Fantasy Football Today - BONUS: Boone vs. Lewis vs. Washington

Episode Date: December 22, 2019

With noteworthy injuries to key RBs, how are we ranking the replacements? Adam and Heath tell you what to expect on this Sunday morning bonus episode.  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

Bonus episode, Sunday morning of week 16. Good luck, everybody. Okay, Heath, we've got three big running backs that are out, likely out. We know that Josh Jacobs is out. Now Derek Henry, not expected to play. And Dalvin Cook and Alexander Madison, not expected to play. So how are you ranking the replacements? It really depends on format.

In non-PPR, Mike Boone is the best best option has a chance to be a top 15 back this week. And what should be a good matchup as long as the Vikings defense can control Aaron Rogers. Deandre Washington would be my second favorite non PPR and my favorite in PPR. And, um, I mean, we saw what he did last time.

Josh Jacobs was out. I think we could be looking at somewhere close to 80, 90 total yards, hopefully a score. Deion Lewis is third in both formats. I don't have a lot of faith in the Titans' ability to run the ball without Derrick Henry against the Saints. I would expect Tennessee to go more pass heavy

with Lewis as their primary back. He's a better pass catcher than Derrick Henry is. So this is a small boost for me to Ryan Tannehill. So I'm looking at Deion Lewis's game log from last year. And, you know, it started with the Dallas game. He started to get more work. But right before that, week seven, before the bye, I remember after the bye they came out and they gave him more work.

Week seven he had 13 carries. He had six catches. He scored 15 fantasy points and non 21 fantasy points in PPR. Then after the bye, they started using him a little bit more. He had 19 carries for 62 yards. Actually his three games after the bye, we basically blew his audition. He averaged 3.3, 2.9 and 2.4 yards per carry. He had four, two, and one catches in those games. One catch in those games. So, yeah, he's a wild card to me. I don't really think DeAndre was going to run the ball well, Heath.

But what I really don't know is how many catches is he going to have? Because it's not like they've been throwing to their running backs a lot this year, be it him or Henry. Can he get five catches? Can he be a safe PPR guy? Well, since Ryan Tannehill took over, which is what, I guess, like seven, eight? I think eight games.

Eight games now? I think so. Derek Henry and Deion Lewis have combined four 25 targets. Ryan Tannehill just is not throwing the ball to his running backs at all. Now, the pass volume is going to go up, so maybe it's a little bit more than three in this game. I could see him getting four targets and maybe even catching three of them. He could catch all four of them.

I could see somewhere between two and four catches, but it's not something where he ranks significantly higher in PPR than he does in non PPR. I'm not sure there'll be much a difference by format. It's mostly going to come down to whether he scores a touchdown or has a big play, which is kind of what it's come down to for Derek Henry. It's just that he's had a touchdown or a big play almost every game. So when you compare these guys now to waiver wire, let's say Anthony Miller, can't ask you about Prashad Paraman anymore, but Anthony Miller and maybe a guy like Terry McLaurin, who we're getting a lot of questions about,

maybe a guy like DK Metcalf. Are you going to go with the running backs over them? In PPR, I like Miller more than all three of these guys. Okay. Non-PPR, I'd go with Boone and Washington over Miller. I'd still take Miller over Deion Lewis. McLaurin's quite a ways behind Miller, I guess. In PPR for me at least. They're very similar in non-PPR. In PPR, I'd probably start both Washington and Boone

over McLaurin. And you right now on Sunday morning at 9.30 a.m. Eastern, you feel confident that Alexander Madison's going to be out? You can confidently tell people to start Mike Boone? I have no inside knowledge whatsoever. The Vikings have said nothing to such effect. But the things that are coming out from Adam Schefter and Ian Rappaport make it sound like they've clinched a playoff spot.

There's no reason to push Madison into the service. And so that's my expectation. Would I think it's impossible that Madison could be active on Monday night? No, not at all. There's still a little bit of risk there with Boone, but not near as much as there was on Friday. Okay. All right, well, I think that more or less covers it.

Let me ask you a couple of Ryan Tannehill questions. Did you move him up ahead of anybody in your rankings? Yeah, I did. I actually moved him up ahead of Ryan Fitzpatrick and Gardner Minshew. All right, and Drew Brees. He's 6th for you. Wow. Okay. He's 6th for you. He's 10th for Dave and Tannehill is 11th

for Jamie. So you're the high guy on Ryan Tannehill. And yeah, we always want to see more pass attempts. And you would think this would lead to more pass attempts, not having Derek Henry. And probably better for A.J. Brown. Maybe a little more confident in A.J. Brown, even with the Lattimore situation. I think it helps A.J. Brown a little bit,

just because there's more pass volume. And I would say, looking at Tannehill and Drew Brees, I have them both projected for the exact same score, down to the 100th of a point. So if you want to just start Drew Brees, I'm okay with it. It's a true coin flip. Alright, I hope that's helpful for everybody. Good luck. We'll talk to you tonight to recap the games.