Fantasy Football Today - 12/14: Mailbag! (Recorded Fri.) (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 14, 2019

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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Okay, a lot of pressure on Ben Gretsch today. We've got like 50 questions for him to answer. We're going to review how he does after the show. He is only allowed to get five wrong. And that's the situation, Ben. How do you feel about that? I feel pretty good about it.

I feel prepared. I feel warmed up, loose. I feel like we're going to have a good show today. I feel like we're going to have a good show too. i think getting 45 out of 50 is never gonna happen but it's not gonna happen we'll give it a shot you know we'll give it a shot welcome everybody what's going on this is 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, and hottest way to pick up a pizza without even going to the register.

Alright, so Apple Podcasts, emails, fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. We'll be reading your questions and helping you get your line upset. A lot of questions about Patrick Laird, about Zach Paschal, about Devin Singletary,

Raheem Mostert. So let's do it with some news and notes first. Ben, Devontae Parker looks like he might play. I made a fairly bold call on the podcast on Friday. I said, if Devontae Parker plays, then of all the quarterbacks who have Ryan in their first or last name, Ryan Fitzpatrick is my favorite quarterback this week. How do you feel about that?

I don't hate it. I mean, I don't hate Fitzpatrick as a downfield guy. There's going to be a little bit of wind in that game, which is not ideal. I'm kind of like lukewarm on Fitzpatrick. I played him a lot in DFS last week. I think he's a fine upside play most weeks, but a little worried about the weather,

something to monitor. Okay, let's monitor that weather then, and that's Dolphins at Giants, but if Devontae Parker plays, all of a sudden you've got another good wide receiver option, for those of you who've been asking about Devontae Parker, and it makes Fitzpatrick obviously better. More news items to get to.

John Ross is going to play. I get the emails in one of the podcast listeners only league, and I did see that Ben picked up John Ross, which did crack me up a little bit. Yeah, I think I ended up just cutting him for Kerryon Johnson in case I get him in the championship. No, I'm a John Ross truther, like big time

John Ross truther. So yeah, I think he could be, it'll be interesting to see what he does this week. I'm not going to use him, but against Miami next week in week 16, there's an outside chance that he might be – it'll be interesting to see what he does this week. I'm not going to use him, but against Miami next week in Week 16, there's an outside chance that he might be somebody to be looking at next week. Yeah, beat the waiver wire, by the way. We did it on Friday, but I did not include Kerryon Johnson. But he is probably going to play next week, it seems.

They're at Denver. Denver, you know, for the season, very good against the run. Lately, not so much. So, Kerryon Johnson is someone that you might want to pick up, even if you're just playing some defense. David Njoku's going to play. He's not ranked that high, even though he has the dream matchup against Arizona. Evan Ingram is out.

So, you could still go with Caden Smith, if you so choose. David Njoku or Caden Smith, who's a better tight end flyer? Oh, I don't want to play either of them. I'd play Caden Smith first. He'll play all the snaps. Njoku didn't even play the most tight end snaps last week, so he's not the guy. All right, Jameis Winston is going to start.

Alexander Madison is out. DJ Chark is out. Greg Olson is out. Ian Thomas is a much better option than Njoku and Caden Smith. Go get Ian Thomas. And Juju Smith-Schuster, not expected to play. And with that, we're going to jump right into your Apple Podcast questions. Ben doesn't like when I do this, but I'm going to do it anyway.

I gave him the questions I'm going to read. I suspect there are more that have come in, so I'm going to go to Apple Podcasts now and get some more queued up while we read these. This is from Sankority. Sankority. Sancharity. I don't like when you throw new questions in.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's fair, but you also sent the questions like two minutes before the show that's not true oh falsified information i sent them like a good 15 minutes before yeah uh whence brissette or drew lock this week i'm gonna go once i think pretty easily i don't play lock well it was all yards after the catch last week like they're playing a really conservative style offense. He's keeping a lot of his throws around the line of scrimmage. He had a very good stat line, but he's not someone that I want to play.

I think Wentz over Bursette. Okay, Sean from Canton, Michigan. DST, the Eagles, the Chargers, or the Giants? Yeah, I want to play the Eagles against Washington more than I want to play the Giants against Miami, and it's not the Chargers okay so Eagles for you yeah from Scooter Mostert Waller Pascal Juju and Tyrell Williams Mostert Waller Pascal Juju Tyrell Williams so Juju's not not gonna play it's not

gonna be Pascal or Tyrell here uh for me I do like Mostert this week especially with the comments from Kyle Shanahan that he's kind of forced their hand he's gonna have to be pascal or tyrell here uh for me i do like most of this week especially with the comments from kyle shanahan that he's kind of forced their hand he's gonna have to be the lead so it would be really tough for me between him and waller i think i would lean uh towards most are expecting him to be the lead guy yeah i'm cool with that i think in ppr i'd probably still go waller because he really might have like five more catches than most sure but those are the two that really pop there from podcast dad 7 713, 12-team PPR, I need a running back and a flex. James Conner, DeAndre Washington, Patrick Laird,

Sterling Shepard, Zach Paschal. So if Conner plays, he's, and I'm assuming Jacobs is going to play as well. We don't know that for sure, but there's news that he's looked great and sounds like he's going to try to make a go of it. So if Conor plays out, Conor would be the first for me. As far as the flex, it would be between Laird and Paschal in PPR.

I think he can make a pretty good case for Laird. Paschal is probably going to get shadowed by Marshawn Lattimore, but I could also see the case for Laird. Pascal's probably going to get shadowed by Marshawn Lattimore, but I could also see the case for Pascal. Yeah. You know, Laird is probably... I've gotten so many questions about Laird, and I keep saying Laird. So I feel like, in my mind,

he's moved up throughout the week. I just think he's going to be good. But yeah, I'm not saying... I think I'd go Pascal over Laird, but okay. I mean, I'm totally with you. It's between – And, I mean, Shepard's not a bad – not a terrible option either.

Ingram's out again. You're playing the Dolphins. It could be him this week. I just didn't really like what I saw from Eli. I didn't either, man. What's everybody doing with Eli Manning? Yeah. God, he was terrible.

