Fantasy Football Today - 2025 Top 12 WRs and Divisional Round DFS Preview! (01/16 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: January 16, 2025

We can't wait for this weekend's games, and we can't wait to preview the weekend and give our DFS lineups. First, news and notes (3:10) and our Top 12 WRs for 2025 beginning with an obvious pair as WRs1-2, but who checks in at WR3 and WR4 (7:30)? Puka Nacua is WR3, but we don't agree on #4 ... We debate WR5 and WR6 (16:15) with some support for CeeDee Lamb. Does Amon-Ra St. Brown crack the Top 6? On to WR7-8 (21:30) featuring a couple of 2024 rookies. Then we finish with WRs9-12 (28:50) and this is where it gets interesting. Some love for Rashee Rice, A.J. Brown, Ladd McConkey, Mike Evans, Drake London and maybe a surprise or two ... DFS preview with players we love (36:50), players to avoid (44:40) and DraftKings/FanDuel lineups (52:10). How can you differentiate your lineups this weekend? ... Email us at [e-mail] Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Shop our store: shop.cbssports.com/fantasy  SUBSCRIBE to FFT Express on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-express/id1528634304 Follow FFT Express on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qyGWfETSBFaciPrtvoWCC?si=6529cbee20634da8 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837 FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." Visit the betting arena on CBSSports.com for all the latest sportsbook reviews and sportsbook promos. 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

This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. This is gonna go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath. Four big games this weekend.

It is time for some good football. Last week was kind of a disappointment, but things gonna be better this week. Houston at Kansas City, Washington at Detroit, Rams at Eagles, Ravens at Bills. We're gonna build some DFS lineups and just talk about the games. But we're also going to give you our top 12 wide receivers for 2025. Good morning and welcome to Fantasy Football today presented by bet MGM the sportsbook born in Vegas. It's Adam Azers, Jamie Isenberg and Dave Richard. Guys, how we doing? Which game are you second most excited for? Jamie Isenberg Commander's lions,

Bill's Ravens. James West Oh, yeah, what's number one for you, Jamie? Jamie Isenberg They're all number one. Which game are you going to build the most DFS stacks with? Commander's Lines. All of them. Okay, great. You could have eight different lineups.

My favorite is, are you going to spend on DFS lineups, Jamie? I lose on DFS lineups, James? My favorite lineup that I built so far was the Chiefstack. Oh, interesting. It's going to be cold this weekend, by the way, especially in Buffalo. I don't think we're going to get any horrible weather in terms of rain or snow or anything as of now, but it is going to be really cold. Maybe it feels like single digits in that Buffalo Baltimore game on Sunday night. Chief stack, you say? I do.

Michael, who like, who's give me, give me a little sneak peek. My home's Kelsey worthy chief defense. I know them. Okay. All right. They haven't played in a while. So, you know, just had to make sure I still knew who they were. Let me go through the news and notes real quick. The Ravens claim Deontay Johnson. He's not going to play for them. He'll be a free agent. They could possibly get a compensatory pick in 2026. This is a non story. For the injuries, not a lot of huge injuries. He's actually like unpacked anywhere. Like just, you know, suitcase, living on a suitcase. I don't know. Strange journey for Deontay Johnson.

His mouth has been unpacked at every team he's played on. Joe Mixon, offensive guard Shaq Mason and linebacker Aziz Alshay are all limited. We expect them to play. Here's one of the bigger ones. It's Jalen Watson. He's the number two cornerback for the Kansas City Chiefs, and he has been practicing in full. He's been out since week seven, and they've really struggled. In the first seven weeks of the season, the only quarterback who did well against the Chiefs

was Lamar Jackson, and he had 122 rushing yards in week one. They were great against receivers, and then Watson got injured, and they really were pretty vulnerable past defense. So is that a coincidence? I don't know, but they should be better if he's back and he's been practicing in full. Is Chris Jones good to go? He's practiced in full. I think he's good to go. Yeah.

I think they're like, that's the only defender that really matters for Kansas City who's been on the shelf. I don't agree with you. I think the stats would say Watson does matter. Their corners just their their pass defense has not really been that good. I'm not saying that Chris Jones doesn't matter. He obviously is a huge right. I wouldn't say that Watson is the linchpin to this defense. No, no, I wasn't saying that. But their past defense, Dave called you out in a minute.

Bobby Wagner mispractice Washington linebacker, I think he should be fine. Detroit's got a few banged up players Kevin Zeitler, their offensive guard mispractice, but I think pretty much these teams are healthy. Rams will keep an eye on cornerback Akila witherspoon, nose tackle Bobby Brown, offensive lineman Aleric Jackson, but we've oh, say flowers. That's a brown to the brown choose to practice.

Which Brown Bobby Brown? He did not. That's his prerogative. I knew it. Zay Flowers mispractice. He could play this week without practicing, but I would say he's the biggest injury name still out. We know last week they only threw 21 passes. Nobody really did that well, but we know Rashad Bateman, Isaiah likely could benefit with Zay Flowers being out and Ray Davis is in the concussion protocol. Do you want your Jalen Watson stats? Yeah. You feel good about yourself?

I feel great about myself, Dave. I played tennis the other day. I'm playing today. I'm playing Saturday. The training has begun. I will beat Schneier the summer of 2025. I feel great. So what is your Jalen Watson stat?

He's actually allowed a lower completion rate than Trent McDuffie. So kudos to you for finding this guy and realizing how much of a potential difference maker maybe he will be 50% 54% completion rate allowed 12.8 yards per catch. Isn't that great? Not a lot of yak low QB rating. He has allowed zero touchdowns this year. Are you telling me that this means that CJ Stroud is gonna be bad? Look, Stroud scored 20 fantasy points

last time he faced the Chiefs. Actually was having a pretty good game and then Tank Del got the leg injury and they only managed a field goal the rest of the way. But that was like the last time he scored 20 points, I think, right around 20 in that game, 20.5 or something. Okay, so we'll help you out. You know what, I'm gonna give you my favorite stat

for the day. And it really hurts my stack. Because I, like everyone else, I have a lion's stack. But the commanders have not allowed more than 11.5 full PPR fantasy points to a number two wide receiver or a second wide receiver since week three. That's unbelievable. They are bad against one receiver pretty much every week, most weeks, but never multiple wide receivers.

