Fantasy Football Today - 12/10: Waiver Wire - Washington, Fitzpatrick and More! (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 10, 2019

We LOOOOOOVE DeAndre Washington this week (assuming Josh Jacobs is out) and Ryan Tannehill leads the way at QB. We start the show by discussing the top priorities including Raheem Mostert, Tyler Higbee and our favorite DSTs, plus our reaction to the PHI-NYG game. Overtime thriller! Sorta! ... Which popular Waiver Wire players could lose value if the starters return from injury (14:00)? What should you do in those situations? And we've got your news and notes (19:05) at each position ... Waiver Wire QBs (23:00) including Eli Manning, Derek Carr and Gardner Minshew, RBs (31:40) including Adrian Peterson, LeSean McCoy and Patrick Laird, WRs (41:30) including Zach Pascal, A.J. Brown, Dede Westbrook and so many sneaky WRs like Nelson Agholor, TEs (50:30) Including Mike Gesicki, O.J. Howard and Ian Thomas. Plus DSTs and Kickers to end the show ... Email us at [e-mail] 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

Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM, an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League. Yard after yard, down after down, the sportsbook born in Vegas gives you the chance to take action to the end zone and celebrate every highlight reel play. And as an official sportsbook partner of the NFL, BetMGM is the best place to fuel your football fandom on every game day. With a variety of exciting features, BetMGM offers you plenty of seamless ways to jump straight onto the gridiron and to embrace peak sports action. Ready for another season of gridiron glory? What are you waiting for?

Get off the bench, into the huddle, and head for the end zone all season long. Visit BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older. Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? For free assistance, call the Connex Ontario helpline at 1-866-531-2600.

BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Here we go! Email us at fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. Here we go! Let's hit the waiver wire. Let's go!

Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and T. Welcome to your Week 15 waiver wire show. Listen, I'm struggling right now. Because just before we went on the air, Jamie asked me, Who do you think my start of the week is? And it's really messing with my head right now because I cannot even figure it out. He said I asked him about him earlier this morning and I don't remember anything. Not me. Not me.

You asked someone else about him? A group. A group email. Oh, it's Zach Paschal? No. Who else did I... Oh, it's DeAndre Washington? If Josh Jacobs is out, it will be DeAndre Washington. You can't have a start of the week if somebody's out.

Can you? Well, of course I can. Yeah. Well, alright. We're talking about this tuesday morning i haven't finalized it yet you can't publish that yet that does not play deandre washington right now my first run of my rankings is a top 10 running back in non-ppr and a top 12 running back in ppr yes facing the jaguars definitely like de DeAndre Washington, 4% owned. Yeah, the number one player to add by far. Yeah, but he's part of a list of players who lose their value

if the starter gets healthy. I mean, they're a really... Well, obviously. But that's the thing about the waiver wire this week. It's like, you know, it's a little risky, but I talked about this with Will yesterday. I'm okay taking that risk this week because there's only four teams left in your league, right?

If you don't get... We talked about this with Alexander Madison last week. It's the chance of finding the league winner as opposed to a middling player who may not help you. Sure, but the other thing is there aren't that many guys that are going to get picked up. So if you pick up DeAndre Washington and all of a sudden Josh Jacobs plays,

waiver wire is still going to look pretty good. But I do think it's a bit of a risk if you have to choose between Raheem Mostert and DeAndre Washington. That's a clear-cut, easy choice because I understand it's easy to rank Washington ahead of Mostert if Jacobs is out. But if Jacobs plays, obviously that changes. So is that really an easy call for you? Well, it comes down to obviously what your roster looks like. You know, if you're struggling like, you know, somebody who lost Jacobs and couldn't get Washington and most are still available. You know, somebody who picked up Washington last minute on Sunday or is ahead of you on waivers. You know, I think it comes down to like what your team looks like.

You know, so if you don't need a starter and that's the thing about also being in Week 15, these are hopefully the best of the best in your fantasy league, so their lineups are, barring injury, pretty sound. If you need a starter and you want the guaranteed points, you probably take Mostert. If you want the guy who's going to most likely help you win,

it's Washington. Okay, but you just have to weigh the risk of Josh Jacobs playing. Yeah, I think in this case, I don't anticipate Josh Jacobs playing. All right. Well, that would be nice then. Looking at how it all unfolded. Then we're going to be picking up DeAndre Washington,

and he could be really good against a team that's just, I think they're giving up more than 35 points per game in their last five games, the Jaguars. They're just awful right now. So let me give you some Acer fantasy tips. These are fantasy tips that are very obvious to everybody, except for me. So a few things you want to do tonight. Look at your opponent's roster and play some defense.

If you don't need a running back, but your opponent does need a running back, pick up the best running back or running backs. Look ahead to Week 16. It's never too early. Pick up a DST or a streaming quarterback or something like that. Patrick Laird has the Bengals next week. Obviously, Ryan Fitzpatrick has the Bengals next week. So you could look at guys like that.

We'll do a little bit more Week 16 talk. And if you can avoid it, don't drop players that you think might get picked up and beat you. Don't put a great player on the waiver wire. So that's part of it as well. But, hey, you've got to get guys that you think are going to be better this week, and there's obviously some urgency there. Jamie, before we get into it a little bit more, how about that overtime drama last night, man? Fantasy Leagues decided

at the very end of regulation and overtime. Yeah, and start of the week decided as well, thankfully for Carson Wentz. Broke my little curse there. The streak of bad luck is over. Yeah, it was a fun finish. It was fun to see

Eli Manning get the game started the way he did and showing that he has a connection with Fun finish. It was fun to see Eli Manning get the game started the way he did. And, you know, showing that he has a connection with Darius Slayton. You know, that was the question for me from the Giants passing standpoint was, who would he connect with? Would it be Tate, who he's never played with? Would it be Sterling Shepard, who he clearly knows the best? Or would it be Slayton? And it's pretty clear he likes Slayton and Shepard the most in terms of the targets.

Eight targets for Slayton, seven for Shepard. And I think you look at this matchup now against Miami, it's hard to say that you can't, it's hard to overlook Slayton as a potential option and Eli as a streamer. Yeah, I think if Evan Ingram comes back, that could screw things up because I felt like Ingram was going to be the guy that Manning was going to rely on. It didn't really work out that way. They seem to indicate, though, that Ingram may get shut down.

Yeah, but you know what? This time a week ago, they were talking about Ingram coming back. He may have had a setback, though. Whatever it is, it's frustrating for the Evan Ingram owner. And, yeah, the Giants-Dolphins game I thought would be the best kind of waiver-wire game. I think you look at the Jaguars, Raiders, and you look at the – because D.D. Westbrook is certainly going to be popular,

Chris Conley and DeAndre Washington, obviously, maybe even Derek Carr, Gardner Minshew. You look at that Dolphins-Giants game, I thought that was going to be a great game for the waiver wire, but the Devontae Parker injury really is kind of a bummer. And to be honest with you, I'd much rather have Daniel Jones than Eli Manning. I mean, the Giants had 30 total yards in the second half. They had 30 total yards in the second half. I mean, I'm going to say they had 30 total yards in the second half.

You think Daniel Jones would have done better? Oh my gosh. Are you kidding? Absolutely. Would have run for 15. And yes, look, look at that third down play. I mean, forget it. But all the time in the world, you throw a slant pattern to a covered receiver. That's all he does. Stop doing that. You're lucky Ronald Darby couldn't make a tackle and Darius Slater was able to score. You say stop doing that.