All they did, they made an adjustment. They started playing tighter on the wide receivers, and he threw for 24 yards in the second half. Right. That's what I said on HQ on Friday. I said, have fun. You can have Eli. Have fun. From WakeUp23, Connor or Singletary,

Tannehill or Russell Wilson? I'm going to take Singletary. And look, I know Tannehill's crushing, but and I do think Seattle's going to run aletary. And look, I know Tannehill's crushing, and I do think Seattle's going to run a lot against Carolina. I think you can go Tannehill if you're feeling that. I would have a really hard time. I would play Wilson.

I would have a really hard time sitting Russell Wilson for Ryan Tannehill. Yeah, if somehow, some way, Derek Henry doesn't play because he hasn't been practicing, then I'd like Tannehill more. But I'm definitely the low guy on Tannehill and A.J. Brown this week, which I shouldn't say that in front of you because I know you're the high guy on A.J. Brown, like ever. Yeah, I love him. Yeah, a lot of people do.

I don't blame you. I don't blame you. This is from Brian in New Jersey. Non-PPR, Anthony Miller, Zach Paschal, or Devante Freeman? So non-ppr anthony miller zach paschal or davante freeman so not ppr you want to take the running back but freeman not this one is is not he's not your typical running back he's a ppr back for sure he's got probably some of the biggest splits of any back i'm gonna go paschal from andrew wide receiver two and a flex dig Diggs, Paschal. Jeez, Paschal is like sponsoring the show. Diggs, Paschal, Shepard, Mostert, and Laird.

Diggs, Paschal, Shepard, Mostert, and Laird. Pick a receiver and a flex. I'm playing Diggs. I mean, it's not a great setup against the Chargers who have good cornerbacks and play receivers well, but I'm just a lot more confident in his ability. Even with Thielen back, I would play him. And then Mostert for me as my flex.

From Ya Boy Muck, Tannehill or Mahomes? That's not a real question. Go with Mahomes. From Cold, Kyle Allen or Josh Allen? Yeah, I mean, Josh Allen, tough matchup against the Steelers, but you've got to like his upside more and you know he's gonna run enough like you gotta feel like he's gonna be a better play than kyle allen obviously this is kind of a back of the qb rankings list it might be a super flex league or

something kyle allen not a guy that i want to be trusting. I would honestly, I would gamble on Eli Manning over either of these guys, but I would, I would say that, that Kyle Allen has more upside than Josh Allen. Josh Allen has one game this year with more than 25 fantasy points, six point per passing touchdown leagues. That was against the dolphins. Uh,

Josh, that's Josh Allen. Kyle Allen has, I think two or three games with more than 25 fantasy points. Yeah, I don't think either of these guys is going to go over 25. When I say upside, I guess in this context,

when we're talking about kind of bad options, I'm thinking just the ability to hit 20 because I don't expect it really from either. From Brooke, sit one. Melvin Gordon, James White, Chris Carson, or DeAndre Washington? I think you're sitting Washington. If Jacobs misses, I think you put Washington over Gordon.

I'm not sitting James White or Chris Carson. You're going to sit James White instead of Melvin Gordon? I said that backwards. I said play James White. You're going to sit. Wait. Okay. Okay. Melvin Gordon, James White, Chris Carson, DeAndre Washington. that backwards i said james play james white you're you're gonna sit wait okay okay i okay melvin gordon james white chris carson deandre washington chris carson is the obvious start if jacobs is out deandre washington is another obvious start if if okay in that scenario pick

one to start melvin gordon or james white i'm going to play James White. Okay, that's one of the five that you've gotten wrong. Okay. Fine. I'm going to play James White. I really like him against Cincinnati. I'm assuming PPR. If it's not PPR, you're playing Melvin. But if it's PPR, and I should say,

whenever we don't say the scoring system, that's typically what I'm assuming. That's what I play most of my leagues in. But James White, I think, against the bangles this week sunny michelle has very rarely been playing the bangles can get hit hard by running backs they get beat on the edge more than inside i think that makes a lot of sense for how james white's used they he's he's like their second most reliable receiver right now behind edelman i i feel like he's gonna be very usable that's okay look he could easily outscore Melvin Gordon,

but Gordon's got 17 or more touches in five straight games. Yeah, I mean, he's a hard sit. Hard to walk away from that. All right, obviously non-PPR, you're going to sit James White in that scenario. From Jess B., I need a running back, a wide receiver, and a flex. Miles Sanders, DeAndre Washington, LeSean McCoy. Pick one. back a wide receiver and a flex miles sanders deandre washington leshawn mccoy pick one

oh miles sanders if jacobs is out washington and pick a wide receiver beckham gallop and christian kirk so i like all three of these guys um i think the obvious the obvious play is Beckham. He's banged up, but he's against Arizona. I think you want to play him. Kirk, you know, is going to get a lot of volume. That's a pretty good game scenario. But I really like Gallup, too. I think Ramsey probably is on Cooper a lot. I really like the Dallas-Rams game.

It's my favorite game for DFS this week. So I'm actually going to take Gallup over both of them. Well, you can pick a flex now. You can pick DeAndre Washington, LaShawn McCoy, Beckham, and Kirk. And I'll take Beckham, and I guess I'm sitting Kirk, which I like Kirk, but

he's banged up. He doesn't seem healthy. Yeah, I got to check the status of Damian Williams real quick. Obviously, it's Friday afternoon, so you all listening probably know the status of Damian Williams, but. Obviously, it's Friday afternoon, so you all listening probably know the status of Damian Williams, but he did not practice Friday, so that is not a good sign for him.

That makes LaShawn McCoy pretty interesting. Don't just outright sit LaShawn McCoy. He could have 13 touches like he usually does. Denver's running... No, he doesn't. He gets close. Without Damian Williams. Without Damian Williams.

Yeah, but like last week, they limited him so much. They played Spencer Ware the most snaps. And how many touches did he have? He had 12. He had eight the week before, 11 the week before, four the week before that.

