Fantasy Football Today - 12/27: Start or Sit (NFC); Bold Predictions (Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 27, 2019

It's Week 17, so what better time to make some bold predictions? We start the show with bold calls that may help you win a league! And as we preview the NFC home games, are we starting any LAR or MIN ...players (3:23)? ... News and notes (9:15) including an Antonio Brown update, your Start or Sit emails (13:40) and "Start, Sit or Flex at Best" (18:30) for players we'll be talking about later in the show ... ATL-TB (22:40), CHI-MIN (29:40), SF-SEA (34:10), PHI-NYG (42:15), NO-CAR (48:00), ARI-LAR (50:30), GB-DET (56:30), WAS-DAL (58:30) ... Email us fantasyfootball@cbsi.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

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Starting point is 00:00:59 BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. 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!
Starting point is 00:01:18 Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Happy Friday, everybody. Happy Week 17. We are back to preview the eight games, the NFC home games. We got to the AFC home games yesterday, and we'll knock out the rest today. Adam Azer here with Jamie Eisberg. What's up, Jamie? I watched a great football game yesterday.
Starting point is 00:01:38 I'm sure you did. You're very funny. Heath Cummings, welcome back. This is how out of it it is. I am because of Christmas. I don't even know what football game you're talking about. Oh, La Tech had a great football game yesterday. Yeah, the Miami loss.
Starting point is 00:01:52 Whatever. Big deal. Big deal. Great. Who did they beat? They beat a team Adam likes. Yeah, so there's that. And then there's Ben Gretsch is here.
Starting point is 00:02:02 Gosh, I hate you guys. You're rooting by Friday. Everybody stop rooting by Friday. Gosh, I hate you guys. You're ruining my Friday. Everybody stop ruining my Friday. Maybe we could hire Chris Peterson. Ben Gretsch, welcome back to the show. How's it going? I mean, I'm enjoying this hate on Miami. It's pretty good.
Starting point is 00:02:18 Yeah, everybody enjoys good Miami hate. Hey, look, all I know is if Miami were playing a football game 30 minutes away from me, I'd go to the game, Jamie, because I'm a real fan. I'm going. Okay, good. I'm glad you're going. I never said I wasn't going. You said you were relying on someone else to get you tickets.
Starting point is 00:02:36 No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. See, you have one child. I have three. It's expensive to go to sporting events. Why can't you go without them? That's what I want to know. Because they're fans of the team. So, run.
Starting point is 00:02:48 Lie to them. I'm raising my children to like good teams. You're raising your children to like bad teams. Think of all the heartache that you're setting your child up for. At least you have the Yankees. Disappointment. We always have the Yankees. That's good.
Starting point is 00:02:58 Hey, let's do a bold prediction for Week 17. Heath, give me a bold prediction for Week 17. Yeah, I think Greg Ward has 100 yards and two touchdowns. Oh, you're such a joke. What's with everybody today? That's my bold prediction. I should have put it in the notes. I think the perfect ending to the 2019 season
Starting point is 00:03:22 would be if we were a week too early on Mike Boone week. No, God. And he finishes this week as a top 12 running back, maybe runs for 100 yards, scores at least once. That's my bold prediction. We won't get any hate email there. No. No.
Starting point is 00:03:37 I honestly don't think it's that bad of a prediction. I mean, it was so disappointing last week, but they fell behind. Abdullah caught all those passes. But the Bears could be without two of their defensive tackles, Goldman and Hicks. So, you know, it's not crazy. Jamie, do you have a bold prediction? Yeah, RG3 is going to be a top 10 quarterback this week.
Starting point is 00:03:56 Woo! That's so weird. You know they're playing the Steelers, right? Yeah. All right, well, that's bold. Ben, do you have a bold prediction? Yeah, I will go. I mean, i got a good one and a fun one i'll take john ross for 100 yards in a td he his snaps ticked up i think he's going to play full full uh full snapshot this week and you know we've
Starting point is 00:04:17 forgotten about him a little bit the fun one marshall lynch comes back scores two touchdowns for seattle yeah that that could happen as well. Hey, the Rams and the Vikings. The Rams are saying they're going to sit there, some of their starters. The Vikings have nothing to play for right now. I know we touched on the Vikings yesterday, but we're going to preview these two games today. Jamie, you in particular seem very bearish on the Rams.
Starting point is 00:04:39 You think they're going to maybe risk off. Gurley, you're just, you're kind of avoiding them. Is that the situation with the Rams for you? I mean, if you just go by, based on what McVay sort of hinted at in that you're going to rest some of the injured guys. You know, you're already hearing Jalen Ramsey's not going to play. He had the knee injury that he left the game briefly last week. But, you know, Jared Goff's got this thumb injury that he's been playing through.
Starting point is 00:04:58 You know about Gurley's knee situation. If they're really concerned about him for next year, why would you play him in this game? So there's nothing guaranteed yet, but it wouldn't shock me if we get to Sunday and you hear Goff inactive, Gurley inactive, and you just don't have those guys out there, which for Goff clearly is going to impact the receiving core there for the Rams.
Starting point is 00:05:14 So there's nothing that we know yet from all these teams aside from the Ravens. So it's just one thing you've got to sort of take with what the sort of hint, hint, wink, wink, sort of nod, nod deal is. The one guy I'm planning on playing regardless is Robert Woods because I think he'll probably get enough targets. Blake Bortles will wing it around a little bit if he's playing. I think the difficult part with Gurley is if you're playing Week 17 and you have him, would you rather have Malcolm Brown or Daryl Henderson?
Starting point is 00:05:41 Well, Henderson's going to be placed on IR if he hasn't been already. Brown. Yeah, so Brown's the guy. Henderson's not going to play. Yeah. So what if Goff does play, though? Does he finish the game? Let's say, Ben, that Goff is active, but there's some speculation that he might not play the full game
Starting point is 00:06:00 and then it would be Bortles. What would you do in that situation? Yeah. I mean, for me, I don't play in a lot of leagues or any leagues that have Week 17 championships, but if it's me, and this is the way I kind of approach my Week 16 championships, I don't want to play guys that could potentially get me only a half a game, essentially, and I actually got hit with that with DJ Moore and Will Fuller last week, and it's pretty frustrating
Starting point is 00:06:21 when those guys go out early. I don't think Goff is such a slam-dunk play that you have to jam him in your lineup. He's got a great matchup. He's a good play, but if there's any risk whatsoever, find another quarterback. Yeah, Adam, I don't think this is a play a half and come out. He's either playing or he's not playing. This is an injury-related sit-down-wait-for-next-year scenario. This isn't get your reps in, get some rhythm going into the playoffs.
Starting point is 00:06:47 So you may see that from Deshaun Watson. They may play him a quarter, and he's done if the Chiefs have locked up their spot. That type of scenario, Kirk Cousins may play for a little bit. Josh Allen may play for a little bit. Those are the ones you have to worry about, those guys coming out. I think for the Rams, it's either you're in or you're out. I don't think it's going to be play a little bit and then sit them down. By the way, I know you all have
Starting point is 00:07:05 some questions. I've got some emails in the show today and an Apple podcast question as well. We'll get to those in a little bit. Would you guys like to hear a possibly funny fantasy football story? I thought it was funny. Then I'm getting ready to tell it out loud. I don't know that you're going to laugh, but it's Friday. It's week 17.
Starting point is 00:07:22 Should I give it a shot? Let's give it a shot, right? This is going to be good one way or another. Okay. So I was playing in two leagues last week. One of them I was tracking the whole time. The other one I was tracking and I was getting blown out. So unfortunately I started Mitchell Trubisky over Andy Dalton. And, yeah, I was getting blown out in that league.
Starting point is 00:07:44 And I thought it was the semifinals. So I didn't even check the league until yesterday. I knew I had Aaron Jones, but that's all I had on Monday night. I didn't check the league until yesterday. Turns out we weren't playing into week 17. That was the championship. And I looked at the score score final score of the game 84.48 to 84.28 down to two-tenths of a point I lost the championship wow my two-tenths I am so glad I did not track that on Monday night as it would have been the worst, most agonizing fantasy football defeat. Did you guys have players on Monday night? Yeah, Aaron Jones.
