Fantasy Football Today - A Better Way to Play Fantasy Football? Also, Week 18 Waiver Wire! (12/30 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 30, 2025

Let's face it: A lot of Fantasy Football comes down to luck. Is there a better way to play Fantasy Football? Is there a more fair way to run your Fantasy playoffs? We float some ideas around ... Top waiver wire priorities for Week 18 (17:40)! Malik Davis and Luther Burden could be great this week and there is a quarterback and a tight end to consider as well. Then we go through the news and notes (23:00) including which teams may sit starters in Week 18. Plus, our Top 3 priorities at each position: QB (29:50), RB (32:25), WR (35:00), TE (38:10), DST (40:00) and Kicker. We discuss Tyler Shough, Audric Estime, Jake Tonges and many more ... Recapping Rams-Falcons (43:10) and taking a longer look at the waiver wire (47:30) ... 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 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 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

You know, some trips are just better when you can really unplug. Spend time with family, see friends, or hit the course with the guys on our yearly golf trip. This year, me and the boys stayed in a home on Airbnb, which happened to be a guest favorite, and it was right on the course. We could walk straight to tee off every morning, and it was just a short stroll to the local shops, bars, and restaurants. Staying in a place on Airbnb gives you plenty of room to spread out, cozy living areas to hang out in, and all the privacy you need. Staying somewhere like that makes everything feel more like a home than a hotel, and you get a real feel for the neighborhood. I'm already planning on how to go bigger and better next year. Luckily, there's so many options to choose from on Airbnb.

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Off to the races, and he stays on his feet. It's just going to go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. And welcome everybody to your Week 18 WaiverWire show, and I hope you are in a good mood today celebrating a fantasy championship. Welcome to Fantasy Football today, presented by BetMGM. Make it legendary. Yes, we are going to go through Week 18 Waiverwire.

I don't know that we're going to look ahead to next year too much on this show, but we will throughout the rest of the week. What's up, Dave Richard? We will throughout the rest of the 2026 year until we get to week one of 2026. So nothing to really worry about there. It's what we do during the off season. And you've got to be a diehard or a sicko in a Week 18 fantasy championship to be watching us or listening to us right now.

Thank you for that. Adam, good morning. I am here for the fantasy football runner-ups and fourth-place finishers and losers in the fantasy playoffs because I am with you guys, except I did win one league. That was pretty awesome. But other than that,

lost a couple finals, including the podcast league to Jamie when he started Jake Tanges and Malik Willis against me. If you had told me before that game that I would have lost, because of those guys and maybe a little bit of Bijon Robinson, then I would have said, you're crazy, but he did and good for him and good for Todd.

He shares the team with Todd. I'm sure Todd is the brains of that operation. But I am still coping with my close losses last week because the teams that I lost with last week crushed this week. And so if I had just gotten six more points last week on two teams, I'd have more fantasy championships and more capital. in my pocket and it's just it's this weird thing I don't know if it happens to you I don't know

if it happens to our audience but every year and this happens to me a lot I build great teams make the playoffs in at least half my leagues and then fancy playoffs come crazy stuff happens and they they fall apart and I know that that happens to like five out of six people in every single fantasy league and you're playing tougher teams blah blah blah but it's just it's the strange phenomenon that I'm going to end up having to study really hard during the offseason. No. So that I'm best prepared to crush it in weeks 15 through 7.

Oh, you've got the answer. Yeah, the answer is luck. I mean, come on. Maybe. Who had Brock Purdy in their lineup? You know, I mean, Brock Purdy carried so many people to championships. We couldn't have forecasted that. In fact, the guy who won the FFT Open, Ryan Van Hoven,

a team name La Porta Potty, he had Dak. He didn't draft Brock Purdy. He drafted Doc Prescott and Justin Fon. Fields, I think. And he had Brock and he had Dak Prescott. He went against your rankings, Jamie's rankings, Heath rankings, and he started Purdy over Dak Prescott this week. And that is why he won the FFT Open.

But, I mean, look, like I said to you before the show, I played in about 11 leagues, I think, each of the last two years. And last year, I won four of them. I had my best year ever. This year, I won one. And I actually thought I had a better year this year, you know, through the regular season than I did last year. I had a very good year, made a lot of playoffs. I would have liked to make a little bit more.

I had two teams that were just juggernauts. They both lost in the semifinals. I told you about the third place game that I played in that I didn't even realize I was playing it. I actually won it because of Bijan. And I crushed, I would have crushed the two teams that played in the finals. You know, if I, you know, I'm looking at the scores. I scored 20 more points than both those teams, and I benched Burrow accidentally. So all I'm saying is, like, that team was good enough to win.

It just didn't happen. I'm not a worse player this year than I was last year when I won four times as many leagues. It's just a lot of it is luck. And I think I was going to ask you, in all sincerity, is there a better way to do fantasy playoffs? So one thing that I really want to do, I think I said it on the mailbag, is no head-to-head matchups in the playoffs until the championship. So round one, you got your two highest scorers advance.

You know, you got two teams on a buy. You have four teams playing. No head-to-head matchups. Your two highest scoring teams advance. Same exact thing in round two, your semi-finals. No head-to-head matchups. Your two highest scoring teams advance and then head-to-head in the finals. But you could even make a case for total points.

You could make a case for two-week championships, although I would never want to play in week 18. No offense to the people who are listening to the show. but a lot of it is luck and you do have to ask yourself is there a better way to do it and I'll float out one other ideas Jamie joins us morning Jamie

is I did not like this format this is my least favorite fantasy baseball format but a lot of people play in rhodo leagues where it's just total points from start to finish there are no playoffs and you could in theory do that I hate that because it eliminates teams very early they have no chance and they stop playing

but I have no look I love fantasy football, win or lose, whatever, I don't care. I don't play for a lot of money. But if you are thinking about a more fair way to crown a champion than just have these one-week matchups where anything can happen, I think it's worthy of discussion. But then why would you have a bunch of one-week matchups from week one through 14? You don't have to. Yeah, you're right.

And then change it. And some teams, some teams do double, what do you call it when you play ahead-to-head matchup and if you finish top in the top half in your league in points? Apex, apex scoring. So you get a, you get a, you get a, win if you win your head-to-head. You get a win if you finish in the top half. Right.

