Fantasy Football Today - Beyond the Box Score: Jordan Mason, Rome Odunze, Struggling Studs and More (12/02 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 2, 2024

We start with some takeaways (4:40) from the 49ers-Bills SnowFest including what to expect from Jordan Mason who was not even a Top 24 running back per game in Weeks 1-8 ... News and notes (16:30) and then Jacob provides the advanced metrics (21:30) on Caleb Williams, Parker Washington, the Packers offensive line, Kyren Williams and Ladd McConkey among many others ... Four Big Topics: Which studs would we consider benching in the Fantasy playoffs (43:10)? Who is the best Seahawks wide receiver rest of season (50:00)? What do you need to know about the Dolphins passing game (56:05)? What's the best way to use your bench spots at this point in the season (1:01:00)? ... 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

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Welcome, everybody, to Fantasy Football Today. It's Beyond the Box Score. We are presented by Bet MGM, the sportsbook born in Vegas. We've got advanced stats from simple people and advanced stats from a sick person that isn't me. How about Dan Schneier? Oh, you're so sick all the time, Adam. And he is under the weather.

How you doing over there, Dan? Not great. A little sinus, some kind of sinus infection. The worst part about it when you get sick is that you can't, like, it's hard to sleep. Like I was like burning up hot. Then I tried to monitor that, fix that. And then I was too cold.

It was just like a terrible night. But what made it worse, adding insult to injury, was before the show, when producer Thomas popped on to talk with us, the guy's wearing a tank top. Like, his life right now in Florida, this is why I understand why people move down there. I get it now. Like when I'm dealing with 26 degrees outside, I get it.

I can fully understand it now. I'm wearing a tank top because our AC went out. So pretty, it's not as great living as you think. The weather was so nice in Florida though. I mean, going from Friday morning being in Florida to Friday afternoon being in New York, it was just. Do you question and miss, like, do you question yourself and miss living there or no? That's a really complicated question with a lot of,

like, there's a lot to that. But no, I don't wanna leave New York, but I do hate the cold weather, but I miss a lot about Florida, yeah. All right, anyway, Jacob, how you doing? How was your Thanksgiving, Jacob? My Thanksgiving was good. Chiefs got another well-deserved win.

Fun week of football, good to see the fam. Yeah, everything's good. Good, good, good. And my first Thanksgiving without leftovers, as I said on the show. Why? I missed that. Cause I was out of town and I came back. Oh yeah.

And I had no leftover. All right, anyway, Buffalo 35 San Francisco 10. We'll start with that. We're also going to talk today about the Dolphins offense and what's going on there. How much can we trust Tyreek Hill? Which must start players are we maybe hesitant to start previously must start players?

Are we hesitant to start in the playoffs? Who's the best Seahawks wide receiver going forward? And should you roster two DSTs in your fantasy playoffs or use that roster spot on another player? Buffalo 35, San Francisco 10. Jacob, do you really think there's a lot to take away from this game? Because it was played in conditions

that just almost certainly will not be repeated, certainly for San Francisco and maybe not rest of season four, Buffalo. Is there really anything to take away from this game? No, the pressure rate for Josh Allen was extremely low, 6%, so that was one of the lowest that we've seen for a quarterback in any game this year. So that speaks to San Fran's defense

and where they're at right now with Nick Bosa. And then, yeah, I don't know, I've been saying, I kind of think the nineties are done. Do you guys have thoughts on that? Like if Purdy comes back in better form after this and better weather? It's hard to judge based on this game. We've had this injury and he,

I guess somewhat practiced and played this week. I didn't really get a good vibe for where he's at. Now without McCaffrey, probably for the year. It does feel like the Niners might be packing it in. But I don't know if I wanna make too much yet of this just because of what that weather was like. And I wanna see what they can look like this coming week. I think they have Seahawks.

Yeah, I think as someone who is sitting here talking about getting their Super Bowl futures last week, cause they only have a game out of first place. Now there are two games out of first place. I still think there's a lot of talent. Keep in mind who they're only a game out of first place. Now there are two games out of first place. I still think there's a lot of talent. Keep in mind who they're missing. McAfree's out now. Almost looks like it's going to be a season ender or close to it. So we'll talk about Mason. But they were missing Purdy. Now he's back, but you know, he missed the game. They're missing Trent Williams. They're missing Bosa. Obviously, IUK's out, but they're missing so much. I still

thought that there's a chance and I still think there's a chance. I don't want, I wouldn't want to play the 49ers. They're the 49ers, but obviously- Can I ask a fun question that I think the listeners will enjoy? Right now, let's say Christian McCaffrey is done for the season, which seems like it's likely. Where are you comfortable drafting him next year in PPR league? I think I'd take him in the first or second round.

I think I'm still taking a mid one. And that's like the funny question about fantasy, because I know what's going to happen next year. It's going to be just like it was two years ago with McCaffrey, where no one wanted to take him. Everyone's like, he's injured every year. It's a guarantee. He's going to get injured. You know, that rhetoric and that narrative is going to really pick up

steam, uh, this summer. And I just feel like I'm going to be the odd man out there and I'm going to be guarantee he's gonna get injured. You know that rhetoric and that narrative is gonna really pick up steam this summer and I just feel like I'm gonna be the odd man out there and I'm gonna be drafting a ton of him unfortunately because I don't really want to take that risk, but I just can't pass it up when he's on the field he's still going to be the difference maker in fantasy and next year I think that will still be the case. It's just a matter of like predicting injuries, which I don't think we do a good job of He was off to such a good start, too. All right. So let's talk about Jordan Mason, because I think it's unfair to judge the passing games here. But let's talk about Jordan Mason. Jordan Mason weeks one through eight might surprise you where he ranked among running backs. Remember, he didn't really catch passes.

He had 10 catches in eight games and he only scored three touchdowns despite having the fifth most carries and the third most rushing yards in weeks one through eight He was on a per game basis number 24 per game in half PPR number 28 per game in full PPR There's no question Jordan Mason is the number one waiver wire priorities Probably a spend all your fab kind of guy wire priority, probably a spend all your fab kind of guy. Do you think Jordan Mason is a must start running back going forward? Bears Rams, dolphins, lions in his next four games. Bears, dolphins, lions, bears, Rams, dolphins, lions,

fans, bears, Rams, dolphins, lions. Yeah, really bad matchups in there. Did you say he was running back 24 and points per game during that stretch? When you are and in full PPR, he was 28th because he only scored three touchdowns and only get 10 catches. Yeah, that's wild. Touchdowns are a little unlucky. You know, he had again in fifth most carries.

He also had the fifth most carries inside the five yard line. It just didn't score from there, but he is not going to catch a lot of passes. I think, you know, I don't know. When he played, I was healthy. So maybe when he played, I you was healthy. So maybe things changed there, but it just doesn't seem like Purdy throws to any running back other than McCaffrey. I mean, it just kind of depends on what we think is going to

happen with this 49ers offense, right? Rest of season, like no, I you can moving forward, Debo doesn't look like the same player he was last year. Maybe he's hurt as well. Obviously Jennings we love offensive line, not what it was now. No McCaffrey in the passing game, opening up things for the run and pass game. So if you're mentioning the touchdowns as a big factor here, especially in PBR leagues, because he's not making many, not making much on the, uh, in the

receiving side of it, I would say, no, he's not a must start. I would say he's more of like a flex RB two option. I think he's like Jonathan Taylor at the high end and then probably more likely he's like Brian Robinson, James Connor kind of running back for fantasy going forward. Okay. I don't know if I could, I want to put him in that category. Like, and I get it.