So I don't know, I have Jameson Williams and St. Brown in a lineup. I'm trying to change it, but I can't really think of anything better, but maybe we go Xavier Worthy instead. Cause Jamie likes his Chief Stack. Hey, let's talk about the top 12 wide receivers. Who are one and two for you guys? Take a guess.

Chase Jefferson. You got it. Okay, no explanation needed. Who are three and four? Puka and St. Brant. I agree with Puka. I put neighbors ahead of Amonra. Ooh, I have Puka and Nico.

So, all right, Jamie, let me give you an Aman Rasayn Brown stat. He had four games this year with more than 80 yards. He had 11 in 2023. Yeah, I don't know. Is anyone concerned about Aman Rasayn Brown? It was kind of a weird year for him. And like he had 1,263 yards in 17 games. That's not really that's concerning,

I think. But what do you guys think? What's concerning for me is he averaged two targets per game less this year than last year. And so the spreading of the ball in Detroit's passing game impacted Laporta to a degree. And I think it impacted a Monroe to a degree. And I don't know if that's going to change. Does it flip back to him next year? I don't think so. So not a receiver that I think has the potential for 20 PPR points per game or more. I think neighbors does and neighbors target volume last season was ridiculous.

I'm expecting a quarterback upgrade because how could they not have a quarterback upgrade given all the filth that they had there this year? So neighbors for me just makes more sense. 170 targets this year, 11.3 targets per game. I will lean on that playmaker over St. Brown, which is why St. Brown falls all the way to fifth in my receiver rankings. Jamie, you're a butthole. Jamie Boucher Oh, I mean, look, his St. Brown's track record is as consistent as they come. I remember when we were discussing the first round picks for 2024. I'll say the same thing about him

then that I'll say now is he's probably the safest first round pick you could find because he's just so consistent with his production year over year. He was over 20 PPR points last year. Will that change? Can he get back to that level? Sure, I think he can. This offense is so dynamic. Obviously, we have to see what happens with the new system or potential system change if Ben Johnson's departure changes anything from what whoever steps into his role wants to do. The heir apparent will probably keep things the same if it's on staff. If they decide to hire from outside the staff, which would be a surprise, then we have to see how that all impacts everything. Jameson Williams may end up being a holdout. It's contract time for him. So, we see how

that impacts things for the Lions coming off what could be a career year for him or what is a career year for him. So, we'll see how that off season goes for Lions coming off what could be a career year for him or what is a career here for him. Excuse me. So we'll see how that offseason goes for him. But in any event, you know, when you start to look down the list, Nico Collins, awesome Malik neighbors, I think if he's getting 170 targets, again, this team is going to be terrible. So why? Because I don't think you want to have to throw that much to one guy. I think you want to be in the 140 to 150 range. No, no, no, no. Jamar Chase had 175 targets. And how was their team? Pretty good. I mean, look at CDLAM the year before. I think the number one wide receiver

is going to have that many targets. I don't think you want it to be 170 plus. CDLAM at 181? I think it's possible to have a competitive team whose offense is on the field and having to play in one score games and still have a number one receiver with 170 plus. I think you gotta move it up. I think it's gotta be at least 155, I would say, for an elite wide receiver. I'm expecting 150.

I just don't think you want it to be 170 plus. So to me, that's the number I think you want to see a competitive team. Now granted, we're talking about the Giants, so it could be 190 for him. You know, that's how bad it could go. But between neighbors and Thomas and Collins and Lamb and all these guys, there's so many positives and a few negatives, which is why they're still, you know, first round picks. I just like the situation for Amara St. Brown. It's just been so proven.

His quarterback's locked in. Again, offensive line's best in the NFL, plays games indoors. Like, everything just continues to fall in place for him. Yeah. And I was looking at, I don't think he's lower than sixth for any of the six of us that ranked. He has in the highest at three. He's pissed off about losing Ben Johnson. He does a podcast with his brother, Equinemius, that Caleb Williams on. He's really upset about Ben Johnson leaving. I do think the heir apparent is on staff. It's a guy named Tanner Engstrand. He's called plays for the

Lions before it's been in preseason games. I'm hoping that that change won't really alter the offense. I think they are what they are. Why would they change it that much? Be that dramatic about it. So it comes down to who's there and who's healthy and all that jazz. And if it's the same offense

that they're running it back with in 2025, then St. Brown's gonna be great. I just don't know if he's got the shot to get over 20 PPR points per game. Just saying what I said before. So we all have you guys have Puka three. I do. Yeah, chase Jefferson Puka. Brian in our Eddie, sorry, Eddie in our chat says Puka is my number one. He has Puka at six. Dan has Pukaat 5, Jacob has Pukat 2.

I do wonder how better he could be if the Rams move on from Cooper Cup. We saw that- I mean, basically I've moved on from Cooper Cup the last four games. Okay, so like I checked that out too. So let's start there. Four games, week 13 and then 15 through 17 when Cooper Cup was a total non-factor Nukuwa average 9.8 targets per game, 17.9 PPR points per game. Uh, everybody's really happy with that, but the PPR points per game is actually

lower than his season average. His season average was 18.8. Um, I, I think back to those first four games of his career, where he averaged almost 24 PPR points per game when Cup was out, didn't play. And I wonder if that's the upside for Puka Nakua. And so if that is the upside, dude, I think he's absolutely worth taking a three,

if not two. Yeah, I mean, he averaged 21.8 points per game in nine games after returning from injury, regular season. So that does not include the game he got ejected. He scored only 2.1 fantasy points in about a half in that game at Seattle. Dave, you gave that stat, it was 17.8 points per game, whatever you said.