Starting point is 00:08:29 Yeah, Aaron Jones. Yeah, yeah. I didn't think I had a chance. I couldn't believe it. Was that the only bad decision you made was the quarterback? I mean, I don't regret starting Tyler Lockett, but I started Tyler Lockett. But other than that, yeah. Just thinking of Eddie's stupid Daltonton, Mitchell stupid Trubisky.
Starting point is 00:08:47 Oh, well. Well, I hope that was funny for you. It was a good way to lose by two-tenths of a point. If we're going to lose by two-tenths of a point, figure it out on Thursday. That's not a bad idea. Some things to promote. Go ahead. At least you scored, unlike your Hurricanes.
Starting point is 00:09:04 Adam, I've got to run for a minute. I guess the Antonio Brown news. So I'll be back. Oh, good. Well, I'm honestly not that upset based on all the things you said to me this morning. All right, so there's some Antonio Brown news. We're going to get to that in a second. Don't forget we have a radio show on Saturday night, our last one of the season.
Starting point is 00:09:19 Be back in August. But, well, we talk a lot about 2020. And we'll look back at bus breakouts, you know, all the good draft picks, bad draft picks we made. But also look ahead to 2020. So listen to the show, 10 p.m. to midnight. CBS Sports Radio, Sirius Channel 206. The DFS podcast. We've got a new episode dropping today with Heath and Mike McClure.
Starting point is 00:09:39 And playoff pick-em. .com slash playoff. Get in the league with a pool with your friends and your family. You can win some money and pick some games. We're going to take a quick break here. When we come back, we will run through the news and notes and get to your emails and the games right after this.
Starting point is 00:09:56 Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage. For more than 65 years, Securian Canada has been helping Canadians build secure tomorrows. Their insurance solutions are designed All right, everybody, welcome back. Here are Securian Canada. Insurance designed for life. All right, everybody. Welcome back. Here are your news and notes.
Starting point is 00:10:30 Mark Ingram says he's going to be ready for the postseason. That's good news. Derek Henry says he'll play this week. That's good news. Here's the juicy news. Antonio Brown is working out for the Saints. I don't think he'll print matter for Week 17. I think he could absolutely matter for the playoffs.
Starting point is 00:10:50 He could make them the Super Bowl favorite, and he could be a guy who, if he's on the list, could be really interesting for playoff challenges because there's no telling how he's going to be priced. That first week back of DFS in the playoffs could be a lot of fun. Ben, Doug Peterson said he's going to play the hot hand at running back, and he talked about Miles Sanders sanders boston scott and jordan howard how did you interpret doug peterson's comments on the running backs i mean i think it has to be miles sanders like is the hot hand i'm interpreting like we're coming into this game and miles sanders is playing really good football and jordan howard is not going to come back and and have the role that he had before that we're still going to see a lot of Miles Sanders. Okay, we're going to preview that game a little bit later. Zach Ertz mispracticed with rib and back injuries. On FanDuel, he and Dallas Goddard are basically the same price.
Starting point is 00:11:33 So I'm just going to play Ertz if Ertz is healthy, and I'm going to play Goddard if Ertz is out. And Ertz just destroys the Giants, caught two touchdowns against them just a few weeks ago. Leonard Fournette mispracticed with a neck injury. All right, so Ben was talking about this yesterday. Is it getting a little scary for you, Heath, Leonard Fournette? Yeah, I'm a little more concerned.
Starting point is 00:11:52 I think what I said yesterday was I will agree with Ben if he's limited on Friday. And so we'll find out what his practice status is today. But this was more concerning to me than the Christmas report was. Would you guys start Adrian Peterson or Leonard Fournette? Currently Fournette. He would have to probably mispractice on Friday for me to start Peterson over him. Kyler Murray was limited in practice. We still don't know if he's going to play at the Rams.
Starting point is 00:12:17 Tyrell Williams mispracticed with a foot injury, and he really may not play. Ben, if Tyrell Williams is out, I know we didn't really think much of Hunter Renfro yesterday, but if Tyrell's out with his four targets per game, whatever it is, would that bump up Renfro? Would it bump up Waller? What do you think? I don't know if it will have much of an impact on those guys. I mean, Williams tends to see his targets more down the field.
Starting point is 00:12:42 Waller and Renfro have kind of competed for underneath targets. I think maybe somebody else would emerge as a downfield option, or perhaps more likely Derek Carr just throws underneath a lot more. But Renfro and Waller are still going to be competing with each other. So I don't think it has that big of an impact, to be honest. DJ Moore is still in the concussion protocol. James Conner mispracticed. Dak Prescott is going to try
Starting point is 00:13:05 to throw today. He's ranked pretty high, I think, for Jamie and Heath. Dak Prescott, he is fourth for Jamie. Where are you having, Heath? Fifth, sixth. Fourth. Dave has him 16th.
Starting point is 00:13:22 So, yeah, he looked like crap last week. We'll talk about that game. Michael Thomas has a hand issue. Shouldn't be a big deal. Jarvis Landry may need offseason hip surgery. Carolina offensive coordinator Scott Turner wants to get Christian McCaffrey the ball. So that's good. Last year in week 17, he faced
Starting point is 00:13:38 the Saints, who he's facing this week. McCaffrey had like four carries and one catch. He barely played. I think he's like 215 yards shy of David Johnson's record for total yards. So he's got a legitimate shot at it. It's an outside shot, but it's a legitimate shot. And he's like 60 yards away from a 1,000-1,000 season. 60 receiving yards.
Starting point is 00:14:03 So we should expect him to catch some passes as well but but you tweeted something yesterday about him being like within striking distance and ppr of something what was it again yeah the the best fantasy season of all time graham graham barfield from nfl.com tweeted it out that he's i think 28 ppr points away from the the top all-time running back ppr season which was lad LaDainian Tomlinson, then I added to it that what's so crazy about that is LaDainian Tomlinson in 2006, the year he put that season up, had 31 touchdowns. Christian McCaffrey has 18. He has 13 viewer touchdowns and he's within striking distance.
Starting point is 00:14:37 It's crazy. Tom Brady plans on playing in 2020 and Terry McLaurin mispracticed. I hope he plays. He was really good with Case Keenum earlier this season. Your emails, fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Let's go through these quickly here from Cooper D. Dear Kevin, Buzz, Marvin
Starting point is 00:14:54 Harry. Great movie. I watched it like five times this week. PPR championship. I'm up eight points going into week two of the two-week final. I need two running backs. I need one running back and a flex. Saquon Barkley, Aaron Jones, Marlon Mack, Nick Chubb,
Starting point is 00:15:09 Kenyon Drake, and Brashad Perryman. Heath, who would you go with? Barkley, Jones, Mack, Chubb, Drake, Perryman. I'm going to go with Chubb and Jones. Interesting. Over Barkley. Okay.
Starting point is 00:15:26 I'm going to sit shut. I'm going to play Barkley and I think he has three roster spots, doesn't he? Did you say two? Oh, you're right. He has three. No, he has two spots for running backs and one flex.
Starting point is 00:15:42 I'm going to play Barkley, Jones, and Drake and sit shut. Those are all top play Barkley, Jones, and Drake and sit Chubb. Those are all top. I don't have rankings done, but probably top 15 options for me. Probably top 10. They're all top nine options for me in PPR. And I would actually start Jones, Chubb, and Drake. And sit Barkley.
Starting point is 00:16:03 Interesting. But you're saying sit Chubb, and he's facing the Bengals. He's going to run the ball like 25 times. He doesn't run the ball 25 times anymore. Look, Barkley's interesting because he's had two amazing games in a row against the Redskins and the Dolphins. Three games ago, struggled a little bit against the Eagles. So Heath's lower on Barkley than Dave and Jamie, but he's not low on Barkley.