Maybe more of the James Connor side than the Brian Robinson side for me though, like on the lower end. Well, Connor though is four targets a game now. Right. Robinson, not clear what that's gonna be with Eckler out. Taylor though is one target a game or one catch a game with Anthony Richardson.

Taylor is someone I think we'll talk about a little bit later in the, are you gonna consider sitting any studs in your fantasy playoffs? Because he has bad matchups and he never catches the ball and he's got a goal line for Vulture, but we can talk about that later. Over to the Bill side, Josh Allen with a 30 point fantasy game.

He ran one in a 32.4 fantasy points, ran one in, threw one and caught one. He caught a touchdown that didn't count as a catch. And if he asked me, it was borderline better play by Mari Cooper than, no, honestly, I'm going there. It was a better play by a Mario Cooper. If you listen to the postgame interview that he did on NBC where he said that he actually started himself, Josh Allen in his fantasy league. He said it was a bad pass. He said it was a bad pass, but that doesn't mean it's a bad

play. It was a great catch that he made. And then the presence of mine to flip it to Josh Allen Josh Allen was was running there because he was worried it was gonna be intercepted Agreed, but let me ask you this question Adam. Uh-huh How many other quarterbacks could make that play on the ball? No, it's a great play It was awesome with the dive the extension. We give a little credit to Mario Cooper there I'll give credit to him, but you're saying what's the better end of that play? It's definitely Josh Allen Give credit to Mari Cooper there. I'll give credit to him, but you're saying what's the better end of that play? It's definitely Josh Allen.

Is this going back to your whole Josh Allen Lamar Jackson for MVP debate? Is this like a hidden agenda thing by you? You're trying to get this narrative out there that this wasn't that good of a play. It was a bad throw. He admitted it. It was a bad throw.

It ended up being his signature play of the year on a bad throw. I think it was an amazing play by him. All right. All right. So again, let's not take too much away from the passing game here. 17 pass attempts, 148 yards.

But James Cook, if anybody wants to say anything about James Cook per game, he is a top eight running back now, seventh per game in non PPR, eighth per game in full PPR. And it's so weird that he has 11 rushing touchdowns in 11 games when he had four rushing touchdowns in his career coming into the season. And Jacob, when you think about James Cook and the season he's having.

Yeah, I keep thinking he's due to regress. He's somebody that I've been a little bit too low on all year where I do rest of ranking, rest of season ranking updates in the newsletter and stuff. And I keep just being a little bit too low on him. He's, he's playing really well. The offense is really good. So this could continue, but yeah, he is due for some regression. The one note I had on Buffalo was that Khalil Shakir continues to be like the clear cut first read target rate king for the Bills 45% in this game. And I think that's a small sample size, but it could be something that like we can continue to extrapolate. Like if there's any takeaways to take away from this game. They seem to run things through him. Yeah, Shakir, he's got six straight games with seven or more targets,

including yesterday when Josh Allen, what did I say through 18 passes? The only problem with Shakir is that he doesn't score. He's got one touchdown this year, and he has six red zone targets, which is very low, zero green zone, one end zone target this year for Khalil Shakir. So it's like, it's weird when I see zero touchdowns and he catches every target he gets or one touchdown, you know, you want to say, Jacob,

you want to say touchdown regression, but he doesn't get the kind of targets right now that lead to touchdowns and he doesn't make big plays either. Yeah, I mean, I think there's upside for him to create touchdowns like with as a guy and the offense just scores a lot. But yeah, the role is not there in the same way it is for other guys who have similar target shares like his he's more of like a high floor play. All right. One positive for Amari Cooper in the first three quarters of the game, he had a 75% route participation rate, which would be his season high. He didn't, I don't think he played in the fourth quarter if he did very little so his route participation

rate ended up being 63.2% but it was 75% in the first three quarters. Okay what we got coming up this week on Beyond the Box score fellas. This week's Beyond the Box score it's gonna be just like last week gonna run it on Tuesday like I mentioned last week moving forward for those who enjoyed last week, gonna run it on Tuesday, like I mentioned last week, moving forward. For those who enjoyed last week's episode, we're taking some advice from you guys and we're taking your notes on what you want to hear and what you want us to talk about. But it's going to be a lot of advanced stats like we did last week, potentially a look ahead and then some film review, kind of an extension of this show. I'm not sure if you saw what I tweeted earlier, Dan, but I did know that Lamar Jackson is

still my MVP. You see, I knew there was some hidden agenda behind that, Josh Allen take that you just had. You're trying to put it all out. That's not that good of a play. Did you hear his post game thing that he said? No, it was an amazing play. Josh Allen is in the mix for MVP.

I still think Lamar Jackson is the MVP. Oh, okay. Oh, then you agree with me. But I was always on that. I think if you look at it on a full season, what Lamar's done is better than what Josh Allen has done. That's exact, okay, okay. Then we are on the exact same page, exact same page.

But I would never use that play that Josh Allen makes unreal play to follow the ball, catch the lateral, have the beastness to extend the ball toward the end zone, not fumble it through the end zone and score touchdown As an example of a play that was better by the receiver. Okay, it's fine. You're fair fair boy Let's say you're still on my minority list Adam. I didn't want to say the other word for just

Like that one because uh, you didn't give me you don't give me enough hype when I asked you about Ken Ward to the Giants Potentially you're like, yeah, I don't like him. I when I ask you about Kam Ward to the Giants potentially. You're like, eh, I don't like him. I'm not sure about it. I need some hype in my life. I need you to say, you know what? Kam Ward is the next great NFL quarterback and the Giants are gonna get him. I don't believe that. I don't feel like it's true. I'm trying to be realistic here and the Giants somehow have the third pick in the draft if it started today, even though they're clearly the worst team. Clearly the worst team and they have the third pick. We'll take a break, come back, give you some news and notes and update on Aaron Rodgers. It's

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News and notes. So Aaron Rodgers, I guess there was some thought that he might get benched. He is not getting benched. He will stay in there. I swear there was a moment where he was playing well in that game. I swear. First quarter wasn't bad.

Trevor Lawrence concussion. Baker Mayfield has this leg injury. He's expected to play as of now on Sunday. He may not do a lot of practicing this week. Running back news McCaffrey PCL Dobbins IR Eckler IR. I think Connor's okay. Roshan concussion and I think everyone else is okay. Wide receiver news Noah Brown ribs CD lamb shoulder, but he's expected to play this week against the Bengals. Rashad Bateman, so this was interesting, Rashad Bateman left with a knee injury. Deontay Johnson did not play a snap. And then Harbaugh was not really forthcoming about, he

was just avoiding the question basically. He said he wasn't ready to talk about the Deontay Johnson situation, something like that. So something's up there. They have a bye, right? They have a bye this week. So hopefully Bateman can be back. But I don't know what to say about Deontay Johnson anymore. Neither does Jim Harbaugh. John Harbaugh. Pittsburgh wide receiver.