Yeah, but Damian Williams was playing. I'm only looking at... And one game he got hurt, I think, when Damian Williams wasn't playing. So if I'm only looking at the games that williams missed or left with an injury he's usually around 13 the last time he had 13 judges was week eight so but damian williams was playing okay like that's all i'm saying i that's fair yeah all right fine i'll lower it to 12 he just hasn't played over even 40 of the snaps since week eight either or i guess

week seven i'm looking at it here so they've really been limiting him i don't i don't love him so much okay this is from sushi man matt ryan josh allen eli manning or gardner minshu yeah another one where we're looking at some kind of bottom of the barrel guys i i understand eli's playing miami i don't want to trust him uh we already talked about at some kind of bottom of the barrel guys. I understand Eli's playing Miami. I don't want to trust him. We already talked about Allen being kind of tough. Minshew's been up and down. The guy that I think is a little bit underrated this week is Matt Ryan. San Francisco is going to be without Richard Sherman.

They're going to be without Dee Ford. Two really key pieces of their defense. They still have plenty of talent on that defense with Nick Bosa, but the Falcons have thrown uh, have, excuse me, have thrown more passes than any, any team in the NFL. They're probably going to trail, you know, the volume is going to be there. These are not good options. Ryan's the one I feel safest with. I think he's going to throw a lot and I think you'll have a little bit of success with the

Niners D banged up. There are two other defensive backs who are injured for the 49ers. And I, I know one of them is just whiskey tart. The other one is their slot corner. His name is eluding me. I don't know their status, but they could be out at three defensive backs in this game. Matt Ryan is the obvious call in this group of crap.

So go with him for sure. All right, it's time to go rogue and read some questions that Ben does not have in his notes. Here we go. This is from a bunch of numbers one one zero this is like a binary code dear sloth data chunk and mouth oh great ben doesn't even know that reference i definitely don't you don't yeah dude it's goonies okay goonies that's right we've done this before i haven't seen goonies oh okay i forgot so i i'm

still outraged. I'm playing the number two seed. Do I start Fitzpatrick or Kyler Murray? That's tough. I mean, so I mentioned Kirk's kind of banged up. Murray seems kind of banged up too. It's a tough situation. I would go Murray. I still love his upside. I still love his ability to run, but he doesn't look

real healthy. And I do like Fitzpatrick a little bit, but I'm going to go Murray. love his ability to run but he doesn't look real healthy um and i do like fitzpatrick a little bit but i'm gonna go murray yeah if davante parker doesn't play by the way i definitely not going with fitzpatrick oh yeah this is from alf 878 baker mayfield jared goff or carson wentz i'm gonna go golf uh i like mayfield as well in in that matchup with arizona you got to but i think that uh that dallas uh rams game is gonna be high scoring it's got like a 49 over under high over under i think you're gonna see a little bit of back and forth there it's on turf in in dallas no you know weather concerns so i feel i feel pretty good about the way that the rams have been playing lately as well i'm'm so nervous about the Rams. Are you?

I went into it with Dave and Jamie on the Friday show, but the thought of, oh, the Rams are back because they played the Cardinals and then the Seahawks who have a bad pass rush. And like I said, I mean, this is like the fourth time I've said this this week, but if you have a bad pass rush, Jared Goff's going to do well. You know, that to me is kind of a little hasty because I mentioned, you know, Goff had two good games in a row against the Falcons and the Bengals, and then the next three games he scored 11 points combined.

So I'm not quite sure he's back, and the Cowboys probably are getting Jeff Heath, their starting safety back when they've been terrible against David Blau and against Josh Allen and against Mitchell Trubisky, Jeff Heath has been out and he is probably going to play, practicing full on Thursday. So that could make a difference.

Cousins lit them up and Jeff Heath played. So I will, you know, that's obviously, you gotta keep that in mind. I still think the Cowboys defense is pretty crap right now. And I'm going to go with golf. I'm just going to turn my brain off and go with golf and trust everyone else. Like Vegas has it at 49.

You love this game. Dave, Jamie, Heath, everybody seems to love this. I think Heath, everybody loves this game. So I'm just going to love it. But if it doesn't work out. Well, what do you think about Baker? I like Baker a lot i i have i give him a long leash and i forgive him for all his crappy crappiness apparently but i kind of do too i mean

i like him too as a player like and he has had some questionable off the field decisions i think oh yeah no question i look the arizona is the tonic for bad quarterback. It worked for Jared Goff. But I forgot the question. Baker, Goff, or Wentz? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Wentz is an easy sit there.

It's so close between the other two. I'd probably go Goff. You're talking me off Goff a little bit. No, I don't want to do that. That's why I wanted to hear your Baker take. Baker was so bad against the Bengals. It wasn't just like, oh, he played a good game and they didn't score. No, I don't want to do that. I want to hear your Baker take. Baker was so bad against the Bengals. It wasn't just like, oh, he played a good game and they didn't score. No,

he was bad. The Cleveland-Arizona game also has a 45 over-under, also being played in Arizona in a good climate. It's another solid game situation, right? I don't think it's crazy to play at Mayfield either. I would go with Go golf at the end of the

day okay let's read i think i would do more patrick from rhode island uh who would you start out of these four in a 0.25 ppr dj metcalf dk or so dk metcalf dd westbrook zach paschal and slayton pick one metcalf westbrook pas Zach Paschal, and Slayton. Pick one. Metcalf, Westbrook, Paschal, Slayton. I'm playing Westbrook with DJ Chark out. And Minshew has had a low average throw depth for the most part. He's really been at his best down the field throwing to Chark,

but he's liked to be underneath. And with Chark out, I expect a lot of underneath passing to D.D. Westbrook. All right, then. Let's move on. Let's read some emails. Fantasyfootball at CBSi.com. Now, have you ordered a pizza online from Little Caesars yet? If not, you're missing out on Pizza Portal pickup.

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So, what's your weekend looking like, Ben? You gonna have any fun this weekend? I'm just gonna sweat semifinals games all weekend. I played, I have Lamar Jackson in two. I played against him in another. I played against both Ingram and Andrews in one. So, I have some teams where I'm just going to sweat semifinals games all weekend. I have Lamar Jackson in two. I played against him in another. I played against both Ingram and Andrews in one.