Starting point is 00:16:26 No, I've got him nice. From Garrett. But I think Dave and Jamie have him top five. From Garrett. Feliz Navidad from Reno, Nevada. Let's just do Ben on this one. My league is stupid and plays a championship in Week 17. I'm down by 10 points. I have a decision to make
Starting point is 00:16:40 a quarterback in flex. Daniel Jones or Russell Wilson? Man, I want to play Wilson in a huge game, but I like, I feel like there's going to be scoring there. I would, I'd probably play Wilson. I also think you can go Jones.
Starting point is 00:16:52 And I would assume that one of you guys disagrees with me on this. Cause I think it's kind of bold to take Wilson here. That doesn't matter to me. You are the one answering this question. Galladay or Perryman PPR. I'll take Galladay there. I'll take Perryman. Oktober RVA says
Starting point is 00:17:09 Trubisky, Daniel Jones, Andy Dalton, or RG3 Heath? Daniel Jones. From Mark, Ben, start three in PPR. Damian Williams, Miles Sanders, Joe Mixon, Melvin Gordon. That's a good question for me because I said yesterday that Damian Williams was a guy that I was high on,
Starting point is 00:17:28 but this is a situation where I would sit him. I'd play these other three guys before him. Okay, that would be Miles Sanders, Joe Mixon, and Melvin Gordon. I would play Williams over Gordon. All right. This is from Ray Heath, PPR, Kenyon Drake, Greg Ward, or Terry McLaurin? Kenyon Drake, I just said I would start over Saquon Barkley, so I'm going to also start him over Greg Ward and Terry McLaurin.
Starting point is 00:17:50 All right. Ben from Jmask, non-PPR wide receiver. Hopkins, Diggs, Chark. Who would you start? He could also pick up Sims and Ward. What's the question? Hopkins, Diggs, and Chark, who would you start? He could also pick up Sims and Ward. What's the question? Hopkins, Diggs, and Chark. Who would you start out of Hopkins, Diggs, and Chark?
Starting point is 00:18:10 He's giving you names, and you pick the ones that you want to start. I would – like how many? I would start Hopkins, obviously. Well, people think he might not play the whole game. You know? I mean, I would start – sorry, I'm looking at the notes too. I feel like that's that guy's receivers, and he's asking if he should sit any of those guys for Sims or Ward,
Starting point is 00:18:38 which to me seems insane. He has a point. Like Diggs and Hopkins probably – Diggs has nothing to play for. Hopkins' team probably will have nothing to play for. I would sit Diggs. I'd sit Diggs for Ward. Oh, he has to start two of them. So you'd play Hopkins and Ward?
Starting point is 00:18:53 Oh, no. I'd play Hopkins and Chark. Okay. All right. Here we go. Last one. That was the worst question of all time. No, it's not.
Starting point is 00:19:02 These are the DeAnd hopkins questions that people have and it makes sense i mean you know heath where are you ranking hopkins no my my approach to that question was the worst of all time is the way oh yeah correct yeah that was bad yeah um i've got hopkins in the projections at like four and i think i may have dropped him down to like eight in my rankings but i unless something changes with what bill with bill o'brien's tone or like someone reports that there's talks within the texans about maybe not playing to win i'm mostly just starting him same with watson all right start sit or flex at best we're gonna get into the games now these are some of the games
Starting point is 00:19:42 we have later on in the show. So this is a good one to start with. Kenny Galladay at Green Bay. Start, sit, or flex at best. Top 10 wide receiver. Start him. Yep. I think that's a little bold.
Starting point is 00:19:59 I think that's a little too high. They covered him pretty well in the first game, if you recall. He had over 100 yards, but he had 66 yards in the first play of the game on a flea flicker. And then he had about 55 yards the rest of the game. I mean, I like what Green Bay's doing in the secondary. So he scares me. Yeah, I think that was a bad one to start on because it's a clear start. Okay.
Starting point is 00:20:24 Aaron Rodgers at Detroit. Start or sit? Start. I've gone back and forth on Rodgers. He's really only been good against really bad defenses, and this is a really bad defense. He's also not been good yet on the road, except maybe once.
Starting point is 00:20:39 So I don't really want to start him. No, that's not true. That's not true. Giants and Chiefs. He lit both. Twice? Okay. That's like half as good true. That's not true. Giants and Chiefs. He lit both teams up. Twice? Okay. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:20:46 That's like half as good games. A start, I guess, but I don't feel good about it. He's right in the Daniel Jones range for me. Start, sit, or flex at best, Michael Gallup. I'll start Gallup for sure. Flex. Start, sit, or flex at best, Adrian Peterson at Dallas. Sit. Flex. Would you rather start Gallup
Starting point is 00:21:08 you don't have options Peterson over Gallup and non-PPR for me meant Gallup over Peterson and PPR uh Ben how about Terry McLaurin and Stephen Sims at Dallas I will start McLaurin Sims is more like a flex I know he scored three touchdowns in the last two weeks. He's seen a lot of targets. You know, Haskins is out now, so he's going to be seeing some passes from another quarterback. And he's like, they're also using Kelvin Harmon. I don't know if I trust those targets,
Starting point is 00:21:36 and it's just been really high efficiency. It's tough to trust the touchdowns as well. So he's more of a flex, and I really wouldn't want to use him. But if he does it three weeks in a row, you know, sometimes you just got to ride the hot hand. We'll use them in week 18. If Sims does it again, but, but what if McLaurin's out, Ben, then how much would you like Steven Sims at Dallas?
Starting point is 00:21:58 If McLaurin's out. Yeah. I still, I mean, I still wouldn't want like, since when do we target Washington receivers? I don't know. I'm not really buying into it. Okay. Kenyon Drake is obviously a start based on what you said.
Starting point is 00:22:14 And finally, Heath, Kyler Murray, start or sit? Flex it best. Yeah. Flex. Kenyon Drake, I don't understand why he keeps coming up. 400 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns over his last two games. Did you see what he did the four games
Starting point is 00:22:30 before that? Did you see what he did one of those games was against the Rams? So, you know. That's not the same Rams team you're seeing this week. Yeah, I'm starting Kenyon Drake. Okay, so got a text yesterday from Ben Schrager, our producer.
Starting point is 00:22:50 I'm finding it. He said, used the SeatGeek promo code FFT for pinstripe bowl tickets. Very good. Good for you. And you know what? I went to the pinstripe bowl last year, and I used SeatGeek. The Miami Lost, of course. That's the theme of the day.
Starting point is 00:23:08 But, yeah, he used it. He got $10 off his first purchase. So you should do the same thing. Ben listens to the podcast. It's his job. You listen to the podcast because you're awesome. Now go ahead and use that SeatGeek app. It is the best way to get tickets.
Starting point is 00:23:21 And the promo code, again, is FFT for $10 off. Why is SeatGeek the best way to get tickets? Because you don't have to go out and look at other websites, other apps. SeatGeek brings in tickets from all over the web. SeatGeek does all that hard work for you and they care about the customer experience and they just make it really easy to get seats. They grade every ticket based on value. You can see the best seats. You can see the best value. You can see the lowest prices, however you want to sort it. And you go to the game or the concert, comedy theater, every purchase is fully guaranteed and you save 10 bucks. It's really easy to use. It's a great app. I'm glad I have it. I use it all the time and I recommend it all the time.
Starting point is 00:23:53 So get on the SeatGeek app, make a purchase, use the promo code FFT and get 10 bucks off your first SeatGeek purchase. All right, Atlanta at Tampa Bay is our first game today. Ben, I'll give you this one. Jamie and I talked about this game a few days ago, and it's just interesting because these two quarterbacks, you want to start them, but I can make compelling cases against both of them. Really, it's just that the Falcons and the Bucs have been playing a lot better defensively lately. So give me your thoughts on what could be a high-scoring game, Atlanta at Tampa Bay. Yeah, it should be a high-scoring game.
Starting point is 00:24:30 Atlanta leads the NFL in pass attempts, I believe, still. Tampa Bay, even without Evans and Godwin last week, Jameis Winston just continued throwing the ball all around the field. He wasn't as efficient. He threw four interceptions, but he just kept throwing the ball down the field. He ended up setting the single-game quarterback high for total air yards in a game. Tons of downfield volume still there in this offense. So you can play Brashad Perriman.