I knew I was going to screw that up. Calvin Austin left with a concussion. McConkie's got a knee injury, or a leg injury. Haven't heard anything on that. And Cooper Cup set the record for the most catches in the first 100 games of someone's career. Nice job, Cooper Cup.

It's kind of a weird stat because that's a lot of games. Yeah. Yeah. What would that be? The equivalent of almost seven to eight seasons, seven seasons. Yeah, I don't know. I wasn't going to do the math. I was just going to do that.

Dallas Goddard, the knee injury not expected to be serious for Dallas Goddard. Taysom Hill, though, is out for the season. And Giants tight end Theo Johnson, who had not really been fantasy relevant, but he had been coming on doing some good things. He had four straight games at five to six targets. Theo Johnson, he could be out for the season

with a foot injury. It's been a sad season for these young tight ends. Him, Eric, all Jared Wiley. Yeah. Note for the deep dynasty sickos. I was starting to get excited about Theo. Yeah, I know. And he started to look really, really good,

especially in this last game. But just another unfortunate injury. We'll dig deep for next year on that, Jacob. This was supposed to be, I think this was the year where people were expecting these dynasty tight ends and the tight end position and not be strong in dynasty. And we kind of got a little flashes from all those, but now it's going to be a situation where you can get them all really cheap.

And I think, I think Jutave and Sanders could have a nice finish to the year with his matchups and the way Bryce Young is playing, obviously playing better. Oh yeah. That was a great, I watched all this, I watched the back to way Bryce Young is playing, obviously playing better. Oh yeah. That was a great, I watched all this, I watched the back to back, Bryce Young, this game is the first one I watched this week. Bryce Young looked really good in this game.

Yeah. Do you think it was the Bucks? I think he had like eight big time throws and one turnover worthy throw over his last four games. You think the Bucks had a lot to do with that or you think it was Bryce Young? I think it's Bryce Young. I mean, yeah, he just faced the Chiefs

and Specknell before that. I also don't think he was Bryce Young? I think it's Bryce Young. I mean, yeah, he just faced the Chiefs and Specknell before that. I also don't think he was gonna be able to recover that fumble if he had tried to dive on it. More likely he would have just been concussed or something because he's getting a little bit of heat for not diving on the Hubbard fumble. But I only saw one replay of that. All right, there's a lot of-

Can I get one more quick film take from that? Yeah. Jonathan Brooks, get him on your radar for fantasy He had there were he only had a few touches but the reception he had was awesome Made two sick cuts and understood where to go for to get the maximized yards and he had one run in the red zone area I think if I remember that just looked really explosive on and then both times he took on defenders and had some yards after content I think he's gonna be a really good player soon for fantasy. We've been waiting.

He's been on the radar. We've been waiting for months for a Jonathan Brooks note. And finally, finally they gave him some touches. It's that's going to be a really interesting one next season. If they hadn't signed to a hover to a pretty lucrative contract extension, you know, you could just assume it's going to be Jonathan Brooks. But what does that contract mean? It didn't mean much for Miles Sanders, but but Trubas had a good year. Let's give him credit. If you haven't signed up for bet MGM yet, use the

bonus code fantasy and you'll get up to a $1500 first bet offer on your first wager with bet MGM. Here's how it works. Download the bet MGM app and sign up using the bonus code fantasy Deposit at least ten dollars and 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 you use the bonus code fantasy when you sign up I'm just gonna give a couple of snap count notes. I only have two TJ Hawkinson played 64% of the snaps I think that's about as what he was at last week That's kind of what he's peeking at TJ Hawkinson two-% of the snaps. I think that's about what he was at last week. That's kind of what he's peeking at.

TJ Hawkinson, two thirds or so of the snap. Christian Watson played 94% of the snaps. Only a second game above 67% this season. You have to figure Romeo Dobbs being out had a lot to do with that. Dobbs did practice or was listed as a participant on Sunday, I believe, because they have a Thursday game coming up against the Lions.

But if the OBS is out, I know Watson didn't have a great game, but if the OBS is out, Watson on the field for almost every snap, that's exciting. All right, Jacob, what do you got in the world of advanced metrics? Jacob Dillman I want to talk about Caleb Williams. His accuracy had been much better in the two games immediately following the offensive coordinator change. But statistically, this was his second worst game from a catchable ball rate standpoint, this was the second worst game on Thanksgiving. And I'm curious what you guys think about that. If only looking at throws of 15 or fewer area yards,

it was actually his worst catchable throw rate performance of the season. I looked at that because he threw deep a lot in this game. So I wanted to make sure that didn't affect the overall accuracy number. But even on throws of 15 or fewer area yards, the worst accuracy game he's had all year. The Lions, of course, like that's a tough matchup. They did get pressure on him 34% of his drop backs. But I just I don't think he played it nearly the level that he has the previous two games often during this rookie season.

He's just looked tight and like too amped up, which is hilarious because he came into the year all like Mr. Cool Guy, like I never, you don't feel the pressure or whatever. And I feel like he's looked like ANSI more than any of the rookie quarterbacks. 40% off target rate on 35 attempts from a clean pocket in this game.

That is the worst rate of the season for him. Do you have any Caleb thoughts? I'm more optimistic than pessimistic right now. He hasn't thrown an interception since week six. Obviously things, those streaks will come to an end, but that's impressive. And he's got 33 or more rushing yards in three straight games.

And he hasn't scored a rushing touchdown, even with all these, you know, does he have one all season? No, he doesn't have a single rushing touchdown this season. So I feel like that could come. Dan, do you have any thoughts on him as a passer down? I didn't get a chance to watch this game on tape. But I mean, I still think that we haven't really found the right system for him. Like this is better for what were you doing on Thanksgiving? Well, I watched the game but I'm saying I'm your family. Anytime my family watching the Giants was not a fun time. But

look, I have to see this game and I have to see a couple I want to watch all of his cut up from this from the new system but like are from the new coordinator, but I still think they're going to find a better system for him overall. Like to me, the Ben Johnson system is the best play for Caleb Williams given his skillset. Like let him work within structure, but have that structure, have him move out of the pocket sometimes. Let him kind of like use his athleticism as a, as a overall player to help him as a passer. So I don't know yet. I'd have to take a look, but he did make some really good throws in this game. Like the touchdown he had to Keenan

Allen was a really sick throw and then he had a conversion I just saw somebody break down on Twitter where he kind of saw like that elite arm talent his ability kind of off script he's rolling to his opposite throwing shoulder and it just has the ball like this and kind of darts it in there with a lot of velocity and good placement so I'd have to watch more I feel like this is probably a situation where we're gonna the best is yet to come for him. He's clearly been playing better lately. Like Adam was noting the rushing is huge for fantasy and just helps to like move the chains

more often. Um, he looks way more comfortable and confident. I thought in this one, he just was a little tight and the accuracy notes were the back that up. Okay. Um, as far as the pass catchers, huge volume day for DJ more 16 targets, 169 air yards, both were season highs by wide margin. 80 of those 169 were catchable to the points I was bringing up earlier about the accuracy.