So I have some teams where I'm up. I have some teams where I'm down. I have a lot of lineup decisions. I'm going to be digging into more stuff tomorrow. Have you ever done the mall Santa thing with your kids? We've never done that, no. What do you think? Should I do it?

I mean, if you want to I don't think I do I don't really, like, I think it's kind of weird Like, you stay in a line for a really long time He's too young I'm just so bored, I just want to do something Like, I don't have a crappy college football team To watch anymore

We've gone to, like, you know The town center near us Does, like, big Christmas stuff So we've gone to that, but not the town center near us does like big christmas stuff so we've gone to that but not seen the sand like you can go you want to go do something go like there's we've gone ice skating you know what's the weather like where you're at it's uh cold rainy of course it's raining how cold is it like how cold is it it's like in the 40s it's not that gosh why do people live in cold weather? What is wrong with you people?

I want to move. Ask my wife. Look, I want to move too, but I'm stuck in New York. Oh, well. From Stacy, I need two in PPR. That would be Derek Henry, DK Metcalf, Decaf Metcalf, Brashad Perryman, and John Brown. You're playing Henry and...

Decaf. I guess. Yeah, we can do that. Metcalf it is. Joe from somewhere in Northern Virginia. I don't know. I don't know what's in Northern Virginia. Arlington is like the only city I can think of right now dear Derek Mark Reggie and Ron oh is that like Saks Derek Thomas

Mark Gastineau Reggie White I don't know who Ron would be that was that's a pretty good guess these are the last four running backs to win the Heisman Trophy? Oh, Derrick Henry, Mark Ingram, Reggie Bush, Ron Dane? I guess so. Do you remember when people, when you used to care about the Heisman Trophy? I did. A long time ago, I used to care about the Heisman Trophy. That was a big deal.

A big deal. And then one day I said to myself, why do I care about the Heisman Trophy? What is so special? Have you ever seen one, though? They're actually pretty cool. In person? No. I i mean i know what it looks like but no yeah no they're pretty cool in person when did you like now you have to tell that i was my first job i was covering sec football and i went to this restaurant in baton rouge pretty it was either

in or around baton rouge that has Billy Cannon's Heisman Trophy. Got it. And it's cool. It's kind of small, but it's cool. Okay, this is a good question. This is a good question for Ben. How much do you take Thursday night scoring into account when setting your Sunday lineups?

I had Lamar and Andrews go off and have some tough running back flex decisions. Do I play it safe? I guess he had Andrews and Lamar on his team. Or go with the most potential. Between these five, I need one running back and one flex. David Montgomery, Patrick Laird, Bo Scarborough, John Brown, and T.Y. Hilton. So Scarborough was downgraded from limited on Wednesday to not practicing Thursday. I didn't see the Friday practice report, but I'm not trusting him.

They're still on a committee there. He's been their lead, but I'm not trusting his health. I'm not going to use him. To the question about going safe if you're in the lead and all of those things, I do think you can overrate that because it's pretty tough to guess what's safe and what's not. But, yeah, I mean, if you have a big lead on Thursday and this is a scenario where if you have Lamar and Andrews, you're in a real good spot. I would go with the more reliable options in the lower parts of my. And I'm a guy who likes to play upside, but I would. Yeah, I would tailor it that way.

But I wouldn't go overboard because you also don't know what your opponent's going to do and like i said you you can't always project what is safe and reliable so oh yeah i think you can get into trouble there as well yeah i would go montgomery and laird on that note yeah because we're not really into john brown this week right no i'm not right montgomery is very interesting i've gotten so many questions about him in fact a, one question I get a lot is Montgomery or Laird. Where do you come out on that? Montgomery's at the Packers and Laird is at the Giants. I will go Laird in PPR and Montgomery in non-PPR.

Look, Laird played 82% of the snaps last week, and he's going to run routes, and he's going to probably catch four or five passes. So he's the guy that in PPR I would play, but you've got to like Montgomery in non-PPR. And Dave made such a good point about the Giants are coming off an overtime game on Monday night. And now they don't have Janoris Jenkins.

That's not really going to affect Patrick Laird. But just that defense, a bad one already, is in a bad spot. From Marco, hoping to make this in the mailbag. Oh, congratulations, Marco. Half PPR. Start three out of four. Allen Robinson, DeAndre Hopkins, Devante Parker, and DJ Moore. Let's say Parker's in.

Yeah, even if Parker plays, I'm sitting him. Really? Yeah. I mean, I talked a little bit about win concerns. True. And I'm not going to sit Hopkins, and I'm not going to sit DJ Moore. So it would come down to Allen Robinson, and I'd rather have Allen Robinson. I think he's

kind of a similar play, but with an unreliable quarterback. I know Fitzpatrick's been more reliable, frankly, than Trubisky, but Robinson, I think, is the better player. From Francisco, PPR, pick a wide receiver and a flex. Darius Slayton Chris Conley James

Washington Brashad Perryman this is where I'm not going to overthink the weather and I'm going to play Slayton Matt Breida Boston Scott and the other wide receivers who's your flex I'm going to play Boston Scott and PPR look Doug Peterson said that he's going to have a little he's earned at least a role they have rotated backs plenty in the past I think he's gonna play and they they need receiving weapons they don't they're not healthy also Alshon Jeffries out again I don't know that Nelson Aguilar is gonna play so I think Boston Scott he caught six passes last week ran quite a few routes I think it's 14 15 routes and in limited time he didn't really play until Sanders started

cramping up but he's earned a spot and I think you play him do 15 routes in limited time. He didn't really play until Sanders started cramping up, but he's earned a spot, and I think he'll play him. Does that scare you off of Miles Sanders at all? I mean, a little bit, but it's a scenario where they're playing Washington. Running backs can score points on Washington, and I expect them to probably control that game. It's a pretty close line, interestingly enough, when you look at the Vegas lines. I thought they'd be bigger favorites. They're on the road. They're only like four-and-a-half-point favorites, I think. probably control that game. It's a pretty close line, interestingly enough, when you look at like the Vegas lines.