He's about to stop doing that. You're never going to have to watch him again after a few weeks. What are you concerned about? I mean, enjoy the nostalgia. For fantasy. That's why. Honestly, that should have been the perfect setup for you. Because Eli gave you the first half feel-good moment.

You watched him go out, throw a couple touchdowns, and do some nice things to remind you that, once upon a time, he was a great player for you. He was. And then you lose the game. You lose the game in overtime. I wanted to win. And your draft position.

No, you don't want to win. Your draft position is still solidified. It is the perfect setup for any Giants fan. You got the nostalgia. You got a competitive game. And you lost at the end. That's exactly what you want. If you want to check my Twitter feed, I went on some pretty fun rants yesterday.

So enjoy those. I tried to avoid your Twitter feed. It was good. You know, the Eagles fans had no right to be singing after that game. Just a terrible game. They deserve to lose. Both teams deserve to lose. Top priorities.

They deserve to lose. Wow. They did. Top priorities this week. All right. So DeAndre Washington, number one. Who would be the next best after that? There's a lot of guys you can discuss.

If you need a quarterback, obviously Tannehill, if he's still available. Love the setup for him with the way he's been playing. Another candidate for start of the week, depending on how I decide to play this out. Zach Paschal, another guy still available. We've been talking about all these guys for the last couple of weeks. Not Washington, but Tannehill and Paschal. You know, certainly the last two weeks for Paschal. The tight end position, Tyler Higbee.

You know, if he's still out there for what he's done, you know, essentially the last two weeks for Paschal. The tight end position, Tyler Higby, if he's still out there for what he's done essentially the last three games, but looking at the opportunity without Gerald Everett once again. But Raheem Mostert, Adrian Peterson now, if he's still on waivers, and with Darius Geis' injury. So there's a lot of key guys.

You mentioned D.D. Westbrook. Anthony Miller is still out there on waivers. It's actually a pretty good week for waivers. I led the column with all the injuries that we're dealing with, and we got more last night with Alshon, which just stinks. It seems like receivers are really getting beat up. Mike Evans and Jeffrey,

and now Calvin Ridley out for the season. But the running back position still, we may get some guys back, James Conner, Jujus Mishuster, they may play. But I think you just look at the options that are on waivers. And you alluded to this. There's only four teams for the most part, you know, depending if you go to week 17. But if you're in most leagues that play into week 16, there's four teams left in your league.

And so you may have an opportunity to sort of, OK, now it's time to discard the junk you've been holding on to. If you've still been holding out hope for A.J, you know, Josh Gordon, or, you know, some of these guys, you can drop your second quarterback. You can drop your second defense. You said it, you know, don't drop someone that's going to help your opponent, especially in the fantasy championship. But, you know, if you have an opportunity now to pick up two or three guys that you may consider playing or just keep your opponent from playing, you know, it's not just the first move you make on waivers. It's the second and third one.

And, you know, at this point, bid points are relevant. You know, you got to get the guy that you want. Well, I got to be honest, though. I think quarterback after Ryan Tannehill is kind of the one spot. Yeah. So but other than that, I mean, there are good running backs, wide receivers, tight ends. You also want to look to see, like, for example, I'm in one league where somebody dropped Jimmy Garoppolo,

and I have Carson Wentz, and I was planning on riding Wentz hopefully through the championship. Now Wentz looks a little bit dicey without Lane Johnson. We know what that has been for him. It hasn't been good. And if Alshon's out, even in a good matchup against Washington, I'd rather start Garoppolo. So, like, that's one move I'm going to make.

So there could be some, you know, mid-level players that were dropped that have good opportunities in week 16. Like, for example, Kyler Murray. You know, somebody may have dropped Kyler Murray. I think he'll play well against Cleveland this week. So there's some guys out there that you can sort of pivot to that it's not just Tannehill and Eli Manning. And, you know, the other guys will talk about Gardner Minshew, Derek Carr, those type of quarterbacks. There could be some other guys out there. Same thing with the tight ends.

There may have been somebody that could have been dropped just because of somebody making another move, and that could be something that benefits for you. Yeah, a real bummer. If you have a tight end, look, Mark Andrews kind of expected to play, but it's a Thursday game, so we're not sure. Jared Cook in the concussion protocol, so that's going to be a high-priority position too.

In addition to quarterback not being great, I actually don't think DST is great this week either, Jamie. What do you think? I totally agree. Yeah, from the waiver perspective, you know, I like Seattle, you know, just because Kyle Allen's become so turnover prone. You're looking at the Chargers, you know, I think their defense has really turned the corner

with the guys coming back healthy. And so we'll see how Kirk Cousins does on the road. I know it's not necessarily a real true road game, but I think the Chargers defense is worth buying into. These are all low-end options. And then, you know, I looked, I was surprised at how well the quarterbacks have actually done in Arrowhead Stadium this year.

It's been a little bit better than we typically think of. But you're still talking about Drew Locke going into that environment. And he's been fun. You know, he's done a nice job the last two weeks. And we thought he would struggle last week going into Houston. Obviously, that Texans defense is a little bit more of a fraud. The Chiefs defense played well the last three games, and that's a DST that I would look for.

Maybe I'd probably reorder it a little bit. Maybe the Chiefs should be the number one. That's what I was going to say. Okay, good, good, because I was going to say they're my favorite this week. They've actually played pretty well lately, the Chiefs DST. They're a better defense, I think, than we give them credit for. Again, Julak was

really good at the Texans. He averaged like 5.4 yards per attempt in his first game. He just happened to throw two touchdowns to Cortland Sutton. I'm not quite there yet with him. The Buzz Lightyear stuff too. Pretty cool. I don't know the Buzz Lightyear stuff. He does. I don't know if it's just him. The Buzz Lightyear stuff too. Pretty cool.

I don't know the Buzz Lightyear stuff. He does. I think... I don't know if it's just a touchdown celebration or a big play celebration, but he does like Buzz Lightyear with the laser. Like he goes like this and apparently that's a nickname or a thing that he does.

Oh. So it's getting a little bit of, no pun intended, a little bit of buzz. Oh, that's cool. I like that. Yeah. It's a good story.

You know, like Toy Story. Okay. So some players... Let me actually put a couple things to promote real quick. It's a good story. Okay, so some players. Actually, a couple things to promote real quick. Apple Podcast Review Mailbag. Get your questions in ASAP so we can read them on the Wednesday show. Do it as an Apple Podcast Review.

Thank you so much for those great reviews. We appreciate it. Also, we'll read them on the Saturday show. And our Facebook giveaway this week, lesson you learned this season so far. Lesson I would learn is I am prioritizing quarterback a lot more next year, and I will have two on every roster.

I can't commit to that, but I'm thinking that might be the case, at least for most of my team. Who's your favorite quarterback for 2020? Lamar Jackson. We got into this with Heath. I saw Heath. I don't understand why he would have Deshaun Watson over Lamar Jackson.

He also has Mahomes over him. I mean, look, there's no argument to be made for Mahomes and maybe Watson as well. With Pete Prisco also, they both said that they would take Mahomes over Jackson, and he said he would take Watson as well. I said the only way I'm doing that is if I know, they both said that they would take Mahomes over Jackson, and he said he would take Watson as well. I said, the only way I'm doing that is if I know, guaranteed, the rushing is coming down significantly. And Pete said, we ballparked it at about 1,200 yards rushing by the end of the year. Pete said if it's, he could see 500 yards coming off of his rushing total. He said 250 to three.