17.9. He didn't score in any of those games, but the targets are great, right? eight points per game, whatever you said. 17.9. He didn't score in any of those games. But you know, but the targets are great, right? So 10 targets per game, you know, that's phenomenal. So it takes to be a first rounder is three for all of us for the three of us and no lower than six for any of the six people ranking. And I put Nico Collins at four.

We'll talk about him a little bit more later. We're going to take a quick break here on fantasy football today. Before we do that though, that now's the time let's get on it here. Sign up for bet MGM, use the bonus code fantasy when you do it and you're gonna get up to a $1,500 first bet offer on your first wager with bet MGM. So you download the bet MGM app and you sign up using

the bonus code fantasy, deposit at least $10, that's it. Just $10, place your first wager on any game and you'll receive up to $1,500 in bonus bets if your bet loses. Just make sure that you use the bonus code fantasy when you sign up. All right. We'll come back with wide receivers five through 12 after this. Welcome back. So top four, Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, Pukin Akua. And then for Jamie, it's St. Brown. For David, it's Malik Neighbors. For me, it's Nico Collins.

Wide receivers, five and six, Jamie. Five for me is, wanna double check. Make sure I don't say the wrong thing. Five is CD Lambs, six is Nico Collins. Okay, Dave. I already told you that Amon Raj's fifth. Nico is six. Okay.

So everybody's got Nico in the top six and a kind of a, a bad ending to the season for him, which was just strange, but then a huge playoff game. Hopefully he can back it up. Not too much. I'll say this about Nico Collins. I mean, he is still two years in a row, one of the most efficient wide receivers, great yak on a pretty high a dotards per target is insane. Yards per route run is insane. He's like AJ Brown, maybe even better. I'm sorry to say that because

it's hard to be better than AJ Brown, but doesn't necessarily need those 170s targets to be great. And he gets a ton of end zone targets. I'm loving Nico Collins. CD Lam is interesting Jamie, because he's not in the top six for me or Dave. Oh no he is. I'm sorry. He's fifth for me. So I have him fifth and I have Aman Rasay Brown sixth. He's not.

Where is he for you Dave? CD lamb? CD lamb is eighth. Okay. So Jamie you have him fifth. What do you think went wrong with CD lamb this year? He's number nine per game overall, in PPR, number nine per game,

and number 15 per game in non-PPR. And I don't even know if he was that much worse with Cooper Rush. The touchdowns. He had a couple of points per game. Yeah, I think probably because of the touchdowns, but he averaged more catches. But what do you think went wrong?

It was just kind of a weird year for CDLam. Holdout, Prescott injury, offensive line concerns, his shoulder injury. I mean, it was pretty much a disaster. And if this is a disaster, you got to be excited about it because what we saw from him... You talk about potential to be... When we were talking about the running backs, who could be number one in their position with McCaffrey and that whole conversation. And you said it, you know, who's the one guy who wrecked fantasy in 2023? It was CD Lambs finished to the season. And I still think he has that in his bag, you know, so press got back, we have to see the coaches. So, you know, looking at this, we did these rankings leading into week 18 for most of us. So things have changed for the Cowboys.

I still think that Lamb will be, like I can see myself flip-flopping Nico and Lamb easily. He's still going to be a top 10 receiver. I would be surprised if that's not the case for everybody, no matter what the coach, who the coach is, who the coordinator is, but he may slide depending on, you know, the play caller there for the Cowboys. But it would be moronic for any coach to go to Detroit, to Dallas and say, we're not going

to throw it as much to seeding lamb. We're going to spread it around. Why would anybody do that? I think for sure he's going to be a top 10 wide receiver, but this will probably be... We said this last year, don't hold it against me if it doesn't come true. This will probably be a team that upgrades at running back. It will probably be a team that adds somebody else to catch the football, be it at wide receiver or tight end. Maybe the pass heavy nature that we've seen the last season and a half from Dak with Lam fades just a little bit. And that's why I just, I want to be a little careful with CDLAM not to over rank him. I certainly don't think he's ready to be in the top three again. Probably close to the top five, but not in the top five is how I feel about him right now. I think the thing just to keep in mind is

his best numbers came with McCarthy. It was firing Kellen Moore and McCarthy taking over play calling duties. And that's when CD Lambs numbers popped. I mean, I think you could argue that CD Lambs has had one elite half season in his career and otherwise has just been a good to very good fantasy wide receiver. Yeah. I wouldn't really make I mean, you could definitely say that that is true, right? But he also kind of reminds me, this is a little bit of a stretch.

Actually, I don't think so. I think you guys will be with me. A little bit of reminds me of Mark Andrews. So Mark Andrews had one great year. Was it his second season or third season? I'm gonna pull up his page now. It was- Second season. No, yeah, it was the second season, right?

852 yards, 10 touchdowns and 15 games. Mars first MVP. But then he had this, then he had a 1300, maybe I'm thinking of the 1300 yard season. Okay, I think it was 2021. It was his fourth year. 1300. 6.2 PPR points per game. Yeah, 2021. Yep. Right. So he showed this. And then if you looked at him going into 2023, you could say, well, he's been in the league for five years. He's only had one great season. Other than that, he's been, you know, very well, he's been in the league for five years. He's only had one great season. Other than that, he's been, you know, very good, but not someone who should be taken

in the second round or anything like that. And then how many points per game that he averaged in 2023. And the problem is that whatever you're going to give me after kind of take away, remember, he got hurt against Cincinnati in the first quarter. But he was awesome that year. And I knew he had it in him. It just they never threw enough. So I still feel like lamb has elite potential, even though he's only done it for half a season. He's gonna be tough for me to even draft.

I'm fifth, like, yeah. I mean, I guess he's not gonna crack the top three, but you're right. Right, I could see swapping him with- He may end up just being one of the, you know, it's hard to say value pick in the first round, but you know, these guys that we see in the back half of the first round which is what we've seen in the first two drafts we've done that you're like i can't believe he slipped yeah yeah yeah this year seqon right

all right so let's go to seven and eight uh jamey who's seven and eight uh seven for me is malik neighbors eight is brian thomas jr i have BTJ at seven and CD Lamb at eight. Malik Neighbors and Brian Thomas Jr. And what'd you say, who do you have at seven? Brian Thomas Jr. Brian Thomas Jr. and CD Lamb. So I think you guys have the same top eight, right? In some order.