I thought they'd be bigger favorites. They're on the road. They're only like four and a half point favorites, I think. But I expect it to be a game where they lead late and they're using both backs. So I think you can use both. One thing I noticed

that was kind of interesting about the Eagles on that Monday night game. I'm not sure if you noticed this too, but I was like kind of watching the film. They suck. Yeah, they're not very good. Until the last few drives when they forced overtime and scored in overtime, they were really bad.

They stink. Okay, from Gabe, one of the better emails that we have today. PPR Flex, Marlon Mack, Devin Singletary, or Zach Paschal? You're going to tell the people why it's such a good email i'm gonna read it after yeah max i'll take uh i'll take singletary and also heath is the commissioner co-commissioners don't really do anything uh you know actually this isn't a great email game because you're describing me wrong i am not a co-commissioner i have commissioner access that is so different than being the co-commissioner. From no name, half PPR, Duke Johnson, Chris Thompson, or James Washington? I don't want to play any Steelers.

They threw 19 passes last week. I just don't think that's going to be a low-scoring game and not something that you really want. I mean, Vegas does too. Again, if we go back to the betting lines, the over-under is in the 30s. It's low. I'm going to go...

Duke Johnson. Chris Thompson. He played quite a bit of snaps. I think he'll catch some passes. This is... I whispered Duke Johnson. You were whispering Duke. I was going to ask.

Okay. I would probably go Chris Thompson in a full PPR. Half, I went with Duke. You know, look, if we like Tannehill so much, I don't so much. But if everybody else in the world does, like there should be some points scored in this game, and Johnson can find the end zone sometimes. So they're not great options.

This is from Dan from the snowiest city in the continental U.S. Something in northern Minnesota. Sure, I'd say. Duluth. Dear Bruce, Arnold, Mel, and Steven. Oh, that's like 90s action guys, right? Bruce Willis, Schwarzenegger, Gibson, and Seagal. It's got to be.

If you're going to watch one 90s action film starring one of those four right now, what would it be? It'd probably be Pulp Fiction. That's a pretty sweet movie. No, starring... Oh, you're saying Bruce Willis? Bruce Willis. I wouldn't say starring Bruce Willis.

Okay, fine. I mean, there's a lot of good ones in that group. Terminator, Die Hard. Well, Die Hard is 80s, but Die Hard 3 is what I was going to choose. Is Pulp Fiction an action movie? I don't know. It's a good question.

Oh, man. Is this another one of those Die Hard Christmas movies? There's a lot of violence and tension in that movie. I haven't seen it in so long, so I really don't know. Okay, question. Here's the question, finally. PPR League, choose two running backs kareem hunt

david montgomery martha mack and patrick laird yeah i'm gonna take laird and ppr we already said that and i'm gonna play hunt i man like it's hard to sit mac but it's also hard to play Mack. Remember, here's the thing, though. You've got two defensive linemen, including Sheldon Rankins, out. I don't know about the linebackers for the Saints because they have the Monday game. So their defense is just different right now. So I actually think it's a good matchup for Mack unless they fall behind big. That would be bad.

But they still tend to run. I like Hunt against Arizona, so let's go Hunt and Mac then. That's actually where I would go. I would sit Laird there. Okay, and then I need three wide receivers from this group. Galladay, Westbrook, A.J. Brown,

Beasley, and Paschal. I mean, this is pretty clear for me. It's Westbrook, A. golladay pascal look he's been getting targets he's in a tough matchup though golladay you have marvin jones out and tj hawkinson out we don't like the quarterback situation but we we know he's going to get volume there's just a a big um vacuum there for targets and they're playing tampa bay so you got to assume that he's yeah golladay's a lab and i think brown i freaking love like we're gonna play you told me but yeah you could you could say freaking you rebel you told me earlier this

week definitively that zach paschal is exclusively a slot receiver remember when you said that it's not a conversation that happened. But I'm curious. You've said now a couple times that you think Paschal's going to get shadowed by Lattimore. Yeah, and he's been really good the last four weeks. He hasn't been great all year, but he's really limited. I was just looking at this,

and he's really limited opposing receivers for the last several weeks. So the Colts are willing to spread the ball around. I just don't think it's going to be a great scenario for Paschal. Okay. This is from Kevin in a town just outside of Boston. Manchester. I don't know.

Dear Randy, Dante, Michael, and Chris. Those are Vikings. They are. Half PPR. Pick a running back, a receiver, and a flex. Devin Singletary deandre washington patrick laird adrian peterson jordan howard we got half point ppr oh washington washington if jacobs is out otherwise yes washington if

jacobs is out but otherwise i think singletary. By the way, those are specifically Minnesota Vikings from like 2001 or 2000. I think 2001. Michael Bennett was a running back. Yeah. Yeah. The specific team though. Oh, yeah. Yeah, sure.

Yeah. Singletary if Jacobs is in. Okay. Pick a wide receiver. John Brown, Zach Paschal, AJ Brown, Darius Slayton. AJ Brown. A.J. Brown. Pick a flex. Half-point PPR makes me a little tentative on layered.

I've told you I'm concerned about Paschal. I think I'd play Darius Slayton. Okay. And, you know, a lot of people are going to play Slayton on FanDuel, but listen, you've got to check the weather. That's a good note from our Ben Gretsch. Check the weather. Could be kind of windy there in that game where Eli Manning's rocket arm will try to fire slant patterns at Darius Slayton. But if you're on FanDuel, you go to FanDuel.com slash FFT and you sign up. Okay, you put in 20 bucks,

you get 20 back. That's $5 in site credit every week for four weeks. The other thing you can do on FanDuel is join our contest, fanduel.com slash league slash FFT. So if you haven't signed up, you go to fanduel.com slash FFT, and you sign up. And then you put the word league in there, and you go to fanduel.com slash league slash FFT, and then I will take your money. Because I cashed last week, and Dave cashed last week,

and Jamie cashed last week. We had a nice week there in our FFT listeners contest. It's only $5 to enter. You want five free dollars? Okay, well, sign up and get $5 a week for four weeks at FanDuel.com slash FFT or download the FanDuel app. And it is super fun and it is really easy to make your lineups and you're going to have studs on your team

and you're going to have more and more reasons to play and to watch and to get into fantasy football. So if your season ends in week 15, just pick it up with some FanDuel. FanDuel.com slash FFT. Alright, this is from Brian. Hey, Michael, Val, Christian and George. Oh, those

are Batman. Correct. Who's the best one? I think Christian Bale. Oh, yes. You don't even have to. It's not even a matter of opinion here. Okay, I need it. Well, I guess you could say he's not necessarily the best Batman. He's just in the best Batman movies. I could understand that argument.