If it's 500, that's pretty significant. If it's 250-3, I'm still taking him first because I expect his passing to improve. I also want to see what they do clearly to surround him with some more talent and offensive line help. With what he's been able to do and hopefully

avoid injury, clearly you know how I feel about quarterbacks. I'm not going to fight you if you take him in the first round. Oh, yeah. And he's only getting better as a passer, too. That's the other part of it. So here's a segment called players who could lose all their value if the starter gets healthy. So just keep this in mind as you make your waiver claims.

DeAndre Washington, we've talked about. Benny Snell, you know, James Conner, there was a report that he's expected to play. So are you even going to go after Benny Snell, who's 61% owned and facing the Bills this week? Depends. You know, 62% at this point is probably a 10-team league. So it's not exactly the most exciting situation. All right. Ian Thomas.

Ian Thomas looking like a pretty good waiver claim right now. Without Greg Olson last year, he scored 7, 1, 10, and 12 non-PPR fantasy points. That's three good games out of four. He was terrific. Had 10 targets at Atlanta last week. And he gets Seattle this week, and they're the third worst against tight ends. So Ian Thomas looking good. But if Greg Olson clears the concussion protocol, he might be useless. Tyler Higbee looking even better than Ian Thomas lately.

Back-to-back 100-yard games. Dallas has struggled a little bit against tight ends lately, and he's 38% owned, but he's only been good when Gerald Everett's been out, basically. And then I don't think you agree with me on this one, but I do wonder about Anthony Miller and if Taylor Gabriel comes back. Now, the last time Miller and Gabriel played together, they both had double-digit targets. It was about four weeks ago, not including the game in which Gabriel left

with the concussion. But if you're sitting there and you're looking at Paschal, I think Paschal's going to be number one. But A.J. Brown, Anthony Miller, I like D.D. Westbrook. I don't know, Jamie. I still think the Taylor Gabriel factor is real there. And not to mention the Packers, they're pretty good against wide receivers, at least in terms of fantasy points. I'm not sure how good they actually are, but get into that. But yeah, I don't know. Do you worry about Anthony Miller's value with Gabriel coming back potentially? A little bit. I just look at it that his numbers, and it does factor in Gabriel with the concussion, but his numbers really started to pop when Trey Burton went down.

It's almost to a T. And so Burton goes on IR. But Burton was so uninvolved. But it doesn't matter. It's the routes run. It's the usage. It's where they're lining him up, what they've done with him. So I think it's just a matter of Anthony Miller's opportunity increasing and Trubisky just seeing the field a little differently.

He's improved as a quarterback, and so you've seen the production come. Now take into account who they played. Detroit twice, the Giants once, and the one game they struggled in, the four-game stretch, was against the Rams. So I think you just look at it as, is he a slam dunk? We saw last week. No, he had four targets. You got lucky with the touchdowns with the touchdown, you know? So, uh, you know, this is the gamble you take when you get to this point in the season, you know, who can you trust? There's a reason he's only 25% owned, you know, because the body of our users, and I think we have the smartest users in the business,

they clearly realize that there's still some risk involved with Anthony Miller, despite the fact that we've been saying, maybe trust him, maybe trust him, maybe trust him. He's been delivering, but at some point you're going to see, you know, probably the Bears passing game and Anthony Miller himself turn into still a young receiver developing in the league. All right, so listen, you got a few weeks left of the regular season, but for fantasy, you might be done.

Or maybe you have one team left or something like that. You want to play more, right? You want to keep playing? Get on FanDuel. Because the offer that they have now gets you $20 in site credit if you put $20 in. You go to FanDuel.com slash FFT. You sign up there.

FanDuel.com slash FFT. You sign up there. FanDuel.com slash FFT. Make a $20 deposit. Get $5 back in site credit every week for four weeks. And just create these great rosters, these really fun rosters with high upside players, guys with good matchups. You know, you got to fit your players into a budget, but it's really not hard. It doesn't take much time to set a lineup. It doesn't take much time to set five lineups. So this gives you exposure to all the players that you want to have on your fantasy teams. And it's just so much fun and we absolutely love it. And you don't have

to worry about injuries and bad matchups and things like that. And you'll be nervous about starting a guy. Basically every player in your lineup, you should feel pretty good about. Go to fanduel.com slash FFT. Sign up right now. 20 bucks in, get 20 bucks back. $5 a week for four weeks at fanduel.com slash FFT or download the FanDuel app. All right, we got to get some names out. I just realized I won 10 bucks

in our FFT league, FanDuel. I don't think I joined that. I just, you didn't join your own contest? Oh, that one. I'm sorry. Dave sent an email about like an in-house one, I thought. No, no. I did the FFT Listener Contest.

I think I may have, too. I won $10, despite the downfall of Ryan Fitzpatrick. I think I may have, as well, Jamie. I think that was the only contest I gave. It was a bad week for me, but I'm going to get back on that. All right, Jamie, here we go. We've got to give a lot of names here. We've got to get some waiver claims in.

So, first of all, Lamar Jackson, we've got to keep an eye on this because he was listed with a calf injury. So, right now, it doesn't seem serious. Quad, I think, right? Oh, okay. I wrote calf. Leg. I thought I heard Chef Teron Halftime Show say quad,

but you could be right. No, you're probably right. I'm such an idiot. Jameis Winston expected to play with his tiny fracture in his right hand. So he showed up. Mike Evans had a bowling event last night. Oh, Le'Veon Bell went. Well done.

Jameis was there bowling left-handed, and he had his hand he had his hand wrapped but hopefully he'll be fine yeah all right and by the way it was a quad injury uh patrick mahomes has a hand injury he's gonna play he's top three for jamie as you heard i know he hasn't justified that by the way but he's top three uh daniel Daniel Jones is out one to three more weeks. There's a chance he plays this week. I would be somewhat interested in him against the Dolphins. In fact, I'd be very interested in him.

I'd be very interested in Daniel Jones, somewhat interested in Eli. How about you? I like Eli. It's more two quarterback super flex leagues. He's not in my top 12, but like you said, Ryan Tannehill and then it's kind of a group of quarterbacks that are more

two QB options or super flex options, but you could be stuck and you could have been streaming all along and you just got lucky in getting into your fantasy championship. I got into one where I started Ryan Fitzpatrick, so I would pivot to Eli Manning if Devontae Parker's out for sure.

Yeah, it's such a shame because Fitzpatrick would have been, I think, such a home run this week. And maybe he still could be if Devontae Parker doesn't play. We'll talk about that. Le'Veon Bell went bowling, but he is getting better. So we expect him to play on Thursday. Derrick Henry hamstring seems okay. Bo Scarborough left with that rib injury.

We know Josh Jacobs is banged up. Rashad Penny tore his ACL, unfortunately. It's going to be a big, big finish the last two games for Chris Carson. That's a guy I don't want to be facing in weeks 15 and 16 against the Panthers and Cardinals. James Conner is expected to play. That was according to a report from NFL Network, I think on Sunday. Darius Geis, probably not going to play. And Adrian Peterson.

No, he's already been ruled out. He's been ruled out. Adrian Peterson has gotten a ton of work in Geis' absence with Bill Callahan. Unfortunately, he's got the Eagles this week, but he still might get 18 carries or something. Cleveland's not going to sit Odell Beckham. Mike Evans, very doubtful for this week. Alshon Jeffrey having an MRI on his foot.

