Fantasy Football Today - Five Big Topics! Start Le'Veon? Sit Wilson? Also a Browns-Giants Recap (12/21 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 21, 2020

We'll go through the big injury news to start the show and then recap Browns-Giants (8:40). How much do we trust Baker Mayfield and Kareem Hunt these days? How about Wayne Gallman? ... Kicking off our Five Big Topics with a Jalen Hurts discussion (16:35). Is he a Top 5 QB in Week 16? Then we'll get into Le'Veon Bell's opportunity (20:42) and if things will go better than they did in Week 13 when CEH was out ... Start or Sit Russell Wilson (26:00)? Does he have more upside than Drew Brees? And we end the show debating Carson Wentz's dynasty value (32:30) and what Round 1 might look like in 2021 (35:00) ... Email us at [e-mail] 'Fantasy Football Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow the new FFT Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/FFToday Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Want winning picks each morning in under 10 minutes? Subscribe to 'The Early Edge: A Daily SportsLine Betting Podcast' on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts. 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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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. I'll tell you what, that was a spectacular play. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. What a play. Off to the races.

Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Ben. Five big topics on this big Monday afternoon. We're getting ready for Fantasy Week 16 already as we have the Bengals and the Steelers tonight. We'll look back to Sunday Night Football. We'll talk a lot about Jalen Hurts, about Russell Wilson,

about Le'Veon Bell, and a little bit of Kyler Murray, too. I'm Adam Azer with Chris Towers and Ben Schrager. Greetings, fellas. What's up, Chris? What up, Adam? Season's almost over. I may make the championship in one league, which is very frustrating

because this was my best fantasy season ever two weeks ago. The last two weeks have been a bit of a disaster. Playoff dump, huh? Actually, no, because in my one league i'm the i i'm gonna outscore the the other side of the bracket by 20 points and i'm only like 65 or 60 to win right now yeah you know it's interesting in one of our fantasy baseball leagues i changed a lot

of things because of covid i wasn't sure if the playoffs were actually going to happen. And I did a total points playoff. We had four teams make the playoffs. And we just had the top two points scores advance in round one. Which was bad for me because I won my matchup, but I had forgotten about the setting. And then I was like, oh wait, it's not matchup. There's no matchup. So I had forgotten about the setting. And then I was like, oh, wait, it's not matchup. There's no matchup.

So I was the third highest scorer that week, so I ended up getting third place. But yeah, you know what? I had no problem with it. And I was like, maybe we should just, Schrager, maybe we should just do that. Maybe once you get to the playoffs, we should get rid of matchups.

What do you think? No, no one does that in any sport that I've ever witnessed in my entire life. We're not doing that. Well, hold on. There's kind of something like that in any sport that I've ever witnessed in my entire life. We're not doing that. Well, hold on. There's kind of something like that in European soccer. I mean, not the same thing, but they have that like you play multiple games and it's the total points rather than the...

Okay, make it a two-week matchup. That's fine, but not total points. We don't have enough weeks for a two-week matchup unless we're playing in week 17. We may next year, though. Next year, we may be playing in week 17. Yeah, we may. That's true. That's true.

All right, well, it's something to think about for all of you people out there. Spend some time on it. Think about it. I would say it just didn't bother me to not have the head-to-head matchup as much as I thought it might. And perhaps that's because I didn't realize until halfway through the week that I didn't have the head-to-head matchup. Or actually, like, the full week. But, yeah, it was interesting. I would rather not lose head-to-head matchups during the season.

I like that. But, like, an all-play playoffs, I'm starting to come around on it selfishly. Yeah, I'm sure you are. Let's take a look at the news and notes. Kyler Murray, I just want to point this out. We talked a lot about his average depth of target or whatever they call it for quarterbacks.