Sure. But that's not what Ben was saying. Wide receiver and a flex. DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Josh Jacobs, Philip Lindsay, Marlon Mack. Woo! Good gravy. Yeah, those are good players. Scoring system's going to matter here.

Jacobs is a tough one when you have other good options because do we know he's going to play a full set of snaps? We know they're done for the year, right? We know that Oakland has nothing to play for. And if he gets hit wrong, I don't want to trust that if I have other good options so he's not going to be in for me um and i'm going to go more in allen in ppr both the receivers if it's non-ppr um man i still want to go more in allen kind of because we we know that the vikings cornerbacks struggle i think keenan allen's a pretty good play this week i i know dj moore's going to get I still want to go more on Allen, kind of, because we know that the Vikings cornerbacks struggle.

I think Keenan Allen's a pretty good play this week. I know DJ Moore's going to get targets. We know both those guys are going to get targets. So these running backs, to me, don't inspire enough to sit guys that we feel pretty confident will get five-plus targets and potentially as many as ten. I just want to clarify, Oakland is technically still alive. They are not going to make the playoffs

they're six and seven current wild card is eight and five that's pittsburgh um it's possible but okay yeah they they are this is their last game in oakland so they're gonna be fired up but that doesn't mean josh jacob's gonna like stick around for the whole thing. So I get that. Sam from Boston. Dear Ron, Brick, Brian, and Champ. Oh, that's the anchorman. Yes, it is. I am a commissioner, and I can confirm that the other owner who has League Manager

Tools access is in no way, shape, or form my co-commissioner. Thank you. Heath is getting hit. Dude, Heath was so wrong about this. It wasn't even a Dude, Heath was so wrong about this. It wasn't even a question. He was so wrong because you didn't hear this on Thursday, but in the other podcast league,

the one that I've been running for the last eight years, and I am the commissioner, he has commissioner access. And I'm not going to sit there and blame mistakes on him. What a coward he was, blaming that on me. All right, standard League pick three. Saquon Barkley, Raheem Mostert, Devin Singletary, and David Montgomery.

I'm gonna sit Montgomery. Okay, from Vincent. I don't remember this first character. Dear Balrog, Guile, Vega, and Ryu. Yeah, that's Street Fighter. Yeah yeah but who the hell is Balrog must have been I can't remember

later but I'm seeing this is a Lord of the Rings character no no no he's in Street Fighter I just can't remember what he looks like okay PPR Lord of the Rings I googled it Lord of the Rings came up

or just maybe not Lord of the Rings yeah Lord of the rings i googled it lord of the rings came up uh or just maybe not lord of the yeah lord of the rings okay so anyway ppr starting camara and eckler and tyree kill which other two would you play mostert digs beckham paschal so i'm still rattled by the lord of the Rings. Dude, Google Balrog. I know, I just did. Like, wait, it is. He's also a character in Street Fighter. Big muscular guy.

That's what I was thinking of. All right. PBR League, starting Kamara and Eckler. Which other two would you play? I would play Beckham and Raheem Mostert. I would sit Diggs in this scenario. I don't love the matchup for the Vikings. Man, I like Mostert this

week, obviously. Okay, he was on Street Fighter 2. You cannot give three of the original, the OG Street Fighters, and then throw in a Street Fighter 2 guy. That's really poor form. This is from Angel. 12-team standard scoring. You get a 100-yard

receiving bonus of five points. So pick two. Devontae Adams, Darius Slayton, Jarvis Landry, and Adam Thielen. Standard with a bonus. I like Landry a lot, but you're not getting any PPR points, and there's this huge bonus for yardage, and Landry can always have those games where he catches nine balls for 90 yards. I'm not playing Thielen.

I'm playing Devontae Adams, but I'll still play Landry over Slayton. It's Adams and Landry. This is a question from Stan. Subject, is this too many 49ers? He has Garoppolo, Julio Jones, Lockett, Nick Chubb, Melvin Gordon. He has Kittle and Mostert. So Garoppolo, Kittle, and Mostert in his lineup. I don't think it's too many.

Okay. From Curtis, Matt Ryan, Gardner Minshew. Matt Ryan. Sterling Shepard, Devin Singletary, Kenyon Drake. Oh, Singletary. From Michael, this isary. From Michael. This is such a strange question. Is Ricky Seals-Jones a good sleeper?

Cardinals tight end Ricky Seals-Jones. He's been out for the year for... He is? No, I guess he's still playing. I thought he was out for the year for some reason. No, he's... I just pulled this up because I mentioned Njoku a bit ago. Steven Carlson is the guy that's playing the most tight end snaps for them. He played 72% of snaps last week.

I said he's Cardinals tight end. He's Browns tight end. Browns tight end. And then Njoku played 37% last week. Ricky Seals-Jones played 20% of the snaps. He hasn't played more than 30% since week eight. Yeah, it's such a strange call. I get it because he's playing Arizona, and it's a revenge game.

But no, I don't think so on Ricky Seals Jones. But if you're right, Michael, you get a spot in Heath's Podcast League. This is from Brian in Illinois. Hey, Jerry, Ben, Tom, and Ron. That's Parks and Rec. Yeah, it's Parks and Rec. You love that show.

