Fantasy Football Today - 12/26: Some Week 17 Talk and 2019 QB Chatter (Fantasy Football Podcast)
Episode Date: December 26, 2018Bouncing around between Week 17 and 2019 outlooks with some general Fantasy talk mixed in, we start with good players with tough matchups (1:25) and look at Dalvin Cook, Joe Mixon and Nick Chubb in We...ek 17 ... What does the QB position look like in 2019 (12:00)? Which Year 2 QBs make the leap? How do we feel about Matt Ryan after a terrific 2018 season? Then we discuss some slumping players (22:33) who need to snap out of it in Week 17 and the Fantasy Regulators (26:55) are back! ... A look at red zone target leaders (32:16) and what the stats reveal. Also, tune in for Adam's random Fantasy Football thoughts (41:41) about IDP, standard scoring leagues, SuperFlex and more ... Your emails at fantasyfootball@cbsi.comThis episode is sponsored by www.ZipRecruiter.com 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
Transcript
Discussion (0)
This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports.
Here we go!
Email us at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com.
Here we go!
It's time to dominate your fantasy league.
Let's go!
Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.
It's my favorite show of the week, and a little Christmas present.
Dave Richard is on the Wednesday show.
God, you hate Heath Cumberland. Yeah, that little Christmas present. Dave Richard is on the Wednesday show.
God, you hate me.
Yeah, that must be it.
Dave, welcome to Wednesday.
Yay, it's Wednesday of week 17.
Come on, you know what?
Yay! There you go.
I got my very first Twitter question asking for lineup help of week 17.
Usually I get them Sunday night, Monday
morning. First one
for Week 17 didn't come until
early this morning. I'm surprised we actually got a lot of emails
about Week 17. We did get some
Week 17 emails. We have those.
We have some tweets.
FantasyFootball at CBSi.com
and of course follow us on Twitter
at Adam Azer, A-I-Z-E-R
at Jamie Eisenberg, J-A-M-E-Y,
at Dave Richard, singular.
We all have strange names.
Let's start with some Week 17 stuff
and then talk about 2019.
We're going to preview the quarterback position
a little bit in 2019.
I have some random fantasy thoughts
that I'd like to share with you.
I want to look at red zone targets
of what they are showing us this year
and the fantasy regulators
will be making an appearance at some point today.
Good players with tough
matchups. Dalvin Cook
against the Bears.
Joe Mixon at Pittsburgh.
Nick Chubb at
Baltimore. Let's talk about good
players with tough matchups. Cook
against the Bears. Mixon at Pittsburgh.
Chubb at Baltimore. Who's your favorite
this week? Cook.
I believe my favorite is Mixon.
Are you sitting
any of them? Because we've got some attractive
waiver wire guys that have been picked up recently.
You know? Can get away from some guys.
Yeah, I would take most of them.
I'd be sitting them for CJ Anderson. I'd be sitting them for Jamal Williams.
I'd be sitting them for Jalen Samuels, Damian Williams.
So in that scenario, yes.
But in a vacuum, probably no.
I guess you could say that Jamal Williams himself has a tough matchup.
Yeah, I think for the Dalvin Cook situation,
I don't know how much the Bears are going to be playing their guys for a full four quarters.
Whereas the Vikings, you know, are going to be out there because they have to win.
Right.
And the fact that Jamal Williams is at home in week 17 with what he'll do in the passing game,
that does not concern me so much against what the Lions typically do.
And you would think that Dalvin Cook will probably be pretty involved in the passing game.
And if not, that means he's getting a ton of carries, right?
Yep.
Eight running backs with 16 or more touches against the Bears.
And that's what we've gotten four games in a row for Dalvin Cook,
16 or more touches.
Seven of those eight against the Bears have scored double-digit fantasy
points at non-PPR, 12 or more fantasy points in PPR.
Six of the eight running backs have had pretty big games,
16 or more fantasy points in PPR.
It's solid.
Only Kenyon Drake had a bad game.
And I think when you look at these guys, Cook, Mixon, and Chubb,
like the Ravens, the Ravens have given up double-digit fantasy points
in non-PPR, 13 or more fantasy points in PPR,
to nine running backs in their last nine games.
That's a lot.
Yet they allow the second-fewest fantasy points to running backs because they don't give last nine games. That's a lot. Yet, they allow the second fewest fantasy points to running backs because
they don't give up huge games.
And I think that's kind of where I'm at.
I don't know that Cook, Mixon, or
Chubb is going to have a huge game,
but there's certainly avenues for
at least startable games.
Agreed.
Yeah.
But who's the most likely to have a dud
of those three?
I'll say Chubb.
Why Chubb?
Because I just think it's a tough matchup at Baltimore.
Ravens playing for a lot.
Browns just playing for spoiler.
Jamie, why Mixon? I feel the same about Mixon, except he has no talent around him.
Yeah.
Kind of still a little mad at him for Week 16, by the way.
But he had 19 touches, and they were near the goal line,
and he just couldn't punch it in.
I was pretty shocked that the Bengals managed to get in the end zone
a couple times last week.
See what they can figure out this week at Pittsburgh.
All right, those are some good running backs with some tough matchups.
Here are your news and notes.
Phillip Lindsey is out with a wrist injury.
So your thoughts on Freeman and Booker?
I know we talked about it yesterday.
I'm just going to assume some people missed yesterday's show.
It was Christmas.
So we'll recap a little bit of what we talked about yesterday.
The Broncos running backs, guys.
How do you like them?
I don't mind Freeman.
I think he's a low-end starter.
Better in non-PPR than PPR.
He already faced the Chargers once, scored against them.
I think you're going to look at what he did in the first few weeks of the season when
Lindsay was obviously healthy.
He was getting about 12 carries a game.
You can run on the Chargers, so I think he will.
And the Chargers may be one of those teams that starts to pull back some guys once they
find out what's happening in Kansas City.
How do you feel about Melvin Gordon, Dave?
Do we trust him after last week?
I would.
I believe that the matchup against the Broncos is easier than what the stats say
because I just think the Broncos have kind of had it.
And the Chargers have to play to win until they know that they're locked into the 5 seed.
And the other news item, James Conner is questionable for his game against the Bengals.
So we will have to keep an eye on that.
If James Conner plays,
what kind of workload would you guys expect?
Unless we get a report that says
this is what his workload will be.
What would you expect from James Conner?
Normal.
I could see it being a little less than normal.
Just because Samuels has been playing so well.
But at the very least,
it's enough to make Jalen Samuels a sit.
Oh, you can't play Samuels, yeah.
Low on flex. And Mike McCarthy
could be interested in the Cardinals job, according
to Peter King. And again,
just to recap something we talked about yesterday,
who is sitting,
who is playing this week?
As you guys do your rankings, which
teams are you just saying, yeah, we're not getting any good fantasy
production from the starters there?
Saints, Cowboys, and I'll throw the Bears in there, potentially the Seahawks too.
I'm not so sure about the Bears, and I think the Seahawks will play their guys
for at least two and a half quarters.
Same with the Bears.
There's a chance the Bears could rest guys by the end of their game.