Yes. Yes. Right, you've got Chase, Jefferson, Pooka, you got Nico in there, you've got Neighbors and Thomas, and you've got Chase, Jefferson, Pooka. You got Nico in there. You've got neighbors and Thomas and you've got more. Yeah. There as well. Oh, does he different much different order. But so does he. And so do I because I have Malik neighbors and Brian Thomas Jr. seven and eight. And same eight for Dan. Interesting. And same eight for Jacob. Okay. All different orders, but same same. Interesting. And does how many

people have Brian Thomas Jr. ahead of Malik neighbors? Let's see, Heath, no. You know, Dan does. And Jacob, no. So just Dan. I think he might be better. I think I might have to just give in on that. I think he might be a better player. He's so good. It's insane. How much will the quarterback influence this? Brian Thomas Jr. versus Malik neighbors for you? I mean, Brian Thomas Jr.' versus Malik neighbors for you. I mean, Brian Thomas Jr. Jr.'s numbers popped when it was Mac Jones, not Trevor Lawrence. Yeah, but OK, there was no Christian Kirk during that stretch.

And barely Evan Ingram. And Evan Ingram got hurt, was hurt as well. So that, you know, we keep that in mind. But like if the if the Giants go get Cam Ward or Shudder Sanders, if the Giants get Russell Wilson or something, or Sanders, if the Giants get Russell Wilson or something, or if they're running it back with some scrub, how much is that going to influence neighbors versus Thomas? I mean, as Dave said earlier, you know, it's not like what he was dealing with this season

was great, you know, so you had Daniel Jones, Drew Locke, Tommy DeVito, you know, it was it was bad for for neighbors from a quarterback standpoint. But again, this is what high impact level talent players do. They are able to overcome situations and become playmakers. I think you saw that for neighbors at various times during the season. There was that stretch post-concussion where it looked like it was a struggle. Then he kicked into gear at the end of the season, finally started scoring some touchdowns, won a lot of people a lot of fantasy playoffs and championships because of how he

played in two of his last three games. So he's a superstar. Thomas is a really fascinating case because as you just alluded to, they're going to bring back most likely one of, if not both, of Kirk and Ingram. And then what does this do for him? Plus, does Trevor Lawrence pepper him the same way that Mack Jones did because, again, of other players being there? It really comes down to, I think, who the play caller is for the Jaguars. So if they get the guy that everybody wants them to get, which is Ben Johnson, then this guy is the limit.

It could be Bobby Sloak, for example, you know, who did great things for Nico Collins. So who ends up there, you know, if it's a, if it's a defensive minded head coach, then it's going to be a little, a little hard to say he's better than neighbors. But there's a reason why for me, they're back to back. I think they're both elite level talents. I think they both have some, you know, warts that they have to overcome. And hopefully, you know, year two is just as successful as year one was in a lot of

ways. There's definitely some things that can go wrong. If Jacksonville doesn't nail the, at least the offensive coordinator, but certainly the head coach. The splits before and after the bye for Brian Thomas Jr. and saying, listen to this. After their buy, their buy was in week 12, 22.9 PPR points per game. Every single game from week 13 on for Brian Thomas Jr. was at least 16 PPR points. Three with at least 23.9. He averaged 11.7 targets per game. Before the buy, and maybe this is one of the big indictments on Doug Peterson, 5.7 targets per game, 13.3 PPR points per game for BTJ. The fact that they didn't involve him even more earlier is just ridiculous now that we've seen what he can do, especially without

Trevor Lawrence under center. And so I would guess that he's going to be Closer to eleven point seven targets per game, but probably in the neighborhood of like eight eight and a half and I'll take that all day long Second season new offense. Hopefully the quarterback is healthy and the offensive line doesn't suck and we'll see Bryan Thomas jr. Finish potentially as a top five fantasy wide receiver. The one thing I think that could impact both these guys is how much better is the run game? Yeah. Okay. And so to that end, I would say that I would expect Jacksonville to upgrade theirs. I think the Giants are going to stand path with their run game. I'm not talking

about their running backs. I'm talking about their running game. Sure. But I... It's system for the Jaguars. It's probably more rushing attempts for the Giants. You know, it's again, this factors into the targets for neighbors as well. You know, so I don't think either of these teams want to have the same lack of success running the ball.

You know, so you could say Tracy had a thousand yard season. It was great, but they didn't do a good job running the ball consistently. And certainly the case for the Jaguars, their run game was abysmal. So how much does that change things for the passing games? And look, those things open up, you know, play action and changes things for how these teams are going to operate. You get more pre snap motion, you know, it changes everything as well, especially in the case of Jacksonville.

So, um, it's, it's really, you know, a lot to dissect still for these two rookie receivers because there is going to be a lot of change coming. Yeah, I think a good running game would be just fine for them because I think it'll just make their offenses better. Their offenses have so much room to grow. Right, but it impacts targets

if they're running ball better. Right, you don't want their offense to suddenly like have a dominant run game. Correct. But they want to change their on the field more. They operate from week to week. If they're on the field more, there's going to happen in New York. You know, I'm okay.

The best, let's see here, the highest, there's some cases foreign against here. The top, top rushing teams in the NFL, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington, Tampa Bay, Green Bay, lot of running quarterbacks. Yeah, Detroit. So you've got of the top six, you know, you've got four teams that had very good, well, three teams, right? You had Washington, the great receiver, Tampa Bay,

Detroit, and then you had AJ Brown, who, you know, was on the second best rushing team. Maybe that's the- Still average almost 17 PPR points per game. Yeah, so but you know, production was down. The Eagles had 29 rushing touchdowns this year. So I could see your point there. I just think for the giant, it's not it's not. It's not a net negative. It's just a small ding that could hurt these guys. Okay. So

we have a consensus top eight, it seems of Chase, Jefferson, Puka, Lam, Nico, St. Brown and neighbors and Brian Thomas Jr. So wide receivers, nine, 10, 11 and 12. It will get more interesting here. Jamie, who's nine and 10 for you? AJ Brown is nine and Drake London is 10. AJ Brown is nine and Drake London is 10. James? Rashid Rice is nine in full PPR. AJ Brown is 10. All right.

