Fantasy Football Today - 12/07: Mailbag! (Recorded Fri.) (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 7, 2019

Updating you on the news and what to do if Le'Veon Bell misses this week's game. And we've got some DFS advice (6:22), your Apple Podcast questions (10:00) and a bunch of your emails (26:26). To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. We've got some injuries to update you on and a bunch of your questions to answer. Man, my inbox is flooded, people. I appreciate it. It's good stuff. Fantasyfootball.cbsi.com. I will try to respond to some emails directly on Saturday and Sunday.

But I think more emails this week than I've had since the very early parts of the season. And a lot of them made their way into this show. We welcome you to the Fantasy Football Today Road Tour presented by Little Caesars. Pizza for dinner tonight? How about ordering your favorite online from Little Caesars and using Pizza Portal Pickup? It's the latest, greatest, and hottest way to pick up a pizza

without even going to the register. I'm Adam Azer. Thanks so much for tuning in to this bonus episode. Ben Gretch. What's up, man? Not much, man. Glad to be back on. You and Jamie did a good job last week.

Oh, thank you. Yeah, it was fun to have Jamie back on. We haven't had him. I enjoy the Adam and Ben shows, but it was good to have Jamie back on. You know, it was like Thanksgiving week. Still, we were in like holiday mode. We were a little goofy talking football. A little more business today because people really.

Oh, I mean, it's the playoffs. It's big. But, yeah, I got the time off. My Huskies won the Apple Cup, and then their coach quit. And total disarray out here. You know, I saw a bowl projection. Very unlikely. Unlikely.

But I did see a Miami versus Washington bowl projection. Very unlikely. Unlikely. But I did see a Miami versus Washington bowl projection. Oh, that would be great. That would not be great. It'd be great for you. But we'd have to wager something for sure. Oh, yeah. All right. So let's do the notes here. You know what I think it is? I think we just didn't get that many emails last week because

it was Thanksgiving. So now it feels like major flutterage of the inbox. But okay, anyway. Le'Veon Bell is sick and may not play as of Friday afternoon. I know you're hearing this Saturday, but it's Friday afternoon. So what would your interest level be in Bilal Powell and or Ty Montgomery against the Dolphins

if Bell doesn't play? Well, yeah, it's tough because Montgomery, like, way back in the preseason when Bell wasn't playing, Montgomery seemed to be the guy they wanted to play that dual threat role. But throughout the last several weeks now, we've seen Powell play more as the number two. I would expect Powell to probably be the lead. But Montgomery, being the passing back that he is, could potentially cut into that. Like we just wouldn't have much indication of their workload.

I like this game though. Like I think the Jets in Miami has the potential to be like a pretty solid fantasy game so yeah oh yeah i'd have some i'd have some interest but it's it's just really tough to know where where the touches would go but if you're in a spot where you don't really have any great running backs i would i'd stash powell first and and i would hope that you know we we hear something if if bell is ruled out that indicates that he'll be the lead. Yeah, we talked about this on the video show at Fantasy Football today on Friday. The way I put it was I'd rather have – if Le'Veon Bell is out,

I would rather have Bilal Powell over a Tampa Bay running back or a San Francisco running back, any of them. I would rather have – and if I that powell were getting all the touches i'd probably be you know fairly excited about him but we don't know that yeah i mean it's it's a situation where he's gonna have a low floor right but against miami there's a potential for a really big ceiling and we know with that san francisco situation that tampa bay situation the ceilings just aren't really there oh absolutely and uh four straight running backs have had 74 or more rushing yards against the Dolphins. And I'm pretty sure all of them had 15 or more carries. The week before that,

Le'Veon Bell played the Dolphins, and he didn't really do that well in terms of rushing. It was something like 17 carries for 66 yards, because they can't run the ball. They're arguably the worst running team in football. But he did get the receiving totals to give him a pretty good game. So that's kind of why you might need an every down back to have a great game against the Dolphins if you run for the Jets because they can't run on anyone. Anyway, Greg Olson's out. Ian Thomas is a deep sleeper and a DFS sleeper.

Austin Hooper and Julio Jones are going to play. David Njoku is expected to be active this week, but there's no commitment on his playing time. So I don't think we can. David Njoku is expected to be active this week, but there's no commitment on his playing time. So I don't think we can really recommend Njoku, but he gets Arizona next week. So beat the waiver wire on Njoku. Adam Thielen mispracticed

and Damian Williams doesn't seem likely to play. The Bills running backs, sorry, the Sean McCoy's not on the Bills anymore. The Chiefs running backs have been somewhat of a hot topic on our show, Ben. Where do you stand on them at New England? I mean, it's a tough one. I think Darwin Thompson could get a little bit extra run.

They've limited McCoy pretty consciously, I think, over the last month, month and a half. But they also could very well turn McCoy loose because they don't really have a lot of options. I don't think that Spencer Ware is going to get a ton of touches. He might mix in a little bit, but he's been a free agent for several weeks now. They're familiar with him. They would have brought him in if they thought he was better than Thompson or wanted to mix him in, maybe get him if they thought he was better than McCoy at this point. I think it will be mostly McCoy and Thompson, but we might see McCoy mostly just handle the early downs

and then Thompson be a little more active in the passing game. I mean, we've seen rotation a lot this year from them. Yeah, they don't give guys a lot of work. The only time they really did was with Damian Williams. He had like one week where they just cleared out for him. So they do score, though. That's the thing about the Chiefs running backs. They do score.

