantasy wide receivers and tight ends whenever he was, you know, at full health and leading the league and passing yards per game before, before his concussion against the Jets.

So we know Niko will get there if he plays, but I think Noah Brown also has a chance as a lower end wide receiver for fantasy. Joshua Palmer, he was back. There was a chance earlier this season that he didn't play again. Well, he's back. He goes for over 100 yards in Easton sticks. first start of the season. Keenan Allen's banged up, Tom. Josh Palmer, I prefer Noah Brown, but Josh Palmer is kind of in that usable wide receiver three kind of range here with Easton

stick at quarterback. Yeah, the one I will say, I don't know if I can put him into a lineup this week if Keenan Allen's playing. I'll probably have to monitor that. But if Keenan Allen is out, I think Palmer's Palmer is very usable for sure So I'd be watching Allen Well they do play Saturday So we will get the first injury report for them On Tuesday so that would be one that I'll be looking at

If Keenan sits out practice this week Then Palmer should be rising up boards It was pretty quiet overall Did a lot of damage on just four targets But did catch the one long one for a long score in that game They could be chasing and a lot of points in this game. They're major underdogs against the bills.

Not the easiest matchup, but he's clearly the top receiver in this offense if Keenan Allen isn't able to go. But as I said, it's a little bit dependent on if Keenan Allen's going to play or not, because I don't have a whole lot of faith that Easton Stick can support multiple fantasy receivers this week. One guy who's available in virtually every league.

I like to throw those out there, Tom, just in case. That's Dantevian Wicks. Jordan Love is playing really well. Christian Watson cannot stay on the field. Dantavion Wicks available in 97% of Yahoo Leagues. Jaden Reed left with a toe injury. So Dantavion Wix might need to get a lot of targets out here for the Green Bay Packers against Carolina and Minnesota the next couple of weeks.

Yeah, I tell you what, this guy might actually be one of my favorite pickups of the week if they weren't playing the Panthers. The Panthers, just the way that season has gone for them. You know, it's just been a run funnel defense all season, not a whole lot of necessarily passing volume needed to beat the Panthers most weeks too. So, man, if it was anybody else, he would be like my sneaky, you know, got to get this guy. But I still like this spot for him, especially if Watson and Reid are out. I can easily see him being the best option for Jordan Love. You know, Romeo Tobbs.

I mean, he, you know, 37 or fewer yards and eight of his last 10 games, he just, he doesn't. nothing for he doesn't move the needle i think wicks would you know become the top wide receiver here uh in this passing game if both watson and reader out so uh i do think he's worth an at it you know maybe you're playing in a deeper leg 14 or 16 teams uh i think he is a top option this week uh at tight end um i i just i cannot get myself to support hunter henry i like he also got he also took a shot um i just can't do it because i feel like if i put him in a lineup he's going to catch one pass for eight yards. And it feels like chasing points. But if you need one, you know, Bailey Zappi's at least out there throwing the ball to him. Yeah. And I will say the matchup lends itself.

I probably wouldn't have put them as high in our waiver wire report if the matchup wasn't as pristine as it could be against the Broncos here. We just saw Sam Leport to score three touchdowns. And it has been better here since Bailey Zappi took over the offense. He's he's certainly locked into him a little bit. It was a little thin against the Steelers two weeks ago, just three targets, but he did score the two touchdowns on the three targets. But we saw a lot more volume

in a tougher matchup against the Chiefs this past week. So I think he's certainly moving up. But as you said, he took up. He was getting the crap beat out of him all game. And then he took a big shot to his hip. So late in that game, I don't know if he actually came in or not, came back or not.

That was like middle of the fourth quarter when that happened. and they were down multiple scores. But I would be monitoring his injury status this week. But if you're, you might be looking for some help at tight end. And especially if we're rolling the dice, at least he's shown the ability to score touchdowns, unlike some of these other options deeper on the waiver wire that, you know, they're just good for three or four catches in 30 yards.

At least, at least Henry can get you three catches for 30 yards. But he has more touchdown upside than most of these other. tight ends on the waiver wire. The waiver wire is thinning out a little bit, Tom, but we still have 82 blurbs written up on the article at fantasy points.com. And still some of them are repeats because John puts in his top 15 options and he kind of breaks them down. But there are names out there. And there are certainly some names we didn't talk about who might be out there for you. But you have to check out the article at fantasy points.com. If you are still subscribed to the website and listening to this podcast, my guess is you have a team or two that's still alive in the playoffs. So

So congrats to you. If you're new here, make sure you subscribe to fantasy points.com. It's the early bird special. Use code Santa Points 24. The link is in the show notes. The code isn't, but the link is. You get an extra 10% off on top of that. Guys, I am telling you, there is no reason to wait.

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I'm bullying you into it. There was an old Japanese commercial, Tom, when Sega Saturn came out, okay? And they had this character, this guy, his name was Sagata San Shiro. And the entire campaign around him was he would go around and beat people up to force them to force them to play the Sega Saturn. That's what I'm doing right now. Are you the enforcer? Are you going to get in a... I'm enforcing you. You must subscribe to I think we could get Brett or data guy. He could kick some major butt. I think he's in like jujitsu and stuff. So you don't want to mess with him. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure

his his, his, uh, biceps are bigger than my waist. So, yeah, I think Brett's a very gentle guy, but I don't know if I would want to get on his bad side. We'll get him in the six. We'll get him in the Saganza Shanchiro get up here as he goes around and beats people up to force him to subscribe to Fantasy Points.com. For Tom Braille, I am Joe Dolan. Tom and I will be back on Friday for subscribers for the Point Spread betting show. That'll be, we'll head you into Christmas week. But for everybody else, I hope you have a wonderful holiday. I hope the Fantasy Points helps make that holiday a little better.

I hope you advance on Christmas Day and that becomes your present. You advance to the finals of your Fantasy League. Thanks everybody for listening. check it out the website, FantasyPoints.com, and we will talk to you later this week. Happy Halloween. Thanks for tuning in to this edition

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