Sometimes it's intended area yards per target. It was very low. Weeks 13, 12, 11, and 10 were among his lowest. It was like week one followed by 13, 12, 11, 10. He had his second highest ADOT of the season in week 15. So I said it on the show yesterday. He was chucking it downfield. He finally looked like himself, and good to see.

But the more important stuff, Clyde Edwards-Elair is going to be out for the rest of the regular season. They're hoping to get him back in the playoffs. They should have a first-round buy. We've got a Le'Veon Bell question later in the show. Stay tuned for that. James Robinson left with an ankle injury. If he doesn't play, would we have any interest

in any replacement in Jacksonville? I think Divina Zigbo would be the guy, but I don't. That was what Presco said on FFT today. But I just, yeah. We don't know. Will it be Divina Zigbo gets 90% of the work like James Robinson was? Or will it be like he gets 12 carries and someone else gets seven? Yeah, I would expect Agumboale to be heavily involved.

He's been more involved over the past few weeks, and they want him on the field for passing down situations. So I think Darre could be in for three to four catches, but a Zigbo would be the guy to get the bulk of the carries. Okay, Michael Gallup left with a hip injury. Ben Roethlisberger plans on playing in 2021. That's according to ESPN. Traquan Smith left with an ankle injury.

So that, not that he's like so huge for them, but their wide receivers weren't great yesterday, and they play on Friday. It's going to be an interesting decision to start Drew Brees, or sit Drew Brees in a good matchup against Minnesota, but it was a rusty, short week. We'll see. No Thursday game this week, but we do have a Christmas Day game,

which is wonderful. Carolina fired their GM, Marty Herney, and their owner had pretty harsh words, I thought. It wasn't like a very— Well, I didn't see the whole press conference, but it wasn't the most congratulatory. It wasn't the most gracious thing. It was pretty blunt.

It was, and you know what? He's got to change his expectations, I think, for his team. If he's saying we should have four more wins, I think they're actually having a pretty good year. I know the record's not good. They've played pretty well. Yeah, they've been very competitive. He should be happy, I think, but if I'm the GM, it's fine.

He should have a GM and a coach on the same page. Jalen Rager left with an ankle injury. Again, we'll talk about Jalen Hurts at Dallas. Does he need Jalen Rager? I don't know. And then you've got this year for the Niners has been horrible.

Mostert and Wilson both got hurt. Nick Mullins got hurt. Tevin Coleman, according to Kyle Shanahan, he has not been playing that much because he is also playing hurt. So, Jarek McKinnon is 54% rostered. He's had four games this year with 12 or more carries. He came through in three of them.

12 or more non-PPR, 15 or more PPR fantasy points in three of those four. And they will get Arizona this week. Stephon Gilmore, he got hurt. Knee injury may not be as serious as initially feared, but he may not play this week or this season. And just some offensive line stuff. New England center David Andrews left with an injury.

Houston right tackle Titus Howard left with a concussion. Minnesota lost a starting linebacker. He was evaluated for a concussion. Troy Dye. And this is a quote from Matthew Stafford. He faces Tampa Bay on Saturday. He said, quote, The pressure of another player's weight on me

was some of the worst stuff. He played really hurt. And they benched him when it got out of hand at the end. But I just don't think you can have confidence in Matthew Stafford because he might not, he might not be able to make it through the game. No,

he's famously, I think one of the toughest players in the NFL. But yeah, like his quote was like, if I can play, I'm going to, I owe it to these guys, all that stuff.