So we'll see if we have some questions about them coming up in the show. We're also going to do some DFS talk in a bit. I do want to plug AskFFT. It's our hashtag. Hashtag AskFFT on Twitter. Ask us some questions. We'll respond. Me, Ben, Dave, Jamie, Heath, Chris Towers, I think, Ben

Schrager. We're all responding. AskFFT is the hashtag to use on Twitter. And this is your last chance to get a T-shirt. Well, you have a few more weeks, but last chance for this week's contest. Get yourself a Fantasy Football Today T-shirt. Just tell us your favorite unsung hero of Fantasy Playoffs past, I believe.

So free T-shirt to the winner there. All right, DFS. So free t-shirt to the winner there. All right, DFS. So I've got this lineup. I don't know what the maximum amount of dollars you're okay leaving on the table, but I have a lineup that has $800 left and I don't want to change it. Yeah, I think that's fine.

I didn't want to change it until I saw that Adam Thielen was unlikely to play. It's a FanDuel lineup, and I had Jack Doyle in, and he's a great value. But Kyle Rudolph is an even better value. And he's $1,500 cheaper. So he's $4,800. That is like an insulting price. He's behind Irv Smith, Ben Watson, Anthony Ferkser, David Njoku,

Jeremy Sprinkle, CJ Uzama, John U. Smith. I don't get it. What do they have against Kyle Rudolph? He's behind Ross Dwelly. He's the same price as Ross Dwelly. I did not realize he was behind Irv Smith. That's pretty great. It's so weird.

And as long as Thielen's out, I mean, this is a team in the Lions that I think they've given up five touchdowns to tight ends in their last seven games, and Rudolph is on fire. He's scored in like four straight, I think. Yeah, I think it's like six out of seven. Yeah. And the yards are getting a little better too. So I think you kind of have to play him.

There's some good options at tight end, but he's the best one in terms of the value. So now I'm going to have like $2,000 left over. But my favorite DFS plays this week are Doyle, Rudolph, and I'd say Odell Beckham and Melvin Gordon. Love Melvin Gordon. Do you have any favorites this week? Yeah, I mean, there's going to be a ton of running back value opening up.

You mentioned at the top, you know, a ton of running back value opening up you mentioned at the top you know a couple big ones in um bill powell potentially and we don't know what's going to happen with kansas city but there's a lot of situations like that and one guy i think is going overlooked is kenyan drake who has been the complete workhorse for arizona for ever since he came out of their team and i I know Chase Evans is coming back. It's not a great matchup. He just had a bad game last week. He had a really good game against San Francisco, but then tough matchups with the Bucs in San Francisco again.

And he wasn't very productive last week. Their whole offense wasn't productive. So people are going to be off him. He's one of my favorite players because he's getting so much work. And it is still theoretically a very productive offensive environment. They want to play up-tempo if they play well. But they had their worst offensive total yardage game of the season last week. So if they can bounce back from that, I think Drake will have a good game.

Okay. Yeah, I mean, you've had some good calls like that where you get workload because it isn't a good matchup that's the thing pittsburgh's been really good but i see your point i wish pittsburgh were a little bit better offensively and i felt like i'd have to throw well actually i don't know about that because i feel like kenyan drake's involved in in any type of game script right it's good and that's the that's the advantage you know i mean he if it is a slow game which it could be he should still get plenty of carries i think i mean i want to have a few lineups.

I want to have Nick Chubb in at least one of them because I could see him having 100 yards and two touchdowns against the Bengals. I think James White's a pretty good play, especially on DraftKings with full PPR. So, you know, this is the first slate in a long time that's been pretty full because even last week when we didn't have buys, we had three Thanksgiving games. So that took four teams that are usually on a Sunday slate

with no buys off the schedule. So, I mean, it's really, really loaded, and it's exciting. It's a fun week. I got a few FanDuel lineups, and you can join our contest at fanduel.com slash league slash FFT. Okay, let's read some questions now. Apple Podcasts from Seymour. Seymour's question is about a running back that, Ben, to me,

is one of the toughest ones. Actually, both these guys are, but Lindsey in particular. I have Lindsey and Penny. Who should I flex? So this is, I mean, yeah, Lindsey's tough, tough right but both these guys are in committees and you lean towards lindsey right away but you realize just because he's the lead in the committee and penny's the secondary guy their touch potential isn't really that different i'm gonna go penny because i think is uh philip lindsey really in a committee though because royce freeman's been very much

phased out i what i think he had four catches last week, Freeman, but he's really getting so few carries. Yeah, he's not getting a ton of carries, but he is playing, he actually played significantly more snaps than Lindsey last week. He's playing a lot in the passing game. Lindsey had three catches.

They were all pretty much design plays. He only ran a few routes. So with Lindsey, you're basically only getting the rushing work right now, but it has fluctuated a little throughout the year. But if you look at snaps is really what I'm talking about. They are they're both playing a lot. And Freeman actually led last week.

So, yeah, Lindsey's touches will be there. But I think Penny's touches will be pretty solid as well. And I actually like their team situation better. Drew Locke was all right in his first start. But really, I mean, outside the two first quarter touchdowns to Cortland Sutton, they got really conservative. He didn't show a ton. Denver could just have a bad

offensive game. I'm going to go with the back on the better team. It's a very fair point. I think what's going to be very interesting to me is to see what Rashad Penny and in turn Chris Carson's role is in the passing game because the four catches sort of surprised me for Penny.

And we'll see if he can back it up. By the way, Drew Locke averaged 4.8 yards per attempt. He averaged 4.8 yards per attempt last week. So this could get ugly for sure. All right, Sean in a city in West Michigan. West Michigan? Is Lansing in West? It's like in the middle.

I have no idea. No idea. Dear Luke, Leia, and Han. Star Wars. Yeah. Crappy movie. No, just kidding. PPR.