The difference between the Bears and the Seahawks is the Bears are actually playing an NFL defense.
That's true.
They're playing Minnesota.
And so the Bears get the two seed with a win and a Rams loss.
That's what we're looking at there.
The Rams should have no trouble.
Well, they should win.
They should have no trouble.
They should have no trouble winning, although the Niners beat the Seahawks a few weeks ago,
so I don't want to put it past them too much.
They gave the Bears a little bit of a run last week.
They're a good team.
It's obviously a shame they haven't had their guys all season long.
Yeah.
I mean, they're 4-11, but they're not that bad.
No, they're playing for Kyle Shanahan, and they're doing a good job.
But still, going into Los Angeles is not going to be easy with what the Rams have to play for.
You know, I'm not going to be on any of the shows in January.
So I'm going to make this week just about me, basically.
I just want to throw this out there.
I have no idea who's going to win the Super Bowl this year.
This is a great—I can't wait for the playoffs.
It's going to be very unpredictable.
I agree.
That's what makes football awesome.
Who do you like?
I don't think I can go with the Chiefs.
You made a great point yesterday, Jame,
when you brought it up.
They barely have won any of their, you know, marquee games.
I don't know who I can take them.
It's just their defense is not good,
and that's going to catch them at some point.
I'm going to stick by what I said preseason,
which is, you know, I'm lucky enough to still have that alive is the Saints-Patriots.
Saints-Patriots, yeah.
Patriots seem vulnerable, but they certainly could get back to the Super Bowl.
I mean, the road to the Super Bowl goes through them.
Well, what do you mean?
For the Saints?
Oh, the Saints.
Sorry, I thought you meant the Patriots.
Oh, you said the Patriots seem vulnerable?
Yeah, yeah.
They seem very vulnerable. The Patriots seem vulnerable? Yeah, yeah. They seem very vulnerable.
The Patriots seem vulnerable.
But again, all you have to do is win one road game.
I think that the Saints are the safest bet just because they're so much better at home than on the road.
I agree.
Yeah, that does feel...
Right.
Before last week, I felt strongly about the Bears.
I thought Chicago would have a real nice chance to make the Super Bowl.
But Saints aren't playing outdoors again this year.
Everything else in the playoffs is indoors.
And they seem to thrive in that environment more so than not.
I don't think the Bears are there yet.
Trubisky's not playing well enough. I don't think they Bears are there yet. Trubisky's not playing well enough.
I don't think they have enough skill on offense.
They're getting banged up defensively, too.
That's true.
Yeah, they've lost two pretty important players.
Now, hopefully Eddie Jackson will be back, but in their secondary.
That's true.
And one thing about the Chiefs, the only thing about their defense, it's not good.
But they are second in the league in sacks, one behind the Vikings.
So they can get to the quarterback, and that can sometimes pay off.
All right, so Jamie's sticking with Saints-Patriots.
I will say Saints-Patriots.
You know what?
I wouldn't be surprised if it was the Ravens.
Yeah, they're playing great right now.
That defense is tough.
You know, the one thing about—this is the thing that sets the Saints apart right now
is they're playing very well on both sides of the ball.
Only at home.
Their defense is bad on the road?
Their offense is bad on the road.
Oh, true.
Fair enough.
But in terms of – they still scare you enough and can do enough to score.
The Ravens right now, though, and this helps the Bears as well,
is they can grind out these games and make them ugly and low-scoring.
And that's all you need in the playoffs.
Yeah.
Boy, if the Ravens somehow win the Super Bowl,
they're going to have the worst wide receivers in Super Bowl championship history.
Last thought. We haven't said the Rams.
I think the Rams might be the most
complete team.
More than the Saints? Yeah, I don't know if they're more complete.
I'll say that because the Saints
have a better defense.
But if you can somehow
take Michael Thomas away,
you know, they have
nothing downfield. And maybe
Ted Ginn coming back will really help.
But I think that, you know, the Rams are just loaded.
They have a better offensive line.
Not to say that the Saints have a bad one.
No, they don't.
When they're healthy, I think they have the best offensive line.
No, when both are healthy, the Saints are better.
I think it's really close, but I think New Orleans has the better line.
But they're healthy.
That's the thing.
Like, you don't know if Teron Armstead's going to be healthy.
That's true.
Fair enough.
But when they're healthy, the Saints are better.
And I think they have a little bit more of a complete team.
It's just you have to go into New Orleans.
Yeah, which they've already done unsuccessfully.
All right.
Thank you for indulging me on this NFL playoff talk.
And who would you take to win a big game at this point?
Drew Brees or Jared Goff?
Yeah, I'd take Brees.
Absolutely Brees.
January will be
Acer-less as I'll be on paternity leave, but
Dave, Jamie, Heath, they'll be carrying
the load. We're supposed to have
two episodes per week. I'm pretty sure
we can pull that off. That's our goal
basically the entire offseason.
We still will have a radio
show this weekend, Eye on Fantasy Football,
and we'd love to hear from you.
So you can call us up, 855-212-4227.
We'll be doing our radio show, answering any Week 17 questions you have,
but also largely looking ahead to the 2019 season.
So please give us a call Saturday night, 10 to midnight Eastern,
on CBS Sports Radio, Sirius Channel 206.
And there's going to be no mailbag show this week and no Sunday night recap.
But we'll have starters sit on Thursday and Friday.
Let's talk about the quarterback position in 2019.
Yesterday on the Fantasy Football Today video show, we talked about tight ends.
Quarterback is, I think, more interesting than tight end.
How deep do you think it is going into next year?
I looked at your top 12, the top 12s that you guys came up with, which we can go through.
And one of my thoughts was like, I don't know that there are that many glaring omissions.
So maybe it's not going to feel quite as deep next year as it did this year.
Thoughts?
It's deep.
It's extremely deep.
I've got 17 quarterbacks that I think are okay options.
But there is one or two, there are one or two,
who are kind of above the rest of the group.
And I believe there will be a premium paid on draft day for them.
We're talking about Patrick Mahomes.
And I think Andrew Luck, I think people are going to gravitate toward him
and they'll pony up for him.
Yeah, I'll take Rodgers over Luck, but I think there's like five or six guys that are going to be really sought after in different degrees.
I think there's probably, you know, it's going to depend on where does Teddy Bridgewater end up?
Because he could be somebody that's interesting.
Where does Nick Foles end up?
He could be somebody that's interesting.
No.
There's no chance those guys will be top 12.
Oh, no.
They might be late-round guys.
In terms of making them relevant to extending how deep the position is.
Maybe, but – okay, so you talked about 16, 17 guys.
Dave, who are some of the back-end guys that're thinking could be, you know, number one starters?
Here are the quarterbacks that did not make my top 12.
And I'm not sure that this is the order I would put them in.
Philip Rivers, Josh Allen, Mitchell Trubisky, Lamar Jackson, Thomas Edward Brady.
Oh, yeah, it's pretty deep.
Right. So there's five right there that you'd probably say, OK, if I have to start one of these guys week one of my season,
maybe I won't be like
over the moon pumped, but I'd be
okay with it. It would probably
mean that the rest of my
lineup would be on fire. You have Wentz, who's
not a top 12 guy. You have Donald,
who could be a top 12 guy.