So I have AJ Brown nine and Mike Evans 10. Rashid Rice. All right. So first of all, are you worried about a suspension? Second, are you worried about him struggling coming off knee injury? Obviously, a long suspension would scare me off of Rishi Rice and make him make me move him down a lot. Same thing if he's not ready, I'm assuming that he'll be ready to go. And I'm also assuming that Travis Kelsey, if he's back next year,

will have a much smaller role. And Rice will pick up more work in the middle of the field. And I loved what I saw from him this year. I thought he'd be good. I didn't think he'd be as good as he was. I view him as an ascending player. Okay. We all have AJ Brown in our top 10. Jamie of Drake London as a wide receiver 10. Let's do wide receivers 11 and 12 and just see who we're comparing them to. Jamie, who are 11 and 12 for you? 11 is Rice and 12 is McConkie.

I have McConkie at 11 and I have Mike Evans at 12. You know, I think I might have a blind spot for Drake London because I just I never rank them that high. I never like all in on him. And maybe I should be because the splits with Penix this year, it's only three games but I mean he was good with Cousins, he was ridiculous with Penix and I just wonder how much of that could carry over in an offense that isn't going to change, we know what to expect and he's clearly their number one guy. He did play week 18 without Mike, without Darnell Mooney, pardon me. Yeah it was ridiculous. 18 targets.

Yeah. He scored 40.7 fantasy points in week 18 against Carolina. So he still averaged in the other two games. I think he had like nine and some like a higher number. 13 and one targets in the other two games. Yeah. That's still really good. Yeah. And he was originally out of my top 12, and then we were doing a draft, and I said, whoa, I'm overlooking Drake London here. So he became 12 for me. Oh, so I went AJ Brown, Mike Evans, 910.

I put Tyreek Hill at 11 and Drake London at 12. So that's Tyreek Hill over guys like Lad McConkey and Rishi Rice. And I think I could see this changing. going to be one of those things where if no one else is drafting Tyreek Hill as a top 12 guy, why would I? But I don't think he's done. I watched enough tape of him. He is still extremely fast. If they want to feature him, if they want to throw the ball downfield more, I think he could, I honestly think based on this year, if he's as good as he was in 2024,

I honestly think Tyree Hill could still be the number one receiver in fantasy. I don't know that the Dolphins want to go back to that style of offense, but. I don't know if he's on the Dolphins. That's true, that's true. But I wouldn't mind that. But I still think, I do not, put it this way,

I do not think Tyree Hill was washed up. I am confident that he wasn't in 2024. Will he be? He's a year older? So maybe he will be in 2025. But right now his skill set, I think is still elite. Yeah. I mean, it's the same. It's the same questions we'll have with him going into next season. I think that we had at the end of this past season is two are going to be healthy because now you have concussion situation again. And remember, he had a hip issue in college. He has a hip issue now that he's dealing with that. He couldn't finish the season with it's something you got to factor in with Tyree

kill because he's been bad, especially if they don't address the backup quarterback position to a level that, okay, this guy goes out, backup comes in and it's a seamless transition. He was awful without Tua. He was absolutely abysmal. So that's a factor. He mentioned his age will be 31. This is typically when guys start to really show a decline. We'll see if that happens to him. It didn't necessarily happen to Mike Evans. Although Evans did miss four games with a hamstring injury. How much that is age? How much that is just general wear and tear? It's hard to say. I have been surprised in the two drafts that we've done that he's still going around to.

Yeah. Has it been the same guy both times? No, no. Uh, and I do think I just cause I know, uh, Dan drafted him in the half PPR one. So he does not have Tyreek in his top 12. He has D Higgins and Terry McLaurin in his top 12. Does not have Rashi Rice and does not have Mike Evans. Dan has Tyreek at 10, George Pickens at 11, and Drake London at 12. And Jacob has no Tyreek kill. He has his last four are Brown, Rice, London, and Mike Evans. Yeah, McLaurin was a tough one to leave off, I'm sure,

but just very low targets. I think I gave the stat a couple of days ago. Since they went to a 17 game schedule, Terry McLaurin, it's tied for the fewest targets of any wide receiver who's finished as a top eight guy in PPR, he had 117 targets this year. And the previous guy who did that was Jalen Waddle. He's not been able to replicate that success. So good wide receivers, you know, really good wide receivers. I think

for me past like I kind of lean toward targets past volume, that kind of stuff. That's why I didn't put McConkey in the top 12. Nobody put JSN in the top 12. No. Yeah. All right. Well, yeah, good stuff. Those are top 12 wide receivers you can check out. No Garrett Wilson, which is interesting too. Oh yeah, that's a good point. I mean, Garrett Wilson.

Oh man, I'm really going to love the round three wide receivers. The late round two, round three wide receivers, because there's probably not a huge difference between wide receiver 16, 17 and wide receiver 12. So it's a great... No, I think like I started three receivers in both drafts. I forget the first two that I took in the PPR. I know I got Rashi Rice because I think people forgot about him

in the third round of the PPR one, which I was picking 12th. In the half PPR one, I started Amara St. Brown, AJ Brown, Drake London. Oh, wow. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, that's great. All right, we're going to take a break and come back and talk about the games

this weekend in our David Montgomery is four thousand dollars on Fandle. Do you have to play David Montgomery or is it a trick because everyone else is going to play David Montgomery? That's less than Carson Steele, by the way. That's I mean, what? Yeah, by the way. That's, I mean. What? Yeah, maybe they just weren't planning on him playing, but David Montgomery. Is he going to be 100%?