Starting point is 00:24:54 You can play Justin Watson. And I think O.J. Howard is also a very solid play. He's been getting some downfield volume as well. So those are the three guys in the passing game I'd look at. I'd play James volume as well. So those are the three guys in the passing game I'd look at. I'd play Jameis Winston as well. I think what happened with Ronald Jones last week, he gets a long run, a big run early, and then Peyton Barber fumbles right away, and it allows him to finally get a bigger workload that it's kind of been eluding him over the last couple of months.
Starting point is 00:25:21 But we should hope that happens again but not probably expect it because they do kind of just do a hot hand thing and it was that circumstance that created his big workload so he's a tough one for me as much as i love him uh davante freeman's being used a ton in the past game i think you can you can probably start him i'd probably take him if he plays he might not play but i would probably take him over i don't uh on jump i don't like but that's him over on jump i don't like but that's the thing i really i don't want to start davante freeman because freeman like we know the bucks run defense is great they have they allow three yards per carry to running backs they
Starting point is 00:25:54 also don't give up receiving production of running backs and we saw just a couple of weeks ago he placed the niners and he was terrible so actually he's had he's had four games since coming back he's faced the saints of the Niners and two of them, and he struggled. He faced the Jaguars and the Panthers and the other two, and he was good. So I'm not really feeling either running back here. Ronald Jones had, what, like a 44-yard run or something,
Starting point is 00:26:18 and he averaged like two yards per carry in his other carries. And he's so stupid. Like, he's not stupid. His usage is stupid. He's so stupid like he's not stupid his usage is stupid he's so unpredictable um so i you know what like i'm nervous about this game just in general ben doesn't seem to be uh he's how about you i'm starting the quarterbacks i'm starting the number one receivers i'm starting the tight ends i I like Freeman over Ronald Jones. I would view Freeman as pretty much a start as a number two running back,
Starting point is 00:26:49 and Jones is a high-end flex. I think there's going to be plenty of points scored in this game. Jones is frustrating. I don't really like Freeman. Freeman has not been great against tough matchups, but I think what he did against the saints what 10.4 ppr points that's probably pretty close to what his floor is in this game oh okay well would you start mike boone or davante freeman oh freeman by like 10 miles i'd start jones over boone too
Starting point is 00:27:19 how about uh how about kareem hunt both freeman yeah i'd go both freeman and jones over hunt oh okay yeah and another thing that's kind of weird in this game um remember last week i said well the bucks have been really good against number one wide receivers lately but don't worry about it's not going to be deandre hopkins you're going to start him well they were really good against deandre hopkins in, they limited their last five games. Julio Jones, 68 yards. DJ Chark, 47 yards. Kenny Galladay, 44 yards. Hopkins, 23 yards.
Starting point is 00:27:52 None of them scored. The number two wide receivers have been much better. I think Julio Jones has 25 targets in his last two games, so you're going to start him. 35? 35 in his last two games. Oh wow oh right he had 20 and 15 right against san francisco who's also very good against number one you don't sit julio jones this
Starting point is 00:28:12 is julio jones especially not when he's on a streak like this no i was not going to make the case to sit julio jones um so julio jones brashad Perryman, what about Watson? Like Russell Gage, any interest there? How do we feel about Justin Watson? I think Watson's just a deep flex. He should have had a much bigger game than he did last week, but I don't think that was all Jameis' fault. I think some of that was his fault.
Starting point is 00:28:40 That deep pass, if he'd just not fallen down and kept running, he probably would have had a touchdown. It's a boom-b bust deep flex for me but there's a huge boom potential because there's a lot of downfield volume i i would i he raises up i'm higher on him than he because of that potential ceiling i think it's very high so if you look at the two running backs in this game and you look at Perryman and Watson, Ben, how would you rank Freeman, Jones, Perryman, Watson? I would play Perryman and Watson ahead of both of them, probably in all formats because Devonta Freeman is more of a PPR back anyway. I would play Freeman only where I needed running backs in PPR formats. But Perryman and Watson, the passing games are absolutely what you want to target in this game. Those are the guys that I want to play.
Starting point is 00:29:30 Yeah, I'd go Perryman, Freeman, Jones, Watson. And Watson probably does have more upside than Ronald Jones. Jones has, I think, a considerably higher floor. So we'll see. Jones does not have a high floor. Higher floor than Justin Watson. I don't know, man. He got 10 targets last week.
Starting point is 00:29:49 And you said, you know, if he caught that deep ball, whoever said it. Well, it wasn't if he caught it. It was if he had not fallen down because he was too wide open and freaked out. Well, yeah, that's the thing. Like, he was wide open for a deep touchdown. He could have had a huge game. All right. Yeah, I mean, no one thinks he's a really, really
Starting point is 00:30:07 good receiver, but they don't have anyone else to throw the ball to. He's not going to go anywhere. They do have O.J. Howard. How do we feel about O.J. Howard, Heath? He is facing a team they've given up. Atlanta has allowed
Starting point is 00:30:22 70 yards or a touchdown to a tight end in seven of their last 10 games. So we'll start. Start him. Yeah. Okay. Now let me give you a hypothetical, guys. Let's say Jared Goff is inactive.
Starting point is 00:30:33 Would you start Tyler Higbee against the Cardinals or OJ Howard? Howard. Wow. Against the Cardinals, I think I'd still take Higbee. Okay. And we like Austin Hooper. Hooper's top six in non-PPR, top four in PPR. Pretty sure that wraps this game up.
Starting point is 00:30:53 Atlanta DST is around 12th, 12th to 14th, 11th to 14th in the rankings. Let's go to Chicago at Minnesota. Heath, exciting game here in the NFC. No, no. This one will be quick, quick though because I feel like that game took like 20 minutes this one's going to take like two um I don't want to start either of the quarterbacks I don't really want to start any of the running backs I don't really want to start any of the wide receivers besides Alan Robinson I'm not going to start any of the tight
Starting point is 00:31:21 ends yeah this is an easy game ben any thoughts is there anyone you want to start besides alan robinson i think that's the way i brother is the only one the only one on my list i mean you can i think you can make a case for the chicago running backs in in the right formats cohen and ppr and montgomery non-ppr if you needed to use them but they're not guys that i want to be using and we we are so uncomfortable with Minnesota's playing time that they're not guys that I want to be starting. I mean, David Montgomery versus Devontae Freeman is actually interesting to me. And I know, you know, in PPR, you go with Freeman because even though he hasn't
Starting point is 00:31:59 really been that, he was great in the passing game last week. But let's just say, you know, full season, he's been very good in the passing game last week but let's just say you know full season he's been very good in the passing game but in non-ppr like you can't understate the possibility that davante freeman has like 20 rushing yards because you look like leonard fournette had 14 carries for 38 yards marlon mack had 13 carries for 38 yards uh carlos hyde had 17 carries for 27 yards so he could get completely blanked basically by tampa bay I mean, two of those three guys had more than 35 yards. So I wouldn't expect Freeman to have to. Yeah, but they also got more carries. Not really.
Starting point is 00:32:34 Freeman's not a non-PPR option. I agree. Yeah, I don't totally agree with that. Maybe he's more of a flex and non-PPR, but he's probably going to run for 40 yards, and he's probably going to have 30-ish yards receiving. And so if you've got 70 yards, it's do you score a touchdown. But 70 yards plus a touchdown in a high-scoring game
Starting point is 00:33:00 is not a guy I have to stay away from. And he has four touchdowns on the year, so you can bank on that. Two in his last three. Three in his last three. Pass-catching running backs against the Bucs. McCaffrey, 16 yards. Barkley, 27. Gurley had 54.
Starting point is 00:33:18 Kamara had 42. McCaffrey had 26 the second time. These are receiving totals? Carson, 28. Kamara, 40. Yes, receiving totals. So they are among the best. He's not McCaffrey had 26 the second time. These are receiving totals? Carson 28, Kamara 40. Yes, receiving totals. So I think my 30 yards is pretty accurate. He's not McCaffrey.