So less than half, all three Chicago receivers had over 100 air yards. Just over half of Kenans were catchable. I think it was like 52% were catchable and only 24 of 113 area yards were catchable for Roma Dunze. And that's been the story with him all year. Only Calvin really has a higher number of total uncatchable area yards and Dunze has the highest percentage of his area yards, which have been uncatchable of any players. So it's been a really frustrating year for him. And I do think partially that's been on him. He's like, uh, I don't know what it like his,

his timing on the routes has been off. It seems like sometimes he's not like him and Caleb are on the same page on stuff. Have you guys noticed that? Like, I don't know. I thought I'd be more impressed by the like polish of his game this year, but he's really looked like a rookie at times. I can't really say I have a strong opinion. I mean, he's more of the downfield guy and that's kind of been a struggle for Caleb this year. So I'm not surprised that there are ups and downs. I really wanted to start him on Thanksgiving, Roma Dunze, because I felt like there was a lot of passing coming and I'm glad I didn't because he, you know, he just, he didn't come through. DJ Moore did, Keenan Allen did. And quite frankly through DJ Moore did Keenan Allen did and quite frankly

I think starting Keenan Allen Was starting DJ Moore and Keenan Allen and Kayla Williams. It's gonna be a tough call for people now in the most important weeks of the season It's kind of hard for me to trust Keenan Allen He has had such a horrible year and now he's had two massive games in a row But it does coincide with the new offensive coordinator and I think better play from Kayla Williams So I can buy into it a little bit here. Yeah, for sure. I can buy more than a little bit.

I have a bit of a strong ish. I'll say take on Romo Dunze. I would say of all the receivers I've watched their college tape to the NFL to making that transition to the speed of the NFL game. Rome has looked like he's fallen off the most from what I saw in Washington on tape to what I've seen. I haven't watched all of their tape to what I've seen I haven't watched all their tape But I've probably seen two games with Bears on tape and then obviously broadcast You're saying like expectations relative to what you saw in college the disparities the widest for Rome by far

I would say besides I mean like so you could put worthy in the mix But the things that have struggled for me with worthy I'm talking one specific thing the speed of the game like plays he was able to make at Washington talking one specific thing, the speed of the game, like plays he was able to make at Washington with obviously the game being what it is a college with the hash marks and nobody more than the Washington coordinator to bore like their, their former coach and Alabama coach uses the wide side of the field and the space more like to his advantage. And now that that's been taken away for room, obviously the rules are completely different the NFL and then the speed of the game with the NFL DBs versus like the pack 12

DBs to me It looks like he's just not as fast as he was on tape at Washington. So for worthy it's like he's making boneheaded mistakes He does not have like good awareness of where the sideline is, but he still looks fast out there to me worthy I don't I don't see it as much with Rome Like he's the one who I would drop the most of from my pre NFL rankings to now just just based on that. The per round data for all three of Washington's wide receivers in the NFL has been atrocious.

Jaylen Polk, Jaylen McMillan, and Rome, like have all been, have looked really, really bad in that regard. I think that it's, you know, it's interesting you bring it up, Dan, because I don't really see, he hasn't wowed me at all. Yeah.

You know what, he had a couple of catches, especially a one on a fourth down in that, who'd they lose to on the, in overtime? He hasn't wowed me at all. You know what, he had a couple of catches, especially a one on a fourth down in that, who'd they lose to in overtime? Minnesota, I think, a few weeks ago, or maybe Green Bay. Yeah, I think it was the Green Bay game. He had a couple of catches on the game tying drive, or I think that was the one where they had

the field goal blocked at the end, sorry. One of their heartbreaking losses at the end. He had a couple of really nice catches, huge plays to keep the drive going. But for the most part, like it's been a pretty lame season for a dude. There hasn't been much after the catch or from a speed pure speed standpoint, uh, on like, you know, before the catch, let's say on a vertical plane. But it like when I watched this tape of Washington, they used him on screens. I feel like he's not going to be used that way in the NFL at all.

I don't think his speed is there at all. From what I've seen so far. And then like he was at this, his main stat from college was like, he caught 75% of his contestant catches, uh, in his last season at Washington, which is, which was awesome. But like right now that's not really a role. Like they're not, he's not really, it doesn't have that kind of rapport yet with Caleb, if that's going to happen or maybe that's not part of the offense. I don't see a lot of back shoulders. I don't see a lot of those same plays that I saw panics throw him. No, let's keep let's move on. Go ahead, Jacob.

Yeah, let's talk about Bryce Young. The week after facing spags, he gets Todd Bowles. So 40% blitz rate last weekend's achieves 58% blitz rate against Carolina this week by the Bucs. He's pressured on 44% of his drop backs this week. He didn't throw an interception in either game. He only has three sacks across those two games, 263 passing yards last week. That was the second highest mark of his career until he replaced it this week with 298 yards.

And he's been producing a ton of receiving volume. So on last Tuesday's Beyond the Box Score part two episode, I said, like, I think it's possible that maybe only one or even none of these Carolina pass catchers matter because the expectations for the overall like offensive environment are 200 ish passing yards every week. Not that many total targets and stuff because the team struggles to, you know, consistently move the chains. That may be wrong. Again, this is the Buccaneers defense, so that is worth knowing, but they've played really well lately. And again, in a good matchup like they had here, you can see 41 targets in this game, over 400 air yards in this game. Four different players saw eight or more targets. So absolutely massive volume in the passing game. When everything clicks, Adam Thielen led the way with 10 targets and 112 air yards. I think Jaylen Coker, if he is able to get back and get healthy, will take on a large role. But we've seen Thielen without Deontay Johnson there play a huge role before,

and that's what he stepped into this week. So he's definitely worth an ad going forward. I don't have accuracy notes for him quite yet, but we'll get that tomorrow for Bryce. I'm pretty excited to dig into his game more. 29 routes for Chuba Hubbard surprised me. 29 routes for him to six for Jonathan Brooks. I thought that Brooks would be used more in the past game. And I think that we might see that more going forward because like Dan said, he made that really nice play on our reception in this game. But for now that we might see that more going forward, because like Dan said, he made that really nice play

on a reception in this game. But for now, he's still barely playing. He's not playing any sort of meaningful specific type of role. He's just out there as a change of pace guy, it seems like. Anthony Richardson continues to see way more designed runs, which is obviously great for fantasy and I think is also good for keeping the offense on track.

He averaged five designed runs per game prior to his benching since then it's been 10, 8 and 8. Definitely curious to get into the week's this week's film and see what the data suite has to say about A-Rich because he again just has had some brutal drops. And that's going to that's part of that's just that's the nature of the beast with A-Rich like his average depth of target is higher than anyone else's and sometimes you're going to have drops. But like the ad Mitchell one this week was brutal man like did you guys see that it was a deep ball down the left side like easily could have had that

did you guys have any thoughts on him or have you not watched the Colts yet have not i that's i always want to watch him this is this is game of the week for us the beyond the box score game that we got anthony richardson for for strike may can't wait to dig into that. Yeah, I always want to watch Richardson. I've you know, was I think if I had faced him, I don't know if I faced him or not, but I would have been pretty annoyed because he was obviously having a nothing game until the last drive. But you could say that about a lot of quarterbacks, he put it together when it when it counted. But like, gosh,

horrible passing numbers just awful. So I'm I don't I don't know what to say right now about Richardson. I haven't watched it yet, but I will. I always watch Richardson, basically. I really enjoy it, because you just never know what's gonna happen from snap to snap. It is a grab bag. That'll be a homework assignment for me,

Jacob, for tomorrow's show. But I will say this, just from the broadcast, the throw Drake may made in the red zone under Henry was one of the best throws I saw by any quarterback this week and the how difficult it is to make that throw in that tight confined red zone space to fit that ball in that window. Even attempt that pass was very impressive. What are you saying? Gosh with the Drake may love I mean, come on. It's like

Valentine's Day. You can't help. You can't help ourselves every week. He's throwing more. He's throwing the most interceptions. Can't watch him with a team. Can't wait to watch him with a team. How many interceptions does this guy have to throw?