And like, that's great, but he did, he probably shouldn't have been on the field. Yeah, and obviously that's probably more of an impact on Marvin Jones than Matthew Stafford. I don't think a lot of people were starting Stafford. Yeah. Alright, join our

Facebook group. You can talk about Matthew Stafford in there if you'd like. Search for Fantasy Football Today on Facebook or click the link in the episode description and it's really fun. Get in there and have some chats with other fantasy footballers out there. And watch CBS Sports HQ. We've got a noon show Monday through Friday. I do not think we have one on Christmas Day this week, but noon show Monday through Friday. If you

miss it, you can watch it on demand on the CBS Sports app on OTT devices. Go to the CBS Sports app on your smart TV. Scroll down until you see the familiar faces of fantasy football today. Hey, they got HBO Max on Roku, guys. You see that? Finally. Big deal. Big deal. Be able to, it's just, it's wild

that I couldn't just like stop watching something in the living room and just pick it up in the bedroom. It's wild that I couldn't do that. I was watching X-Men Dark Phoenix this weekend and I had to fast forward when I took up in the bedroom. It's wild that I couldn't do that. I was watching X-Men Dark Phoenix this weekend, and I had to fast forward when I took it to the bedroom. It wasn't as bad as... That's annoying. It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad.

My kid's really into superheroes, and I feel like he's going to force me to eventually watch all of the Avengers movies. They're really good, Adam. Yeah, I don't hate them. I've seen them all about 14 times. Guardians of the Galaxy was terrific. Guardians 2 makes me cry every time.

I didn't see it. Thanks for spoiling. I didn't see all of Endgame, but what I saw of Endgame I thought was great. So I'm into it. I'm cool with it. All right. Let's talk about the Giants and the Browns. It's all into it. I'm cool with it. All right. Let's talk about the Giants and the Browns. It's all Browns.

You really want to? No. 20 to 6, no. I don't. Let's talk about five big top. No, let's talk about this stupid game. Ben, Baker Mayfield's got four straight games with 22 or more fantasy points. He is completing 70% of his passes, 8.7 yards per attempt,

117.7 passer rating in those four games. And he's only been sacked three times. And that was really what stood out to me. He's like, the Giants have pretty good pass rush. They're like fourth and fifth in pressure rate this year. And they were nowhere near Baker Mayfield in this game. The line was terrific. And that was with some injuries. So, what do you think about Baker Mayfield?

And he's at the Jets next week. Start. He's in a great spot. We're starting him. I would start him over Russell Wilson. We'll probably talk a bit more about that later in the show. He's looking like his rookie self when we thought he was the best quarterback in that rookie class. It's very encouraging.

Higgins is a big play monster. Landry is Mr. Reliable with catching all of his targets. And the tight ends are both involved, and they're not running the ball 35 times a game, which I love. Yeah, he has thrown the ball more. His pass attempts in his last four games, 29, 33, 47, and 32. And they've been competitive. Three of those four games have been very competitive. They've been one score games. So we'll talk about that throughout the week. But the only concern you have with Mayfield against the Jets

is they're going to blow them out and it's going to be a 20-pass. It could be a 20-25 pass attempt game. But more on that later. He's playing very well. That's the good thing. Chris, your take on Chabio is a must-start. He didn't have a great game, but he still scored. But Kareem Hunt, really frustrating here. And really just not not great. Now you look at the six games since Nick Chubb

came back and he's got only two games with more than nine PPR fantasy points. So it's not that exciting. So what do you think about Kareem Hunt? Yeah. I mean, remember back before the season, a big part of why we were so excited about Kareem Hunt was the passing game role. He had 44 targets in eight games. He looked like someone who was going to get maybe five to 10 targets every week, butb active. And instead, I guess he's probably been an RB2 this season. I would guess he's right around 15th in RB scoring. But on a week-to-week basis, he just hasn't been particularly good. And a big part of it is that those high-value touches, the goal line work, the targets, he's gone from about four and a half per game to right around three.

That was coming into this week. I don't think he helped that number particularly much. So, yeah, I just don't think the role is as valuable as we hoped. And he's kind of a touchdown or bust guy right now. Is Jarvis Landry a touchdown or bust guy? Because he's actually catching a lot of balls. He's got six to eight catches in four straight games. So maybe that answers your question right there.