Starting point is 00:33:29 He's not Kamara. They are among the best in the NFL. 30 is not a lot. So the Chicago Minnesota game was so bad that you guys just went back to Arkansas. Yeah. Basically. What do we think the Vegas over under for Devante Freeman player prop total yards is.
Starting point is 00:33:47 I don't think 70 is far off. Probably. No, but I take the answer. I bet it's 53 or something like that. I'm going to go. I'll, I'll find it.
Starting point is 00:33:56 All right. So, so just to put a bow on this in a non PPR league, would you start David Montgomery or Devante Freeman? I would probably start Montgomery Freeman. Aaron Jones just carved up Minnesota's rush D last week yeah and they're back they're a little banged up too can we just take a look at like we're reading off all these game logs against tampa bay can we just read off david montgomery's game log for the last two months
Starting point is 00:34:17 i don't want to bore everyone to death he Heath. Yeah. So why not Stefan Diggs? I don't know how much he's going to play. I don't know how much his quarterback's going to play. Okay, let's move on then. Next game. See, this is where I'm confused. San Francisco at Seattle. I actually had Diggs on my list.
Starting point is 00:34:38 Well, no, I actually had Diggs on my list, and that's where I got confused on that earlier question because I'd play him. I don't think he's going to sit, but I kind of felt like you guys might have some insight there. So I actually liked your question, Adam. I don't know. Why not him?
Starting point is 00:34:52 I don't think he's going to start. I don't know. He might. I don't know. There's not been some Bill O'Brien, we're playing to win the game or anything like that. And both Diggs and Thielen are perpetually dinged up. So it would seem like a good idea to me to get them a week off.
Starting point is 00:35:12 If you want another reason to get away from Diggs, he only has 11 targets in his last two games since Adam Thielen came back. He did well in both of them. And the Bears are very good against wide receivers. They give up the fifth fewest fantasy points to wide receivers. But I think it's more of a playing time issue. San Francisco is at Seattle. You know what?
Starting point is 00:35:31 I'm going to have to give this one to Heath because I don't want to just give Ben all the good games and Heath, you know, the – No, I'm pretty good at those bad games. I can get through those quickly, and then we can just fight about the same games we've talked about the whole show. Let's go. Heath, I want you to talk about Sunday Night Football.
Starting point is 00:35:47 Ben, I'll obviously get a word in as well. Oh, Sunday night. Start Russell Wilson. Sit Jimmy Garoppolo. I am starting Raheem Mostert. My favorite Seahawks back is Travis Homer, but he's more of a high-end flex and a start. Maybe better than that in PPR. He's very involved in the passing game.
Starting point is 00:36:08 I believe eight targets, and he came in very late in the second quarter last week. So I think Homer's an okay PPR start. That could change if we get more information on Friday or Saturday that says, ooh, Marshawn Lynch is really looking good and ready to go. I expect Marshawn Lynch to get like five touches in a warmup for the playoffs in week 17. As far as the receivers go, I guess my favorite one is Tyler Lockett still.
Starting point is 00:36:36 Then Emmanuel Sanders, then Debo, then DK. I'm probably just starting Lockett and Sanders, though Samuel's really close to a start for me. And obviously you start Kittle. I'm not really that excited about starting Jacob Hollister. Ben, anything you want to add?
Starting point is 00:36:58 I mean, I mostly agree. I think I would say that I'm a little more excited about Hollister. I think he's one of their three guys that actually run full route shares in their passing game with Metcalf and Lockett. Those are the guys that kind of comprise the main cogs in Seattle's passing game. I think they're going to have to throw. So I think there's some upside there for those guys. The issue with Seattle is just always we don't know where the targets are going to go. I mean, it can be highly variable.
Starting point is 00:37:25 As far as Lynch is concerned, I expect he'll start. I expect they'll do that to get the crowd into the game early. It's a huge game. Winner of this game wins the division. I expect he'll start and get carries early and really get people jazzed. And it would not surprise me if he's running well that he gets 15 carries in this game. And Homer plays mostly on passing downs. I like Homer as well. And I agree with heath he had a good a good receiving role but it would not surprise
Starting point is 00:37:50 me at all to see lynch be kind of like a glorified mascot on the field in this game i just gotta say though that the run defense for san francisco has been outrageously good lately so i just can't i just can't get behind the idea of starting it. And not that you guys said start one, but just to say, I can't start a Seattle running back. And I think all the guys we've talked about already, David Montgomery and Ronald Jones. Yeah, I'd start Homer over Montgomery.
Starting point is 00:38:18 Agreed. I would not start Homer. Are you kidding me? I mean, look at the running backs who have faced San Francisco lately. Todd Gurley, Aaron Jones, Mark Ingram, Aaron Jones, Alvin Kamara, and Devontae Friedman scored five or fewer non-PPR and seven or fewer PPR fantasy points. This run defense is insane right now. David Montgomery often scores five or fewer non-Pr and seven or fewer ppr fantasy points he
Starting point is 00:38:46 scored 5.9 last week that's true um 4.9 the week before he's not great but we could very well see like a cj precise role from homer which precise never produced much either i mean we don't we're not going to get word from seattle we don't usually know when they decide to just go full on Chris Carson games and completely pull Rashad Penny out of it. They would just make those decisions. And then they went back to a committee that they're kind of loosey goosey with that stuff. And we don't really know. And if Marshawn Lynch looks good, he very well could push Travis Homer completely off
Starting point is 00:39:21 the field. The reason he was so involved last week, he was the only healthy running back from that second quarter or third quarter point on. He was the only guy. And he wasn't very good. And then they brought in two more running backs. This is not a Travis Homer fan take. This is a, you should not be starting David Montgomery.
Starting point is 00:39:41 He's really, really bad at scoring fantasy points. You shouldn't start either guy. Raheem Mostert. Is Raheem Mostert the best running back we've talked about so far ahead of Ronald Jones, Devontae Freeman, Montgomery, Minnesota guys? Yeah. Well, he's the best, right? He's the best in non-PPR for sure.
Starting point is 00:40:01 I think I've got Freeman one spot higher in PPR. Okay. Yeah, he maybe will catch one or two balls. PPR for sure. I think I've got Freeman one spot higher in PPR. Okay. Yeah. He maybe we'll catch one or two balls. So how about Raheem Mostert or Deandre Washington? Washington. As long, as long as Jacobs is out,
Starting point is 00:40:13 I'm starting Washington period. I think you can make a case. He should be starting Mostert period. Why, why would you, I mean that it's very close, but I think I can lean Washington with Heath. Yeah. We wish Mosterer would get more carries.
Starting point is 00:40:28 He's, you know, 13-ish, something like that, but he has scored a touchdown now in five straight games. The wide receivers are tough. And Russell Wilson, let's spend a little more time on Wilson because everybody's got Garoppolo as a sit. Wilson, you know, he's 9th for, eleventh for Dave, eighth for Heath. Would you start Daniel Jones or Russell Wilson? Wilson. And Ben
Starting point is 00:40:49 already answered that question. Yeah. He did that question. I don't remember that. When did I ask that? During the mailbag. You read the question. He said, I think it's a little bit of a hot take, but I'm going to take Wilson over Daniel Jones. I wanted your opinion, and you were like, you refused to give your opinion that's right no look wilson wilson's been he's been bad
Starting point is 00:41:11 man he's it's like nine games in a row now he's been pretty bad for fantasy except for two of them so i i don't like the way you phrase that he has been bad for fantasy games in a row he's been bad except for two of them so it's not been bad for nine games in a row. Seven out of nine games has been bad for fantasy. Now his running backs are injured, and it's a division. When they trail, he throws more, right? So it's a tough game, division-deciding game against San Francisco. You've got to expect he's going to throw more.