He's practicing in full. It's kind of crazy. That's a yes. The commanders give up 4.9 yards per carrier running backs. I was thrilled to get him in my DraftKings lineup, and he is not at 4,000. I wish he were on DraftKings.

Yeah, prices are a little bit different on Fandl and DraftKings too, but $4,000 Dave Montgomery is, I mean, ordinarily, I think he'd probably be in the $7,000 or something. All right. We'll be right back after this on Fantasy Football Today. Yes. For $4,000 in your Fandu lineup, you could have Lions running back, David Montgomery, or you could have Owen Wright, who's on IR, or Frank Gore Jr., or Sir Roderick Thompson Jr. So it's just crazy. But it's something you're gonna have to consider

because pretty much everyone, I think, is gonna have David Montgomery. Anyway, who are some players that you think are gonna have big weeks? Dave, who do you like this weekend? I wanna pick players in that Lions commanders game because I don't trust the commander's defense and I still look at the Lions defense as one that can be beaten and the way that Jay Daniels has been playing, I loved him last week.

I'm going to go right back to him this week. He'll be even more popular this week. I don't care. I've got my commander's stack running it back with Montgomery and Jamison and La Porta. I'm not sure if I picked the right quarterback. I think I did just because Daniel's with the rushing, but that's the game I really want to focus in and target on. It's indoors.

I don't have to worry about cold or anything else. Easy decision to do that in a 50-50. Right. Yeah. It would be popular. So if you're playing in a tournament, maybe you want to try something else like Jamie's Chief stack. What do you like about the Chiefs this week? Oh, I mean, you know, playoff time is they flip the switch.

And so I think we'll see. Mahomes ended the season playing great, you know, his last two games, you know, week 16, week 17 were fantastic. Xavier worthy with 30 targets in his last three games, 31 targets, excuse me, his last three games, 9, 11, 11. And just finally coming into his own, Kelsey, as we know, at least based on last season, struggling in the regular season, turned things on in the playoffs.

And I think they're gonna have the ball a lot because the Texans are gonna struggle to move the ball offensively. So for me, you know, going with the three that the quarterback and two main pass catchers there, we could see a Hopkins revenge game in the playoffs. We could see Marquis Brown, who you know, hopefully is, you know, fully incorporated into the offense and healthy again. There's lots of different ways you can go with the Chiefs, but I'm going to lean on their top guys. And I think worthy right now is their best receiver and Kelsey is going to be playoff Kelsey again.

Okay, I finally got Jameson Williams out of my lineup because I did not want to have both St. Brown and Jameson. What if Jameson is better? He could be but I went with Xavier Worthy but what I did was I had Dalton Schultz so I think is a good tight end to have right he's had you know two touchdowns all year one of them came against the Chiefs. It was in that game is I think it was before Tankdale's injury but it was but you know the Chiefs struggle against tight in that game was I think it was before Tankdale's injury, but it was but you know, the Chiefs struggle against tight ends. So if you want to save money at

tight end Dalton Schultz is a good option. But I'm going to up from Schultz to Sam Laporta and go from Jameson Williams to Xavier Worthy. So now I have worthy and Laporta instead of Jameson and Schultz. Schultz did have a good game against them in week 16. I believe he was one of four tight ends to get more than eight half PPR points against them in the past 15 weeks.

I don't like the fact that he had the same amount of targets as Brevin Jordan last week. Yeah, I don't love it. So tight ends not great. I think who's the best tight end this week? Is it Kelsey? Is it Laporta? I think if Flowers is out, you get some good production from

likely and from a cost standpoint. Laporta's value is great on both sides. Just give him what he's done. And Andrews is still relatively inexpensive. There's not a lot that the pricing is not bad for the tight ends. Right. Andrews is 4500 on DraftKings. Even Kelsey at 5200. Yeah, Kelsey at 6500 on FanDuel. That's really not so bad. And yeah, you got to hope.

We've seen it before. So two years ago, Kelsey kind of struggled down the stretch. And then he averaged a hundred yards per game in the playoffs in a Super Bowl run. So we definitely see, as Jamie said, they flip the switch. OK, any other players you want to talk about that you really like this week? Like do you like Puka? Do you do you like anyone in particular in that Rams Eagles games? Because we have pretty good defenses there. The Eagles

Eagles put up some big big points on the Rams last time they played them, but the Rams have mostly been a good defense since then. It's a different team. I think if you're looking for some cheap options, we don't have an update on Higbee yet, right? I'm assuming he's not playing. No, he's supposed to play. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Oh, he's good. I was gonna say Davis Allen is not a bad dart throw based on what he did last week with the touchdown catch. In this game, like love? No, that's okay. I just want to close out this segment of players that we really want to put in our lineup. That to me is almost the game I want to avoid the most. I've got Saquon in my lineup. I do have Saquon. He's considerably cheaper on Fand... Well, he's 300 cheaper than Derrick

Henry. What was my rationale there? They're both obviously great. The Bills have a pretty bad run defense. But I guess I could see a scenario where the Bills put up a lot of points and the Ravens are chasing and maybe Henry's not as involved as we want him to be. So I'll save $300 to go with Saquon Barkley. But I can't trust AJ Brown. And no, AJ Brown stuff to trust. It was, it was hard to do the updated playoff rankings with him because like how healthy is he? What about in PPP formats? Points per page, points per page is read. PPPR.