So we do that in one of the dynasty leagues that I'm in. And that makes it okay. So that way, if you just have a little bit of bad luck, you run into the top scoring team in the league, but you're still one of the top five, six scoring teams, then yeah, you go ahead and you get another win out of it. That's okay too. But I think the way that you decide people,

part of the fun of fantasy is the head-to-head matchup. So, you know, here I am in the fantasy championship. It's me and Andrew, who I'm sharing a team with against Jamie and Todd. Hey, Jamie. Congrats, by the way. Thank you. And it's fun. Like, I'm sure Jamie's going to, I'm sure you love it that you beat me with Malik Willis and Jake Tonjus.

And again, I'm not upset about it. Is that the second or third time I brought it up? I don't know. But it's, I would have certainly relished it for at least a couple of days knowing that I beat Jamie. Well, is that the point that you lost or is that the topic? that we're talking about here. The topic is what's the best way to crown a fantasy championship? No, no, I understand that.

Getting rid of head to head. Is the impetus of the conversation because of random players that won leagues? I don't know if it's, I think Adam's really pointing more to the luck factor. Dave is sort of saying that he's got to figure out a way to not, you know, fall victim to having a good regular season. No choking in the fantasy class. Right. But I was saying, like, there's nothing you can do about it. It's one week.

It's head to head. You obviously had a good team. It's just kind of in the hands of the fantasy gods, is my opinion. well obviously you didn't choke you put your best players on your fantasy team in the lineup so if they didn't perform to the expectations that you had for them which i'm sure happened in a few cases same thing with our team it's not like our team was perfect across the board nor do i think any fantasy team every week is perfect across the board really i think in and so you keep referencing maliguelis and jake tongus i assume um what if that was jordan love and we had not had a good tight end

since we lost Tucker Kraft anyway. So we were playing tight-in. Let's say Tucker Craft stayed healthy and Tucker Kraft was still your tight-end. Right. Well, then in that case, I'd be pointing to you picking up James Connor and that you had the good luck charm.

But you wouldn't have the same feelings, I assume, if it was those players. Well, I mean, listen, I think another reason why our team lost is because DJ Moore had one catch. A Monroast St. Brown had a down game. Right, but you're in a 14.

And we were in a big hole all year at running back. So you were in a hole all year at tight end. You found your way. out of it. We did not have the same kind of luck at running back. We should have probably started Woody Marks, but it wouldn't have made a difference in the final score. We made a series of trades that in, and for the most part, did not help us, didn't really hurt us because the players we traded away, because we traded Marriene Hampton. I forget the trades we made, but we acquired throughout the season because we had a lot of good running back theft. We acquired Malik neighbors who got hurt

immediately. We acquired Justin Jefferson who stunk immediately. So we had a flawed team for a good portion of the season after getting off to, I think, like a six-and-one start. I think just in the case of what happens this time of season, including Week 18 for those who still play, is you're going to have scenarios where players get hurt. You know, I keep seeing a lot of championships to end in week 16 because of what happened with the Chiefs and what happened with, you know, Brock Bowers and, you know, some of these things. okay, if these guys were hurt in week six, what's the difference? Yeah, I agree. You know, so to complain about late season injuries or in the case of, look, the chiefs clearly are shutting down guys because of their scenario,

that's going to happen because of certain situations, whether it's week 16, 17, 18, or week 5, 6, 7. You know, you don't get the shutting down aspect of it, but obviously injuries are a part of what we deal with here. And so, Dave, to your point about, you know, Oh, yeah, DJ Moore had a bad week 18, or week 17, and Amon Ross St. Brown didn't have a great game.

I mean, he was playing a tough matchup. And DJ Moore got bad game script for him because Luther Bird and Colston and Loveland took off in that matchup. So, that's not bad game. I wouldn't call that bad game script. Yeah, yeah.

It's a 80 point game. It takes when your team scores 38 points and you're not the right, not the right wording there, but. Yeah, man, listen, like I completely understand, like, how it works out. And it's, I think the one other takeaway could be, just make sure you're doing the best you can with your lineup,

make the best choices. And I told people this going into week 17, try not to change anything. And I don't think you changed the single thing with how you play fantasy football going into week 17. It's not like you started changing your philosophies on who to start and who to sit. Your logic for starting Jake Tongis was excellent. So just going along with that and just staying consistent all year long,

I think that's probably the best thing you can do this time of year. And that's what I did. That's the other thing. And sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. I think, though, in the case, like this is a weird week because we had five games being played before Sunday. So you knew in a lot of cases what you're either chasing, what you needed. And that probably altered a few things. I said this to both of you.

You know, we went into Sunday with, I'm sorry, we went into Saturday with a, a decent hole because two of our players sucked that we count on and not a safe quarterback situation or a safe tight-in situation where I almost, which you would have been laughing at me for years, I almost played Taysam Hill at quarterback. I know. And Jake Tonga said, you would have won anyway, though. You would have won. No.

Yeah, you would have. Zero? You would have won. You would have won. We won by more than 33 points. You did. You won by 39. You won by 38 and change.

I listen, to getting off of this specific match. up, you know, Dave was the points winner in the league. He had the most points. He was the number one seed. So I think, you know, as Dan pointed out, which I didn't do in the dynasty league, Dan said, a good commissioner would reward someone for first place. This league, this podcast league is not for money. But you could also do that. You could give someone the points title. You can give them some money. So that at least rewards someone before the postseason even starts. There are things you could do if you want to make fantasy a little, a little bit less about the randomness of the last three weeks.

Speaking of the last three weeks, Bejohn Robinson averaged 33 fantasy points per game in the last three weeks in the fantasy playoffs. We might have to put him in the MVP discussion, even though he was a super high pick. Last year, Jemir Gibbs averaged 32.6 in the fantasy playoff. So Bejohn was a little bit better than that. Unbelievable.

Was he the best 101 that we could have taken this year? Those between him and Chase. and Barclay were the three candidates. Those are the three top players. And we knew Barclay wasn't going to be that guy. So, and Chase went through that whole spell this year without, uh, Oh, yeah, no, Bichon was the best. I think Bichon was the best.

And Bichon, I mean, Bijan had a better points per game average than Jemar. Uh, yeah. And so the other, the last thing, and I just got to break and then we'll start our waiver wire show. Um, here, here's what I keep thinking about, right? Who were the two quarterbacks that carried people in their fantasy championships? Brock Purdy and Drake May, right? They had the best... Trevor Lawrence.