Things go right for him. You have
Stafford, who could bounce back potentially with healthy Marvin Jones.
With healthy Stafford.
With healthy Stafford, yeah.
I mean, there are guys that are going to end up in rebound situations.
You know, again, Wentz, Stafford, you know, the upside of potentially Sam Darnold.
Dave mentioned Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson and what those guys can do.
So, yeah, there's guys there.
Brady's going to be the interesting one
to see where he ends up.
I think Wentz will be the interesting one
because he's not a top 12 quarterback for Jamie and Heath.
He's like 10th-ish for Dave.
Do you know exactly where he is?
9th.
9th.
And I anticipate having a lot of Carson Wentz
if people are more like Jamie and Heath
because I think he'll bounce back very nicely.
Oh, he'll be fine.
They're just 12 guys better than him.
Well, I mean, in my opinion, he could be much more than fine.
He could be the steal of the draft because I still believe in Carson Wentz.
I feel like they'll upgrade at wide receiver or at least try.
And he hasn't run.
He hasn't run this year.
And I think that's been the—
You think he's going to run after coming off the field
and he's yelling a broken back?
Yes, I do.
I'm not drafting him for his rushing numbers.
It's not that I think he's going to be a rusher.
It's that I think he's going to be better with his legs,
and he'll have more rushing yards.
You mean like more mobile in the pocket type thing?
Yeah.
I also wonder if he's going to end up being one of these fragile guys.
I mean, it's certainly a valid concern.
Yeah, I'm not drafting him as a starter.
I'll take him.
We had a conversation during the show yesterday about pairing,
or maybe it was during the thing we taped for Sportsline,
about pairing guys.
And you brought up a good point, Adam, I think it was earlier this week,
about Lamar Jackson.
I would take Wentz with Lamar Jackson.
Yeah, that was the point.
I would pair Wentz with somebody who I think has maybe just as much upside, if not more. Like the point I made was Brady and Lamar Jackson. Yeah, that was the point. I would pair Wentz with somebody who I think has maybe just as much upside,
if not more.
Like, the point I made was Brady and Lamar Jackson.
I would take a combination of Wentz and one of the younger quarterbacks,
for sure.
I would not feel comfortable taking Wentz as my only quarterback, though.
No, but that's the beauty of where you're going to be able to draft Wentz.
Yeah, but I don't want to take two quarterbacks.
That's the thing.
Okay, that's fair.
I don't mind taking two quarterbacks.
And, yeah, that was my whole thing. Remember, though, there are a lot of leagues that only have four or five bench spots.
You do not want to take two quarterbacks in those leagues.
My whole thing with Lamar Jackson is I don't think anybody's going to have more upside than Jackson
to upside to outperform draft position.
Obviously, Mahomes is going to have more upside, and Rodgers is going to have more upside,
but upside to outperform draft position i think
jackson will have the most and i want to take him i will reach for him if we think that quarterback
is a deep position because i will reach for him and then i'll set up for philip rivers later or
tom brady later or carson wentz later yeah yeah i i prefer josh allen to lamar jackson i think he's
i think you're talking about upside relative to draft position. He's the guy. He's going to be a late-round pick in every draft.
And he's going to continue to run.
And they will absolutely improve his situation.
Another receiver will be added.
That offensive line will be solidified.
He's going to be in perfect position to break out next year.
The problem with some of these guys is,
what are they going to address in the offseason?
For me, Baltimore can find a receiver.
Buffalo's got to find receivers in offensive line.
That's true.
The Ravens' offensive line is in a much better situation than the Bills'.
So I know Allen has been just as good, basically, as Jackson in terms of rushing. But I would personally project more rushing yards for Lamar Jackson.
But I would project more passing yards and more touchdowns for Allen.
I think they're very similar.
I mean, look, it's just a matter, I think, of personal preference
and what you're expecting from both these guys.
It'll come down to what they think, for me at least, what they upgrade. If Buffalo's able to do a complete overhaul of their skill position,
at least adding one premier.
They've got to add a big play receiver.
And upgrade their running back spot because LeSean McCoy's done.
I don't know if the running back spot necessarily needs a major upgrade.
They could find somebody to play that.
They need offensive line help.
It's big time.
Big time.
But you know what?
The,
the bills have better wide receivers in the Ravens.
They have,
they have faster and younger receivers as a group than the Ravens.
I don't know if they're necessarily John Brown over everybody,
but those guys drop a lot of passes in Buffalo, in buffalo yeah they're young um yeah they're all right any other quarterback
thoughts here so let's let's just take a look at uh at your top 12s and see if anything jumps out
so it's mahomes rogers luck for jamie it's mahomes, Rodgers for Dave. And then who's number four?
Deshaun Watson for Jamie.
Russell Wilson for Dave.
Dave has Wilson five.
Or Watson five.
Jamie has Roethlisberger five.
So basically your top four is Mahomes, Rodgers luck.
And then either Wilson or Watson.
Yeah, let's talk about Matt Ryan.
Matt Ryan is having an amazing season. He's the number three quarterback in fantasy just behind Ben Roethlisberger at two.
Mahomes is number one.
Matt Ryan is 39 fantasy points away from matching his point total from his 2016 MVP season.
33 touchdowns to six interceptions this year.
And where did you guys end up on Matt Ryan?
I ended up ranking him as a top 10 quarterback,
even though I've got a little bit of worry about him being so up and down
on a year-to-year basis.
He's six for me.
I think if they keep Steve Sarkeesian, he's going to be awesome again.
And if they don't, then I'll be nervous
because we've seen him first time with a new coordinator.
He struggles.
MVP year in 2016, 38 touchdowns.
The year after that, 20 touchdowns.
New coordinator.
Right.
2018, second year with the coordinator.
Big time bounce back.
4,500 yards, 33 touchdowns.
Second year, Kyle Shanahan was his MVP season.
Second year in the NFL, he played better when they switched coordinators.
I'm sorry.
Second year in the NFL with the same coordinator.
It's happened now, I think, four times in his career
where they've changed coordinators on him.
Every time the second year, he's been better.
Does it bother you that he's never had consecutive 30
touchdown seasons? No. I like the fact that
they made a concerted effort
to upgrade his receiving court this season by giving Calden
Ridley, who will be better. Julio Jones is still playing
at the top of his game. They need some help
on the offensive line.
The thing that I think will sway it for me a little bit if he stays at the sixth spot or goes down closer to 10 is will this defense bounce back? Because
what we saw from this defense this season was a total disaster and put him in a lot of situations
where he had to throw so much and be a lot more of a voluminous quarterback. That's I remember just having this conversation with Heath the other day.
That was Heath's concern was he thought the volume wouldn't be there for him.
But if the defense is going to be potentially elite,
which it could,
they have a lot of good pass rushers.
They have a great linebacker.
They have good secondary,
just injuries just killed them this season.
So if they could be in the upper echelon of defense,
that may hurt Matt Ryan a little bit.
But I also think the offense, the run game is going to struggle
because who knows what's going to happen with Devontae Freeman.