Certainly would have, you know, reevaluated the Carson Wentz love if we had known Alshon Jeffrey was not going to have a catch. DJ Chark, week to week. Calvin Ridley out for the season. Interesting. T.Y. Hilton still week to week. Calvin Ridley out for the season. Interesting. T.Y. Hilton still week to week.

Devontae Parker concussion. Albert Wilson out with a head injury. Juju Smith-Schuster hoping to play this week. Might happen against Buffalo. Not sure we'd like him very much. Nikhil Harry's banged up. Meanwhile, a tight end. Mark Andrews, Vance McDonald, Jared Cook banged up.

Noah Fant looking okay. Ryan Griffin left with the ankle injury. And Lane Johnson, Weston Richburg, that's the Eagles right tackle. Lane Johnson looked like a bad injury. San Francisco center, Weston Richburg, he's out for the year. That's potentially significant. Giants

right tackle, Kevin Zeitler left with an injury as well. Defensively, Xavier Rhodes got hurt, but he looks like he's going to play against the Chargers. And Sheldon Rankins, that's an injury we really need to watch out for. Not in terms of waiver wire, but how we're going to feel about Marlon Mack against the Saints

with their linebackers beat up and with Sheldon Rankins out, potentially with an injury. And it was a rough week for the 49ers, by the way. In addition to losing their center, Richard Sherman and Dee Ford are both going to be out for a little while. And Atlanta cornerback Desmond Trufant's out by the way. In addition to losing their center, Richard Sherman and Dee Ford are both going to be out for a little while. And Atlanta cornerback Desmond Trufant's out for the season. We'll look ahead

to Week 16 in a little bit. Let's get into Week 15 now. Okay. Top priorities at each position. Let's start with quarterback. And Tannehill, you said is number four for you? He's number four in the rankings. Number one in terms of the

guys to add but i mean he's been awesome he's absolutely been awesome and now he's facing this miserable defense of the texans that's just giving up points after week week in week out and you know everybody's going to point to and say well they played well against the patriots brady still had 30 points i don't care how he got it done. He's still at 30 fantasy points in that game. You know, so you look at this game, obviously it's the biggest game of the week, unless I'm missing one, but it's for the AFC South division right now. They play each other again before the season's out. So I just think that Tannehill is on this unbelievable role and I don't see the Texans

slowing him down. So I'm going to trust him. I'm going to trust him more than I trust the guy on the other side of the field, Deshaun Watson, right now. If Will Fuller's out, if Fuller plays, I would take Watson over Tannehill. But without Fuller, I'd rather have Tannehill. Okay, then after that, Eli Manning against the Dolphins. They give up the third most fantasy points to quarterbacks, the last four quarterbacks. 39 points for Josh Allen, 29 for Mayfield, 30 for Wentz, 20 for Darnold.

And you saw Eli Manning look good for a half and look really bad for a half. Derek Carr against the Jaguars. So Carr went back home, good weather last week against the Titans, scored 23 fantasy points. And this week, the Jaguars' last three quarterbacks they've faced, Tannehill, 36 points. Winston, only 10 fantasy points. And this week, the Jaguars' last three quarterbacks they've faced. Tannehill, 36 points.

Winston, only 10 fantasy points. That was weird. Phillip Rivers, 30 fantasy points. So what can I do to convince you to move Carr ahead of Eli Manning? Money? Bravery? I have no problem with it. I have no problem with it. I think it's perfectly fine to go with Derek Carr over Manning,

and I've been shuffling my rankings around. We talk through this a lot almost every Tuesday. So by the end of the day, you may see Carr and Minshew ahead of Eli. All right. And then after that, so the top three. Oh, you know what? I think we need to throw in a couple players here that are owned in more than 65% of leagues before we go any further.

So Tannehill is going to be number one regardless. But where would you rank Philip Rivers against Minnesota and Jacoby Brissett at New Orleans? Behind Tannehill and probably behind Carr and Eli. Okay. Yeah, so that's why the Sheldon Rankin's injury is kind of interesting to me because Brissett, as I illustrated last week and it continued, has been really good whenever Marlon Mack has struggled to run the ball, whenever Mack has had 50 or fewer rushing yards, which could happen again against the Saints run defense if they're healthy. You might need to be chasing points there. So Brissette's kind of interesting. Is he like a top 15 kind of guy this week? Yep.

There's a bunch of guys that you get past really like seven or eight. You can make an argument for 10 guys that could be in the top 12, in that 8 to 12 range. So he's a top 15 guy, yeah. I guess that's probably the easiest way to describe it. Okay. That's Brissette. So again, Tannehill, Eli, Carr, Gardner Minshew

facing Derek Carr and the Raiders. The Raiders give up the second most fantasy points to quarterbacks, but he's struggling a little bit. How do you feel about Gardner Minshew? It's one of those, you know, there's two quarterbacks. You look at Minshew against the Raiders, and great matchup. No Chark, like you said.

He's been struggling, but it seems as if every quarterback does well against Oakland. The other one is Trubisky, who's playing great, but bad track record against the Packers. So do you ride somebody, let's say, like the hot hand of Trubisky and hope that it continues against Green Bay? Or do you trust the matchup and go with Minshew? In this case, I'd probably go Minshew over Trubisky. Okay. Yeah, it's Trubishew over Trubisky. Okay. Yeah, it's Trubisky. Trubisky's on this list as well. So after Minshew,

I think it's Ryan Fitzpatrick at the Giants. If Devontae Parker plays, is he the second best quarterback on the waiver wireless? Yes. Yes. You'd get those former Dolphins and current Dolphins. So please come back.

Please, Devontae Parker. Come back. The Giants, they're so bad defensively. Mitchell Trubisky. So yeah, all right. Let's talk about this. The Packers actually allow the fourth fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks. In my opinion, they have been one of the luckiest teams, though.

So they give up the eighth most yards per attempt. They just don't give up a lot of touchdowns. All of the good quarterbacks pretty much have done well against the Packers. I mean, you can look at, like, Kirk Cousins had 10 fantasy points, but that was back early in the season when he wasn't throwing. Good quarterbacks have done pretty well. Trubisky's playing great. You're saying avoid, most likely.

He doesn't have a good history against the Packers. He's averaging 15 fantasy points against them in four meetings. He's had one game in Lambeau Field. He did not play well. And this is typically a spot where Bears quarterbacks struggle. Most of it has been Jay Cutler, if you just look at recent history. But I just think that the Packers defense is going to play well enough to keep Trubisky

contained. Limited production. I've seen enough of him to say that he's played much better. You know, this is not taking anything away from Trubisky. And if you want to start him, I think he's in that conversation of guys that you don't necessarily have to run away from. But of the four games where he's done well, two of them have been against Detroit and one against the Giants. You know, so three of the four where he's done well, that's who he's done it against.

So let's just take that into account. Those are three of the, you know, easiest matchups or two of the easiest matchups, three of the easiest games that he'll probably will have over the course of maybe his career. Yeah, well, what's encouraging for Trubisky is the 10 carries for 63 yards and a touchdown. If he does that, then we're in business here

and he'll get Kansas City at home in Week 16. If he keeps running, then I'll be much more interested in him. But there's not enough of a track record of him running. It was like, oh, my gosh, he actually ran. So that's kind of, you know, we need to see more of that. Drew Locke. He ran for 11 yards in the first meeting when he was 100% healthy. Right.