You're going to talk, everybody talk about his interceptions? Oh, come on. Those are just fine. He's a baller type. Like he's a gunslinger. Those interceptions will be there mostly his whole career, I would imagine.

And he's playing one on 11. Like, yeah, he's going to throw the most interceptions. He's literally playing one on 11 there. That's a great way to describe what he's playing. He's literally playing one on 11. Okay. Let's analyze that comment real quick. Yeah. It feels like he's playing one on 11 there. That's a great way to describe what he's playing. He's literally playing one on 11. Okay, let's analyze that comment real quick. Yeah.

It feels like he's playing one on 11. Literally should be taken back. Let's keep our first game out of the by for the Atlanta Falcons. Season low in playing time for Kyle Pitts. Two targets, no catches. 16 targets and 188 area yards for Drake London. I haven't got to dig back into this game, but just based off what I saw in red zone,

it felt like London left a lot on the field in this game. Um, but massive, massive volume. Uh, this was his highest area yardage total across 45 career games. You see the Kyle Pitt stuff? I don't like 40% of the snaps this week. I mean, that. That's the lowest that he's had all year. Yeah. Uh, for, for green Bay, which we mentioned, Romeo dobs is out. So that was for Watson and Don Tavian wicks. They led the team in routes. Third

was Tucker craft. We did not see any role change for Jayden Reed. He did not. He routes from two or one wide receiver sets. This is a long term no, this is a discouraging no for dynasty. I just don't know when or if we'll ever see him be a full time player in Green Bay unless there's like a just whole slew of injuries to guys. They seem to just want to keep him reserved to that slot role. I'm curious if you guys have any thoughts on the Packers offensive line? Jordan Love has been getting pressured like crazy lately. Even against the Nick Bosa list Niners who just put a 6% pressure rate on the board versus Josh Allen this week, Love got pressured on 40% of his drop backs.

In three games since the week 10 buy, Green Bay has allowed a 41% pressure rate while facing a 22% blitz rate, is low. So yeah I don't know like what the problem is there but there's a problem that seems like. I'd have to watch that that I have to watch some tape on them to see what's going on with their own line I mean they have good good players over there Tom was one of their best draft picks but I'll have to take a look Jacob maybe it's maybe it's something in the interior. I have no thoughts but that's very interesting interesting though. Speaking of pressure CJ Stroud was only pressured on 21% of his dropbacks in week 13.

That's the lowest mark of the season. So maybe there's hope going forward for the line to pull it together. It did not result in much of anything except for Nico Collins, of course. Tankdale had four targets, almost a 30 yard average depth of target and some just frustrating targets because he was just burning guys down the field and just couldn't connect, which has been a consistent theme. And yeah, Nico continues to dominate. He's so freaking good. Like his per-route data continues to be better than it was last year when it was like historically good. Jacksonville Jaguars, Mack Jones produced 303 air yards off of the bench, nine targets and

124 air yards for Parker Washington from the hands of Mac Jones. Turned that into four for 67 with a touchdown where a guy fell down and he got to walk in. I'm curious if you have any Parker Washington thoughts. I've felt like he could be used down the field more than he has been as a Christian Kirk filling, like a 70, 80% of Christian Kirk type of guy, but they haven't really used him that way. He's been more of a short yardage guy. This is the first time we saw him with big area yardage totals.

He left a lot on the field. They used him on a ton of out breaking routes and there were a lot of 50, 50 balls that he basically just didn't come down with any of them Um, but ended up with a good result. He led the team in first three targets um, and if he's going to be used down the field more than like maybe there is uh, Some juice here to steal a dan shenier Where do you have any thoughts on parker? I would be skeptical. I mean Like watching that game what stood out to me was that our boy,

Brian Thomas Jr is back. If he had any semblance of quarterback play, he would have had like another 130 yards and two touchdowns. He was wide open on that skinny post and just terrible overthrow. And the other one, he was open and it was just under thrown. So I'm still struggling to buy into Mack Jones moving that offense rest of season. Maybe they'll get Trevor back. I don't know what's going on on that front,

obviously after the concussion, but yeah, it's, I don't trust that offense. All of BTJ's production came with Mac Jones. BTJ had 210 area yards on the day. That was his highest total of the year. So yeah, I'm definitely excited to get in and watch his film. Yeah. But at the same time, Mac Jones, I know he had a good game. The Texans have been a cupcake, a cake matchup with a very injured secondary.

True. The previous two games for Parker Washington, he had with Mac Jones, he had a combined one catch on three targets. So, I mean, look, we were talking to deep league guys, maybe, but Parker Washington is not going anywhere near my fantasy playoff lineups. Not yet.

Sure. Yeah. No, he's available in dynasty leagues even, you know, like where there's no one available. And he's a young guy. And in those two games that was part of the buyer coming out of the buy, they use them in a different way. So I thought it was interesting to highlight that. On the BTJ note, it has just been unbelievably dysfunctional as we're alluding to here with

the Mack Jones slander. And still, he has a yard per outrun rate that is above basically anybody other than a select 10 guys, in terms of wide receivers under the age of 23. So this is a lad McConkey tweet that I made. And BTJ is actually 21.9 going into the year. So he's if I did just under 22, it'd be a list of like five guys, but just absolutely insane data for him. And it's just so crazy that it's come in this offense. Like, I don't know, I keep highlighting

that I wanted to I wanted to get on lad mcconkey as well. Lad did get banged up. So hopefully he comes back but he had a 60% first three target share in this game. That was higher than anyone in the NFL this week. This is it. Like this is what Dan and I have been like hoping could come to fruition where he could really step in and be a target hog. And we saw it over a hundred yards in the first half in a game where the passing offense really struggled.

And now his yard per out run rate on the year is up to 2.39. And yeah, if you look at this tweet, it's right up there with like rookie or year two Amon or St. Brown, year two Chris Alave, year two Justin Jefferson, rookie Pukka Nukuwa, rookie Chamar Chase, above rookie Mike Evans, above year two Deandre Hopkins. It's pretty crazy.

It's like a full proof list right there, basically. Yeah. And I just want everyone to, I just think it's important right now to remind everyone that I traded Dan, Stefan Diggs and Mitchell for Lad McCocky in a dynasty league. So yes. And I think it's important for me to remind everyone that I am headed toward likely the finals and winning that dynasty league. And I see that I see a face already from Thomas in the background. Producer Thomas is my competition in that league and Adam is toiling away at the bottom barrel that league with a quote unquote rebuild that's one more year.