Starting point is 00:41:43 They're going to put more on his shoulders with the running backs out. I'm not looking at those past nine games as much as what we'll see in week 17. How would you rank Jameis Winston, Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan? Jameis is just, there's so much volume there. I like both Jameis and Ryan for volume. I would take them probably over Wilson. Ryan, Russ, Winston. No.
Starting point is 00:42:08 Yes. Sorry. I got Winston and Wilson confused there. Ryan, Wilson, Winston. Man. Lockett, Metcalf. Why does everybody like Lockett so much more than Metcalf? Especially you, Heath. You have Lockett in your top ten.
Starting point is 00:42:24 Lockett up. Good analysis. No. especially you heath you've locked into your top 10 lock it up good analysis um no i haven't it's not something i've really thought about that much probably comes back to like lockett has more upside on a weekly basis he that's probably what it is like those big monster games are just factoring into the projections and the season totals um i mean i think tyler lockett's a very talented wide receiver and i generally whenever i think russell wilson's going to throw more than 30 passes expect lockett to be a must start all right how many last question here, Ben. How many of the wide receivers in this game would you start ahead of Raheem Mostert in a half PPR league? So half PPR, Raheem Mostert, or the four wide receivers in this game? I would start Lockett and probably Emmanuel Sanders over him.
Starting point is 00:43:24 I don't think I would go with Metcalf. Debo. Debo's pretty good. It would be close with Debo and Mostert for me. I would start Mostert over all of them. Wow. Okay. All right, let's go to our next game.
Starting point is 00:43:38 Philadelphia and the Giants. Ben Gretsch, go for it. Daniel Jones or Russell Wilson? I don't know. It's a toss-up. Yeah, Philadelphia. We got to like what Daniel Jones did last week, obviously, threw five touchdowns through for a ton of yards.
Starting point is 00:43:56 I think you can play all of Sterling Shepard, Golden Tate, and Darius Slayton, but we don't really know where the targets are going to go, so it's kind of challenging, and Caden Smith is involved as well. I think you start Saquon wherever you have him. Even Heath, who said he's down on him, has him ninth. Unless you have better, like really, really good options, like we heard from that question earlier in the show. And then on Philadelphia's side, I think it's the same stuff.
Starting point is 00:44:20 We should expect the same kind of passing game flowing through the running backs and tight ends. We know Ertz is a little banged up. That makes him tricky. But this is a must-win game. He's probably going to tough it out and play through it. And I would start him. I would also start Goddard because there's a very real chance that Ertz could leave the game early.
Starting point is 00:44:35 And Goddard ends up having 12 targets again like he did last week. I think you absolutely start Miles Sanders. I know that Howard's going to be back. I would not start Boston Scott. I would not start Jordan Howard. I think you can use Wentz. I don't know that he's going to be like one of my top favorite quarterbacks, but I definitely think you can use him. And Greg Ward is the limit to where I would look at their receivers, but he's kind of a, I don't know for me, he's more like, I think of him as like the fourth option in their passing game
Starting point is 00:45:04 as opposed to their number one wide receiver i don't know that i disagree with too much like wince is one of my favorite quarterbacks for dfs this week because i think he's underpriced as long as zach earths is there i pretty much view him as a must start quarterback if for some reason earth wasn't able to make it then he would be a low-end starting quarterback. I don't know that I totally agree with Greg Ward as the fourth option in the passing game. He's got 23 targets over the past three weeks. I would presume that probably puts him second on the teams in terms of targets over those three weeks. I think he's a good number three, low-end number two wide receiver in PPR.
Starting point is 00:45:44 He doesn't do a whole lot with the ball after the catch. And I'm probably starting Goddard whether Ertz is in or out. Would you guys start Goddard or Hollister with Ertz playing, with Ertz playing, Goddard or Hollister? Goddard for me. It would be Goddard for me too. Who's your favorite wide receiver in this game i think it's a very tough question i think it might be slayton it's it's it's a tough question um in ppr i will go
Starting point is 00:46:16 with shepherd and non-ppr i think i'll go with slayton so i the numbers here's what the numbers look like there have been three games in which daniel jones sterling shepherd golden tate and darius slayton all played i'll just give you the targets um golden tate had golden tate and sterling shepherd both had 24 targets and Darius Slayton had 14, but he only had two last week in one of those three games. He had a knee injury, wasn't playing all the time. So it's a little skewed. So I cannot sit here and say that there's a favorite receiver. You know, it could be any of them. It's annoying. And I really like Greg Ward, but I don't know that I have the guts to start him over Shepard. This, to me, is a higher scoring game than Atlanta-Tampa Bay.
Starting point is 00:47:16 It's one of my favorite games for DFS for the weekend. So, yeah, I agree. Now, if Nelson Aguilar plays, I haven't seen an update on him, what would that mean for Greg Ward as a sleeper? I don't think Aguilar has practiced yet. Um, so I don't expect him to play, but if he did, it would be terrible news for Greg Ward.
Starting point is 00:47:33 Yeah, absolutely disastrous. Drop him. You're gonna have to start someone else news. Would you start Nelson Aguilar? I don't really want to because speaking of drops, um, he's just not very good. Would you start Watson?
Starting point is 00:47:51 Assuming Aguilar's out, Justin Watson or Greg Ward? Ward for me. And I'd probably play Watson. All right. We look at Heath's quarterback rankings. He has Daniel Jones. He has Daniel Jones, 11th.
Starting point is 00:48:07 Right behind Aaron Rodgers, just ahead of Ryan Tannehill. Also ahead of Trubisky, Dalton, Minshew, Garoppolo, Goff. But behind most of the guys we've talked about today. Behind Winston, behind Ryan, behind Wilson. Not in that order. All right, I think that's pretty much... Oh, Caden Smith. Caden Smith or Hollister, who do you like?
Starting point is 00:48:26 Let me give you a stat on that. Well, you tell me who you like, and then I'll give you the stat. Caden Smith for me. I will take Hollister in that scenario. Okay, here's your stat. Three games with Daniel Jones, Caden Smith has six to eight targets in all three games. There have been four tight ends with six to nine targets
Starting point is 00:48:44 against Philadelphia this year. And three of them caught a touchdown. Those three were Vernon Davis, Jimmy Graham, and Mike Gasicki. So obviously Caden Smith has a 75% chance of catching a touchdown. That's what that stat means.
Starting point is 00:48:56 I'm going to update the projections. I only had him for a 45% chance of catching a touchdown. Oh, you're very welcome. All right. New Orleans is at Carolina. Heath, you are up. orleans of carolina yeah so you're going to start drew breeze and you're not going to start will greer um i love love love alvin kamara in dfs this week you're obviously going to play him in your lineup
Starting point is 00:49:20 as well as christian mcafree he's kind of good too. I don't want to start a Panthers pass catcher. Samuel maybe gets more targets with no DJ Moore, but I can't trust it. You're obviously starting Michael Thomas and Jared Cook. This game's pretty easy too. This game is really easy. Yeah. I guess the only question is if DJ Moore plays. And we just saw one catch for AJ Brown last week.
Starting point is 00:49:50 If DJ Moore plays. He had a big game a few weeks ago, but Lattimore was out. Would you start DJ Moore? I think it would be tough to start him. Lattimore has been really good the second half of the season. We've talked about that throughout. It would be challenging for me to start him i would have a very difficult time sitting him i would hope that carolina would be creative enough to get dj more into the slot more often in a game against latimore but like they haven't done it very much this year.