It kind of gives you a, the answer being no. It gives you a really nice floor. But where are the yards? 52 to 62 yards in three straight games, despite getting eight to 10 targets in all of them. And Higgins has actually out-yarded him in three straight games. So Ben, Landry versus Higgins has actually out-yarded him in three straight games. So, Ben, Landry versus

Higgins, is it even a debate? I mean, it's Landry for me and PPR for sure. Higgins has more yardage upside. They both have just as good of a shot at scoring a touchdown. So, I like Landry. Landry right now is the classic Landry, the classic Julian Edelman, where you're going to get

your floor, six to eight catches potentially, and maybe scores a touchdown, but heavily involved and probably not going to get you over 100 yards. But I prefer Landry to Higgins. Also, frankly, he should not have scored a touchdown yesterday. It was a great play by him. Great throw by Baker Mayfield. But I don't know if you guys remember,

David Njoku was wide open, literally steps in front of Jarvis Landry. And he threw the contested ball to Jarvis Landry instead. It was, uh, I didn't notice it. I, I was,

this was the one Sunday night game all year, believe it or not, that I did not DVR and watch later. I watched it while we were doing the show. And, uh, I was like, no,

I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna go back and like watch it further in depth. I'm not gonna do that to myself. But no, that's interesting because that would have been too open. That would have been too tight end touchdowns for Cleveland because Hooper got in the end zone too. And Hooper is going to be, I think, a very popular pickup on the waiver wire because he scored a touchdown, which is great.

But more great is the Jets matchup. And I don't know that we have anything. What happened there? Was it a blackout? I was sharing my screen with you to show you the touchdown. But all right. Move on. Okay.

So the Giants stunk. It was pretty predictable. And I think it's obvious you can't trust any of their pass catchers. I know Slayton had 74 yards, but nobody started him. 12% started. You can't start their pass catchers unless you know Daniel Jones is healthy, and then maybe you look at

Shepard or Ingram. But Gallman... Oh, all right. Here we go. We're taking a look at the touchdown here. Mayfield is in the shotgun formation. Sends a man in motion. Rolls out. And oh yeah, there's David Njoku. There's nobody within 10 yards of David Njoku.

And he's in front of Jarvis Landry. It was a very funny play. And look, Jarvis Landry got the touchdown. We're all happy about that because hopefully nobody started David Njoku. And I think Baker's just kind of short and didn't see him, honestly. It's probably what happened, right? Well, and Njoku slipped early in the play,

so I think he probably just kind of wrote him off. And it's David Njoku versus Jarvis Landry. Which one's going to catch the pass? Yeah, that's fair. How do you think... Shut up, Ben. It's Miami guy. Don't do that.

How do you think... John Smith is better. Well's Miami guy. Don't do that. How do you think... Johnnie Smith is better. Well, okay. I have to ask you about Wayne... Did Johnnie Smith go to FIU? Yes. I have to ask you about Wayne Gallman. What's your trust level in Wayne Gallman

going up against Baltimore next week? It is negative. He's not going to catch any passes and he's playing less than 50% of the snaps. Where are the high-value touches for Wayne Goldman? You're hoping he falls into the end zone. I don't think he's going to fall into the end zone against Baltimore. He's not going to be in my top 30 running backs.

He's a total touchdown or bust. He had that 135-yard game against Seattle, and it was like, well, the touchdown streak ended, but look how well he played. But if he's getting 16 carries, no targets, and he's not, that means he has to get into the end zone to be a fantasy option. And the last three games he hasn't. And this is just kind of a little bit of regression to the mean against a good matchup.

Maybe you can count on him getting into the end zone, but he'd have to be pretty lucky to do it against Baltimore in this offense. How do you feel about the Baker Mayfield commercials? I find his lack of charm charming. There were a lot funnier last year when he was playing terribly. He's trying. I think he's trying to

change his image. I think it's successful. He's not a villain anymore. No, because he's playing well. No, it's not just that he's not as as he's been cocky and he and he is a very confident guy and it's fine but he also like called duke johnson out for the contract thing that didn't go over well even with his team uh you know he's just kind of like he's you know does the motion to his coaches former coaches at the sidelines, stuff like that. I like the transformation of Baker Mayfield.