PPR. Six point for passing touchdown. Mahomes or Matt Ryan or Josh Allen? I'm going to trust Mahomes. He threw for seven touchdowns in two matchups with New England last year. I know that he's not the same player this year, but we talked a little bit on the Wednesday show, right at the top of the show,

about some of the things that have not been great for him this season. But look, we just talked about they don't have a lot of faith in what they have going on at running back. We don't even necessarily know who's going to be playing at running back. I think he's going to throw plenty. This game has a high over-under. It very likely could end up being a pretty high scoring game. And that sample from last year, I think, at least tells us Andy Reid wants to attack New

England. I think part of Mahomes having some down games has been they haven't had to press in certain spots. I think they have to here, and I still believe in his upside quite a bit. Matt Ryan's a good play at home, though. I mean, he's not a bad play. Matt Ryan, with all his weapons, is the one that would be just kind of questionable for me. Well, it makes it a tough call, let's say that, because I could see it. I'm still going to go Mahomes as well, but you cannot be worried about Mahomes and not be worried.

You can't be worried about Mahomes and not be worried about Josh Allen because he also has a bad matchup and he's not as good as Mahomes. All right. Next question is from Scott from a city in San Diego. Okay. What? San Diego. Is it Culver City or something like that in San Diego? I don't know. How about La Jolla? Is that like a suburb? San Diego. Is it Culver City or something like that in

San Diego? I don't know. How about La Jolla? Is that like a suburb of San Diego? I've never been there. I saw David Justice at a restaurant in La Jolla

one time. There's a random poll. Oh, yeah. What does Scott have for us? Half PPR, 10 team league, pick two

receivers and a flex. Tyreek Hill, I apologize for this. Amari Cooper. Some of these will be from before Thursday's game. Tyreek Hill, Amari Cooper, DJ Chark, Alshon Jeffrey, and Will Fuller. So I guess we'll assume that he played Cooper

because Cooper did well. Yeah, Tyreek Hill's going to have a tough matchup with Stephon Gilmore. I still think you have to play him. I mean, I'm going to play him. I think these are all pretty good options, but I would have a hard time sitting a guy like that with that much upside just because of a matchup.

We saw DeAndre Hopkins have a pretty decent day against Gilmore last week, and Hill can always break a long play. He was okay. All right, so we're going to start Hill and Cooper and we need one more. And for me, it's an easy Alshon Jeffrey. Yeah. I think Jeffrey too.

He's, he's a tough guy to set this week from Andrew G sit one Saquon Barkley, Le'Veon Bell, Chris Carson, Cooper cup, Chris Godwin, and Devante Adams. I think it's bell.

I mean, even if bell plays, unless we find out that he's perfectly healthy, I mean, I think it's probably tough to start him. You just mentioned he wasn't great against Miami last time, and he's not healthy. They might mix him in a little more. These are all good options, right?

So I would go against the guy who's not healthy. Yeah, to me it was either Bell or Cup, but that's a good... Yeah, the illnesses can really make a difference. Tyler Lockett, Mike Evans. We've seen it. From AJ, Patrick Mahomes or Carson Wentz? Yeah, I'm going to go Mahomes again.

Wentz is another reasonable play, but I think this is the kind of game where we will see Mahomes throw 300 yards pretty easily. I think he'll have to. I sort of agree. Yeah, I agree.

I'm just a little worried about, like my great, like if you want a good DFS play, I think the guy who's just been useless this year is Watkins. Because I just, I really am nervous about Tyreek Hill. Sure.

Someone else is going to have to do it. Yeah, I mean, that's how Houston attacked him last week, right? They went to Fels and Duke Johnson earlier. They went to other to do it. Yeah, I mean, that's how Houston attacked them last week, right? They went to Fells and Duke Johnson earlier. They went to other spots. Exactly. From Consistent Underperformer. Two

wide receivers and a flex. I'm going to take Adam Thielen off this list. We don't expect him. I'll keep him on just in case he plays. Thielen, Emmanuel Sanders, Golden Tate, and DK Metcalf. Pick two of those. Yeah, I don't think Thielen's going to go. I think Golden Tate against the Eagles is a pretty reasonable play.

I'm a little worried about DK Metcalf, who's been seeing plenty of volume, but has been a little bit inconsistent with some drops. I think he's probably going to get Jalen Ramsey. Who else would Ramsey cover? It stands to reason, yeah. So I would probably go Sanders and Tate. Okay.

He doesn't have great options. I actually think I'd gamble on Thielen if Thielen does play, but just because we don't like Sanders and Metcalf much. And then pick a flex. Le'Veon Bell, Rashad Penny, or one of the leftover wide receivers? Yeah, that's tough. Yeah, I guess I would gamble Thielen if he plays. It doesn't seem likely he's going to play, so if he doesn't...

Well, I wouldn't make him a flex. I guess I'd go, I don't know, Metcalf or Penny. Who do you like? I'd go Bell. All right. Yeah, I mean, I'll go Bell. If Bell plays, yeah. Yeah, well i can't i can't stress this enough like seattle had the ball for 40 minutes last week i really don't know what the

touches are going to look like if they have it for 30 oh i know they had 43 they're they're two running backs combined for 43 touches i agree but dave richard had a really good stat on penny that last year against the rams in both games the number two back had at least 75 yards on a touchdown, while the number one back also had 100 yards. So they did something similar to what they did last week against the Rams both games last year. They like to run against them. Yeah, interesting. From Truett and Pete, 10-team PPR, three-wide receiver, Superflex League.

All of the Chiefs running backs are on the waiver wire right now talk me into or out of picking one or two of them up i have a first round buy in a 10 team league i think this is tough it would really depend on who you're cutting and i don't think you're really cutting i i don't i don't know that anyone one of them is going to grab enough of the backfield to where you're going to feel comfortable plugging him in necessarily in a 10-team league. I don't even know who I would say. Who would be your favorite?