More many more years. One more year. One more year. We're good. All right, Jake, you got one more here. We are running out of time. Yeah. That McConkey is a great start to a rebuild. A couple of writing back notes real quick.

I wanted to see if you guys any thoughts on the Kyron Williams Blake Coram split. This is the first time we've seen a split 15 to eight in terms of carries and two thirds of snaps went to Kyron one third to Coram. Thought Coram looked pretty good. Do you think there's any change here or? No, I mean, Kyron had 15 carries, 104 yards and a touchdown. Sean McVeigh was effusive in his praise for Kyron Williams after the game.

I feel like we've had a few times this year. Hasn't been quite like this, where people have kind of thought, oh, here comes Blake Corum, and it never materializes. And I don't really see a reason why it should, unless he's wearing down. But I am not taking it seriously. I'm treating Kyron Williams as another guy that I am nervously going to call a must start

because he doesn't catch passes. He has zero or one catch in, I think, five of his last seven games since Cup came back and Nakua came back. But, you know, he's good and he scores. So, you know, he's like a better version of Jonathan Taylor to me. But yeah. Yeah.

That's why I was bringing it up is just because like the, what he's been doing has been on kind of fragile usage because he doesn't get the target. So if the RB rush air does diminish, then like that maybe drops him to like, you know, RB two status. The last guy wanted to highlight was Bucky Irving. There wasn't a huge change in his usage. It was just an amazing performance. And you know, as to be expected against Carolina, uh, 60% snap rate, 53% route rate in the first half.

That was basically right in line with last week's role. Um, but he got banged up hip injury in the second half. Did you guys see that video of him limping to the locker room? It did not look good. Did not. Yeah, I saw, well, I saw him on the sideline. Uh, no, I didn't see him. I saw his hip walk into the locker room and like it's he's gingerly like not hardly moving and that that's something to monitor going forward for sure. He played through it but I don't we'll see once the adrenaline is not there. Okay. Yep. That is definitely want to keep an eye on. All right. We're going to take a break

and get to our big topics when we come back on FFT. All right. Welcome back. So we've got our four big topics. The first one comes from Rubin's right on Twitter. What studs do we need to be ready to bench in the playoffs? You guys have it? I came up with three just to discuss. Okay. One was Ken Walker. One was Jonathan Taylor.

And the other is Jalen Hertz, who has now scored fewer than 20 fantasy points in three straight games. And if y'all remember, Jamie was saying, I think he asked last week who's on the all, I would not bench them no matter how much they're struggling team. And I said, well, Jalen Hurts will go on there

if he has another game under 20 points. I'm not gonna bench him. But I do think you're looking at a team that their defense is so good. I mean, it is unbelievable how good this defense is playing. And he throws, where's past temps last 19 past attempts yesterday, 22 the week before, 28 the week before that 20, 24, 20, 14 at the Giants. So if he doesn't rush for touchdowns, you're seeing some pretty bad games from Jalen Hurts. I don't think it's ridiculous to think about benching him

if you have like a red hot Bo Nix, see what he does tonight. If the, you know, it's not even about the matchups because for the Eagles, they just don't need to throw the ball. Right. So, and with Barkley playing the way he's playing, you know, I tend to believe that a player like Jalen Hurts, no matter what happens, like you just start him because he is that he is so good. We've gone through this before with, oh, I remember with Dak Prescott a couple years ago,

maybe a year ago, like, oh, they're not throwing their defense is good. They're not throwing. And then like that was just stupid. It was like a small sample size. That's where I'm at on Jalen Hurts, but it is frustrating and it's just worth pointing out. They are throwing the ball so little and now they have the best running back in football, an MVP candidate. That hasn't been the case before. So it's not a great situation for Jalen Hurts. I'm going to keep starting him. Taylor of the three in a full PBR league, Taylor is the one I fear the most. He has difficult matchups going forward. He just, he just needs to score. Now they are going to get Ryan Kelly back after the buy. Important offensive lineman for them. But those

are the three that I thought of that I would consider a little bit for Walker. Definitely consider for Taylor and not there yet with Hertz. Yeah, those are good ones. I'm kind of struggling to find in like Terry McLaurin. What do you got in? Well, I don't know if I would bench McLaurin at this point, but I have to look at the matchups. I would say like a lot of name brand guys that are probably not considered studs, but just under that are guys that and are makes for a tough decision in your lineups for that

final like wide receiver three or flex or whatever it may be. CD Lam, he's on my list. Uh, and now he's injured again. It's gonna be playing injured the rest of season. Jacob and I have talked about this for three weeks now. There just doesn't appear to be any real upside when it comes to Lam, unless you're in PPR leagues. And even then, um, he's basically playing the Wondell Robinson role, uh, in a similar type situation with Cooper, Russia quarterback, uh, and the, I was, I found some success in the run game lately. Debo Samuel, another player, similar situation, big name. You expect to have to start him just like lamb. I don't think I'll be starting him unless the situation is right.

And the matchup is right. And something else has to kind of click. I think for that offense, these offenses these to me, you know become this You know increasingly dead offenses are the ones where I want to bench stud players for my fantasy playoffs I don't want to just lean on the name I'm gonna be looking at the matchup and and basically the health of the offense as we head into these final weeks And we also have to consider that not everybody plays in PPR leagues because it's easy with a guy like lamb And I'm gonna throw Malik neighbors in there,

even though Heath's probably gonna jump on the podcast and tell me how wrong I am about Malik neighbors. But if you're not in a full PPR league, then you're pretty frustrated, okay? And you're frustrated anyway, cause he's borderline top 30. He has no touchdown since week three. Yeah, it's, you know, and does he have any big plays?

He's not doing anything after the catch No And by the way, this is this this is gonna end up when we look at his final stats My initial prediction from leak neighbors is gonna end up being pretty damn close that he would be like Jaylen wattle rookie season Four touchdowns Jaylen had is wookie rookie season. Leak has what three so far? Yep He might get another one if they're lucky Yeah, so I I think you could you you know I don't like I can't imagine necessarily that I'm starting a guy like Jameson Williams over Malik neighbors

too much volatility there but obviously a Cortland Sutton has moved past neighbors and probably lamb as well. I would I think Jameson Williams over Debo Samuel makes sense although I do think the McCaffrey injury could really help Debo Samuel, just all the targets that, interestingly enough, I didn't go over this when we talked about the 49ers game. If you look at Brock Purdy's wide receiver target rate with McCaffrey on the field and off the field, it's almost exactly the same.

What's actually changed with McCaffrey on the field is the tight end target rate. Kittle, right? Yep. One of those games, Kittle missed, but he averaged five targets per game in two games with McCaffrey. So I don't know, you know, again, I don't know how that gets distributed now, but I do know that Brock Purdy is going to throw fewer passes to his running backs.