Tevin Coleman is most likely gone.
And do they spend another draft pick on a guy like they did with Eel Smith this year?
Okay, yeah.
That's a great point.
And we will talk more about quarterbacks during the offseason.
Right now I want to talk about ZipRecruiter.
You've got to do the smart thing all the time.
This holiday season, when you're setting your fantasy lineups, when you are hiring.
You know what's not smart?
Using a job site that sends you tons of the wrong resumes to sort through.
Job sites that make you wait for the right candidates to apply to your job.
That is not smart.
Using your relatives to fill in at work while you look for staff, not smart.
But what is smart, using ZipRecruiter.com,
and specifically ZipRecruiter.com slash FFT to try it for free to hire the right person.
Because ZipRecruiter doesn't depend on candidates finding you.
It finds them for you.
ZipRecruiter scans thousands of resumes, identifies people that are right for your job, and actively
invites them to apply so you get a qualified candidate, many of them, fast.
And that's why ZipRecruiter is rated number one by employers in the U.S., and this rating
comes from hiring sites on Trustpilot with over 1,000 reviews.
Try it for free at this exclusive web address, ziprecruiter.com slash FFT.
You need a hire?
Use it, people.
It's really helpful.
ZipRecruiter.com slash FFT.
Zip Recruiter, the smartest way to hire.
All right, more Week 17 stuff.
Some slump busters.
Are these guys going to break out?
Are these guys going to break out of their slumps?
There we go.
Speak.
Jared Goff. Jared Goff.
Jared Goff, four straight games with 18 or fewer fantasy points.
Only 24 pass attempts last week.
And he will face a 49ers team that has been pretty bad against quarterbacks,
maybe getting a little bit better in their last five games or so.
Is Jared Goff going to break out of the slump?
Big way.
Big game coming.
What makes you so confident?
They need to win.
They're playing at home.
The only game he's had a bad game at home was that Eagles game two weeks ago.
Of those four games, that was the only one he played at home.
And he threw for like 330 yards or something in that game.
Right, and he just missed a few touchdowns.
Jared Everett turned the wrong way on one.
Todd Gurley dropped one on the one-yard line.
He missed Josh Reynolds for a touchdown twice on the end of the game on that last fourth down throw.
Prior to that game, his first six games at home, he was averaging 32.7 fantasy points per game.
Wow.
And he went for 20 at San Francisco earlier this season.
I kind of like him, DFS.
Love him this week.
Dave, any disagreement?
No.
Top 10 quarterback.
The completion percentage was awesome last week.
And that was at Arizona.
I think this is an easier matchup for him at home against San Francisco.
He can easily avoid Richard Sherman and throw against the other guys in that Niners D.
He should be fine.
All right.
Slump buster number two. How about Tyreek Hill? Tyreek Hill, four straight games
without a touchdown. He did have a big game with 14 targets, 139 yards against Baltimore. But
three of his last four games, pretty disappointing. And the Raiders actually,
they don't give up a ton of big games to wide receivers. Do you have any concerns at all about Tyreek Hill?
Nope. You should still start him. He also has been close to finding the end zone via big play or not.
And Oakland's corners are all banged up. Gary and Conley didn't play last week. He's their
best corner. He might take away Hill a little bit if he plays, but even if he doesn't,
it's still a great matchup for
Tyreek Hill at home.
Last one, Slump Buster.
Did we talk about what Patrick Mahomes needs this
week to clinch the MVP?
You said it on the video show yesterday, but go ahead.
Right. About 180 yards
and two more touchdowns, and he'll be the second
quarterback ever with 5,000
passing yards and 50 touchdowns. Wow he'll be the second quarterback ever with 5,000 passing yards and 50 touchdowns.
Yeah, wow.
That's the MVP.
He's the MVP.
They're 100% going to get him into those numbers.
Josh Adams.
I know most people aren't really depending on him, but could he be sneaky
this week?
He has three straight games with 21 to 36 rushing yards with a touchdown in
there.
He doesn't catch the ball, only four all season.
Nice face, Dallas, the Rams, and the Texans.
Rams have a bad run defense.
Dallas and Houston certainly do not.
And he had 20 carries for 85 yards against the Redskins in his first meeting.
Josh Adams is in a slump.
Can he bust out of it this week?
I think so.
I think he's a low-end starter and non-PPR lead.
GameScript is going to help him out a lot. I think my
concern with Adams is that since
that stretch against the Giants and the Redskins
where he had two straight good games with 20
carries, Sproles is
more involved. Smallwood,
you never know. Smallwood has had
one 10 and one carry in his last
three games. The 10 was when
Adams had the back problem and kept leaving the game.
And Smallwood had a hot hand.
Sproles had nine carries last week.
So, yeah, I mean, it's interesting.
That was a back-and-forth game where it was a lot of throwing.
I think this is a game where Foles will get his numbers.
Sproles will be involved in that regard.
He scored three of his last four,
but it's obviously hard to peg Sproles as a must-start guy.
He's more of a close-your-eyes, peek through a couple fingers and hope that he does
well, finds the end zone potentially. But Adams, I think, will be in a game where he's getting
15 carries, and he feels very
similar to Gus Edwards in the fact that, obviously, Edwards has been playing better,
but they don't do anything in the passing game. You need a touchdown for them to be great.
Edwards will probably get you 65 to 75 yards rushing.
Adams is probably 55 to 65.
But I do think both those guys have a chance to score.
But I think this is a week you can buy back in Adams.
Okay.
This is also a week where I think you can buy back into regulating.
Two fantasy regulators to finish it out here in Week 17.
This comes from John in Holiday, Florida.
I have never heard of that place.
Holiday, Florida.
I'm going to – I'm regulating.
I don't think this is a real place.
I'm in a points league that just accumulates points for the full 17 weeks
with the top two teams getting prizes.
I've been starting Jalen Samuels for the past three weeks at tight end
because I'm stacked at running back.
The commissioner just noticed it and called me a cheater,
even though the system allows it.
He took Samuels' points away and replaced them with Jared Cook,
who's been on my bench for the past three weeks.
I protested, and I got the commissioner to agree to a league vote,
and to my shock, they all voted with the commissioner.
I'm in first place now by only
five points after the adjustment
going into the Monday night football game. This is a few
days old, and Jared Cook did nothing there.
Obi-Wan, you're my last hope slash
appeal. Was I wronged, or am I a cheater?
This is atrocious.
I feel all of the
league voted against him? That's
crazy. I mean, look,
should he have been listed as a tight end? Obviously not.
But it is what it is.
And I'm going to assume it's Yahoo. They addressed
it. They said that's what this was
what he was at the combine is what they
listed him as. And that's what their policy
is. And so if you play in a Yahoo
league that allows him to be listed as a tight end
unless prior to the season
it was any position that a player is
designated that does not play that position, you're going to change it. You're changing a vote in the middle of the season. A rule in the middle of the season, it was any position that a player is designated that does not play that position, you're going to change it.
You're changing a vote in the middle of the season, a rule in the middle of the season.
It's absolutely, absolutely, this guy was robbed.