I'm in the final four round of the playoffs and i need wide receiver and flex help ppr five point really five point bonus for 100 yards receiving or rushing and 10 points for 200 yards anyway i need one flex and two receivers so the receivers are debo samuel emmanuel sanders keenan, Darius Slayton, and Curtis Samuel. Pick two of those. Two 49ers guys, Keenan Allen, Slayton, and Samuel. Yeah, I'm playing Keenan and Emmanuel Sanders there. And then at flex, a remaining receiver or James White or Patrick Laird?

James White or Patrick Laird or the receiver. I'm going to play White. Okay. From Adam, half PPR. Lockett, Parker, Sutton, or Gallup? Parker is an easy one if he plays. You think he's easy over Lockett and Gallup? Have you seen what Devontae Parker has done?

Do you remember when Tyler Lockett was good? That was like three months ago. It's true. It's been a long time. Yeah, no, for me it's easy. The Giants are basically as good of a matchup as you can get. Yeah, I mean, I think he's definitely in consideration. These are all upside receivers that I think have,

and Parker probably has the best floor, so sure, let's do it. All right, from Bryce. Now, if it's super windy, you know, you can pivot to Lockett. Who would you go with second? I think I'd probably go with Gallup. Lockett. I'd go Lockett, but Gallup is right in that, yeah. Sutton's the guy I don't trust Drew Lock,

that as much as I love Sutton, I would have have last you and i are on the same page dude i've been i've been saying sit sutton to so many people so i'm happy i feel like a little comforted by this from bryce i got to start two of the below wide receivers and ppr against my wife i can't lose i cannot be sleeping outside i need two wide receivers actually you're more likely to have to sleep outside if you win, right? Yeah, you might want to. I was just thinking the same thing. No, screw that. Sleep outside.

All right, pick two receivers in PPR. Cooper Cup, Thielen, Chark, he's out. Parker and A.J. Brown. It's pretty easy for me. It's Brown and Parker. Real quick on Brown, a note, because people are concerned about his targets. He played snap shares in the 40% all through September. Then it was around 60% all through October. He didn't break 70% snaps until week 10. He's been a full-time player in this last five, I think they had a buy-in there. I think it's four games is all um so what he's done in a couple of these more recent games i think is more indicative of his current role and the guy was a stud coming out of college in terms of like age-adjusted

production all those things that we've talked about on the show a lot so uh i think he's a real deal i think he's their number one receiver right now and if you like ryan tannell you have to like h.a brown okay but even in these games where he's playing a lot his targets in his last four games are four or five four or seven right they don't throw a lot that His targets in his last four games are four, five, four, seven. Right. They don't throw a lot. That's the thing. They don't throw a lot. And I just want to make this point because I made it on HQ. I don't think I said it on the podcast.

I'm still not sure if the Texans defense is good or bad. They decided not to play last week. So, you know, that was awful. But since they got healthy in the secondary and they got Gibson back, they got Jonathan Joseph back, they got one more guy, they got Reed back. He missed like one game. They had been really good until the fourth quarter against the Patriots. They had played like three good games in a row. So this to me will be the definitive test. Do they have a good secondary? Because I think they might. They think they really have a lot of talent there.

So that's another reason why I'm nervous about A.J. Brown. Now, as far as this question goes, I think he's perfectly reasonable to start. I am a little surprised that you're going with Brown over Cooper Cup, though. Yeah, I mean, he would be next. And I consider him. But he only ran routes on 52% of dropbacks last week. They're kind of doing some weird stuff formationally right now.

Obviously, Higby's been more involved. And Robert Woods is the one that I'm more confident in. You know, I never bet. But if I did, I would bet on the under in the Texans-Titans game. It's like 50. Yeah, it's a high overrun. And I hate betting unders because overtime is stupid. Like, it 100% should be regulation under.

Vegas should, you know, consider that. Keep it in mind, Vegas. From Corey. I need a running back and a flex in PPR. The worst is college games that go to like six overtimes and then hit the over. You can't bet the under in college. Overtime's

a killer. Josh Jacobs, Miles Sanders, A.J. Brown, Slayton, and Thielen. So Josh Jacobs or Miles Sanders, who's your running back? I think this is, man, it's so close. But I think this is where I'd actually gamble on Jacobs. Okay. And then Sanders, A.J. Brown, Slayton, or Thielen as a flex? You were saying it wasn't close because of Jacobs, right? Yeah.

I'm just kind of concerned about his health. But for the flex, I'm going to go. I think I'm going to go Brown if it's me. I could see Sanders as the next option. I don't know that you should trust Thielen. It's a tough matchup as well, and he's been out so long. From Yakov in a half PPR league, OJ Howard, David Njoku, Mike Kosicki, or Ian Thomas?

I mean, you're going to hate me, but I think OJ Howard's kind of interesting. He got four or five, I think it was five actually, targets at 14 average depth of targets downfield. He's their tight end they like to use to stretch the field. The Evans injury opens up a ton of air yards. We've talked about teams that like to be vertical and pass down the field. Evans has more air yards than any other player in the league by 370.

He has over 1,800. DeAndre Hopkins is second at like 1,400. So, I mean, just like in terms of percentage, it's like 20% more than any other player. That opens up a ton of downfield volume. I mean, Godwin will get some of that. There's Brashad Perriman. There's other guys in this offense.

I do think there's some opportunity for O.J. Howard to close this season decently. It's him or Ian Thomas for me. I might lean Howard. I think that Njoku is ironically, even with the matchup, the last guy on the list. Howard, Gasicki, and Thomas all have good cases. I think Howard's perfectly fine. I personally would go with Ian Thomas. But the thing about Thomas that does concern me is that last week, I think Samuel and Moore combined for 10 targets, something like that. And Ian Thomas himself had 10. So I don't believe that, oh, now Ian Thomas is playing and Kyle Allen loves him. I mean, I have to see that again. I think the target share could go down,

but against the Seahawks, it's such a good matchup. I would take Thomas, but Howard was second. Wide receiver three of Parker's out. Anthony Miller, John Brown, Will Fuller, Cole Beasley, Alan Hearns, Danny Amato, blah, blah, blah. It's one of the first few. It's Miller, Brown, Fuller, or Beasley. I'm playing Fuller. I just don't like any of those other options, and I know Fuller's risky.