That should help Deebo a little bit. All right. Anyone else we want to bring up here? Okay. For studs, to bring up here? Okay. For studs that could double have to bench. I don't know if anyone else comes to mind immediately for me. All right. If anyone in the chat has a, yeah, like Josh Downs or Malik neighbors, I'm going to go neighbors there. I'm usually

going to shoot him over Downs. But the volatility of Richardson, I think you have to. Yeah. Cause it's not like Richardson's throwing a lot of touchdowns. And I do sort of agree with this comment. I mean, it'd be close. A.J. Brown would be wide receiver one if you're playing on a higher pass volume team.

He'd be right up there. I think so. He'd be right up there. He's so good. Mahomes, I don't, I mean, I don't consider him a must start necessarily, but he obviously has been playing pretty well before the Raiders game. He's a good start. I only see his matchups, but.

Yeah, that could be matchup based when it comes to my homes. There's so many quarterbacks that are in play each week. Chargers, Browns, Texans, Steelers, and probably not starting them against the Steelers on the road. Is that in Cleveland? I might not start them there. In Cleveland, yeah.

Cleveland's got a real bad defense these days. It could be real cold in that game, but yeah. I don't think they're gonna need to throw up much at all. Oh, Joe Mixon. Yeah, Joe Mixon is the one. Ooh. Right, like he's got the worst playoff matchups. Yeah.

Although, okay, like obviously Tennessee. I'm not benching him though, I know that. I can't bench him with that role. It's Miami, so Miami, you're gonna sit him this week. He's on a bye. I'm not benching him though. I know that. I can't bench him with that role. It's Miami. So Miami, you're gonna sit him this week. He's on a bye. You're gonna start him against Miami, Kansas City and Baltimore the next two games.

Off the low, yeah. Or bald, yeah. Yeah, that's tough. I'm playing him no matter what though. He's not. Yeah, I'm gonna play him too. But it's like, I wish I did. I wish you had better matchups. Okay, let's go to our next topic here.

It is from Good Boy Troy is JSN wide receiver one in Seattle rest of season. I'm frustrated about this one. I dropped an f bomb on the timeline today about this one. Really? Yeah. What are we doing? Adam drops f bombs on there. Never, never. That makes sense. Adam drops them when we're on air. Never, never. Oh no, no, that's on air. That makes sense. Adam drops them when we're on air. I've never done that. Never done that.

The tape will tell a different story, but yes. 47% first read target rate for DK Metcalf in week 13. Any guess what Jackson Smith and Jigbuzz was? 8%. I can't guess because I've already seen this tweet. 11%. Metcalf caught four of nine targets for 66 yards. That's great. That's one of his best efficiency games in a while. Jason caught all four of his targets for 74 yards, led the Seahawks in receiving first downs.

Since Metcalf has returned, he has caught 20 of 21 targets. One of those games was a short 8-odd game. The other one was normal, like seven. This one is average depth of target was 15 yards. Wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. Since Metcalfe returned, JSN has caught 20 of 21 targets. Yes. Yes. Led the team in receiving yards,

led the team in receptions, led the team in receiving first downs. Really has been the reason that they won two of those games, the Niners game and this past game. Yeah. Just huge fourth down. They need five they go to Jason. He gets 30 He's just been so freaking good. But yeah since Metcalf has returned 38% first retarget rate for him 24% for Jason So like is he the wide receiver one maybe in our dreams, maybe in like talent and hypothetical land, but that's not how they're creating it.

Jacob, maybe for dynasty purposes. Like that's how I'm looking at what I'm seeing from JSN. He's a player who I loved his evaluation coming out of Ohio State, really good film. Last year was a struggle. There were times where it was bad. He's in a system that's better for him, I think. But ultimately I didn't watch this game on tape,

but last week for Beyond the Box where we watch this game on tape, but last week for beyond the box, where we watched this game versus Arizona, Seattle from last week. And I saw so much dysfunction within this offense. I saw offensive line breakdowns consistently. Yeah. Don't know what's going on there. I saw issues with this team and with the play calling as well. Um, I'm not sold on this offense translating from college to NFL just yet.

There are moments where it looks awesome and there are moments where it looks hectic. So ultimately, I think I have not enough faith in this offense to say that Jason can be a wide receiver one moving forward. Did you notice? Cause I watched the tape of the last two games of Gino Smith's drop backs and watched, I backs. And I watched Ken Walker too. So I've watched pretty much every Seahawks offensive play over the last couple of weeks. I thought that the Cardinals who they play again this upcoming week did a really good job

double teaming DK Metcalf. I don't know if you guys- Yeah, that was their game. Yeah. Yeah, so they did a really good, and the Jets did too, but I thought the Cardinals did a great job of it. I'm a little worried about Metcalf this week because he does, as Jamie outlined,

has terrible history against the Cardinals throughout his career. But I would say just based on the tape, he looks super fast, he looks great. Jacob talked about the first three targets. He's had, he's been open for deep touchdowns in two straight games against the Cardinals. Geno Smith, he didn't wait till,

it was a good play by the Cardinals defensive end, whoever got him. It was a strip sack. Metcalf had a deep touchdown and against the Jets was an under thrown ball. He just put a great double move on DJ Reed. So that a 34 yard touchdown under thrown ball ended up being a catch for a 30 yard completion. I would say DK Metcalf is, if we were in that part

of the year is a great by low based on what, you know what the trends we're seeing. I'll also point out Metcalfe, if we were in that part of the year, is a great by-low, based on what the trends we're seeing. I'll also point out, but I'm a little concerned about this upcoming week, but I think good things are ahead for him. I'm a little concerned about the pass volume, though. They're throwing about 30-ish times a game. They were one of the most pass-heavy teams in football. They had the highest pass rate the first seven-ish weeks of the season, so I don't have these

notes in front of me. And now they're a 13th in pass rate, but like seven-ish weeks of the season. So I don't have these notes in front of me. And now they're a 13th in pass rate, but they're just not throwing nearly as much. But as long as they don't throw the locket at all, it really doesn't matter because it's all going to Metcalfe and JSN. And the other thing I noticed, I don't know if you've felt this way, I don't think Gino Smith's playing very well. He's not playing very well within the system right now. And I think part of that is the offensive line.

Just not passing. The line stinks. He's not playing very well within the system right now. And I think part of that is the offensive line, which is not very well. The line stinks. I really wanted to come away from the Ken Walker review, just kind of being done with Ken Walker, because he's such a frustrating player. So far, yep. You know, where are my Walker notes? Biggest issue for me is that the role in the passing

game didn't evolve as I hoped it would throughout the year. Well, he has lowest route participation rate of the year last in yesterday. Yep. But in his last eight games, he's averaging 3.2 yards per carry. But I think they have one of the worst offensive lines in football. That was my big takeaway. It's not all on him. Their offensive line has been terrible. Jacob, I think you wanted to add on to that. I think all of this ties back to the line Why are they passing less because it's negative plays when they pass? Why is you know rattled because Charles crosses? Embarrassingly bad right now left tackle. Why is Kenneth Walker so inefficient because he's rattled

he's trying to make big plays out of everything because it's not the lanes that are supposed to be there like It's I don't know. It's just been messy like we're watching red zone yesterday and'm like, literally every time they've shown this game, it has not been the Seahawks. I haven't seen the Seahawks all day. Yeah. Cause their, their drives are so disjointed. Like, yeah, it was a good idea to try to bring this offense to the NFL. And I can see like at moments it works works well but ultimately it's just so different running this kind of offense in the college with the hash mark rules than it is in the NFL and

there's just not a lot of space and those safeties can close that gap fast much faster than you think and I don't know I don't love this offense moving forward personally. But I do think if they if they upgrade their line significantly this offseason this maybe yeah that's what you need, that's what you need. Well, that's what you need, right? Like that's what Washington had. Yeah, they had a great line. I'm talking about college Washington.