McCoy, I guess, because he's probably in the lead, but it's probably Damian Williams coming back and having the best chance at being the lead in a specific game where you'd want to start him. I think the only one who has a chance of being a must-start standout is Damian Williams. Yeah. You know, that's kind of...

But McCoy is in a more obvious pickup right now, but, you know, upside's capped. From Mike in Illinois. Hey, Johnny, Bobby, Tommy, and Dutch. I don't know. Those are Cobra Kai, Karate Kid members. Karate Kid. Yes, sir.

Since it has been established that Die Hard is a Christmas movie Wrong What are your thoughts on Lethal Weapon as a Christmas movie? Ben doesn't know Lethal Weapon What? Does Lethal Weapon have anything to do with Christmas? Yeah it does It takes place during Christmas time Is that the one that ends on the street

In a neighborhood and there's like christmas lights yeah and there's like a christmas tree scene at the beginning lethal weapon could not be less of a christmas movie it absolutely not a christmas movie which is proof that die hard is also not a christmas movie yeah i agree with both of those things thank you mr pop culture agrees with me uh that's not the guy you want to be aligned with. From KingDylan2424, pick two in half PPR. Chris Carson, Kenyon Drake, Miles Sanders.

I'm going to take Drake and Carson. And I like Sanders, but I like Drake. That's interesting. Okay. I thought you'd go Sanders and Carson, but I like Drake. That's interesting. Okay. I thought you'd go Sanders and Carson, but all right. You are Drake. You are feeling Drake. You started from the bottom.

Yeah. And now you're here. From KTM6709, dear Johnny Dutchbond, we got another. Wait, what? We got another Karate Kid reference. Wow. That's interesting. Maybe I copied and pasted it wrong.

I don't know. But even the names are in different order this time. Okay, Karate Kid. See, you may not know, but on the Sunday show, I play the Karate Kid. You're the best around song. Like, we talk about the best of the week. Sure.

I've listened to this podcast for a few years now. I start in the summer so I can crush my drafts and continue throughout the year. Even my wife, who has no interest whatsoever in fantasy football, doesn't mind listening to it with me because of the petty snarkiness between Adam and insert expert's name here. Our dog does the best impression of a Heath sigh,

and one of these days I'll capture it on my new phone and post it to the Facebook page. Founders breakfast stout is a dessert and diehard is a Christmas movie. In summation, all I have to say is got to go by. Did this come from the same email address? Cause it's also saying the diehard is a Christmas movie along with the intro.

I don't think so. He actually has a fantasy question though. Um, okay. So, Oh, we have to set his whole lineup. i'd start wentz over dac but i would have said that even before the game uh two running backs girly barkley michelle penny jamal williams i just think girly and barkley probably two receivers mike evans calvin ridley crowder tate i'm gonna go ev Evans and Ridley.

Evans and Ridley, okay. And give me a flex from Sonny Michel, Penny, Jamal Williams, Crowder, Tate. I think Michel's a reasonable play here. Kansas City's run defense is pretty bad. He didn't play a lot against Houston, but they were chasing points the whole game. I think there's a pretty good chance that they'll try to establish Michelle against a really beatable Rundy. And obviously, Tom Brady has not looked his best self lately. So, I'll probably flex him.

I also think everybody's a little bit too low on Michelle. To me, though, it's between Crowder and Michelle. And it might depend on your scoring. Because I think Crowder could have a big game against the Dolphins. But yeah, those are tough calls. And Waller or Hunter Henry this week? Oh, man, that's a coin flip, right? I'm going to go Henry.

Okay. Our email address is fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Our email of the day is from Daniel. I like this email here, even though I disagree with it, but I like it. Let me set the stage. 12-0. One more game to complete a perfect regular season, playing against a bottom half team.

My quarterback is Deshaun Watson, and Prescott having struggled with the Pats the week prior. So I benched – oh, he doesn't have Prescott. He's saying, because Prescott struggled the week before against the Pats, I benched Watson for Darnold. You know the rest of the story. I lost by 13 points. The quarterback swap made all the difference.

Play your studs. They're studs for a reason. I like it. I don't. I hate it. Okay. I mean, that makes perfect sense. i think that's where you and i disagree on a lot of these is i i like to play stunts when it's a when it's a coin you know a close call i mean i like to play studs too but i told a lot of people to sit watson specifically for

darnold i mean that was one that i felt really good about. It was a terrible call in retrospect. But they do work out sometimes. They work out all the time. I mean, Dak Prescott the week before is proof itself. Dak Prescott this week, he's not going to be a top 12 quarterback with 19 fantasy points. He may not even be top 15 in a full slate. So, you know, the Patriots

defense was just unbelievable. And I just didn't see that coming from Watson. So I don't agree with starting stats. Yeah, great game plan from Houston, too, we just talked about. I mean, I didn't see it coming either. They played really well. Actually, I didn't think Watson was really doing anything that extraordinary until those back-to-back touchdown passes to Fuller and Stills.

I know only one of them counted, but that was an amazing sequence. extraordinary until those back-to-back touchdown passes to Fuller and Stills. I know only one of them counted, but that was an amazing sequence. And then catching the little flip from Hopkins and diving. I mean, he's good. He can do a lot. He can score a lot of ways. Yeah. So I guess he has, do you know this, like his primetime stats?