I think the only other thing was you could have said when, maybe, maybe when Conor got hurt, you could have said you can pick up Jalen Samuels if he was a free agent.
You can pick up a Jalen Samuels, but only as a running back.
Right.
That's what he should have done. But it didn't happen.
That's what the commissioner should have done. Yeah.
But the commissioner didn't do that. Right. And now
retro changing
the points.
It's terrible. Yeah, it's no good. Bad
commissioning. It almost sounds like this is a personal thing against
this guy. Well, I think, you know, the
whole league obviously is going to vote against
it because he was in first place. Of course. Yeah, but still there has to be more i would assume a portion of the
league that realizes what the logic is behind this and and the the rationalization of what it is the
right answer should have been you keep the points you accrued but you can't use them as a tight end
anymore yeah and uh well i don't know why should he still be able to use him as a tight end?
If the commissioner really feels that strongly about the position eligibility thing, he could make that call.
But it's unfair to take the points away now after he's been starting him as a tight end.
All right.
I consider this to be regulated.
How about this one?
Justin from the hometown of Harry Connick Jr.
As Heath would say, I'm sorry, on that last one, Heath would tell that guy to quit the league.
By the way, Holiday, Florida is a northwest suburb of Tampa.
Where's Harry Connick Jr. from?
That's where this next email is.
Is it in New Orleans?
Yeah, I think so.
That's where it's at, I think.
Yeah, yeah.
All right.
Somewhere in there.
All right.
Justin says, Dear Regulators,
I was put in probably the toughest situation as an owner this past weekend.
I'm the commissioner of my league,
and I was playing my best friend and arch rival for years in the championship.
Todd Gurley is sitting in my flex position,
and we're in a close game heading into the late games.
My entire bench had started at noon.
Once I received the news that Gurley was not playing, I attempted to drop Todd Gurley for C.J. Anderson.
But Gurley is considered undroppable.
I spoke to the owner an hour before and explained what the undroppable rule was in place for
and explained that no one has an advantage by me dropping Todd Gurley since it was the last game of the season.
He said, rules are rules.
What are your thoughts on this situation?
I can promise you we're changing this rule next year
because we have never had to deal with collusion in our eight years of our league.
I think the other guy said it best.
What?
Rules are rules.
Rules are rules.
Yeah, Justin, why didn't you add him during the week or Sunday morning?
Really?
Before the game's locked.
I had a different take on this because I think the undroppable thing is
kind of stupid. I agree, but
we've kind of established throughout
the course of our regulating that
if the rules are in place
prior to a situation
or prior to the season
starting, that's what it is. And so
if he knew that the lineups were, that
Gurley would be locked or lineups locked or whatever
the situation may be.
As Dave said, he should have been able to he should have been proactive and picked up C.J. Anderson or somebody who played in the four o'clock games and been able to swap that player out because Gurley is on a drop list. Yeah, I was judicious here, unlike the commissioner and the previous regulator who just decides to change the rules in the middle of the most important time of the year.
You're right.
That's a good point.
And, yeah, the thing that I didn't really consider was, like, he knew the rule.
He had time to address it.
He didn't address it.
So I'm sorry, Justin, from New Orleans.
That's where Harry Connick Jr. is from.
We don't support you.
You've been regulated.
Have you guys ever seen the movie Copycat with Harry Connick Jr.?
I think I have.
And Sigourney Weaver?
Yes, that's a great movie.
I like that movie a lot.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I want to see that movie again.
Is that the one where he tries to kill her in the bathroom too?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I want to look at – I don't know why.
I was like, hey, what should we talk about?
How about the red zone?
What's going on in the red zone?
What's going on inside the 20-yard line?
Here are your red zone target leaders.
And this is something I love about Packers wide receivers.
Aaron Rodgers falls in love with guys in the red zone.
A lot of times it's two guys, but this year it was just Devontae Adams,
and he is leading in red zone targets.
Oddly enough, he is not in the top 10 in targets inside the 10-yard line, but he's leading in red zone targets. Oddly enough, he is not in the top 10 in targets inside the 10-yard line,
but he's leading in red zone targets.
How about Juju Smith-Schuster?
He is second in red zone targets, third in targets inside the 10,
and he only has six touchdowns.
Michael Thomas is third in red zone targets.
Ertz, four.
Kamara, five.
Antonio Brown, DeAndre Hopkins, Travis Kelsey, Odell Beckham, and then we've got
like a three-way tie for 10th with Ebron, Adam Thielen, and James White. There's a lot of high-end
players here. Adam Schuster, Smith Schuster, Michael Thomas, Ertz, Camara, Antonio Brown, Hopkins,
Kelsey, Beckham, Ebron, Thielen, and James White.
Pretty much only high-end players.
I don't know.
Does anything jump out at you guys when you look at red zone target leaders?
Where's Julio Jones?
Good question because he was among the leaders last year.
But he goes back and forth.
He's probably not far in recent weeks.
Yeah.
But this is part of the problem with Atlanta just in general.
We would feel so much better about Matt Ryan
if Julio Jones was in this list all the time.
Why is he not consistently...
Matt Ryan was fantastic without Julio Jones being on this list.
He was the number three quarterback of the season.
So if Julio Jones gets more red zone targets,
then he'll obviously just increase his value.
You wouldn't feel better about him
if he leaned on his number one receiver more inside the 20?
I mean, I think he leans on his number one receiver quite a bit.
So the touchdowns, if he's getting them from other people, it's not necessarily a huge issue.
It's more of a Julio Jones problem than a Matt Ryan problem.
The odd thing is, let's look at Julio Jones.
This will take me just a second.
Julio Jones red zone targets last four years.
Two good Ryan years, two not so good.
So let's see.
So he was like seventh.
He had 22 in 2015.
Then in Matt Ryan's MVP season, he was way outside the top 10.
Julio Jones had 10 red zone targets.
Last year, he was among the leaders.
2017, another down year for Matt Ryan.
Julio Jones had, where are you Julio Jones?
Sorry everybody.
He had 19.
He was like top 12.
And then this year he's got 14 red zone targets.
And he's a ways off from the leaderboard.
But Austin Hooper has the 10th most targets inside the 10.
So he's been looking at him.
Ryan's been looking at Hooper.
Yeah, so that's interesting.
One thing that I noticed, Odell Beckham.
Odell Beckham is the only player, I think, in the top 10 in red zone targets
that's missed time this year.
Don't think anybody else has. And
he is only catching
35% of his red zone targets
and that is incredibly low.
That is like, has nothing to do with
Eli Manning. That is just fluky
low. Maybe it has something to do with Eli Manning,
but it doesn't account for everything.
How many of those targets are throwaways
that he was the closest guy, so
the statistician at the game assigns it to Beckham?
Maybe.
But his 16-game pace is this.
103 catches, 1,403 yards, 8 touchdowns.
Touchdowns are a little low because he's catching 35% of his red zone targets.
But I think that Beckham is definitely going to be like a little bit of a down arrow next to him going into next year's draft.
Especially compared to –
Yeah, a little bit.
In terms of what you expect from him statistically?