Right. All right, let's go to our next topic here. It's from Warschack. Who is to blame for the Dolphins wide receivers not producing? McDaniel, Tua, Tyreke's wrist, John O'Smith, and will they get back into form during this final stretch? This is the best question. This is the most interesting question yet. Jacob,

you look like you had some let you start first. On Tyreek, he had a 13% first retarget share in week 13, per the fantasy points data suite. That's his lowest rate as a dolphin ever in a game. His rate has been below 20%. He's had less than 20% of the first three targets in six of 12 games this year. Prior to this season, his rate was below 20% and one of 33 games with Miami. Um, what's the problem? Like, is it just that they don't want to go to Tyreek? By the way, Jaylen Waddell's was 8% this week.

Um, I think that it's Mike McDaniel, like, because, you know, sure, maybe Tyreex not full health, but Waddle certainly looks like he is. He's been amazing these last two weeks. His film has been like one of the most explosive receivers in the NFL lately. And like, they're not getting him the ball. It's all going to John who it's all the short stuff. And they can't run. They can't run the ball at all. And so it's become this weird, like, version of the offense where they're doing all this short target stuff as like an

adaptation of the run game and like that's it and it's not working very well. I don't it feels like it's Mike B Daniel and it's just kind of broken. I'm not maybe smart enough to completely diagnose what's going on. But that's where I'm out of it. I think you know, personally, from my opinion, at least I think Jacob nailed that they're using the pass game as an extension of the run game

because last year they were able to pull off chunks in the run game with the space that was created ultimately from defenses being concerned about those intermediate and deep levels of the field because they were getting torched there. They're not getting torched there. They're not able to run the ball either. And so it's kind of turned into this version of the offense, uh, that.

Doesn't really take advantage of what to his best skill set is as a quarterback, which is anticipatory throwing and his ability to accurately put balls into space and let receivers run under it. Uh, when I, in my opinion, when you have this like extension of the run game, pass game, you're not, you're taking that all away from two, uh, cause anyone can kind of throw some of these passes that they're completing underneath. So I don't think it's great for the offense, but I don't know if it's going to change. Now I want to be clear. There's probably going to be some good weather games coming up, which give them a chance maybe. So I don't know if I want to

totally bail ship just yet, like based on them playing in green Bay and that freezing weather, but it doesn't look great. Well, I got to tell you, I agree with your diagnoses. I disagree with your conclusions, doctors, because everything you're saying about what they're doing is right, but you're kind of making it sound like it's not working. And actually it is working really well. Since Tua has come back in their last six games, they are averaging the fifth most points per game in the NFL, six most. What does that say about the NFL?

They've scored 27 or more points in five of those six games. They've scored 23 or more points in every game. It's not obviously working, like it goes, we're not seeing the splash plays, but if you look at what they're doing, it is working. And who have they lost to in that stretch? They lost by one point, I believe to Arizona. I think they lost by a field goal to Buffalo, and they lost in a

freezing weather game to Green Bay. I think they're actually playing pretty well, and I think they want to keep their defense off the field. They said this, they said this during the off season. We've talked about this. They didn't want to be so reliant on the big plays because they got into these games where they weren't getting big plays and they had nothing to fall back on. So this is by design in those six games since two has come back. They are dead last and air yards per pass attempt, but this is by design and quite frankly it's working for them. And here's another thing. Like I hate low a dot teams, but we have to maybe reconsider because here are the just in that, oh, you know what? Why don't we do season long? Here are the five lowest a dot teams in the NFL, the chiefs, bucks, Raiders, dolphins,

and jets. But so that that's not like a great stat, but chiefs and bucks. Those are obviously good offenses. In the last six weeks, it's the dolphins,ins, Raiders, Bills, Bucks and Lions. Four good offenses. Teams are making it work with this low ADOT garbage that I hate. Maybe it's not good for wide receivers, but it's working for their offense. I will say that.

I will also say that three of those games where they put a big total is against the Patriots, Raiders and Rams defenses. And against the Rams, I didn't really feel like they actually played all that well. They had a negative EPA per drop back in that game. Trey Lockerbie I don't think they played that well against the Packers either, right? I mean, they had kind of some garbage time and Tyree Hill got lucky with that touchdown. But I agree, but they are sixth in points since since Tua got back. Something is working for them. Like you said, that's all going to John who but it's also going to HN and he's making, he's doing some really good things. He's got, how many catches does he have in

the last six games? Probably 30. I don't know. Something crazy. All right. Last topic here is from Nat late in the season. Is it better to roster two defenses and or two kickers to play the matchups? Or should you use your bench and continue stashing running backs for depth and injury upside? I Think the latter I feel pretty strongly about this I was in a ten team league where this week I had an extra roster spot and Jordan Mason was available I picked up Jordan Mason now that could change my whole playoffs, but that have happened with the defense or a kicker Maybe if you get lucky, but sometimes the matchups don't even work out in your favor.

Sometimes the team that has the worst matchup scores more it's defense, it's kicker. There's a lot of volatility to both positions. I would much rather play the potential league winning stash. I think the only way you're doing the former is if your team is really like set. If you've got priests and priests, Hall and Jemir Gibbs or something like if you are in a shallow league or something where like, you know, if if you're thinking about this, then that tells me like your team is probably set, right? Like I don't know, because most people are you're talking about men maxing your like

defense and kicker and stuff during the playoffs. Most of us don't have that luxury. If I unless I'm completely set a running backs, I'm doing what Dan said, and I'm stashing and hoping for a lottery ticket hit. Completely agree. And remember, when you're in the playoffs, there aren't that many teams competing on the waiver wire, right? It's easier to get a DST you like, if there's a running back that comes available, you know, every team that's a bit that's left in the playoffs is going after that same guy. It's not necessarily the case for a DST.

So yeah, I wouldn't do it. And I certainly wouldn't do it to kickers, but it's a good question. I would get that question a lot. I just think you're gonna be able to find DST you want on the waiver wire if you need to go that route in the fantasy playoffs. All right, guys, good show.

Looks like Jalen Coker could be back this week. Jacob, don't you, like I was concerned that he was not gonna play because Thielen was gonna take his role. You're not concerned about that? I'm concerned with Thielen for sure being the receiver to roster rest of season there. Yeah, at this point.

But like I thought it was totally possible that Coker had enough momentum that if there wasn't like if you just missed one game and came back, they would just rotate. But now that we just saw this huge game from Thiel and it wouldn't surprise you if Coker was just like in the mix mixing in with David Moore, because the week before David Moore played really well too. So when it's fresh with those who kind of mix in and out. Thanks for thanks for the questions and for the help on the show today, everybody.

We will talk to you tomorrow, be on the box court tomorrow with Jacob and Dan. WaverWire tomorrow with Jamie, Dave and myself. Have a good one.