I'm sure they're great. great yeah i'm pretty sure they're like incredible so that's something we have to look into too i really wasn't aware of that but it wouldn't have changed my mind honestly uh and i certainly wouldn't have played him in fan duel because it would have been too expensive but this week deshaun watson is one of my favorite quarterbacks in fan duel fan duels pricing is very interesting they've got four quarterbacks who are sort of standing ahead of the pack. It's Lamar Jackson, Mahomes, Kirk Cousins, and one more. I don't remember off the top of my head. Those four are sort of ahead of everyone else. And then there is this massive group of quarterbacks who are priced very similarly. And Watson's in that group. I mean, same price as like

the Sam Darnolds of the world and the Jimmy Garoppolo. So yeah, hell yeah, I'll start a stud in that situation. And you should do that on FanDuel. Find those great values. Tyler Boyd's too cheap. Odell Beckham's too cheap. Start them up on FanDuel. Join right now, FanDuel.com slash FFT. Put in 20 bucks, get 20 back. A $20 deposit gets you $5 in site credit every week for four weeks at fanduel.com slash FFT. Pick a new team every week. It's more flexible than your seasonal leagues. The injuries and the busts don't end your season.

You don't have to, like if you're a Dalvin Cook owner, you don't have to freak out right now. You just play somebody else on FanDuel. Maybe you play Madison, and you have a chance to win millions of dollars. Sign up right now. Get $20 in total bonus when you make your first deposit of $20. $5 a week for four weeks. FanDuel.com slash FFT.

That's FanDuel.com slash FFT or download the FanDuel app. Ben, I have two categories of emails. Emails that I looked at before I put them in the notes and emails that I didn't look at before I put in the notes. So let's start with the ones that I pre-read just to make sure everything's kosher here and there are no Thursday questions. And emails that I didn't look at before I put in the notes. So let's start with the ones that I pre-read, just to make sure everything's kosher here and there are no Thursday questions. From Mark, Hooper or Mixon, PPR, Flex?

Oh, I'm going to go Mixon. A couple weeks ago, Gio Bernard got hurt. Mixon played a few more snaps and was worked in a little bit more in the passing game. And then when Bernard came back the next week, that bump in work went away. Last week, with Andy Dalton back under center and Bernard healthy, we saw that elevation of his workload again. He played his highest snapshot of the year, ran his highest route percentage of the year. I think you can trust Mixon.

I think looking at how Tyler Lockett has struggled since his injury, and I don't know if it's injury-related or not, how Tevin Coleman has been terrible, maybe that's injury-related. I don't know. How Saquon Barkley has been injured and struggling. You know, if you have a good option like Mixon versus Austin Hooper, I want to see it first from Hooper in this scenario.

When you're comparing him to tight ends, it's different. 10-team non- PPR pick two of three. This is from Alistair Campbell in Scotland. Corlin Sutton, Devante Parker, Joe Mixon. Ooh, that's tough. I just said you

could trust Mixon, but in non-PPR, you want to lean towards a running back, right? But it is a tough matchup for Mixon. I want to play Devante Parker no matter what, and I think I'm probably going to play Corlin Sutton without good he's bad. He had five targets last week.

I know. He had five. He's walking a thin line. He'd be the one that I'd sit over Parker. Parker for sure. Yeah. I'd go Mixon. I don't know if it's a tough matchup.

It's strange. Teams are not running the ball a lot on Cleveland, but when they have run the ball, they've been successful. I'd go Mixon. All right, Ben says Sutton, but Parker's the easy one. You ever see, speaking of Scotland, you ever see Braveheart? Yeah, a few times. How do you feel about it?

I thought it was a good movie. I saw it when I was younger, so I was like, this is awesome. Oh, yeah, no, it's mind-blowing when you're young. When you're like a 20-year-old, you're you're pumped about that movie oh i saw it in theaters i was probably like 10 or something oh my gosh yeah a little violent right yeah my parents took me to see that i think they just really wanted to see it probably didn't have a babysitter so i've been very violent ever since my favorite's my favorite movie, by the way. Love that movie. From Rusty,

I need a running back and a flex. PPR. Also, a point for every touch. So that's interesting. All right. James White, Carlos Hyde. Needs a running back and a flex.

James White, Carlos Hyde, Bo Scarborough, Benny Snell. A point for every touch i have to think that scarborough and snell and hyde and those types of backs are pretty good in this type of scoring system hyde obviously lost quite a bit of work last week to duke johnson in that game where i don't know that that's the way it's going to be going forward but they were so much more effective, Houston, with Duke Johnson in there as opposed to the more one-dimensional hide. So I think Scarborough and Snell, you've got to be pretty confident, are going to get plenty of touches.

Connors out. And then White. That's my... Oh, a running back starting to flex or two running backs? It's the same. He gave us four running backs. Is it three total or two total? Two total. Oh well we got to play white right i mean i think you have i think so because i i think he won't have the same amount of touches but i think he's the best play in ppr

so then you're picking one of those other guys it's not hide for me i'll say scarborough against minnesota that's kind of rough. So I'm worried about them getting blown out. I would go Snell. Yeah, Snell against Arizona. That's right. I was trying to figure out Snell's matchup. Snell and Scarborough are the same player. Same player, better matchup.

Yeah. All right, from Garrett. Half PBR, Emmanuel Sanders, DJ Chark, or Zach Paschal? Chark. From No Name. How do I not know this? Hey, Babe, Steve, Drew, and Tom. I mean, Babe immediately makes me think of Babe Ruth,

but I don't know who Steve, Drew, and Tom are. Well, this is why we have Google. Oh, it's... Are you going to get this? Is it different Boston players? Because Tom Brady and Babe Ruth was the Red Sox? I don't know. Drew Bledsoe? Oh, I think these are apparently New England quarterbacks.

Who's Babe? Babe Parilli. All right. 1960s. Steve Grogan in the 1970s. There you go. Okay. Did Steve DeBerg start for them?