Emily... Trevor Lawrence. Sorry, week 17 specifically, but Emily Willis, obviously. But which teams had the easiest strength of schedule? It was the 49ers and the Patriots. That is something I want to look into here because we knew that going into the year, that the Patriots and the Niners had the best schedules in football. And they rewarded fantasy managers for sure.

I was also thinking about this in terms of... scheduling that for the Rams in particular not getting the not winning the NFC West they're going to now have a third place schedule yep they sure will that's a very good point and they have they are going to play their starters next week and we will tell you what they're sent even though even though I'm not completely convinced on all of them because if San Francisco wins on Saturday the Rams will be the six seed regardless of what happens in their game against Arizona okay We'll be right back. No, but I think there is still a scenario where they can get the five because of points.

I read this morning that they could only get the five if they win and Seattle wins. Oh, yes. I'm sorry. Seattle plays Saturday. Yeah. All right. We'll be right back on fantasy football today with our waiver wire show. Coming up next.

Okay, Jamie, who are our top three waiver wire priorities for Fantasy Week 18? I think you got to go on Malik Davis at the top just with the assumption that Javante Williams is not playing at this point. So hopefully, if that is the case, that Malik Davis is going to be the guy. And as we saw in the game against the commanders, he was the guy with 20 carries for over 100 yards. So I'll put him first. I'll go Tyler Shuck second. He was great in the fantasy championship week for week 17. It's been great in the playoffs, 19 or more fantasy points in six of his last seven games.

Unfortunately, the one time he did not do that was against Atlanta. He's playing now, but I still think he's going to have an opportunity for a good game. And then Luther Burden clearly, based on what he just showed us, assuming that he's healthy, just looks like a future star. And I saw – so we're – I've been gathering – and I know we'll show some of them today on CBS Sports Network. Maybe you're going to show them today on here. I'm not sure. But gathering all of the rankings for 2026, and that content will be on our site on CBSports.com starting next week. but Jacob Gibbs was sort of, I feel like he was like filling it out a little bit.

Is Luther Bird in a top 10 wide receiver for 2026 already? Yeah, I thought that was a little hasty. I mean, Romo Dunezay is not playing right now, you know, we've got to keep that in mind. But hey, look, it could happen. He's super talented. He's the quickest feat, the way he catches the ball and immediately cuts up field that makes guys miss, I can't, I mean, I think he might have the fastest, I don't even know how to say it, breaks or feet or whatever in the lead.

Lateral agility. Yeah, right up there. Quick Twitch, whatever you want to say. Shuck, man, I would have felt a little bit better about Shuck before last night, but this Falcons defense is on fire right now. Man, they've held Jacoby Brissette to 12.6 points and Matthew Stafford is 16.8, but Shuck is also playing really, really well. All right.

So Malik Davis at the Giants, Tyler Shuck at Atlanta, Luther Burden against Detroit. Dave, who are your top three? Davis and Burden are on my top three. I put, I have a tie. It's not really a tie. Jake Tongish is still a top three guy to add. He's available in 83% of leagues. If you can't get him or if you're worried about Kittal playing in a very important game for the 49ers,

then Michael Mayer would be the tight end to go get. Okay. How about Kobe Parkins that coming through last night? I told you. 11 points. I mean, it wasn't a huge game for him, but this happens all the time. Yeah. Yeah, that's cruel.

All right, so Malik Davis is the prize. He wasn't even the best ramps tied in. It's true, yeah. Luther Burden is also, assuming he plays, we're loving him against Detroit. The funny thing is, in a couple of leagues, not that one, because we had to make that decision. Or I guess maybe we would have. Yeah, no, that was one of the leagues. Ferguson was my backup plan in the leagues where

if Kittle was going to play and I didn't have Kittle and Tongass. Nice. All right. And just some quick winners. Shout out. I already mentioned Ryan Van Hoven for winning the FFT Open. 288 people. He is the last man standing.

Congratulations. Writing Brock Purdy to a win. Second place guy had Blake Corum in his lineup. So that's a tough pill to swallow. The difference was about 11 points, I think, in the scores. So he had a chance if Corum stayed healthy. In the podcast league, it's Jamie, Jamie and Todd Rones, defeating Dave and Andrew. You've heard about it. And in the podcast Leftovers League, shout out to Cody Smith,

whose team name was Kansas City. And at least they won something this year. Am I right? Cody Smith, congratulations, big win for you. I got three myself, unless you're done. No, I am done. I just wanted to mention that in our podcast Leftovers League, which is a Super Flex League, I was so fast. fascinated by, oh, no, never mind. I'm lying. I thought one team had like really bad quarterbacks and one team had really good quarterbacks, but whatever. Yeah, go ahead. Who won your leftovers leagues? So, that big round of applause, huge round of applause. Johnny Airport. No way. Oh, wow. The Super Leftover Leagues won. And I got to change this for next year,

but I just was setting these up quickly trying to get all these leagues organized. I did not do decimal scoring, Johnny beat me in the semifinals, 127 to 126 to advance the championship. And then he easily won the championship. So that was super leftover league one. I hope I say his name right. Matthew Feilkovitz, the Fighting Fayos, they won Leftover League two pretty easily. And then left, they were the top seed going into it. And then the third league was won by, I can't say his team name because it's not appropriate.

Hopefully his name is on his team. Brad Cernett, he also was the one seed, one championship as well. So congratulations to Johnny Airport, to Matthew, and to Brad, for winning the three super leftover leagues. Congratulations. And thanks to all of our listeners for being a part of all these leagues. It's pretty amazing. We've got no show on Thursday this week. We'll do start or sit on Friday.

Every game that we preview will take a look ahead to 2026 as well. Any thoughts on Ram, we'll save Rand's Falcons for later. We've got to talk a little more. waiver wire here uh here are your news and notes so the rams are going to play their starters they said even though i think you got to keep an eye on what happens on saturday because if the niners win the rams i think are locked into the sixth seed that's what i read correct me if i'm wrong justin herbert's going to sit tray lance is going to start for the chargers they're at denver and denver has everything to play for they're going for the one seed so i don't think you're

going to start lad mcconkey or anybody do you remember what bow knicks did last year yeah 18 sure do the other team had nothing to play for it was one of the reasons like i avoided him in drafts his numbers were very very good before that but inflated by his insane game against chiefs backups but i don't know that the chargers are going that far with it we'll see um but yeah he went berserk uh who what else we got here gno smith is almost certainly not going to play it'll be probably can he picket against the chiefs malik willis has a shoulder injury you don't know what The Packers have nothing to play for, right? They're locked into the seven.