In terms of he's definitely not a top three pick at wide receiver next year.
I mean, he's going to be behind Adams, behind Hopkins, probably behind Brown.
Yeah. He'll be behind Julio.
Behind Julio.
So he's probably fifth. He's fifth, but
he's probably 12 picks
later in the draft. There'll be more running backs that
go. He will be a second round pick. He was barely a first round
pick this year. I think
the shine will be off of Beckham a little bit, and my
point is, if he had been a little bit more efficient
in the red zone,
he's on pace for a monster year.
Over 100 catches, over 1,400 yards,
and he should have a double-digit touchdown year again.
We had this conversation on FFT yesterday with the tight ends.
It'll be interesting to see if Beckham goes before Kelsey Ertz.
That is a great question. I would take Kelsey over him.
And I might take Ertz over him too.
Dave?
I feel like if you're taking one, you're taking the other over him.
I'm not sure where I come out on it yet.
I mean, you're not going to get those guys anywhere close if you miss them in round two.
So it just comes down to, can you find another Odell Beckham?
Well, can you get George Kittle in round three if you find another Odell Beckham?
Well, can you get George Kittle in round three if you pass on Ertz and Kelsey? I think you're going to see in the first 25 picks,
because somebody at the swing wants Kelsey and Ertz off the board
because they're not making it to the end of round two,
you're going to see George Kittle go at the swing spot,
which is where Ertz was going this year.
Yeah.
So it's going to be those first three tight ends
are going to go in the first 25 overall picks.
So it just comes down to...
I mean, obviously it's different for 10-team leagues,
but I think you can...
I'm going to take Kelsey and Ertz for sure.
I'm not going to take Kittle over Beckham,
but I'm going to take Kelsey and Ertz over him.
If we look at target leaders inside the 10-yard line,
it's Hopkins, Michael Thomas, Juju Smith-Schuster.
Oh, Thomas will probably go ahead of Beckington.
Yeah.
Travis Kelsey, Jared Cook, Chris Godwin, Zach Ertz, Julian Edelman, T.Y. Hilton, and Austin Hooper.
That's a more interesting list.
You've got some tight ends on there.
You've got Kelsey Ertz, but also Jared Cook.
You've got Chris Godwin.
I think a lot of that was early.
And T.Y. Hilton.
T.Y. Hilton, I mean, he really changed with Luck.
When Luck earlier in the year wasn't throwing downfield,
Hilton became a short yardage guy, a red zone guy.
It's not something we had seen.
Now he can't score touchdowns, but he gets like 178 yards every week.
Also, Austin Hooper on here.
And Edelman maybe has picked up the touchdown slack, you know, with Gronkowski.
Yeah.
Edelman's had a great year.
He's the number 10 wide receiver in PPR since he returned.
It's amazing since he missed four games.
No, no, no. Sorry.
Since he returned, Jamie.
Hilton versus Beckham will be an interesting conversation.
Yeah, I got to go Beckham there.
I would too, but I think it's certainly close.
So Edelman has five touchdowns in 11 games.
His career high is seven.
This is his third highest touchdown total in his career. His career high is 7. This is his third highest
touchdown total in his career.
Okay.
Those are your red zone leaders.
What was your potential bet with him, with Heath,
for Edelman versus Fitzgerald?
Gosh, I really don't remember.
But, yeah, I won that one.
I do wonder
if sitting out four games helped him.
Because if you recall, he was like, in the preseason, I'm just not right.
You know, coming off the ACL.
I never believed him for a second.
You don't think so?
Him, look, he probably didn't feel right.
I don't think this was Doug Baldwin saying, I'm not 100%.
He just probably didn't feel comfortable with what he was doing.
Yeah.
Well, either way, I'll take it.
All right, we're going to get into some of Adam's.
By the way, speaking of Julian Edelman, my wife and kids love him because of the book that he wrote.
He wrote a book?
He wrote a book.
The name of it is Escapism.
But it's about him as a squirrel.
And he plays football with a goat that wears number 11.
Oh, it's Flying High.
Flying High.
And it's about overcoming the inability to be considered a standout athlete.
Oh, okay.
And so my wife read it at my older son's classroom, and the kids loved it.
And so now she keeps telling me, which I'm not going to do because it's just not something I do.
She's like, you've got to tweet at Julian Edelman and tell him how much we love the book.
Well, I have good news.
I'm not going to do that, so I'll say it here.
Julian Edelman, if you're listening, we love the book. Well, I have good news. I'm not going to do that, so I'll say it here. Julian Edelman, if you're listening, we love your book.
Yeah, and Julian Edelman's Flying High is selling for just a pre-owned edition.
Just $114.75 on eBay right now.
So...
You're saying I should go home and sell it?
Yes, absolutely.
Are you kidding?
Wow.
It also led to a funny conversation that we had in our green room when I brought up the story of the book and Pete Prisco drink.
Thought I said Julie Nettleman.
Julie Nettleman?
Yes.
And he thought that was an author, Julie Nettleman.
That's good.
All right.
We're going to talk about Adam's random fantasy football thoughts and read your emails and tweets right after this.
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.
So here are some random fantasy football thoughts from your,
your host Adam Azer,
who's going to miss all of you in January.
Uh,
I love super flex,
huge fan.
I want to play more of it.
You guys can react to everything I say.
Um,
did you play a quarterback in your super flex spot every time?
Yup.
And I shouldn't have.
No.
Week 16.
I'm assuming you're talking about our flex league, right?
I have two super flex leagues.
One of them is PPR Dynasty.
Are they both four points for passing touchdowns?
No, one was six.
Okay, so that's a different conversation.
Four points for passing touchdowns, it changes the philosophy.
I started Alfred Blue over Ryan Tannehill in week 17, conversation i four points for passing touchdowns it changes the philosophy i started alfred blue
over ryan tannahill in week 17 and thankfully they did yeah week 16 they're both terrible and it
didn't matter um but that was actually i had gotten to the point where i said you know what
i i'm gonna stop just automatically starting quarterbacks i this is not worth it so um no i
don't think look hopefully you have good enough quarterbacks where you is not worth it. So, no, I don't think...
Look, hopefully you have good enough quarterbacks
where you can start them every week,
but if you don't, especially in PPR,
don't be afraid to mix it up.
Should Superflex be 10 teams or 12 teams?
I'm fine with either one.
Yeah, it could be both,
but I think it's obviously more challenging
in 12-team leagues.
Okay, another random thought from me.
I'm still not sure how I feel about IDP.
Not sure.
What do you mean?
I don't know how much I like it.
I enjoyed it this year, but I think it's because my team was really good.
But you're usually pretty good in that league.
Yeah.
I just don't know if it's because of the IDPs.
I think it's because everybody else puts so much focus on IDP,
and I don't.
I kind of stream the defensive players.
I never really do either once I get my linebacker spot
and at least one pass rusher locked up,
and then it's just kind of, okay, I'll stream a lot of that.
It's funny.
We do the exact same thing, all three of us.
I like to get one or two IDPs that I can count on week in and week out.
And then every week I'm looking to see if I can improve on all the other IDPs I have.
Yeah, yeah, pretty much.