I don't know. He was like a chief and a... He was around the league. I have no idea if he started for the Patriots, but he played in a lot of places. Oh, I forgot to read something. Okay, I have to go back and read something after this question from NoName. Non-PPR. Six point

per passing touchdown. Ryan Fitzpatrick or Jameis Winston? I'm taking Fitzpatrick. I like them both because I really like vertical downfield passers, but I can't get away from thinking that Miami is going to throw a ton in this game. It's been their most effective offensive, you know,

whatever game plan lately. Right. And they've been very vertical down the field. They're the worst running team in football. And they're terrible. And now they lose Kalen Balazs. They're probably going to mostly play Patrick Laird. But, like, they have no running game to speak of.

And then they're also playing the Jets, who teams can't run against. They have a great front seven. And teams have to throw against. So I honestly think that Fitzpatrick's going to throw 40 times pretty comfortably. So, like, yardage-wise and all that, you have to feel pretty secure about his floor. I'm going to roll with him this week. Steve DeBerg did not play for the Patriots. Niners, Broncos, Bucs, Chiefs, Dolphins, and Falcons.

Niners was the other one, yeah. For whatever reason, I picture him in the Northeast. I think of Steve DeBerg. I think of snow. I don't know why. This is what I meant to, isn't that weird? Maybe because it's like an iceberg or something like that. Rusty said.

I don't think about Steve DeBerg much. I think about Steve DeBerg all the time. Poster. So, Rusty, who asked us about James White and Carlos Hyde and Scarborough and stuff, I said, P.S., tell Ben he has a very interesting laugh, kind of like a villain with his snicker. That's the worst thing to tell me because I have like seven different laughs

depending on what I'm laughing at or how heartily I'm laughing. But now you got me thinking about my laugh. No one wants to think about their laugh. No, no, it's a bad thing to think about. That's bad. Evil villain, Ben Gretsch. From Anthony, Robbie Anderson or Curtis Samuel?

Ooh, I do like that Jets game, but I'm going to go Samuel here. From Luke, half PBR, white. How many do we need here? Pick one. James White, LaShawn McCoy, Brandon Cooks, Mike Williams, Zach Paschal. I don't see how you sit white. Not for Paschal? No, I'm not that high on Paschal. You're that, Zach Paschal. I don't see how you sit white. Not for Paschal? No, I'm not that high on Paschal.

You're that high on Paschal? Don't be crazy. There's enough bad games in James White's past. Look, Zach Paschal's facing a team that gives up the most fantasy points to wide receivers. He's the only wide receiver they have. He's a reasonable option but james white scored like 50 points last week but i mean more more specifically you have paris

campbell back i still think jack doyle is going to be heavily involved pascal's a reasonable play but they spread the ball around a lot and if they do get ahead they're not gonna like they'll also go conservative like they're not afraid to go conservative it's not a good run matchup but i know that's another reason why i like pascal because you can't really i just don't think of They'll also go conservative. They're not afraid to go conservative. It's not a good run matchup. No, that's another reason why I like Paschal. I just don't think of Paschal as a traditional number one, and I think people have kind of slotted him into the T.Y. Hilton role, but it's a team that spreads the ball.

He's there, and he can have big games. They can't really spread the ball, though. It's going to be him and Doyle. What about that Marcus Johnson guy that they're playing a ton? He could have a decent game. Five targets? Maybe. I think Paris Campbell has a good game. I really do.

So from next email. Zach there we go. Half PPR playoffs round one. I have a better team but I have bad matchups this week. I might need a big game from my flex. Would you go with Stefan Diggs or DJ Moore? Oh I love both those guys.

That's like two of my probably five favorite players in the NFL. For me, it's like starting these guys no matter what. Now you're making me choose. I'm going to take DJ Moore. His targets have been so consistent. I think nine plus for eight straight games or something like that. I mean, it's obscene. I'm pretty sure

he's leading the NFL in targets over that stretch. You have to feel really good about that. But if Thielen sits again, Diggs is in a good matchup too. I just think like we were just talking about, Minnesota has the potential to go out ahead and run a lot. Okay, this one's from Jonathan. Need a wide receiver too.

Tyler Lockett, Robert Woods, or Robbie Anderson? Easy for me. I'll go Woods. It's either Woods or Lockett alright we can go Woods I think Lockett was legitimately sick last week and still has plenty of upside I agree but Woods has

Woods has what 90 yards in three straight games or something like that yeah he's been a really right back into being a huge part of their offense and then who do i flex lockett robbie anderson or devin singletary see this is where i'll go lock it it's ppr right i don't know no i'm not sure if it's non-ppr actually i don't think i'm playing singletary against baltimore

i think i'm going lockett woods regardless from jeff san francisco or patriots dst oh remind me of their matches we got patriots against the chiefs niners saints wow you have both of this is why this is why we said all along you could trade these defenses you have the top two defenses and they both have bad matchups i i'm taking the saint uh excuse me the 49ers, but I don't want to pick a defense against the Saints in the Superdome. I'm probably streaming a defense if this is me. I'm probably cutting one of these teams. Well, don't cut the Patriots because they get the Bengals next week.

I might cut the Niners or cut someone else on my roster and carry three Ds, but I don't like either of these. So the Niners, the difference between the two, honestly, the Patriots haven't really been good in terms of scoring for DSTs in tough matchups, whereas the 49ers had a huge game against the Seahawks, a huge

game against the Packers, and they were okay against the Ravens. If I had to pick one of them, it would be the 49ers, but I also think the 49ers are more droppable. They get Atlanta and then the Rams in their next two games or as the Patriots have the Bengals and the Dolphins or something so they're probably going to win fantasy Patriots okay the bills but yeah the Redskins the Packers the

Texans these are DSTs that did I say the Red Redskins? Yeah, you just said them. The Packers facing the Redskins. The Texans, the Vikings. These are teams that you can stream over those two. And from Mervin, contemplating my wide receiver two and flex, Robbie Anderson or Alshon Jeffrey? Oh, definitely Alshon for me there. Yes. Anderson or Alshon Jeffrey? Oh, definitely Alshon for me there.