And we don't know who's going to be their quarterback at Minnesota. Could be J.J. McCarthy playing for the Vikings, we'll see, against Green Bay. And Marcus Marietta likely out at Philadelphia. Running backs, Javante Williams and Blake Corum with injuries. Wide receiver, don't know about Amman Ross St. Brown. He's day-to-day with a knee injury and they've been eliminated. So Dan Campbell said it's nothing that's a long-term concern. And if he's okay to play, he will play.

right now we're ranking them on our St. Brown. Okay. Luther Burden left with a quad injury. Rashid Shaheed has a concussion. They play Saturday in that big game at San Francisco. Jalen Waddle came back with the injured ribs, but that's the kind of guy, that's the kind of situation where you wouldn't be shocked

to see Jalen Waddle miss the game. And the same with Marvin Harrison Jr., who hurt his other foot in week 17 and may not play at the Rams. And by the way, I'm pretty sure that while Marvin Harrison was playing, I'm pretty sure DJ Reed was actually shadowing Michael Wilson.

I have to go back and look. What I did... DJ Turner. Yeah, sorry. DJ Turner was shadowing Michael Wilson when they were both on the field, Harrison, too. So I got to double check on that, but the plays that I actually did look for it,

that's what was happening. Harold Fanon Jr., going to be questionable with a groin injury. Darnell Washington and Jatavion Sanders suffered long-term injuries. And the Bucks had a really rough week. Not only did they lose, not that it really...

It did matter, though, actually, because if the Bucks and Panthers play Saturday, the winner of that game wins the division unless the Falcons beat the Saints. If the Falcons beat the Saints on Sunday, then Carolina wins the division regardless of whether they win or lose on Saturday. It's such a stupid thing.

Yeah. And the crazy part of this is if the Falcons had just beat the Jets, the lowly Jets, it would be in the driver's seat to win a division. Wow. But unfortunately for the Bucks, one of their starting guards left with the conclusion, concussion, and Hassan Reddick left with a concussion.

They're starting edge, and Jamel Dean, one of their corners left in the second half, and they have a short week. So they're super beat up going in this game against Carolina. Tristan Worf's might not play. And the guard that got hurt was a backup guard. Backup guard Michael Jordan. That's something you don't hear very often, but that is what happened. And if all those guys are banged up, then I don't know how Tampa Bay.

Is he from North Carolina? There comes to it. I don't know. Heard stories about him. Cleveland has a couple of offensive line injuries. Yeah, exactly. They're at Cincinnati. And we'll leave it at that.

That's the big stuff. All right. Oh, before I move on, any team, which teams are you concerned about resting starters? I'm not ranking the Bills players very high. I think they're with Josh Allen beat up and what their team has looked like. I think a week of rest would probably do them some good. So they could also beat the Jets with their backups anyway. So, like, I have Ray Davis ranked head of James Cook.

Okay. So Chargers, Bills. Packers. Packers. I didn't, I didn't not rank one Chargers starter. I'm not sure if the Niners went on Saturday that the Ram starters play their full allotment at the very place. Right. Could be three quarters.

Yeah. Yeah. Right now I have Stafford ranked as my top quarterback, and he could go from number one to number 32. Okay. All right. So it looks like we might hopefully get a decent amount of guys playing this week that we normally count on. And football fans, you got to bring your playoff energy to your pro football bets all season long. This pro football boost pack gives you three ways to boost your payout on a winning bet. Just log into your bet MGM account to receive your boost pack and then place any pro football bet and apply one of the tokens. Make sure to bet up to the minimum

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Riley Leonard is expected to start for the Colts. Oh, that sucks. And... By the way, the Patriots may pull their guys too because they'll be scoreboard watching knowing that the Broncos were playing backups. So I saw a couple of Patriots beat riders suggest this that they may start to pull their guys

during the game too. Broncos are going to be playing Chargers backups. And if the Broncos win, it eliminates the Patriots from the number one seed. They're locked into the two. They've already locked into the division. Yeah. The other thing is that the, I'm pretty sure. Well, wait a minute. Can Jacksonville still catch them for the two? That's what I was about to ask you, who's got the tiebreaker

between New England and Jacksonville? If Jacksonville wins and New England loses, they're both 13 and 4. Yeah, I think I think what the right, at least the one writer I saw suggesting this is they'll be scoreboard watching assuming that they're winning and i think most people assume they'll beat the dolphins so if they're if they're ahead they'll start to pull guys uh i'm i'm pretty sure i wonder what the i wonder if the raiders can tank any more because i think if the raiders beat the chiefs which is very possible and the giants lutes to the cowboys which they've

done something like 12 straight times and dac prescott's played i actually think the giants will get the number one pick so the raiders tanked themselves tank themselves and to the number one pick last week. Will they tank even more? Will they sit as Shengente or something like that? We'll find out. All right. Top three at each position.

Jamie, who are the top three quarterbacks? Well, Tyler Shuck would be one. I think you just give him credit for what he's done, even in a tough matchup. Number two would be Bryce Young. Last time he faced the bucks, he went for 21 fantasy points, and you just listed all the injuries that they're dealing with.

It's like eight quarterbacks in a row have scored at least 19 fantasy points against Tampa Bay, the one that did not do it over 20 points was Quinn Ewers last week, and he was like 19.7. So it should be a good opportunity for Bryce Young. And then the third guy for me would be Cam Ward, not an easy matchup against Jacksonville. You wonder how that game will go from them. If they have a big lead, will they start to pull guys late in the fourth quarter? Cam Ward's had some good performances late of late, but four straight games of two touchdowns,

two in a row, three in a row of 19 fantasy points or more. two in a row where he's been over 20 fantasy points. So he's playing well. I don't think it will be a pretty game for him. But when you start to look at the guys who are in the range of quarterbacks that we talk about, I'm not going to Kenny Pickett or, you know, the backup options that we're looking. Well, I mean, look, Kenny Pickett's facing a bunch of backups for the chiefs. But, you know, you get the point.

Like, I'm not going to the second tier quarterbacks. I don't think Josh Johnson's worth trusting against the Eagles unless they're going to sit guys. So, you know, you kind of just go on the sliding scale of who's, you know, either playing well or avoiding some of these, you know, real crappy backup scenarios, you know, so Tray Lance is not going to play well against the Broncos, for example. So I just think you look at even in some tough matchups for Shuck and for Ward, they should still be able to cobble together enough stats that get you in that range. I would have said Malik Willis potentially even a tough matchup against the Vikings, but it's the Vikings and he's not most likely playing. So I don't think you want to trust that. Do you trust C.J. Strau this week against the Colts? So he's the one court.