Drew Locke, I know it's tough to trust him but he had he's coming off a good game he's at kansas city he's gonna be pretty low on the list uh but would you how many of these guys would you start over josh allen at pittsburgh this week all of them really even drew lock um not drew lock okay But you basically Fitzpatrick, uh, Sam Darnold, we can get away from, how about like Tom Brady or the waiver wire? And let's take Tannehill out of the equation. So,

cause we know he's ahead of almost everyone. So Tom, Manning and Minshew and all that. It's just, I, I mean, what, what faith do you have in,

in Brady at this point? I know the Bengals are bad. I don't think he's going to play poorly, but I don't know where the ceiling is with him anymore. How about Jared Goff at Dallas? I like Jared Goff this week.

I don't think the Cowboys defense is playing very well. They're not. He's rolling right now. Boy, did he look great. 19 fantasy points, but still just look great. We talked about it on Monday's show if you want to listen to that. All right, so that's pretty much quarterback. There you go.

Let's go to running back after I tell you about SeatGeek, everybody. So you know how it works. You used to have to go find all these different sites and compare the prices yourself and try to find the best deals. And you shouldn't have to do that. You should let somebody do that for you. SeatGeek does all that work for you. Just search for an event on SeatGeek. They bring in tickets from all over the web and they grade them based on value. And you look at the seating map of the venue and you see all these dots and there's some red dots. You want

to avoid those. There's some big green dots. Those are the best ones. These big dark green dots that say these values are incredible. Go get these seats on SeatGeek. And of course, save $10 off your first purchase with the promo code FFT. But that's the only app I use. It's just so much easier than the other apps. The reviews are great. Over 50,000 five-star reviews in the App Store for SeatGeek. So you need to be using it and you need to be saving money.

$10 off your first SeatGeek purchase with the promo code FFT. And look, I give you these personal endorsements all the time, but I also get emails and tweets from listeners saying, hey, I use the SeatGeek app. I found these great seats. They were so inexpensive. I saved money. Thank you so much. So thank you for supporting SeatGeek. Thanks SeatGeek for supporting our show. And make sure you use that promo code FFT for $10 off your first purchase on SeatGeek. So let's talk about the running backs, Jamie. DeAndre Washington's 4% owned. Now he ran more routes than Jalen Richard, eight more routes. He caught six passes for 43 yards. He had 14 carries for 53 yards in a touchdown against Tennessee. And now he faces the Jaguars who give up 5.5 yards per

carry to running backs. They are giving up 35 points per game in their last five games. They're just terrible. Five 100-yard rushers in those last six games. My only question is this. I think we were a little surprised to see six catches for 43 yards from Washington. Should you pick him up thinking, if I get passing game production, that's a bonus, but I'm not expecting it? What do you think? I think that's fair. I would probably ballpark it like three catches as the ceiling

is what I would have told you going into the game last week. But they clearly trust him. And, you know, I think the thing that I was curious to see was because I did not think that Tennessee would run away from them early, just knowing how Tennessee's offense typically has been. I was surprised at the second half. I was surprised that the game was tied at the first half. I thought it'd be, you know, seven point lead or something for the Titans. And then I was surprised that the Titans just

pulled away to the extent that they did in the second half. But I think you're just looking at it that they seem to have a little bit more faith in him in stepping into Jacob's role and using him as a three down guy. So unless the Jaguars come in and all of a sudden put up this huge number i think it'll still be washington leading the way in terms of touches and being still involved in the passing game so i'm i'm highly encouraged you know this is just the it's the last game in oakland ever and i think they're going to go out with a win and i think they're going to go out with washington being one of their key guys this week all. Raheem Mostert is second on your list, and he would be a terrific add as well.

To be honest with you, though, the Falcons' run defense has been pretty damn good lately. Chris Carson's the only running back in Atlanta's last five games to have double-digit fantasy points in non-PPR. They've done well against Kenyon Drake and Alvin Kamara. They just crushed, although Latavius Murray had a good game. They've done well against Aaron Jones and Mark Ingram.

I don't know that it matters. I mean, Raheem Mostert is on fire. So is he a good start this week, do you think? I think you buy into him. I'm just concerned. He looks the best of the 49ers running backs. That goes without saying after watching last week's game. But he still had, what, 10 carries in that game?

Yeah, 10 carries, 69 yards and a touchdown 10 carries, 69 yards, and a touchdown. Two catches for 40 yards and a touchdown, which was a little fluky. It's 100% fluky. It was the Emmanuel Sanders to Mostert play. You also have, they gave Tevin Coleman some red zone touches. So could he be the one that scores the touchdown against his former team if the game's in hand? So I think if you know you're

looking at it from the landscape of did i pick up raheem most or can i still pick him up would i trust him comes down to who you have on your team um but i would not be surprised to start him over barkley no not against miami no okay i'm sorry i had to ask would you you start DeAndre? I have such little confidence in Barkley right now. No, I don't think I would. I don't think I would because of the touches. Yeah, it's Miami. Blaupau was good enough. Raheem Mostert.

Sorry, would you start DeAndre Washington over Saquon Barkley? I would. Okay. No, I'm sorry. No, I wouldn't. Here's the guys I'd start him over that are name-worthy. I'd start him over Kamara, and I'd start him over Leonard Fournette. Woo!

Whoa! Wow! Whoa! All right, well, hopefully— What have those two guys done to inspire confidence in you in recent weeks? Well, Fournette typically catches like six to seven passes. Kamara, like, coming off a horrible game. But before that, he was a PPR stud and just needed to score some touchdowns.

Oh, I'm sorry. Non-PPR for Washington. Okay. That's fair. Yeah. Adrian Peterson. Peterson facing the Eagles and then the Giants his next two games. So he's probably not going to have Geis in either game.

Definitely not this week. those are good run defenses so Peterson you know top 24 this week top 24 non-PPR just outside in PPR I think Chris Thompson you saw last week was was heavily involved and I think he'll be this in the same case again this week yeah if I'm in a PPR league am I picking up Peterson or Chris Thompson? It's probably safer to pick up Thompson, but Peterson, like you said, he's gotten so much work in Bill Callahan's offense that it's hard to overlook that without guys being there. All right, next up on the running back waiver wireless,

Benny Snell, Patrick Laird, and then the Thompson twins, Darwin Thompson and Chris Thompson. And Snell, I think, I mean, I'm expecting James Conner to play. Are you? I'm expecting Conner to play, so I should probably reorder that with Snell behind these guys.

Giants run defense. I mean, I want to tell this great story about how good they've been since acquiring Leonard Williams. Boston Scott kind of screwed it up last night, and Leonard Williams did not play enough snaps. I don't understand what that was about. I think it's more of a passing game versus running game. So Laird in the passing game will be better than what he does running the ball, clearly.

He's better PPR than non-PPR. He had 19 touches last week, so that's a pretty sneaky player right there. 31% on it. I really like him for Week 16 against the Bengals. So keep an eye on that for Patrick Laird, Darwin Thompson, and Chris Thompson. And Boston Scott is also on this list. Do you...

Okay, you want to talk to me about Darwin Thompson, Chris Thompson, and Boston Scott? Well, I think you look at Scott, you know, in PPR leagues, it feels as if the Eagles found a guy that they could, you know, trust, especially if their receiving core is as banged feels as if the Eagles found a guy that they could trust, especially if their receiving core is as banged up as it looks like it's going to be. So I think in PPR leagues, he's

certainly somebody you want to consider as maybe a flex. Darwin Thompson, we got the reports before the game that they wanted to increase his workload. We saw that a little bit. Now the game didn't necessarily go, I think, the way the Chiefs may have hoped in trying to get Thompson a little bit more work. He had a bad drop. But they just seemed to want to cap LaShawn McCoy's touches.