It's a very similar thing to what I've been talking about with Josh Jacobs. He might get a zero, but he's got tremendous upside and none of these other options are guys that are inspiring to me this week. And he is expected to play, by the way, Will Fuller.

From William, Dear John, Holly, Lucy, and John Jr. I don't know. Just die hard. Okay. So PPR, running back, wide receiver, and a flex.

James White or Kareem Hunt or Mostert? I like them all this week. Oh, man. You got a flex. Let me check something really quick. You give your thoughts on this. Okay. I would take... I would...

I'm going to take Hunt. That's who I was going to take, and that's who I have projected the highest. I would probably do the same. And then a wide receiver, Diggs, Lockett, and Emmanuel Sanders. That's another really tough one. Yeah, I'm going to go with Sanders. I'm going to go with Sanders because Thiel is playing.

Yeah, that was my initial thought too. But I have a hard time sitting Diggs, and I have a hard time sitting Lockett. Well, you got to flex now. James White, Mostert, Diggs, and Lockett. But my flex is going to be James White. I like him a lot this week. Okay, my flex is probably going to be

Mostert, who needs to score. Sorry, I was missing Mostert. Let's go Mostert. Well, we're playing Manny. I don't think you want to play both 49ers here. You've got too many good options. This is a good question. I'm going to go Hunt, Manny, and James White.

That's what I'm going to do. Yeah, I mean, to be honest, week 15, week 16, and James White. That's what I'm going to do. Yeah, I mean, to be honest, week 15, week 16, these are such difficult questions because you have loaded teams, obviously. So I struggle here with some of these questions. There's good options. This one is from Jeff in Columbus.

Dear Wayne, Dan, Derry, and McMurray. I don't know. Letter of Kenny. I've never heard of it. I have Chris Carson, but I have four other running backs to choose from. I need two. Eckler, Kamara, Chubb, and Mixon. Oh, actually, I'm sorry.

This is from Dan from central Indiana. Needs to choose two from this list. Eckler, Kamara, Chubb, and Mixon. I think you're playing Kamara. You can't really sit Eckler. Do we know if this is PPR? We don't know if this is PPR. I don't know.

I think I'm going to sit him for Nick Chubb. Yeah, you got to play Chubb, I think. Kamara and Chubb? Yeah, I don't think he can sit Kamara. I think you got to play Kamara and Chubb. P.S., Adam, you are right. Heath is the commissioner and you aren't. Having more privileges doesn't make you in charge of the league.

That is unanimous. Unanimous. This is from Jeff in Columbus. PPR League. I'm starting Julio Jones. My other receivers are Debo, John Brown, Mohamed Sanu, Nelson Aguilar. My flex options are Ronald Jones and David Montgomery.

So who would you go with as a wide receiver two and a flex? You got Debo, John Brown, Muhammad Sanu, Nelson Aguilar, Ronald Jones, and David Montgomery. I think Debo. Aguilar, if he plays, is in this for me. If he doesn't play, probably David Montgomery. Where are you from? Are you from Washington?

I was born in Iowa, but I moved here pretty young. That's right. Well, you have an accent. Well, I don't know what it's from, but my family's all from Montana. They're like farmers. So maybe I, do I sound like a country boy you said egg egg alar like egg alar almost i don't know must be a northwest thing is montana nice it's great i would like to go to montana one day i used to go every year it's man one of my favorite places in the world last question

from mike in New Jersey. Actually, we're out of time, Mike. I'm sorry. No, I'm just kidding, Mike. I wouldn't do that to you. Make it listen to 45 minutes, 50 minutes, and not read your question? Okay. Could use some help for two wide receivers and a flex.

So he has Edelman, Cup, Lockett, and on the bench, those are the starters right now. Would you replace Edelman, Cup, or Lockett, and on the bench, those are the starters right now. Would you replace Edelman, Kupp, or Lockett with A.J. Brown, Darius Slayton, Debo Samuel, or Devin Singletary? Damn. Yeah, I mean, another tough one. I'm not playing Slayton there. I'm not playing Debo. I would consider it Brown and Singletary.

You're pretty low on Lockett. I think... Yeah, that's tough. I think I would probably take... I think you've got to get Singletary in there. I think I'd go Singletary over Lockett, and I'll tell you why. Although, I don't like

to do this, but he started Lamar Jackson. So, just take the high floor, the 70 total yards of Devin Singletary. But the other thing is, I would probably play A.J. Brown over Cup too. Why don't you just play... Well, I would play Cup over Singletary I think. So why don't you just play Brown

over Lockett? Sure. I'm saying take Cup and Lockett out and put Singletary and A.J. Brown in. I don't think you could love the Cowboys-Rams game and not play Cooper Cuff. Like if Jared Goff's having a big game, Cooper Cuff's catching a touchdown.

Usually, but again, he only ran 52% of the snaps, routes on 52% of the dropbacks last week. His snaps have just been getting cut. I like Robert Woods and Higby, again, to be kind of the main. And this guy's also starting Higby in his lineup. So I think you, yeah, I don't know.

It doesn't matter. You already won. You have Lamar Jackson. You won. Why are you even asking us these questions? Stop bragging about having Lamar Jackson and go get on with your weekend. Thanks for listening, everybody. Ben, thank you.

Good job. I will let you get – we had a lot of questions, so you're allowed to get eight wrong to come back next week. I hope you got someone else lined up because these are some tough questions. I'll get Rich Reber on. Rich Reber wouldn't get eight wrong. Lord Reeves. I hope we get our listeners some championships championships that's that's the goal that's

absolutely okay thanks everybody thank you so much for listening if this is the last podcast you plan on listening to because like you lost or something in week 15 we have off-season podcasts we're gonna have like three a week for the entire off-season it's gonna be amazing we're gonna have super fun times we're gonna take your calls it's gonna be. So get ready for that. For Ben, I'm Adam. Have a great weekend. See you.