You know, I still did the shallowly guys. And he did not have a good game against the Colts the first time around. And obviously, Indianapolis's past defense looked good last week against Trevor Lawrence, who did not throw a touchdown pass. But I think you give Stroud the benefit of the doubt. So none of these, Shuck is the only one I would consider as a borderline starter, just again, based on what he's been doing and how he's performing, even in a what's become a tough matchup against Atlanta.

But Stroud, borderline starter, young, more of a 2 QB guy. Cam Ward, certainly more of a 2 QB guy. Okay. None of these guys are slam dunks. And Dave, top three running backs to get? Malik Davis, 94% available. Doesn't look like Giovante Williams is going to play. We're going to need to keep an eye on that.

But Malik Davis actually looked pretty good. And it's a good matchup against your Giants. Chikori-Krosky Merritt is still out there in 37. percent of leagues. He would be somebody that I would be mildly interested in. I don't like the matchup. I don't like that he's going to end up sharing with two other running backs potentially because Chris Rodriguez missed last week's game with an illness. He should be back this week. But he's the best of what's left. And then Audrick Estime, 83% available, clear lead guy for the Saints last week. And I think he'll be the lead guy again this week

against Atlanta. Yeah, I'll give you two other names that I would take over a few of the guys as they've said. Dylan Sampson was the lead running back for the Browns, taking on the Bengals. Last time we saw that, it was an eight-catch game for him. And then most likely the Packers will sit Josh Jacobs if they're going to sit guys because of Jacobs battling his knee injury. Emmanuel Wilson, last time he played the Vikings, he had 28 carries for 107 yards and two touchdowns. And so even though it'll be a lot of backups, I think he could be in that flex range. So I don't love estimate against the Falcons personally.

And with Crosky Merritt, if the Eagles are playing their guys, like that run defense is going to be too tough. Yeah, the thing is with Samson is that Sanders actually played more snaps than him. He, the way it started, Samson, or Rahim Sanders had six of the first eight running back carries. And Samson had one and Travian Williams had one. So they started the game with Rahim Sanders as their guy. I guess he wasn't really delivering for them. And then they went to Dylan Samson, who basically took over in the second half. but Rahim Sanders,

they all pretty much ran the same amount of routes. Trayvion Williams was the third downback. Rahim Sanders led them in snaps and he led them in routes run, barely. But Samson was not much of a factor at all until the second half. I also don't expect them to have the same game script that they had last week,

which was playing with the lead. I think they're going to get blasted by the Bengals if the Bengals decide to play their guys. That's a team that they may decide to shut things down too. I wouldn't shock me either way. At this point, we're expecting to play. but I think the Bengals offense shows up again and the Browns offense is in usual Browns offense mode

so that's why I like Dylan Samson. Right. Remember how last week you wanted pieces of the 49ers offense and pieces of the Bears offense? You knew that game was going to be exciting. I don't want pieces of the Cleveland Browns offense. And to be honest, I don't want pieces of the Packers offense either

if it's going to be Clayton two in a quarterback. And I would be nervous about trusting any of the running backs from any team that's resting guys. So we've already talked about a lot of those teams. And then running backs on teams that are splitting three ways and don't score a lot of points, that just doesn't seem good to me. Okay. Well, it's not, yeah, it's not a great way.

There really aren't a ton of running back injuries. No, all the more reason to make Malik Davis the number one guy. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. Jamie, wide receivers. So burden is obviously the top guy to go get. And you mentioned him in the news notes.

It sounds like he's going to play, according at least to the insiders. Patrick Parker Washington, back-to-back games with just, you know, being the best guy for the Jaguars. And I know we had a lot of questions, understandably so, because what he did against Denver, how that game unfolded, Riley Moss and the missed tackles, it's 20 targets in the last two games. You know, so clearly he's a guy that they're relying on or relying on heavily. And so we'll see if that changes. They want to get Brian Thomas going, who dealt with Soss Gardner, but I still think you look at Parker Washington. And then after him, really, it's a crapshoot. I think, you know, to Mary D.K., he's due because this is every other week of scoring.

So he's got three touchdowns in his last, now seven games, but every other game he scored a touchdown. So this will be the week that he scores. And he's got 10 or more PPR points or more in four of his last six. So the floor is pretty safe. And the ceiling could be decent, even though he did not have a great game against Jacksonville the first time around. But again, we're on the every other week situation.

I loved the way Jalen McMillan looked last week. And I feel like he's the one that's going to end up replacing and has replaced a Bucca in that offense. And if the ball's going to go out quick and they need to get the hands of, they need to get it in the hands of faster people. McMillan is one of those people. I like Washington better.

I like Burden better. I would go Burden Washington McMillan as my top three. And I got a weird feeling, Adam, hit the music for I got a feeling. Oh, do I have? I don't. There is. I got a feeling about Cooper Cup.

Because that's another game that I think I'm going to want pieces of. especially for Seattle against that defense. Not going to be a priority for me to pick up Cooper Cup, but if Burden's gone, Washington's gone, you're not feeling Jalen McMillan. I wonder if Cooper Cup can get you a solid floor type game in PPR. Yeah, there's another guy in that offense I'd rather have besides Jason.

Oh, which one, Barner? Yeah. It's a different position. Yeah, so with Parker Washington, I wanted to mention, he played, he ran about 91% of the routes or, something like that. It was way up from his previous two games. And he's had seven games, Parker Washington, where he's had 89% route participation rate or better. And in five of those seven games, we're looking at, I want to say eight or more targets. So seven or more

targets. So basically, that was the big change. He turned into a full-time player. The week before he played something, it ran like 60% of the routes. That was huge. And if they're going to continue to use him that way, it's obvious that Trevor, Trevor Lawrence, likes him, he even said that he should have just made a better throw to Parker Washington in the end zone when Lawrence was intercepted in the end zone. So, yeah, it's exciting development there for Parker Washington. Dave, top tight ends. The top tight ends first. Do a double check for Colson Loveland, Joanne Johnson, Dalton Schultz. Those guys are going to be available in about a quarter to a third of CBS sports leagues. Jake Tongis is available in 83% of leagues. He's probably already rostered in a bunch of leagues that played last week.