Starting point is 00:50:25 I think he's only been there 13% of the time. But I would hope that they would do that a little bit, but I would just hope that he could give me one big play probably. As far as Drew Brees goes, he's second for Jamie behind Mahomes. He's first for Dave, and he's third for Heath behind Mahomes and Matt Ryan. I just can't believe you have Matt Ryan second overall. How? Have you seen the Bucs, what they've done to quarterbacks
Starting point is 00:50:50 the last six or seven games? They haven't played a lot of good quarterbacks. They played Matt Ryan. They shut him down. They played Sean Watson. He was terrible. I think Matt Ryan's going to throw for 320 yards, and that gives you a pretty decent baseline when it
Starting point is 00:51:07 comes to projections like he just does that almost every week and so i expect multiple touchdown passes i don't think that these defenses have improved enough to catch up to these offenses boy we just keep going back to that game huh okay let's see we are moving along i think we have three games left so after caroline was scrolling down in the notes what's the next game everybody it is arizona at the rams all right so ben what are we doing here i guess we have to be cautious with the rams but what's your take on this game arizona at the rams yeah you're playing kenyan drake mean, he should be considered an easy top 10 option in all formats, potentially top five option. The guy has been a stud and he's been
Starting point is 00:51:51 their workhorse since he came over. And I think I saw a stat that even including his poor stretch against some tough defenses, he is, I think, top five or maybe even top three in fantasy points since the trade because he has been their lead back the entire time and he's had some boom games over the last two. You're starting it, period. Kyler Murray is tough for me because they pulled him as soon as they had a little, you know, he had a little bit of an injury. If he plays, if he starts,
Starting point is 00:52:17 we don't know that he'll make it through the whole game. If he gets banged up, they'll probably remove him. And that makes the Arizona passing game tough for me as well. I don't really to play christian kirk i think you can play him if you had to i'd probably play more ahead of him um because he's also probably going to have a tough matchup with jalen ramsey um no ramsey's not gonna play oh i missed that okay yeah that's right the rant okay so but and then on the ram side, I wouldn't trust Gurley necessarily. I think Woods and Higby are the two that I would play. I don't want to trust Goff.
Starting point is 00:52:52 And I'm, like, okay on Cooper Cup. If he's playing, I mean, we don't really know about the Rams, right? No. Not really. And that makes this game is really tough, I think. Because, like, if the Rams are playing everybody on defense, I'm not going to start Kyler Murray. I'm only going to start Kenyon Drake.
Starting point is 00:53:12 If the Rams are playing everyone on offense, I'm starting everyone. Jared Goff destroyed. Jared Goff played three quarters against the Cardinals. He scored 28 points. He hit through for 424 yards. That was in week 13. Cardinals are awful. So it's really tough.
Starting point is 00:53:26 So, like, I think this thumb injury is overblown. You know, he said it wasn't really a big deal. He played pretty well, at least in the first half, against San Francisco. I thought he looked pretty good. What would, like, yeah, if Jared Goff is active, I mean, should we be gung-ho on Goff? Should we be gung-ho on Cup? You already said you're going to start Robert Woods no matter what, and I get that. But it's Goff and Kup, basically.
Starting point is 00:53:48 Because I understand Cook's coming on a little bit lately, but hard to trust. But yeah, I mean, this is a great matchup if he plays. If there was no concern at all about Goff or Kup sitting at all, then I would view Goff as a fine start, like at the very bottom of the guys I would call starts, but one spot ahead of Daniel Jones, who is my top streamer. So I'd just be saying start Jared Goff. I don't know. Cooper Cup would still probably be a number three. He keeps scoring touchdowns, but the targets has just not been there.
Starting point is 00:54:22 I don't really want to trust that trend continuing okay all right then and uh that's pretty much that game do we want to talk about girly if girly's playing ben what do you do heath what do you do with you know start him i think you just start him in place but it's it could be a terrible situation like it could be a terrible situation where it like was with mcafree last year where he plays one series and then doesn't play anymore. Right. Okay, so let's say Gurley's out. I wouldn't expect much out of him.
Starting point is 00:54:51 Let's say he's out. Where would you rank Malcolm Brown? Because this is a really interesting streamer. Where would you rank him? Top 10. I mean, if Daryl Henderson and Gurley are both out against Arizona's Rundy, I think Malcolm Brown, you're talking about a 20 carry back.
Starting point is 00:55:08 Could be. Yeah. How has Arizona's run D been lately? Because that wasn't their problem early in the year at all. They give up touchdowns. I know their pass defense has been better
Starting point is 00:55:22 since the golf game. I kind of think if Kyler plays and the Rams— Arizona has given up 100 or more rushing yards in all but two games this year. One of them was last week, but it was 91 yards. The three weeks before that, they gave up at least 130 yards. I mean, those are pretty high rushing yard numbers. Wait a second. But that's deceiving because
Starting point is 00:55:45 that's quarterbacks too yeah i'm looking at running back production and four of the last six have been under 100 yards for the running backs um right look they're they're not good against i guess my problem with brown would be if girly's sitting and ramsey's sitting and golf sitting and Kyler is playing, I think the Cardinals might just trounce them. So are you playing Kirk? I would probably, if Kyler
Starting point is 00:56:14 plays, I'll play Kirk. Why? God, he doesn't do anything ever. He is like the most overrated player. Look at his game log. He has three touchdowns this year. They were all in one game against the Bucs. He is usually under 50 yards.
Starting point is 00:56:34 Christian Kirk is a really bad fantasy option most weeks. The most overrated player. I don't know why we give this guy any credit. Do not start Christian Kirk. No way. Never. So I'm looking at the games that he was like he was really bad against Seattle last week. He only had seven points against Cleveland.
Starting point is 00:56:48 That was bad. He had 16 against Pittsburgh. He had 10 against the 49ers. He had like 400 against Tampa Bay, 15 against the Saints, 16 against the Panthers, 17 against the Ravens. These are not consecutive, by the way. As much as you talk about how difficult the schedule's been
Starting point is 00:57:07 for Odell Beckham and Baker Mayfield, his schedule's been pretty tough. And he's been relatively good in PPR more often than he's been bad. Well, this is a tough matchup. I think even without Rams, it's probably a tough matchup. It's a mediocre matchup. In the scenario I was laying out, if the Rams are really not going to play anyone who's even kind of injured
Starting point is 00:57:28 and Kyler Murray's back, I don't think it's a tough matchup. I think it's just a feel-good game for the Cardinals. Okay, but he does have 50 or fewer yards, fewer than 50 yards in four of his last five games. All right, that's it for that game. Two more. Green Bay at Detroit. Heath, you got you you got
Starting point is 00:57:45 this bonanza yeah this is an exciting game uh aaron rogers is a start that i'm not particularly excited about but i'm probably starting him um aaron jones the top three running back just absolutely crushed last time jamal williams is out i think he'll do that again you're starting devontae adams you are starting Kenny Galladay. I would prefer to stay away from the rest of the Lions and the Titans. Does anybody have interest in Kerryon Johnson, who had 11 touches last week? Would you take a gamble on Kerryon Johnson over Devontae Freeman or Ronald Jones or David Montgomery or somebody like that? I've got him behind David Montgomery, so no.
Starting point is 00:58:31 And you have David Montgomery last in your rankings, and somehow you've carried on. David Montgomery is 39th in my running back rankings. That's close. So Gallaudet you guys are cool with. Amendola, no thanks. Ben, bad game last week. Just to say goodbye to Amendola. I think you could use him, actually. Going into last week and every game where he'd ran at least routes
Starting point is 00:58:50 on at least 75% of dropbacks, he'd seen at least eight targets. I'm not sure. Did he see eight targets? I don't think he saw eight targets last week. He saw three. Three last week. But that was literally the first time where he's been used or run that many routes out of, I believe it's six games now on the season and with Jones out and Hawkinson
Starting point is 00:59:08 out, you should can, you should expect him to continue to run plenty of routes. I mean, he's their, their number two option. So I'm thinking of that as more of just a down game for a guy whose role has expanded over the last month.
Starting point is 00:59:18 When you look at the other games in his game long over the past month, but I'm not somebody that I want to rush to get in the lineups because he is just kind of a ppr slot option right yeah in ppr i would start him over like with the information we have now i'd start him over cup i'd start him over digs i'd start him over beckham i'd start him over mike williams um but he's not a top 30 guy. Heath, let me ask you some Galladay questions real quick. Galladay or Mostert? Galladay. Galladay or Kenyon Drake?
Starting point is 00:59:52 That one's really – they're both top 10 at their position, so I'll actually have to look. Drake. Galladay or DeAndre Washington? Galladay. Last game, Ben, Washington at Dallas. Yeah, we're getting a little more Case Keenum action here, right? Yes.