And in a game where they could be playing with a lead, as we saw two weeks ago, Thompson could be the guy if Damian Williams remains out. And then Chris Thompson, you know, just sharing the ball with Adrian Peterson now without Darius Geis there could be good for him, especially in a situation where they could be chasing points as well. By the way, if you're the James Conner owner and he does play Sunday night against Buffalo, first Sunday night game for Buffalo in 11 years or something crazy like that. In 2007.

Are you going to be all systems go with James Conner? Is he a start or do you think that the Conner owner needs to also be active on the waiver wire and not necessarily just throw him back in the lineup? I'd much rather have DeAndre Washington than James Conner. I'd probably start Mostert over James Conner at this point. And the last time we saw him play, it was supposed to be all systems go,

and he got one hit to the shoulder. And we all saw him saying, my shoulder, my shoulder. And he came out of the game. We haven't seen him since. So you have to worry about that. Absolutely. He'll probably be in the 20s for me in both formats, a little bit better in PPR than non-PPR. I'm going to give you a few more names, some of them widely owned. LaShawn McCoy,

any interest in him against Denver? They're giving up 4.55 yards per carry to running backs in their last three games, kind of falling apart a little bit. So that's McCoy. Bo Scarborough, if he's healthy. Matt Breida, and then Deion lewis i guess is more of a handcuff and even jalen richard any interest in those guys mccoy is fine you know i i think you just you have to hope he finds the end zone it's just a matter of um how much work he'll get and what he'll do with it this was the first game that we saw that Damian Williams did not play where a Chiefs running back did not score. And in all the previous four times, it was two running backs scoring.

So the Patriots' run defense has been very good in terms of keeping guys out of the end zone. The Broncos, not to the same level, although they did look better last week, but take that into account. It was the Texans chasing points. So I think McCoy is in the flex conversation, better this week than he was last week, but not a slam dunk by any stretch.

Okay. And would you drop LeSean McCoy for Adrian Peterson? In non-PPR, yes. In PPR, no. All right. So I'm going to give you some quick names for week 16 if you're looking ahead. Not the best list right now. Gardner Minshew at Atlanta. Ryan Tannehill against the Saints. Daniel Jones at Washington. Ryan Fitzpatrick against the Bengals. And look, maybe Devontae Parker misses only one game.

Maybe misses none. But Fitzpatrick could be great at home against the Bengals. Patrick Laird against the Bengals. Maybe Drew Locke against Detroit. And yeah, that's pretty much all I have for right now. Maybe tomorrow we'll look a little bit more into it and we're going to take a quick break here. When we come back, we'll talk about wide receivers,

Zach Paschal and Darius Slayton and A.J. Brown and D.D. Westbrook and the rest right after this quick break on Fantasy Football today. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage. For more than 65 years, Securian Canada has been helping Canadians build secure tomorrows. Their insurance solutions are designed to help protect you and your loved ones financially,

giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations. Or visit SecurianCanada.ca Securian Canada. Insurance designed for life. Jamie, how much do you like Zach Paschal this week? I think my only concern is, will he see

Marshawn Lattimore? He might. I think you just gotta buy into the two-game sample size that we have without T.Y. Hilton on the field and anticipate chasing points. What we've seen from the Saints in primetime games where the opponent, what they tend to do, just where it's like a 40-20 victory for them,

which I think is something that could happen this week. And I think Pascal is absolutely worth trusting as a number two receiver. Yep, and it's not just the last two games. He's played five games without T.Y. Hilton with Jacoby Brissett. And in four of those five games, he has 72 or more yards. So that's pretty damn good.

And he has 19 targets in his last two games. You should know this, though. There really, since the very beginning of the season, there really have been almost no wide receivers who have done well against the Saints without nine or more targets. So he might against the Saints without nine or more targets. So he might have to get maybe eight or more targets, and I think he's got a pretty good chance to do it.

He's done it two games in a row. So Paschal, a big priority. Like, who would you rather have as a flex this week, Paschal or Mostert? Probably Mostert, just because I'm anticipating the 49ers being a heavy home favorite and probably playing with the lead.

And I think he's either going to help them get there, or he could be the guy helping close out the game. But the wild card is Tevin Coleman, because I could see Kyle Shanahan saying, all right, Tevin, you get 10 carries this week. It's just such an unknown with this team. That would be a bad mistake if he did that. Wild card's Breida, too. Yeah, there's a lot of wild cards there. Both. That's what I'm saying. Both of those guys.

A.J. Brown, number two on your list. Anthony Miller, number three. A.J. Brown is facing Houston. They have been struggling. Anthony Miller is at Green Bay. Allows the 10th fewest fantasy points to wide receivers.

Interesting matchup, I'll say that. Kevin King didn't play last week. DeeDee Westbrook is four for you at Oakland. And Cole Beasley is just on fire. Cole Beasley. He really is. I asked this question to Evan Washburn, who's our CBS Sports NFL reporter,

does sideline work for us on the network. And he was at the Ravens-Bills game. And I asked him, has Beasley passed John Brown as the best wide receiver? And when I asked that question, I said before the segment started, I said, Heath, I'm going to ask him a question. You're going to look at me like I have three heads. And he did because he loves John Brown, obviously. But it's just hard to overlook what he's been doing lately. And as teams are taking away John Brown, you're But it's just hard to overlook what he's been doing lately. And as teams are taking away John Brown, you're seeing Cole Beasley become a very reliable option for Josh Allen.

And I think even in a tough matchup this week against the Steelers, I'll still trust him as a number three receiver in PPR. Don't love him as much in non-PPR. But his floor has been pretty solid all season long. We're starting to see what the ceiling has been. So actually, you look at the slot receivers that the Steelers have faced recently, and I put Pascal on that list, but I probably shouldn't because he plays inside. He's not exactly a slot receiver. We'll start with the last five slot receivers that the Steelers have faced.

Robert Woods, seven catches for 95 yards. Jarvis Landry, 43 yards and a touchdown. Tyler Boyd, 101 yards and a touchdown. Landry, again, 76 yards. And Larry Fitzgerald was bad. But it's four of the last five slot receivers. But they moved Kirk inside too. Yeah, and he had a good game.

Okay, so it seems like Pittsburgh's been pretty bad against inside receivers. And it also seems like the last three weeks, John Brown's had tough matchups. And the Steelers' corners are pretty good. Joe Hayden will probably get John Brown, and maybe Cole Beasley. Matchups don't seem to matter for him, but he's obviously risky because he had 29 yards last week, but he's been scoring a lot lately. 70 yards or a touchdown in seven of his last eight games. And then here's a really sneaky guy this week is Nelson Aguilar.

I'm glad you put him on this list. I would have totally forgotten about him, but it doesn't seem like Alshon Jeffries is going to play. So if Aguilar does play, what would you expect from him? Because he might get 10 targets. I would like him a lot, and I think he would be a potential starter. We've seen it time and time again. You go back early this season, I believe it was weeks two and week three,

when Jeffrey was out and Jackson was out and you saw Aguilar just have some monster performances. They have nobody. I mean, they really have nobody. It's, you know, for you as a Giants fan, if you were actually trying to be concerned about winning that game. I was.