But who the hell knows? Maybe he's out there. If he ends up starting for the 49ers, I would go after him. But we don't know at this point if that's going to be the case. If he does not end up starting, if George Kittle ends up being active, then you just pivot. And you go to Michael Mayer or you go to A.J. Barner, previously mentioned by Jamie, those guys will be out there on the waiver wire.

You can probably pick them up on Saturday. If we find out that George Kittle is questionable for the game and 90 minutes 4 kick, oh, George Kittles is active. That means Jake Tandjus is dead. and you can go and get mayor or Barner. You got the Steelers situation that both tight ends were heavily involved, 10 targets combined for Friamuth and John Smith, and now there's no darnall Washington on top of D.K. MacGaff being out.

And then... Do you have a preference? I know how I like that. I go to Ruff just because more downfield. John Smith does too much near the line of scrimmage, but he'll get some carries too if that's the way that. Right. That was the deciding factor for me. Arthur Smith will operate.

And then you mentioned it, Colby Parkinson, he's still available in the numbers. I didn't have them in the column yet because I have to update it from last night. But as I think you alluded to, 11 PBR points in that game, we don't expect Devante Adams to play again. And so that's a guy in a great matchup that you can pivot to. And the Cardinals, as we know, stink against tenants. Yeah, Adams is interesting. I don't know if you saw the sideline report during the game, but he's really close to coming back. He's, I would, based on what he said and the way he was running pre-term,

game. I would guess he's probably going to be healthy enough to play, but it would not surprise anyone if they err on the side of caution with Devante Adams. Okay. Parkinson would be at best, I think, the third guy to go get, just based on if Tonja starts and Mayer is locked in. Mayer's now played three games without Brock Bowers, and in two of those games, he's been fantastic. Jamie, give me a DST to stream this week.

It's the Vikings without question. You know, the Packers are going to, most likely. haven't said this yet, but most likely rest their guys. I can't imagine that with Jacobs fighting through this knee injury, the offensive line and some of the things they've been dealing with, Zach Tom, for example, you know, battling injuries, Jordan Love coming back from the concussion, will he play if he doesn't play, Malik Willis with the shoulder injury? The Vikings defense has obviously been fantastic.

So I think that's the easy route to go. They have top five upsets. Okay. The other DSTs that you have in your column of the Ravens at Pittsburgh on Saturday, and the Chargers, which is so risky because they definitely could sit some guys. but they've been playing great. Yeah, the Chargers I had that before the Herbert. I updated the Herbert stuff in the top of the column.

I didn't update the DST, so that'll be updated. Would you consider, and this goes against something that I believe in, but they've been playing well lately. Would you consider the Bengals against the Browns? Yeah, for sure. Ten or more fantasy points in four of their past six games. They're just in time for the end of the year, the Bengals' defense under Al Golden, turning it around.

And then the Jaguars are interesting. they're 70% rostered. They're playing very well. But now they get this matchup that stinks all of a sudden, although you did get a touchdown from the Saints DST last week. But now it's one pick in his last eight games for Cam Ward, but the Jags 70% rostered, they're not quite, they're too rostered for the column,

but keep an eye on them as well. How about kickers, Jamie? The top kickers are a lot of the same guys we talk about. Eddie Pinero, again, Dave said it. You know, could be a high-scoring game there. He's just been so consistent for, for San Francisco, Andrez Borigalas,

taking on the Dolphins. They gave up a lot of fantasy points to the position. And Will Lutz at home against the Chargers. That should be a lot of points for Denver. So a good opportunity

for him anytime he's at home. We're going to take a break. We'll talk about last night's game and just go over the Waverwire one more time for you on fantasy football today. Okay, the Falcons

with a 2724 win over the Rams. And Stafford had a bad game through three interceptions. One of them returned for a touchdown. Almost two. No.

Oh, yeah, yeah, one was, right. There was a pick six, and there was almost two, right? He scored 16.8 fantasy points, and Kaira lost the MVP. It's probably, Kyra had a good game, but not great game, especially considering Blake Kornum left, but, you know, he had a lot of total yards.

And then Puka, I mean, one of my leagues, not my game, but was decided, I'm sure a lot, it was decided on that late Puka touchdown, and he had a bad game. So by his standards. And, yeah, anyway, Jim. It almost had the most ridiculous catch you'll ever see in your life.

Oh, my gosh. Would have been incredible. I'm so sad that it didn't count because that was insane. And his touchdown catch that was called back, too, that was a great catch too. He's just amazing. I think we all have across the board

him as the number one receiver next year. Mm, mm. Do I or do I have Chase? I have, okay. And you could definitely make the case for Chase, but yeah, Pook is insane. You make the case for JSN. You can make the case for Puka.

You make the case for Chase as well. JSN's the one that I is like, I can't put him ahead of those other guys because the Seahawks, I think when we go back and we look at the stats on JSN, it's going to be, he can't repeat this. I think it was too good. Oh, but he could. They have to throw more.

He's a very good receiver. Oh, he's amazing. I think he's got the same type of upside as Puka and Chase still. The fascinating part of this, is what Sam Darnold did for Justin Jefferson last year and what he's doing for J.S.N. this year. Well, I said it on the show on Sunday. He's one of five quarterbacks with back-to-back 13 win seasons.

I'm going to give you my biggest worry. Does Clint Kubiak get a coaching job? Oh, he's definitely going to get consideration. Yeah, but if he gets a job, it's a third O.C. in three years for Seattle. And I don't know if we can count on that system to be as good with somebody else. I don't know who the somebody else would be,

but that's something to think about with Jackson Smith and Jigba. Still an awesome. He's going to be a first round pick, all that stuff, but really hard to make the case from him to be the 101 or the top receiver, either of those things. He's one of, and I don't have the entire list in front of me,

but he's one of a few offensive coaches that are going to get consideration because most of the top candidates this year are the defensive guys, because you have Shulah is going to get consideration, Minter's going to get consideration, Flora is going to get consideration, you know, those are the top, you know, candidates that are, you know, being mentioned at least right now. And then Nagy's kind of being tied to Tennessee, which is weird, but he's not really the clear guy you worry about leaving Kansas City. What did you guys think of Drake London and Kyle Pitts putting up duds?