Um, I, I do think there's some value in justice. So I think there's some value in Austin Echler. I think, you know, but you know, the, the, how those games could unfold, you know, with, uh, look, he'll caught a touchdown last week. And you know, if this game gets back and forth between these two teams, um, you can see some, some production there, maybe even tie Johnson too. If you want to go that route. Just he hasn't been as involved as those other guys when things are going well for them. Dami Brown has, you know, also, you know, we looked at Zacchaeus and just how he was performing. Obviously, Brown's

coming off a big game last week, so he's relatively cheap. Best game of his career though. Sure, but there's opportunity there. You know the second receiver for Washington's wide open right now. You know so could it be Brown? Could it be Zaccheaus? Could it be another good game for Zach Ertz? Yeah. There's potential there. I still think Rashad Bateman I know he didn't get a lot of targets last week because score touchdowns, especially if Flowers is out. And then probably somebody for Buffalo will have a good game receiving wise. Shakir is easy if you're just looking for cheap points and could cost six for 61 last

week, he'll get six to eight targets. And so weather will be a little bit of a potential issue just because of the cold, but we know Josh Allen's not bad in those situations. I'm glad you brought up Justice Hill and Austin Eckler. Austin Eckler, Detroit, They do give up a lot of production in the passing game to running back. So that's a guy that they especially if they're chasing points. And, and Justice Hill, not only did you catch touchdown last week, he

had a really big game against the Bills in the first matchup, which was a blowout, by the way, for the Ravens, they crushed them. He had six catches. He always plays a lot more when Baltimore's trailing. Well, he played six catches, seven, eight yards, and a touchdown in week four in a big win, and the Bills give up the most receiving yards per game to running backs.

Yep. So, yeah. That's a good point, yeah. I'm doing a lot of Jameer Gibbs and one of those guys. Okay. Yeah, Gibbs going up against the bad, but I will say this about the commanders and this is a, I say this a lot, this is a Dan Quinn staple. Commanders give up the fewest receiving yards per game to running backs.

So something to keep in mind. All right, players that we'd like to avoid this week. So I, again, for me, it's not necessarily avoiding Seqwon, but it's avoiding a lot of the Eagles Rams game because the best players are obviously expensive and the second tier guys are a little tough to trust. So, like the Eagles receivers right now, Devante Smith feels a little bit better than AJ Brown, but if Brown is healthy, then we can see Smith disappear. But Smith would be my favorite Eagles receiver, but a lot of this game I'm trying to necessarily avoid just because the defense were so good.

I feel the same way although I the reason why I have a sake one is because I think a lot of people are gonna Avoid him. He is the most expensive running back on DraftKings. And so I'm trying to zig while everybody else is zagging I don't feel great about any Bills pass catcher other than Shakir. He's also in my lineup, but it's more of the safe play than it is anything else. I would not play Joe Mixon. Yup. That's the one I was going to say. Yeah. I didn't. I think the only Texan you'd be comfortable playing is Nico.

But even then, you know, again, with the secondary being healthy for the Chiefs and this, look, they played great last week. Their defense was awesome. I think that was their, okay, we got our playoff win. Now we're going to get smashed. What do we got on CJ Stroud outdoors, Dave? Or in the polls? Do you have any of that?

It's not great. I sent you the numbers if you want. If you can give me 15 seconds, I can. Yeah, I hadn't taken a look. I'm sorry. I know you sent something. Yeah. What do you think about James Cook against this Ravens run defense? I would not be inclined to play him unless you think Buffalo is going to win the game. Handling, which I don't think anybody thinks that he is discounted. I mean, you got you talking Derek Henry, 9600 on Fandle, Derek Henry, 9600, Saquon Barkley,

9300, Gibbs 89, Kyron Williams, 77, Joe Mixon, 7600 and then James Cook, 7400. So the way he's been playing lately, that's a nice discount on James Cook. But the Ravens run defense is so good. Cook was bad against them the first time they played. I haven't gone with him. It's just so hard not to start David Montgomery on FanDuel. So I have Barclay in Montgomery as my running backs and I have Eckler as my flex. It's a good pair. Yeah, I have Eckler with Barclay. I will say this just to Dave's point. It's hard to zig and zag when there's only four games.

Everybody's gonna play a lot of, all the experienced DFS players are playing all different combinations. Yeah, of course. You're not getting a lot of surprise. Right. Yeah, Adam, you asked about CJ Stroud outdoors. Yeah, or in the cold or whatever.

Yeah, right, in the cold. So we actually can filter player results based on temperature at kickoff. So he's played three career games where the temperature is 50 or lower. One of them was against Kansas City in week 16. Jamie talked about it 20.1 fantasy points and six point. The only other game that he played that like he finished was the divisional game last year at Baltimore. It was cold. And his numbers shriveled up in the cold. It was a little teeny tiny 7.9 fantasy points. Yeah, they they look I mean, I'm getting some deja vu here because they beat

Cleveland in the first game last year of the playoffs in the wild card round. And then they went to Baltimore, and they beat the crap out of Cleveland, by the way, they won 45 to 14. Yes, they went to Baltimore, they lost 34 to 10. I just, I don't want to I don't want the Texans in my lineup. And okay, so that's easy. And I think a lot of people are going to feel that way. And so if you, if you try one Texans player, even if it's Nico, I think that'll be a differentiator.

Yeah, but it won't be mixing. I mean, we've seen, we have enough sample of him in bad matchups and he is just awful. Won't be mixing for me anyway. I definitely wanted to get McLaurin in my lineup. I know you just talked about that game in general, Lions versus Commanders, but we know how bad Detroit is against receivers and the second most fantasy points allowed.

And McLaurin is, I guess, $1,000 less than Puka, for example, on Fandual. So McLaurin was some, I just wanted to bring him up. We haven't said his name. No, I think McLaurin needs to be in lineups. He'll be popular though. So will Daniels. Are you interested in results of other quarterbacks when they're playing in the cold? Yeah, just one last thing, because we're talking about players to avoid. I don't think Dallas Goddard should be the second most expensive tight end on FanDuel. I'd rather have Laporta than him.

I'd rather have Andrews. Maybe I take Goddard after that. But I mean, like Goddard had an amazing play last week. But he's probably not going to get more than five or six targets. All right, go ahead. So speaking of players to avoid Matthew Stafford, playing outdoors under 50 degrees with the Rams, I'm not taking games when he was with Detroit. He also has played only three games.

One was a monster was at Green Bay, but it was back in 2021. The other two games one in 2023, one in 2024 under 15 fantasy points, and that is six point for passing touchdown. So a little bit of a small sample size lean toward Stafford, not enjoying cold weather. And I just, I checked this for Lamar and for Josh Allen, but you can probably predict where this is going. When they play at 30 degrees or colder, Lamar... It's the game of the week, yeah!