It's kind of like streaming tight end, except I'm doing it with like seven different positions.
And it's a bigger pain in the butt.
I will say this, the league that you're referencing, it's a league we do with analysts from other sites,
two of which, at least over the years of us doing this league, have been
considered two of the
guys that people should follow for IDP
advice. Justin Fialkow and Gary
Davenport. Gary's one of the best,
as is Justin.
So they're very competitive in this league, and
they focus very heavily on the defensive
guys. And Justin was the number one seed
going into the playoffs. Oh, he was?
Yes. I think Heath
upset him. No. Right. Like, I didn't
make the finals in that league because of my
IDPs.
You did make the finals. It wasn't because of your IDPs.
No, but I think the key to that league is
not necessarily what you do on the draft in terms
of your IDPs. It's what you do throughout the
season at IDP. The years where I've had
success in this league is because I've ended up
streaming to a point where I find guys that are good.
And I did it with our Dynasty
League too, where because
he's a defensive tackle,
nobody drafted Chris Jones.
And my starting
we only play two defensive linemen.
I have a combination of
Joey Bosa, Cam Jordan,
and
no, Joey Bosa, Chris Jones, Mark Statenport.
I had somebody else for a while on there.
But if you hit on the right guys, and Corey Littleton wasn't drafted in that league.
I have Corey Littleton.
You end up with the right guys, you're in great shape.
You don't have to necessarily draft the right guys, but you have to end up with the right guys.
Well, yeah, and I think that—
You can't have duds at those, especially in that IDp league where we play a full roster of idp guys i think that there are so few
people out there fantasy analysts or not that know defensive players the way we know offensive
players so that just means that there are just going to be guys on the waiver wire that we didn't
know about you know we didn't think about it that that have emerged. And it's just, yeah, it doesn't make sense to invest heavily in defensive players,
in my opinion, in IDP.
Well, it does if you're getting the stars who are the stars.
I mean, when you get Landon Collins in the year that he has, when he's great,
if you get Gary Stunner this year.
I have Aaron Donald, but I wouldn't invest in two.
I would like to have one stud.
But I don't know.
Again, it depends how deep you go.
If you play like ours, which is two defensive linemen, three linebackers, three DBs,
you've got to have at least two stars and three middle-of-the-road guys,
and then stream the rest.
But you don't have to get them on draft day because they're so interchangeable.
You might.
You might, but I don't know.
I never do.
I don't know. It wasn't really about strategy. It You might, but I don't know. I never do. I don't know. It wasn't really about
strategy. I just don't know if I like it.
I think that's what it kind of comes down to.
But you don't like most things that are fun.
That's true. I'll tell you one thing I'm over. Another
Adam A's or random fantasy thought. I'm over standard scoring.
I don't think I want to do it anymore.
A lot of people are.
It's funny because I think a lot of people this year were actually
wanting to go back to it. My next random fantasy thought, let's just all do half PPR. It's funny because I think a lot of people this year were actually wanting to go back to it.
My next random fantasy thought,
let's just all do half PPR. It'll make everything easier
for everybody. And decimal scoring.
Decimal scoring, half PPR, yes.
Remind me of
this when I set up all the mock drafts next year.
And my final
random fantasy thought,
I felt this way about baseball
after the year I said this about our fantasy baseball season and football.
Fantasy success so often comes down to how your first two picks performed.
Do you mean drafting Hugh Darvish in the fifth round is a bad pick?
First two picks.
First two picks.
But drafting Hugh Darvish in the first five picks.
No, for me it was drafting Chris Bryan and Charlie Blackman with my first two picks.
For me, it was drafting Melvin Gordon a lot in football.
I had a great year because of it, you know?
But if I had drafted Dalvin Cook and Leonard Fournette,
I probably would have loved my team on draft day.
You can overcome it and get in.
You mean you didn't draft Dalvin Cook a lot of your leagues?
I didn't draft Dalvin Cook in one league, luckily.
Dodged the bullet.
You can overcome it.
It was the bullet that you left.
You put it in the barrel.
I shot it, but I dodged it.
What was I going to say?
Okay, you can overcome it and have a good year by playing the waivers.
You can't.
I don't think you can win a fantasy league if you missed on your first two picks.
It so often comes down to that.
Not unless you got lucky and James Conner wasn't drafted and you
picked him up, or Phillip Lindsey, same thing.
You picked him up. I mean, those guys are league
winners. They are.
Just, you know, there's so much that goes
into it, and a lot of it is like, did
your stud stay healthy? And that's just part
of it. I won a league
personally.
I was on a roster of a team that won.
That's right. We got an email
earlier this year about this guy who showed up
to his draft, hung over,
and he always wins, and they can't stand him for it
or something. And he wrote in
Jamie Eisenberg with his third-to-last
pick, I think.
15th round pick out of 17.
And it's funny, because I tweeted the draft board,
and
the team that picked number one, here, I'll tell you, was so stacked.
I'd like to know how it all unfolded because it's just like the common response was how did that guy not win with the number one overall pick?
He had Gurley.
Here, listen to this.
This is the team with number one over pick. Gurley, McCaffrey, Keenan Allen, Juju, Amari Cooper, Josh Gordon, Chris Carson, Kirk Cousins, Julian Edelman, Trey Burton, Sonny Michelle.
Wow.
There's somebody else.
Who is that?
Oh, Adrian Peterson with the second to last pick.
And his last pick is Philip Rivers.
The team that drafted me.
Me.
Ezekiel Elliott, Mike Evans, T.Y. Hilton, Zach Ertz, Russell Wilson, Sammy Watkins, Mark Ingram, Andrew Luck, Sterling Shepard, Ronald Jones, the Jags defense, Jordan Wilkins, Stephen Gostkowski, Cordero Patterson, me.
Me.
Who went after me?
That's still a pretty good haul.
It's not as good as the first team uh deshaun jackson and john brown what were what's the circumstance in someone drafting
jamie eisberg was he drunk was he trying to like i've had this once before where someone
looked at my waiver wire column and thought that i was the guy who was being recommended to be
picked up and i wonder if and i think if I remember the story, Adam,
you may have the email in front of you,
the guy said something like he looked at a sleeper's list
or a mock draft or something, and my name was on it,
and that's what he just looked at it quickly.
That's really funny.
Yeah, well, congratulations, Jamie.
The guy won, and Jamie was a big part of it.
Yeah, just 10 minutes ago I got a tweet.
How didn't Joe win?
Joe was the guy with the first.
17 minutes ago.
Can you tweet back?
How did the guy with the first pick not win?
Look at that roster.
So you can obviously tweet somebody who was in the league
if they're sending a picture of the draft board.
We should find out how you got drafted.
He told us the story.
It's on the email when he first sent it.
Last year we welcomed an experienced drafter into our league based on my suggestion.
Although he showed up to our draft hungover, unprepared, fell asleep during the draft,
failed to set a valid lineup week one, and didn't know what waiver wire priority meant until the playoffs,
he still won the championship.
The commissioner decided before the playoffs that he would not be invited back,
unknowing that he would be our champion.
Fast forward to today.