That there were, well, you're the only one. That there were guys, you know, the only one, that there were guys basically off the street and they leave Zach Ertz wide open. I would have put four guys on Zach Ertz and say, okay,

throw it to anybody else and see if they catch it. Ridiculous. There's just nobody in this receiving core. I would not be surprised. I don't think Jordan Matthews got picked up.

I would not be surprised after they released him. I would not be surprised if we find out that that's a transaction that happens. I believe Matt Collins got picked up by the Dolphins. So the guys who have been on their team the last few weeks are no longer there. So if Jeffrey's out and you have to, at this point, anticipate that he's not going to be there, if Aguilar is

able to come back, he's risky, clearly, but the track record speaks for itself that when he's the only guy, he does well. Are we looking at a top five or six here? It's off the count. Paschal, A.J. Brown, Anthony Miller, D.D. Westbrook, Cole Beasley, Nelson Aguilar, and then a drop after that, and we're going to start talking about deeper league guys?

It's interesting because there's two scenarios at play here with injury replacements. I guess maybe three. You look at Russell Gage and what he's been able to do when there's been somebody missing for Atlanta, whether it was Julio Jones on Thanksgiving or when Austin Hooper first went down after the Sanu trade. So he's in play here as somebody you can maybe pivot to. You have the two guys in Tampa Bay without Mike Evans there in a great matchup against Detroit. Whether it's going to be Justin Watson or Brashad Perryman, that's the gamble because

Perryman clearly is the big play threat and has been playing more. But Watson looked better in this game this past week and had much more involvement. And then you have the two guys in Miami, Alan Hearns and Isaiah Ford. Would you trust those guys? And also a great matchup against the Giants. Hearns has been playing more. Ford had a very nice game this past week against the Jets. But like you said, probably more deep league options. Marcus Johnson as well, in a scenario

where they're probably chasing points against the Saints for the Colts. Okay. So again, just to give those names again, Tampa Bay, Justin Watson and Brashad Perryman. In Miami, Alan Hearns and Isaiah Ford. Russell Gage for the Falcons. I do wonder if Christian Blake would get more playing time as well

since he kind of filled in for Julio Jones, so maybe he'd fill in for Calvin Ridley. Chris Conley is also interesting. I mean, Conley oftentimes gets as many targets as D.D. Westbrook. I really like D.D. Westbrook this week. How do you feel about him? You have him fourth behind Pascal, Brown, and Miller. I just like those three guys a lot with the way they've been playing.

But yeah, Westbrook is absolutely in the conversation. This is a guy who's put up some good numbers of late. And like you said, he's sort of been on and off, whether it's been Conley or Westbrook, depending on the quarterback and how those guys have sort of operated. But I think there is a clear top four. I like Westbrook more in PPR than non-PPR, but if I do have the chance to pick up D.D. Westbrook,

I would pick him up and I would consider starting him. Two more wide receiver questions. One, how can you trust A.J. Brown? He's so inconsistent. Matchup is fantastic, and you see what the ceiling can be when he's running free against a defense that stinks. So take that into account for the Jaguars

guys. But he's been the one constant in this passing game for Ryan Tannehill since he's taken over. From a production standpoint, you like to see more than the cap at about seven targets. I don't think he's been over that in the seven games that Tannehill has started. But six or seven targets has kind of

been enough for him to have some pretty good production and in some cases, great production. So when you're trying to win a league, these are the type of guys that you hope to see. Matchups great, production has been there. And so in the case of Pascal, in the case of Miller, in the case of Westbrook, these are the type of guys you sort of build around. And I think A.J. Brown is right in that conversation. And then how would you rank these three guys with these top wide receivers on waivers? Terry McLaurin, Mike Williams, and Darius Slayton. McLaurin gets the Phillies, the Eagles. Mike Williams, Minnesota, and Darius Slayton, the Dolphins. They're all behind the first three guys. They're in the mix with D.D. Westbrook,

depending on format. So I think Westbrook's better than those three guys in PPR. In non-PPR, I would take Slayton over those guys, over Westbrook, excuse me, behind those guys, and McLaurin as well. You know, McLaurin's clearly a wild card. It's a great matchup against Philly, but you're still talking about Dwayne Haskins having to withstand the pass rush of what the Philly defense will bring to him. And I think he's going to struggle in that regard. I'm guessing you're not that interested in Robbie Anderson this week. He's 73% on. No.

Yeah, no, no, no. Okay. All right, Jamie, let's talk about tight ends then. So who's your favorite tight end this week? Who are your favorite three tight ends? Higby, without a doubt. Even if Everett comes back, I think at this point, he's sort of established himself as the guy in this passing game. And I think you've seen he's replaced Brandon Cooks as the main option there.

And Ian Thomas is not far behind him. You know, I have both guys ranked in my top 10. I've seen enough of Ian Thomas the last, you know, few games last year and the two games that he's, you know, one, stepping in for Greg Olson two weeks ago and what he did last week, to buy in fully to him as a starter against a Seattle defense that has not played well against that position. I like the, you know, this is kind of why I'm a little hesitant

with Justin Watson and Rashad Perryman. I think O.J. Howard has shown you that they're going to use him a little bit more. And I think, you know, he benefits because he can split out and play like a wide receiver. He's, he's athletic enough to do that. So I love the setup for him against Detroit. Another guy that's a top 10 option for me. And then Hayden Hurst, look, you know what Lamar Jackson has done. He leans on his tight ends. We saw the big play against Buffalo. And, uh, if Mark Andrews is out against the jets, I know the jets did a good job against Mike Gusecki in keeping him contained. But I still think if Jamal Adams is out,

which is most likely going to be the case, with what Lamar Jackson does, assuming Jackson plays, that Hurst is somebody you can pivot to as well if you're the Mark Andrews owner. But Higby is by far the number one guy for me. Yeah. All right, let's debate a little bit. So first of all, with Higby,

I totally see it if Everett's out. But if Everett's in, I'm not sure that Higby has established himself as the passing guy because that's what we thought Everett was. I mean, we were talking about Everett this way just a few weeks ago. I don't think the Rams mess with what's working right now.

I honestly don't. He looks really good, doesn't he? He's like galloping all over the field. He looks amazing. And to be fair, Everett did too when he was getting these opportunities. So it's just a matter of, you know, I'm curious to see what the Rams are going to do coming back in 2020 because this offense has to be a little bit retooled,

offensive line, obviously, you know, and some other things. But can they have four guys that produce at a high level? I mean, I'm sure they feel that way if, if cooks is right with the concussions and the injuries that the receivers have dealt with over the last couple of seasons, but they found two tight ends that could be players for them. And so, um, I, I hope they, they feature them a little bit more, maybe one over the other for our purposes. So we have a tight end we can use. But, you know, this makes Jared Goff much more attractive in 2020

if that offensive line can get fixed a little bit in the offseason. O.J. Howard, look, I think you got to, he had four catches for 73 yards. We know what he can do. Mike Evans isn't going to play and they're facing Detroit, who actually, I wish they'd been a little bit worse

against Kyle Rudolph last week. But, you know, they've done a decent job in their last four games against tight ends. That was after giving up a touchdown in four straight games to tight ends. Two of those were against the Bears, though, that don't feature that position. That's true. Wasn't the Bears one of the teams that actually did score a touchdown against them? Yeah, it was horse dead on basically like a Hail Mary. So the other thing with Howard is Jameis Winston's got a broken hand.