The Bills and the Ravens, gonna be a cold one. But it's the game of the week. Hey. Lamar's been awesome in the cold. Josh Allen's been awesomer in the cold. Wow. This should be an awesome game and easy call for game of the week.

Josh, this is like, Josh Allen's great in this weather. I love it. Do we need to get more, more Ravens and Bills? All right, so I put in golf. Let's just do our lineups. I put in golf cause like golf's 8,000, Allen's 9,000, Jackson's 8,700, Daniel's 8,500, Hertz 8,200. So Jared golf is QB five and Goff's playing at home against Washington.

I mean, he could obviously have a huge game. But it was tough not to put Alan or Jackson in there. I mean, you gotta figure spotlights on and those guys are amazing and they're the MVP candidates for his. By the way, the MVP is over. It's gonna be Lamar Jackson. I didn't realize that Jamie,

you mentioned that he had won first team All-Pro. And it's the same voters that are going to vote for MVP. So if they voted for Jackson over Allen, his first team all pro, I do not see how he's not going to win MVP. But anyway, let's do our lineups here. You know, no, because like, there was one point where I switched to Allen and then I went back to Jackson.

But I think, I do feel a little vindicated. People were just very critical of me, because that's what people do. Also, I put up my podcast league team after I drafted it. I was like, I think this is a good team. I'm gonna put it on Twitter and see what people give me. I got a very bad grade, if a good team. I'm gonna put it on Twitter and see what people give me. I got a very bad grade, as I recall. I won the league.

I don't know why people just don't ever take me seriously. Like, what are you doing? You think it was crazy for me to say that Lamar Jackson was the MVP? Like, obviously, I was onto something. Yeah, anyway, I do feel a little vindicated, thank you. When I beat Schneier in tennis, I'll feel even better about myself.

All right, Jamie, give me a lineup. I have Mahomes at quarterback. This is on Fandl. Jamiro gives an Austin Eckler at running back. Xavier worthy, Terry McClure and Jamison Williams at receiver. Travis Kelsey at tight end. Laporta at flex and Chiefs DST. Okay, I have a pretty similar lineup. I have the Chiefs. Let's see the commonalities. Is that a word? Okay, I have pretty similar lineup. I have the chief. Let's see the commonalities that word McLaurin worthy Laporta Eklert chiefs. We both have those five McLaurin worthy Laporta Eklert chiefs I have st. Brown you have Jameson Williams I have

Barkley and Montgomery you have Gibbs and who and who's your flex? Barkley and Montgomery, you have Gibbs and who? Eklor. And who's your flex? Laporta. Who's your tight end? Kelsey. Kelsey. That's the difference there.

And I have golf and you have my homes. All right, so golf Montgomery, Barkley, McLaurin, Worthy, St. Brown, Laporta, Eklor, Chiefs for me. That's a fan dual lineup as well. Dave, who you got? Guess what? We have a lot of commonality.

I also have Eklor and McLaurin and Laporta and the Chiefs. I think I want to pivot off the Chiefs and go to the, I can't go to the lines if I'm stacking the commander. So screw it. I'm sticking with the Chiefs. Jane Daniels is my quarterback. Running backs are Eckler and Saquon. receivers are McLaurin Shakir Jamison. I've got double tight end Andrews at the tight end Laporta at the flex. This is a team that I like this team a lot. I just wish that it were a lot more unique than your teams. Yeah, maybe we should be playing in some 5050s.

Yours is a 5050 right? Or no? I mean, I yes. Yeah. Mine, I'll probably do a tournament. I don't at this point, I don't mind putting it into a tournament either. I just I just feel like if you're going to win a big GPP, you've got to find the one or two players you've got to find this week's Diami Brown.

Yeah. Give me a guy that you think has the best chance. I'm Patrick. That's a, or actually. Olamide Zaccheaus. Who's my guy? Marquis Brown, maybe? He's gotten a lot of targets.

It's not bad. All right. Let's get some picks. Texans, Chiefs, Chiefs minus eight and a half. Chiefs win and cover. Agreed. Agreed. Commanders, Lions, Lions minus nine and a half. Lions win and commanders cover. Lions win and cover for Dave. Commanders cover for Jamie.

Yep. All right, so we all like the Lions. I also like the Commanders plus nine and a half, but we all like the Lions to win. Rams, Eagles, Eagles minus six. Eagles won, Rams cover. I don't know. I feel like the Rams are playing really well.

They're playing really well. Their defense is so good. I Don't know I don't think they're gonna win though Eagles win Rams cover bills Ravens Ravens minus one on the road Bills winning cover Ravens winning cover Yeah Ravens no heartbroken for whichever side loses that game. Yeah, it's not fair. Why can't they win?

You're amazing. You're for both those teams. I'll take the Ravens to win and push. Ravens win by one. I just think their defense is playing significantly better. Their defense is, I think, yeah, definitely better than the Bills. Right. All it takes is like two, three stops. And that could be enough to win the game.

Why are you taking the Bills, Jamie? I mean, they were my super world pick to begin the season, so I'll stick by it. Okay. And the good thing is Jamie is equally as excited about all four of these games. So he's going to have a very fun weekend. And we will talk to you on Monday. Jamie says this is the best weekend of the year. And we will talk to you on Monday. And I'll wait. This is the best weekend of the year.

This is the best weekend of the year. Schaefer, do we have a especially if you include Monday, national championship game. Do we have a show on Monday? Are we taking that day off? I was going to ask you after the show. No, ask me now. Let's figure it out. Well, if we do it on Tuesday, we're going to do it before the Dynasty show at 11.

So people have to be on time. Oh, okay. All right. Yeah, let's just... It's up to you. It's up to you. I don't care. I'm working regardless. I will talk about it after the show. We'll figure it out. Thanks. Thanks, everybody. Welcome to our production meeting. We'll talk to you Monday or Tuesday on Fantasy Football Today.