This is an email that was sent on August 27th.
Fast forward to today.
He was not invited back and is severely hurt about it.
He happened to be invited to a different league I'm in where he failed to pick
more than one starting running back and actually wrote in Jamie Eisenberg in
the 15th round.
And this guy won the league.
Let's read some emails and finish up here with emails and tweets.
James from the state known as America's armpit.
That's Jersey.
Dear Randy, Rick, Dave, and Hunter.
That is evolution.
Okay.
10-team PPR league, crazy rushing and passing bonuses with a double flex spot. Winner take all.
I guess he just wants to know if there's anybody on his bench that he should replace starter with.
He's starting Mahomes.
His running backs are Mixon and Chubb.
He has Fournette and Marlon Mack, Damian Williams, Jamal Williams, and CJ Anderson on his bench. Yeah.
Replace both running backs. With who? Williams and Williams? Dam. Anderson on his bench. Yeah. Replace both running backs.
With who?
Williams and Williams?
Damian and Jamal?
I think Damian's got to be in there in a full PPR.
I put him in there along with Jamal.
Nah, or maybe C.J.
Let's go with Jamal for now, and if Gurley's out,
and we hear that Gurley's going to be out,
then C.J. would replace him. Remember, he has two
flexes, too. His wide receivers are Hopkins and
Juju. On the bench, he has Edelman.
Just stick with Hopkins and Juju.
Tight end is Herndon.
I think that's his only tight end.
His flexes are T.Y. Hilton and
Chris Carson, and it's PPR.
Carson, too.
Do you take out Carson and put in Mixon,
Chubb, CJ.J. Anderson,
Jamal Williams, Damian, like, you know, Edelman?
No.
Okay.
Yeah, I'm thinking no.
You wouldn't put in Edelman for Carson in PPR knowing Carson might, you know.
They're playing the Cardinals.
Yeah, but they have nothing to play for.
They do have something to play for.
They do, they do.
I might be a tad worried about Carson if Rashad Penny ends up playing.
Not to bench him, though.
It's funny because Carson versus Edelman, like, Carson is down six points right from the start.
Is he?
Probably.
Carson has scored
at least 20 PPR points in two games in a row.
Has Edelman?
20?
Probably not 20.
When you think about Chris Carson, you don't think about the catches.
He had zero catches last week.
And what, six the week before or something?
Six the week before, which was uncommon
for him. You're asking about the last two weeks for Julian Edelman?
The last three weeks he has 23, 16, and 19 fantasy points.
All right, fine.
Pat from Ohio.
We know him.
Which team?
Say it the way he would say it.
What is up, fellas?
Playing for most points.
Which team at quarterback?
I want to be a cowboy, baby.
Or the Bears.
That was terrible.
Yeah, let's leave being Pat to Pat.
Cowboys or Bears this week?
Quarterback.
Team quarterback.
Bears.
Yeah.
From Chris, should our league eliminate the tight end position
and replace it with tight end wide receiver?
I'm in a league that does that, and I love it.
I hate it.
Like, why make things so easy on yourself?
No.
Drafting tight ends requires strategy and stress.
It's the weak way out.
That's right.
Make fantasy football less fun.
From Alexa, should I keep Kittle for an eighth-round pick
or Gallaudet for a tenth-round pick?
PPR.
I think I'd lean Kittle.
From Can't Read Your Name, CT Fox.
Can't read your Twitter handle.
That's Nicky Fox.
Okay.
Who would you rather keep for next season?
I know him.
Le'Veon Bell or David Johnson, PPR?
Who do I keep next season?
We have to make this call now?
You could change it later.
I'm taking David Johnson now.
Johnson's younger.
The long-term outlook is better for him than it is for Le'Veon.
I don't want the Raiders running back.
What if it's the Colts running back?
Different conversation.
I don't think the Colts sign him, though. Chiefs running back. No chance Chiefs. Eagles running back. No if it's the Colts running back. Different conversation. I don't think the Colts. Chiefs running
back. No chance. Eagles running back.
No chance. Eagles. Jets
running back. Take it.
From Alistair. I heard you
say the Bears aren't likely to play their guy. Should I
drop the Bears DST for the Seahawks?
Absolutely. Yes.
From Matthias. Jameis,
Josh Allen, or Foles this week?
Foles.
Foles and six points for passing touchdowns.
Allen and four points for passing touchdowns.
From Colby, what's the appropriate amount of time to pay the winner of your money league?
By the Super Bowl.
The real Super Bowl.
From ThatFFNerd, who's the better one? Hold on a second.
Hold on a second.
If you're going to take that long to pay the person who won,
at least let them know it's going to take that long.
Yeah.
Don't just keep them in the dark.
Sure.
Jamie, thank you for letting me know.
What do I owe you for?
Which league?
$250 for 2QB.
Well, you owe me some money, too.
I do, yeah.
So a little less.
Yeah.
So pipe down there.
Who's the better wide receiver for Carolina this week,
DJ Moore or Curtis Samuel?
Find somebody on the team to buy into their wide receiver core.
I agree, but it's Curtis Samuel.
He had 13 targets last week.
Yeah, it's Samuel.
Daniel Hathaway, my question is—
Who's the quarterback for Carolina this week?
Curtis Samuel's going to play quarterback.
Why did it take Pete Prisco drink this long to admit Russell Wilson is a special player who is one of the best quarterbacks in the league?
That's a great question.
He, by the way, put drink in the question.
That's funny.
Dylan Raspberry.
Great name.
If Rob Gronkowski plays next year, where are you drafting him and which tight ends are you taking before him?
We had this conversation.
He is on FFT.
You can go watch back the full
discussion if you are extremely interested.
He's the seventh tight end for me off the board
right now behind Kelsey Ertz,
Kittle, Ebron, Hunter Henry,
and OJ Howard.
I would take him not before round
six. I have the exact
same six tight ends ahead of him.
And I'm thinking like round seven or round eight is the earliest I would take Gronk.
I'm going to let somebody else take him.
Wayne from a friendly town in Michigan.
Don't you dare say Grand Rapids.
Fine.
Average Rapids.
Dear Paul, Gene, Ace, and Peter.
There's your kiss.
Six points for passing touchdown leagues.
Lamar Jackson, Jameis Winston, or Derek Carr?
Lamar Jackson.
That's close with Winston.
Oh, another one from Matthias, this time via email.
Maybe the first one was via email, too.
Yeah, it was.
Marlon Mack, Robbie Anderson, or Gus Edwards?
Flex. PPR. Anderson,
Mack, or Edwards?
Mack. Yeah, I would lean toward Mack.
It's close though, because Anderson and PPR
still have his catches.
Alright guys, that is it.
Thank you so much, Dave and Jamie. We'll be back tomorrow.
I forgot one more tight end ahead of Bronco.
Oh, who's that, Jamie?
Same initial as Gronk.
Oh, as Gronk, yeah.
Rob, can you figure out what his name is?
Gotta go by Kowski.
Yes!
There we go.
We're out of here, everybody. We'll talk to you starters at AFC tomorrow.
Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na! Everybody, we'll talk to you starters at AFC tomorrow.