So we've just got to keep that in mind but and then with Hayden Hurst like not saying you're wrong but why did you go with Hurst instead of Boyle because I feel like it could be either one could be both yeah I again another question I asked Evan who was at the game and you know he said in talking to the coaching staff

and I think we've seen it you know Boyle is more of the blocking tight end that gets the occasional you know sometimes there's a there's a four or five target game in there and we saw that you know in the middle of the season but hearst profiles more as the mark andrews role you know the the move tight end the guy that they can split out and do some different things with he's much more athletic um and he was drafted remember this was the the draft where they got jackson and the two tight ends and it was supposed to be hearst he was there he took they took him over jackson you know so he was he ends, and it was supposed to be Hurst. They took him over Jackson. So he was the guy that was supposed to be their pass-catching tight end.

And so I just think that he'll be more involved in what Andrews does and a better option, more big plays. Boyle could be better. Boyle scored a touchdown against the Bills as well. But I just think that Hurst would be the one that I would prefer. You know who you're too low on? Mike Gasicki. Mike Gasicki, move him on up, Jamie.

Coming off a terrible game, I get it, but he's got to get some targets if Devontae Parker's out. Giants, we knew they were phonies. They can't cover tight ends. Give me a break. So I'd be looking at him. He's 52% owned. You got Caden Smith on this list. He's 4% owned.

You got Jacob Hollister. Now, if you don't want Jacob Hollister this week, that's fine. Carolina's been good against tight ends, I guess. They haven't really faced a lot of good ones. Next week, he's got Arizona. Week 16, Jacob Hollister for the win. But let's talk about Gusecki, Caden Smith, and Jacob Hollister. Yeah, I probably should have Gusecki higher.

I think I sent you guys this list before the game was over last night. yeah, I mean, the matchup's fantastic, and yeah, he should see certainly an uptick in targets, and you know, sometimes we get a little bit frustrated when the previous game is not so good, but yeah, this is a prime

bounce-back spot for Gusecki, and hopefully he delivers. So, I'd put him ahead of bounce-back spot for Gusecki, and hopefully he delivers. So I'd put him ahead of Ian Thomas. Whoa, Gusecki too! Yep. Yeah, no, look, I think that makes perfect sense. How about these three guys? Noah Fant at Kansas City. They allow the fifth most fantasy points

to tight ends. Josh Hill against the Colts, assuming Jared Cook is out. It's a Monday night game. And Nick Boyle, not Nick Boyle, David Njoku at Arizona. It's a great week for tight ends. It really is, you know, with some of these options. Hopefully Njoku, you know, shook off the rust from the wrist injury and gets a little bit more involved,

which would be great because the Cardinals are bad. And, you know, I know people will point to last week and say, well, the Steelers didn't have the touchdown against the, the, the Cardinals, but Vance McDonald left with a concussion. So we don't know how that game would have unfolded. And then Josh L is, is interesting. He scored last week.

You saw Jared cook was, was heavily involved. He's been fantastic. And they've been sort of searching for that third option to help out Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara in the passing game. It's been cook. So I think he's got, he's got an opportunity to also be successful.

Fant makes me a little bit nervous, not only just because going into Arrowhead with Drew Locke, but he's also got a foot injury that he's fighting through. He's expected to be fine, but I don't know if I want to trust Noah Fant just yet. All right, just a quick what about these guys. Kyle Rudolph. Rudolph is at the Chargers.

Jason Witten against the Rams. Thielen's expected to return. So I think that's going to kill Kyle Rudolph's appeal. Plus you're talking about a Chargers team that is getting fully healthy. The guys that were suspended are coming back. And

since Derwin James has been back, I think that defense is going to look really, really good. It's unfortunate that they didn't have these guys all season long because I think they really would have been a playoff contender, and you've seen it. I think Kirk Cousins is going to have a bad game. Yeah, it's a tough week. He's been pretty damn good, but it's a tough week.

Jason Witten, nobody's ever really excited about him. You don't want a Bears tight end at Green Bay, do you? They just don't think they have one you can trust. Jesper would be my favorite, but it's not even ranked for me. Johnnie Smith against Houston? No. Okay. We talked about DSDs earlier.

The Seahawks are at Carolina. Five of the last seven teams to face the Panthers have had either good or great games. Seahawks' defense isn't great, but they got a chance there. The Chargers against Minnesota. Minnesota's not a good matchup. Cousins hasn't been throwing interceptions, and they allow the six fewest fantasy points to DST. The Chargers are solid now, but we like the Chiefs.

Chiefs against Denver. Chiefs have been good three games in a row. Chargers in Mexico, the Raiders at home, and then at the Patriots. So a little resurgent defense under Steve Spagnuolo. What about these DSTs? Giants or Dolphins facing each other? Eh, it's just not enough talent. That's why I think the offenses should play well.

Detroit against Tampa Bay. No. Or Tampa Bay. No. Or Tampa Bay against Detroit. No. Would you stick with the Eagles at Washington this week? Yeah. Low end starter. Eagles or Chiefs?

Chiefs. Sorry to interrupt you there. Packers against the Bears or the Chiefs. Sorry to interrupt you there. Packers against the Bears or the Chiefs? Chiefs. All right. How do you feel about the Steelers against the Bills? Love them. Really?

Okay. Well, you know, I feel good about that because that was a team like six weeks ago that we were calling a league winner, the Steelers DST, and they really have not disappointed. We saw Josh Allen get beat up. He was limping around that game against the Ravens. This is a very similar defense. It's unfortunate that Allen's been such a good fantasy quarterback

and he's really looked the part of being a potential franchise quarterback and star. But you're starting to see the next evolution for him and this team when they're facing these tough defenses like Baltimore last week and Pittsburgh this week where I think he's going to have some tough opportunities. All right, if you need a kicker this week, you can look at Robbie Gold against Atlanta. He had a pretty big field goal last week. Jason Myers at Carolina. Nick Folk at Cincinnati. Nick Folk's not

very good, and they kind of didn't trust him last week. I'm also looking at Chase McLaughlin. He's on the Colts now, and I don't know what Vinatieri's status is, but McLaughlin was not bad with the Niners, and he had two of three field goals at Tampa Bay.

The thing is with kickers, you don't have to make these decisions on Tuesday. You shouldn't burn a waiver wire priority just in case somebody really good gets dropped on a kicker. But you should look for indoor kickers this week or guys that aren't going to be affected by weather because that's just not saying you should drop Harrison Butker for Chase McLaughlin or something,

but these are decisions you can honestly make on Saturday night or Sunday morning, but just something to keep in mind. So in conclusion, go get yourself DeAndre Washington and Ryan Tannehill and Raheem Mostert and maybe even Patrick Laird, who had 19 touches last week and gets the Bengals in Week 16. Zach Paschal should be really good. DeeDee Westbrook, A.J. Brown. The tight ends are loaded with Tyler Higbee and Mike Kosicki and Ian Thomas headlining

the list. DST, not so much, but we like the Chiefs. And that's pretty much it. Jamie, goodbye. Good show. Talk to you tomorrow or Thursday for you, I guess. Yes, on Thursday. And if you need any more help, you can check out CBS Sports HQ all day.

And you can tweet us and email us and join our Facebook group for more help as well. Thanks a lot to Jamie Isenberg. I'm Adam Azer. Good luck on the waiver wire. Talk to you tomorrow.