Yes. And then would you go with Robbie Anderson, Mark Ingram, or Austin Eckler? I would not go with Robbie. I mean, there's a lot of questions about Robbie here, so I should probably explain. I'm just – it could be Crowder. It could be Demaryius Thomas. It could be Ryan Griffin.

And they could also have a tough game, even though I did say I expect the Jets-Miami game to be pretty productive. But Anderson has not had very consistent downfield volume all year. He has for the last couple weeks, but I think he's a pretty risky play compared to somebody like Alshon who just got massive volume last week when he came back. So then as far as the backs, I think you're probably playing Ingram as your flex. Okay.

And then this question is from Jeff. Four point per passing touchdown, Russell Wilson or Kirk Cousins? I'm going to go Wilson just because I think, again, Minnesota probably gets out ahead against a depleted Lions team and runs the ball. We might see some Madison late. All righty. Have you ordered a pizza online from Little Caesars yet?

If not, you're missing out on Pizza Portal pickup. What is Portal Pickup? It's like getting a pizza right out of the oven yourself. You walk in, you enter a code on the portal, a door opens, and you're off with your favorite pizza. And whatever pizza it is, it's going to have crazy, crazy amounts of toppings. So it's fun. Give it a try, but it's only available at Little Caesars Pizza Pizza. And here are the emails that I didn't look at before I put them in the notes, so this should be fun. From Jeffrey. It's three straight Jeffreys?

Or no, three out of four. We've had an email from Jeffrey in three of our last four games. All right, I'm worried about Tyreek Hill. I have Hill. See, was that my sinister laugh? I have no idea. I didn't feel that sinister to me. I'll let you know.

All right. Tyreek Hill, Chris Godwin, Cortland Sutton, Devontae Parker, and John Brown. I'm thinking about benching Hill for Parker and starting Godwin, Sutton, and Parker. So I wouldn't do that. I would start. I wouldn't either. I would start. I would. You would bench Sutton. I'd bench do that. I would start... I wouldn't either. I would start... I would... You would

bench Sutton. I'd bench Sutton. Yeah, okay. I'd start Godwin, Parker, and Hill. But what if you could only... Yeah, I'd play Parker, Godwin, and Hill. I agree with you. What if you could only start two of them? I'd probably play Parker and Godwin. Yeah. That's probably where I'd draw the line with Hill because, man, Parker and Godwin

are much better matchups and have been fine. And you feel better about their floors. Dear Trey, Damon, A'shawn, and Romeo. I almost feel like Detroit Lions to me. Which Romeo? A'shawn

Robinson, Trey Flowers, Damon, and Snacks Harrison? Is that the D line for the Lions? Yeah. A'shaun Robinson. Oh, Romeo Aquara. He's a former Giant who is now... Are these all former Giants?

No, because Trey Flowers wasn't. And A'shaun... No. Two of them are. Okay. Those are... I was thinking Romeo Cornell. I couldn't get him out of my head why why you see romeo in football you should be thinking about him you you are to romeo cornell as i am to steve de burgh can't get him out of my head can i trust tyler lockett this week i also have debo samuel will fuller or golden tate that i could start ahead of him. This is from Praj, by the way. Ah, man, that's tough.

I would play Lockett, but I could see a case for any of those other receivers. You love Will Fuller, right? Because I love Will Fuller this week, so you must love Will Fuller this week. Yeah, no, I'm really high on Fuller this week. You know Chris Harris is going to be on Hopkins. Fuller

had just that near miss, but also it was the game plan to go away from him last week. I don't think it's going to be a situation where he's not seeing very many targets like he did against New England. I think he'll be fine. Yeah, but I'd be fine starting Lockett ahead of him. They're pretty similar, I think, right now. From

Brian, hey, Sword, Snow, and William. Is that Game of Thrones? Snow makes me think Game of Thrones and sword. I don't know. I don't think so. This feels Disney-like to me. I've been guessing fairly well today. Oh, it's white.

Snow White. Oh no, that's Walter White. I was thinking of William White. Who's Sword White? Yeah, I don't know. You suck, Ben. Let me see who this is. This is... Oh, it is snow white snow white and the huntsman and i guess okay william sword oh whatever that's disney that's

right all right yeah ppr someone's been watching disney no not yet no pretty sure pbr choose a running back single terletary or Penny? I'm going to go Penny. I don't like the matchup for Singletary very much. Choose two receivers, Jeffrey, Sutton, Woods, Metcalf, Crowder, Debo. Again, Jeffrey, Sutton, Woods, Metcalf, Crowder, and Debo. I mean, again, I really like Jeffrey. After that volume last week, they showed that they've really been missing him,

and I think I'll go Woods. I mean, I love Sutton. Just love him. Now we need to flex, though. You can go Sutton. So you'll have Singletary, Sutton, Metcalf, Crowder, and Debo. Yeah, I'll go Sutton and flex. From Mike, choose three of these

five. I'm going to assume he started Amari Cooper, so choose two of these four. Chris Godwin, Cooper Cup, John Brown, and Keenan Allen. I think it's Godwin and Allen. From avid listener James, I need a little help in my running back spot. PPR, starting four net, Rashad Penny, Marlon Mack, Darius Geis, or Tevin Coleman? PPR. Can't trust Coleman.