Starting point is 01:00:08 In this one? Yeah, I think that's actually probably good for Washington's passing game. I think Keenum was a little bit more productive for the receivers. Obviously, we saw Terry McLaurin be really good in the early part of this season with Keenum under center. Haskins has struggled a little bit. If McLaurin is healthy and plays, I want to start him with Keenum under center. Haskins has struggled a little bit. If McLaurin is healthy and plays, I want to start him with Keenum under center.
Starting point is 01:00:30 Sims and Kelvin Harmon and the rest of that passing team to me are a little bit tougher to play. I know Sims has double-digit targets both the last two weeks. He has three touchdowns both the last two weeks. If you're in a deeper league and you're playing in week 17, you don't have a lot of options. Sims is definitely somebody you can consider, but he's not somebody that i really want to bank on adrian peterson for me is just mostly a non-ppr low upside option on dallas aside we know they have to win we know washington's defense isn't very good
Starting point is 01:00:57 uh we also know dac's arms a little bit banged up but i want to play dac i want to play cooper i want to play gallop i want to play zeke uh reynolds cobb and and jason whitton are kind of like they're not top options at their positions but i mean they're guys you could consider i guess and i could see scenarios where i'd consider them keith would you start both cowboys receivers over both 49ers receivers no no i would not in fact i would start emmanuel sanders over amari cooper over debo samuel over michael gallup so gallup would be last on the list for me we do have some news that we should probably get in because it's about a game that we've talked about a lot today uh courtney cronin probably mispronounced that i'm sorry sorry, ESPN reporter for the Vikings.
Starting point is 01:01:47 They haven't finalized their plan for Sunday. They're leaning heavily towards resting a bulk of their starters, including Kirk Cousins. Team viewing Chicago week as a buy in terms of getting guys rest healthy for January. Oh, start David Montgomery, Heath. Start him up. Who has David Montgomery played the last two weeks? He's played the Chiefs.
Starting point is 01:02:11 How does their run defense rank, the Chiefs' run defense? Not well. Okay, who else? What was before that? The Cowboys? The Packers? How is the Packers' run defense? Not good. What are the Lions?
Starting point is 01:02:21 Not bad, believe it or not. They give up points, but not a lot per carry. Okay, you made your point, David Montgomery. Are there any backup Vikings we'd want to play here? Irv Smith? BC Johnson? I was thinking BC might be in play. And the nice thing is they can rest their starters and Mike Boone can still play.
Starting point is 01:02:40 There you go. So let's get back to this Dallas game because the Amari Cooper rankings are actually very interesting. Well, first of all, the Dak Prescott rankings are interesting. As I mentioned, Heath has him fourth. Jamie has him fourth. Dave has him 16th. He looked really bad last week. He scored 10 points at Philadelphia, 25 of 44, 265 yards, no touchdowns.
Starting point is 01:02:59 But I guess you guys – I know Ben – I know Heath has faith in him. He has him fourth. Ben, do you have faith in an injured Dak Prescott? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he played through it last week. He's further removed from it now. I'm not at all concerned about Washington's defense.
Starting point is 01:03:19 He's at home. He's much better at home and has been throughout the entire year. So I think he's a better at home and has been throughout the entire year so i i think he's a top five option as well i agree with whoever had him whoever you noted had him ranked in the top five okay and then for ezekiel elliott i'm going to be playing him in fan duel the redskins have allowed in three straight games 24 or more non-ppr 30 or more ppr fantasy points to a running back that would be miles sanders aaron Jones, and Saquon Barkley. They all had huge games against the Redskins,
Starting point is 01:03:49 so I don't see why Zeke wouldn't. What's up with Amari Cooper? So Jamie's got him in the top five. Dave and Heath have him around 20th. And then Gallup, Heath, you have him as a number three receiver. These are usually the games that Gallup does well. It's a good matchup. How is it that you have these guys kind of low,
Starting point is 01:04:06 and you have Dak Prescott four? Well, I think Dak Prescott can be four with having Ezekiel Elliott, Amari Cooper, and Michael Gallup on his team and none of them being must-starts. But the thing with Cooper, he has one of those three guys is probably going to have a great receiving day. Cooper just hasn't had very many lately. We were talking about Christian Kirk and how he's been over the last five or six games.
Starting point is 01:04:31 Cooper has two games in his last six with more than 40 receiving yards. And I don't totally buy that it's just he's really good at home and he's really bad on the road. He's just an inconsistent low-end number two wide receiver like he's always been and he has huge upside games and he has long stretches where he's pretty much useless in fantasy i don't know which one we're going to get this week i mean it's fair he's had two of two of the last six with more than 38 yards two of those bad games were against gmore and Ramsey, but they were really bad games. Bad game at Detroit. Bad game last week with 12 targets in Philadelphia.
Starting point is 01:05:11 I like Amari Cooper a lot. And I have for three or four years now thought that he was undervalued in the community. But we're five or six years into his career now, and he has these enormous games. Even last year year he was a top five receiver or something after he went to dallas and it was almost all two games and so i just i have a really hard time ranking him too much higher than this okay i think you're wrong about him i think he's better than you i'm not talking about this week. I think he really, truly broke out,
Starting point is 01:05:46 became an elite wide receiver with this setup, with the Cowboys. And he's playing hurt. And so is his quarterback. I would just say that if you put his game log from this season next to his game log from past seasons, you would not be able to pick this season out. I don't care about what happened in past seasons.
Starting point is 01:06:03 He's playing a different quarterback. He was very good in the past, too. happened in past seasons. He's played a different quarterback. He was very good in the past too. Very, very good. He's better now. He's better. He's my number five receiver for 2020. It's not transferring over to fantasy production. I mean, it was until he
Starting point is 01:06:17 got extremely banged up and so did he have the cold streak that he has every year. He's injured. He is injured and so is Dak. Give the guy a that he has every year. He's injured. He is injured, and so is Dak. Give the guy a break. I like it. By the way, you said it sort of, I think you didn't mean it, that Ezekiel Elliott is not a must-start.
Starting point is 01:06:37 He is a must-start. I did not say that. I have not said anything about Ezekiel Elliott. You said Dak can be number four with Ezekiel Elliott, Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup not being must-starts or something like that. I just want to make it clear. Yeah, I did not use the term must-start.
Starting point is 01:06:53 So, yes, you should absolutely. Ezekiel Elliott is my number one running back in non-PPR. I'm pretty sure. I didn't say that he's not a must-start. Adam is definitely right on the way you phrased that because my ears perked up too, and I was like, wait, did you say Ezekiel Elliott's not a must-. Adam is definitely right on the way you phrased that because my ears perked up too and I was like, wait, did you say Zeke's not a must start? I had the same reaction.
Starting point is 01:07:09 Thank you! Okay, to clarify for anyone who heard what Adam heard, even though that's not what I said, he is a top two back in both formats. Okay, so unless you have a one running back league and it's PPR and you have Christian McCaffrey, Zeke Elliott is a must start. That's it's PPR, you have Christian McCaffrey. Ezekiel Elliott is a bus start. That's it for the show, everybody.
Starting point is 01:07:28 That's it for Starter Set. Well, actually, we'll have some Starter Set for FanDuel and the playoff challenges. We'll do that in January. We'll get you ready for the games. We're going to have a show Sunday night. We're going to have a show Tuesday. We're going to have a show Thursday.
Starting point is 01:07:39 Remember, we've got three episodes per week during the offseason. We're going to have a show Friday. We've got the radio show. Afternoon. The DFS podcast. That's right. Check that out. No mailbag this week during the offseason. We're going to have a show Friday. Afternoon. The DFS podcast. That's right. Check that out. No mailbag this week, by the way.
Starting point is 01:07:49 Thank you to Ben. Thank you to Heath. Thank you to Jamie for five minutes. That was wonderful. Thank you to Antonio Brown for ruining Jamie's podcast experience. And good luck in week 17, everybody. We'll talk to you at the DFS show on Friday.

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