I mean, Pitts, I just talked up to a bad game, and clearly the run game was working so well for the Falcons. London, I'm worried. You know, I don't think you can start him in week 18 with any confidence. No, he's not ranked as a top 24 receiver for me. You know, so the fact that he had the poor game last week and then just no opportunities really this week or week 16, week 17. If you're still playing at this point, like, you know, Heath has been talking about this quite a bit comparing it to the Brock Bowers injury, you know, same PCL sprain that it took Bowers several weeks to get back. And then as we find out whether accurate or not, you know, that he's not. 100% to close the year, which you could probably see in some of the way that he was performing. London, you know, give him credit for coming back.

I think just the opportunity to have him was encouraging for fantasy managers. The production clearly was not. So you can't start him if you're still alive. All right. Let's go to the waiver wire and look at quarterback here. C.J. Stroud is the shallow league guy that Jamie put in there. Do you like Stroud better than Shuck or Young or Cam Ward? No, I'd go Shuck, Stroud, Young, Ward.

Dave? Shuck, Stroud, Ward, Young. Okay, so you like Ward better than Young, but you like Shuck better than Stroud, both of you. Jamie has Young ahead of Ward. Dave has Ward ahead of Young. Okay, that's not confusing at all. Yeah, and so if you're the Josh Allen manager,

I think if you're the Matthew Stafford manager, you just might want to be prepared in case they have nothing to play for on Sunday and he won't play a full game. Who else? Herbert, obviously. He's not playing. They're going to play Trey Lance. Any quarterbacks? Yeah, Pat Jordan Love, right.

They got Minnesota, so at least... Are there any quarterbacks that have really tough matchups that you're trying to avoid this week that you might stream Shuck over? I mean, Baker. You'd say Shuck over Baker? Okay. It's probably Baker's got a tough matchup.

Baker's just not playing well. How about golf at Chicago? It's not a tough matchup, but it's an outdoor, cold weather game. Yeah, I would start Shuck over golf. I would start golf over Shuck, especially after what the Falcons look like last night. But that's close. I'd like to know what the Lions' offensive line looks like. Well, first off, if St. Brown does not play, then there's no way you're playing golf.

Yeah, that's true, too. But if Decker's out, Sewell's out, the guards don't come back. Like, that's an easy one to get away from golf. That was the number one reason why he was terrible last week was his protection was the worst it's looked in four years. And the Bears are playing for the two-seat. And that game, by the way, just looking at the 10-day weather forecast,

you know, because you could get horrible weather in January and Chicago, doesn't seem that bad. Like a high of 31, some chance for precipitation, but that's definitely something to keep an eye, especially since we're saying, look for a Colson Loveland. Luther Burden's a priority.

We want to make sure there's decent conditions there. All right, so those are your quarterbacks. Again, they're Tyler Shuck, Bryce Young and Cam Ward for Jamie. Tyler Shuck, Cam Ward, and Bryce Young for Dave. Just one more name. How do you feel about Jacoby Brissette at the Rams who, you know, I keep mentioning. They say they're going to play their starters, but we'll see how long.

Seems like the magic might be gone a little bit with Brissette. Came through with a super late touchdown, I think against backups at Cincinnati, really struggled the week before against Atlanta. Dave, how do you feel about Preset this week? I like them, but I can name 12 quarterbacks I like more. Okay, fair enough. At running back. You said it.

The Rams may not be playing their guys. And they're going to probably start to pull guys at some point during the game no matter what, because they'll probably have a lead if they are going to do that. So I think Preset still comes through. Are we hoping for a backdoor garbage time touchdown to help Brissette get to like 20 or 21 fantasy points? Are we thinking that that could help him get that extra time? touchdown to get in the neighborhood of 30 fantasy points. I mean, if you tell me he's getting

20, that's basically the neighborhood where Shuck lives. That's where hopefully Bryson will get to. That's where Stroud is going to be. That's probably where golf will be. That's probably where a lot of those other guys will be. So I think Jacobi Bresset's not a slam dunk. He's not like, we must start him. But, I mean, he's got one game

under 20 fantasy points and 11 starts. Like, that's a pretty good track record. However, he's gotten it, and believe me, a lot of these, he's gotten with some fourth quarter garbage time scenarios along the way. Okay. And let's go to the running backs. Malik Davis gets the Giants.

They've been lights out the last two weeks. Now, they've been better, though, against Aaron Jones and Ashton Genti, but still an amazing matchup from Belique Davis. Jamie likes Dylan Samson and Emmanuel Wilson. Dave likes Audric Estime. And who's your third guy? Audric Esamay and ahead of Audric Estime

is Jacori Kroskii Merritt. But when I say, I like these guys. These are like, I'm really stuck at running back and these guys are available and I need a plug and play for week 18. And Malik Davis is like, Ion's better. Yeah, man. Malik Davis, is he in the top 12? Top 20.

Top 20. Okay. He's like this week's Ramandre, but Javante, we're not thinking Javante will play as of now. Obviously, that changes if Javante is healthy and they roll him out there. Okay. Let's see if there's any other names. Jamie, we talked about Devin Singletary, I think, on early Waverwire yesterday.

Any interest there? Desperation play. All right. Wide receivers. Ooh, here's an interesting one. Ricky Pearsall. He's got 96 and 85 yards in his last two games. But, man, Seattle is a different story.

Not for him. Why, he was good against them? That 100 yards. All right. Well, that was, that was three months ago. basically, right? That was a long time ago. Yeah, but that's only like two games ago for him because he never played.

That's true. You like him better than any of the waiver wire guys than any of the Luther burdens of the world? He would be second. So a burden is one. Pearsall would be two. Just, again, you said at the last two games, Brock Purdy's on fire right now. So I know the Seahawks defense is clearly much better than the 49ers defense.

Nobody's questioning that. But you throw out defense, I think, at this point. And so they'll slow down San Francisco. They'll make things uncomfortable. for San Francisco. They will not perform. Purdy will not perform at the same level

that he has been the last two weeks because of who he's playing. But I think Kyle Shanahan is in his bag right now and Brock Party is just dealing. Okay.

So Luther Burden is number one amongst the widely available guys. Jamie would then go Ricky Pearsall, then Parker Washington. Dave, how would you rank those three? Burden Pearson.

Exactly same way. Burden 1, Pierceall 2, Washington 3. All right. Washington has a great matchup. Tennessee's been really bad against wide receivers. Chimray D.

at Jacksonville, Jalen McMillan, who Dave likes better than D.K. You could also look at Kyle Williams. He led the Patriots with an 86% route participation rate, which is good and bad.