Geis had an awesome game, but very low volume. He was the third on the team in snaps, just the running back position, and against the best defense to run against. So expecting him to match that is tough. He's a great talent, but it's another decent matchup too, but I'm not going to play Geis in this situation. Mack is the one that, you know, kind of wild card.

If he's fully healthy, he might be the right guy, but it's not a great matchup. I'm probably leaning Penny right now without knowing how healthy Mack is. I think that's fair, because I think Penny and Mack could get... I think Penny could have like five fewer carries, but maybe three more catches than Mack.

And it is PPR. And Mack's matchup just stinks. So I think that's fair, going Penny over Mack. This is from Bob. Pick two in PPR for week 14. John Brown, Zach Paschal, James Washington, Ronald Jones. Or no, Marvin Jones part part of me yeah this is tough and it's not because of John Brown who's the first guy I'd have out because

I don't really want to play him against the Ravens but we talked about Pascal does I mean this is a situation where I would definitely consider Pascal has a good matchup Washington has a good matchup against Arizona and a good matchup against arizona and marvin jones torched minnesota last time they played so i'd have a hard time getting away from him but you know they might make more of a concerted effort against him but that's i believe his four touchdown game earlier this year was against minnesota right oh i'm not sure i'm pretty sure it was uh right about that was right after we had the discussion about minnesota's cornerbacks and then marvin jones went and tor. Yeah, they are not good. So I think I'm going Pascal and Jones,

and I'm going to leave Washington off just because he's been so efficient. It's going to be hard for him to continue to be so productive down the field. Yeah, here's the thing. Well, this isn't really a big case for Washington because it's not like he gets heavy targets, but they've played four games without Matthew Stafford, and in three of those four games, Marvin Jones has had five or six targets

and less than 50 yards. Well, you know, in three games he's had five or six targets, in three games he's had less than 50 yards. He hasn't always lined up with the same game. Same thing with Kenny Galladay. He had one game with like nine targets, and he's had four or five in the other three. I have a lot of trouble trusting them.

I think we can agree Paschal's won. I'd go Washington. You'd go Jones. That is fair, and you're right. He did have the four touchdowns against Minnesota. I think you just made a good point, too. I don't think I was really considering the quarterback change enough. I want to switch

over to your answer. Okay. Welcome aboard. It was close. You just swayed me. All right. Last. That was my evil laugh.

Two more here from Jeff. So many Jeffs today. Pick two running backs. Joe Mixon, Sony Michelle, Tevin Coleman, Matt Brita, Rashad Penny,

and Alexander Madison. Joe Mixon, Sony Michelle, Coleman Brita, Penny, and Madison. So Joe Mixon, Sonny Michel, Coleman Breida, Penny, and Madison. So for me, I'm immediately throwing out Coleman Breida and Madison. It comes down to Mixon, Michel, and Penny. And it's tough. You know, I've obviously said I like Penny a lot on this show.

I like Michel against Kansas City's run D. And I'm comfortable with Mixon. So I think probably Mixon's my top option here. And then I'm going to go Michelle. I'm going to sit Penny in this case. By the way, every answer we've given today regarding Alexander Madison is with the assumption that Dalvin Cook is playing. So, you know, Madison – Which they said he's 100%.

So at this point, we're pretty confident, but that could change. Dear Herman, this is from... Oh, no name here. So sorry about that. Last email. Dear Herman, Gary, Ara, and Klein. Or Ara.

Who? Notre Dame coaches, maybe? Yeah, maybe. Is that what it is? No, it doesn't look like that. It appears to be something much more sophisticated than that. Herman Edwards, I think of. Ara is definitely a coach name.

I can't remember who it is. Ara Parsegian, the Notre Dame coach. I don't know. Sit two of the following in PPR. Tyler Lockett, Tyler Boyd, James White, white kareem hunt and alshon jeffrey so this is where we can sit lockett because he has been inconsistent and we have good enough options here um the other guy i'm gonna sit i i would have a hard time sitting white i'm not sitting jeffrey i don't think i don't want to sit boyd so i think i might sit hunt as good as he's been but that feels wrong too what do you think

exactly what you said yeah you know i'm definitely going to start boyd and jeffrey and white i think you and i i think we're all on the same page. Like, it should be a high-scoring game, and he should be involved. So, I just, I'm still a little bit stuck on the fact that he was so uninvolved in the passing game, basically three straight games. Well, at least in terms of, like, actual production. I know he had seven targets against Philadelphia, but I'm going to believe in James White.

I think he had, like, a three-game blip. Actually, he scored a rushing touchdown in one of those games, but for what he typically does, he had a three-game blip. I think he's pretty much back. I think he's their second most reliable target right now. Yeah, he is. I mean, that's a thing.

They're going to throw to him because they don't have anyone to throw to outside Edelman. We haven't really talked about Jacoby Myers like all week. But I wonder if he's a sleeper. Let me just take a look at his game. Because he played a lot more than Sanu, and he's had 16 targets in his last two games. He and Sanu are playing the same role, and Harry and Dorsett play the same role. And last week, Dorsett and Sanu were back.

Dorsett played substantially over Harry, but last week, Dorsett and Sanu were back. Dorsett played substantially over Harry, but Myers kept the playing time lead over Sanu. Now, my take on that was that Dorsett was coming back from a concussion. Sanu was coming back from an injury that maybe lingers a little bit. He could easily be healthier and just push Myers back in playing time. I would expect that they want to use Sanu. They traded a second-round pick for him, so I don't think I can trust Myers.

All right, Ben. Thank you, man. Let's get our Friday on, huh? Yeah, let's go. Well, I'll talk to you on Sunday night with the recap. Have a great weekend, everybody. Go your favorite college football team. Big weekend there, and we will talk to you soon.