It's good, but also means he was playing with the backups late in the game. Well, I mean, they're so beat up at that position. Yeah. He also, first time,

career high in targets for him. The Dolphins. Mike get Mink of Fitzpatrick back this week. by the way, but the Dolphins who the Patriots play, they've allowed a hundred yards or a touchdown to seven wide receivers in their last

three games. It's berserk. And then Trey Tucker. Five guys in the last two weeks have gone for 13.5 p.pr. points or more. We didn't mention Trey Tucker. Anybody want Trey Tucker this week against the Cheaps? No. No, sir. How about one of the Jalen's

or the Jalen or Jalen or Houston. So Higgins is interesting. He had 11.5 ppr points in the first game against Indianapolis, and I would guess that if Soss Gardner is going to follow anybody's following Nico.

So, I mean, you saw the big play potential for Higgins last week. Yeah. Yeah. All right. He's a good number three receiver. He's not anybody I think you start with any confidence. So, like, he's closer to D.K. than he is the other

three guys that we talked about, Pierce, Washington and Burden. Okay. Two more names to throw at you. Well, I guess this is three names and one. Mark Wesvalda, Scantling, Adam Thieland, Scottie Miller, and then Brandon Cooks. Dave?

Pass. Okay. Tight ends. I think if you're looking at MVS, he's just another at 9 Mitchell type player. They're going to be a lot of targets. Who knows how good they'll be. Who knows how good the player will be.

But, I mean, NVS got nine targets against the Browns. Almost had a couple touchdowns. Yeah, no, that sounds like NBS. Nine targets, pretty impressive. Scotty Miller had seven. And the Ravens have been like the Dolphins. The Ravens have allowed 110 or more yards to a wide receiver in five straight games. Brandon Cooks, yeah, okay, you're not interested in him.

So let's go to the tight ends. Let's look at these tight ends and tell me the shallow league tight ends. How much do you like them? We got Joanne Johnson at Atlanta. Love. Love. Okay. Colston Loveland against Detroit.

Also love. Dalton Schultz against the name. Dalton Schultz against the Colts. Love. Not bad. Brenton Strange against the Titans. Like, top 12. All right.

So how would you rank them? Joanne Johnson, Coleson, Loveland, Dalton Shultz, Brenton Strange. You did. I agree. Would you take Jake Tom? But there's a gap. For me, there's a gap between Johnson, Loveland, to Schultz, and then a wider gap to strange.

Schiltz had a great game against the Colts the first time around, and they've been really bad against tight ends. And would you start Jay Tongis over any of those guys? All of them. All of them. All of them. Okay. But, of course, Kittle might play, so keep that mind.

And in which case, I would start Tongis over nobody. Would you start Michael Mayer over any of those guys? Mayor over Strange. Mayor over Strange, but not over John Johnson, or Colson Lovewin or Dalton Schultz. No. And then there's A.J. Barner who is coming on strong here with

some touchdowns, and he had only three targets this week. He had six the week before. He had been running more... He had two weeks. He had six. Yeah, and you know what? The thing about those two weeks with six is he had been running more routes and it had coincided with Elijah Royal getting hurt. But

last week, Arroyo was out and the routes went down. But two of the last three games, the routes have been up and the targets have been up for A.J. and San Francisco has allowed 10 touchdowns to tight ends. What's up? Chigo Conquo is playing well. Do you happen to have the route participation rate after Rashid Shaheed got hurt? No, but it was pretty low for the full games, like 60% I want to say.

But I wonder if it was like even lower. Like did Seattle try and go three receivers? I don't know. And then once she got hurt, they just pivoted back to using Barner and multiple tight ends. And that could have given them the opportunity to block less, run more routes. do you know when Rashid Shahid got hurt I think it was pretty early in the game yes wasn't okay so it probably doesn't make a difference

I can look into it Garner ran 44% of the routes in the first quarter and then the next three let's see in the second quarter it was 71% yeah 71% in the second and then for the rest of the game it was 64% total for second third and fourth

all right that's it oh Chico Oconquo, he's playing well. He's got six to eight targets in three straight games. He plays the Jaguars, who have been better against tight ends. They had that one game where they gave up 30-something point, or like more than that, to Brock Bowers. And they've been better since then,

but O'Concoe's playing well. You got Pat Friamuth. Fifteen targets in his last two weeks for O'Concoe. Yeah, I think it's 21 in his last three. 21 targets in his last three games. They are doing him as service by sending him into free agency, with a good resume. You got Pat Frymuth.

Dave prefers John Hussmith because I'll get some carries. Jamie prefers Pat Friarmuth. I prefer to like not start either one of them.

Yeah, and Parkinson is... Give me all the other tight ends that we've talked about ahead of the Steelers. One more name. Dawson Knox against the jet.

I don't think they play their guys very much. All right. DSTs are the Vikings and the Ravens. Kickers are Pinero, Will Lutz, and Andres Borogales.

And I think we can all agree. Ohio State beat Miami last night on CBS Sports HQ, in case you didn't see that. They got the number one recruit in the country for 2027. That was a punch of the guts. So, Dave, we have some payback to distribute. Oh, yeah, that's what we have payback for. Losing a recruit. The number one recruit. Well, he's like top three, but arguably the number one recruit in the country and something that happened 23 years ago. Yeah, that's exactly what it comes time too. You excited? Very. Dave will be at the game. Happy New Year.

Hopefully. Yeah. All right. It'll be meeting. What's that? When are you leaving? Soon. Is the you going to cover the nine and a half points? I think so. Do you know the most amount of points the Buckeyes have allowed this year? No. 16. That is insane. No team has scored more than... How are they going to beat them? 16 points? That's amazing.

But... What was the score of your game with Texas Tech? 10 to 3. I'm sorry, Texan. Texan. Yeah. Super windy game. A lot of miss field goals.

103? 103. Yeah, but it's still like, even if like some of the field goals counted or you give a team a touchdown when they settled for a field goal, I don't think either of those teams would have scored 21.

No, but the game's going to be indoors. Miami's front four is going to give them Ohio State some problems, but I think they'll cover. I don't think they'll win, but we'll see. That would be heartbreaking. It's okay. You know, it's been a good year.

Ohio State's terrific team. I hate them. We will talk to you tomorrow with our New Year's Eve extravaganza. Well, 1 p.m. today. Oh, that's right. 1 p.m. today. So 1 p.m.

It's going to be fun. We're going to do half. We're going to each segment, it's going to be half waiver wire. and the other half is going to be our top five at each position. So, yeah, join us 1 p.m. at CBS Sports Network. See you. Later.