I'm on board. He's no Peyton Manning, though, when it comes to commercials. Five big topics. Here we go. From Shooter's Shoot, is Jalen Hurts the top quarterback start? I don't think you were going to put him number one, but how confident are you guys in Jalen Hurts at Dallas? They're awful.

And yeah, what do you think, Ben? I am very confident. I am not going to start him over Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen or maybe even Kyler Murray, but he's going to be in my top five or top seven because his rushing floor is incredible. It doesn't matter who his weapons are. His top receiver, Zach Ertz caught two passes.

Second best receiver, Alshon Jeffrey caught two passes. Jalen Rager was the only one over four passes and he's hurt. So it doesn't matter who's in there. He's going to get the job done with his arm and his legs. So I think he's a top six, seven quarterback next week. And I really want to find a way to start him. Yeah, I probably wasted about 15 minutes this morning. I watched every one of Jalen Hurts'

throws. And the big takeaway was the offensive line played pretty well in the first half and horrible, horrible in the second half. And the Cardinals really got after him. I mean, I think they were a lot more aggressive because he was doing a really good job. The first half, he threw for 177 yards and three touchdowns. In the second half, he was just 12 of 26 for 161 yards and no touchdowns. But he did have a rushing touchdown.

But I don't know that the Cowboys are going to be able to get pressure. Like, they are... Arizona's fourth in pressure rate and Dallas is 19th. A rushing touchdown. But I don't know that the Cowboys are going to be able to get pressure. Like they are... Arizona's fourth in pressure rate and Dallas is 19th. Dallas is 26th against quarterbacks. I guess what I would say is that a lot of the problems that Carson Wentz had, they showed up for Hurts yesterday. Just in terms of the protection. It didn't happen until the second half.

But he's more equipped to deal with it because he runs better than Wentz, and he's facing Dallas. So it's a great situation, and I think you're going to have to start. Are you going to start him over Justin Herbert? Yep, I think so. Who aren't you going to start him over?

I mean, definitely starting him over Russell Wilson. That's not even a debate. Yeah. I mean, I think it's like, unless your quarterback is named Patrick Lamar, Aaron, maybe Josh,

you're probably starting Jalen hurts. Yeah. He's, I mean, you just project out, you know, 20 points in his first start, 40 in his second.

He might have an 80-point game this week. How about Tom Brady at Detroit? I'm starting Hurts still. I think so. You know, here's something that's fascinating. Jalen Hurts has 11 pass plays of at least 20 yards this season. He had six of them yesterday. Carson Wentz had 27.

So that means that 12.4% of Jalen Hurts plays in the passing game have gone for at least 20 yards. 6.4% for Carson Wentz. He's just been... I don't think he's a better passer than Carson Wentz, although with how Carson Wentz was playing this year, probably. But he just he injects so much more life into this offense. And I don't think it makes any of their receivers worth using necessarily. Goddard and Ertz, I think, are low end, high end, number two tight ends, maybe.

But he just makes this offense so much better because he, like you said, Adam, he is so much more well-equipped to overcome the shortcomings around him. Two of those 20-plus yard passes were screens, and they ran one early with Miles Sanders. He gained 26 yards on it, and I was like, please do that again. They did not.

They ran one with Boston Scott, I think. But, yeah, you know what? Hurts. They ran one with Boston Scott, I think. But yeah, you know what? Hurts is going to be an easy start, I think, for a lot of fantasy managers. Miles Sanders, I would think, would be an easy start too against Dallas. Not an easy, no.

You can't say easy with him. But start. An RB2. Yeah. All right, let's go to our next one. It's from Coach Love. Chris, I'll give you the first word on this. Week 16 is filled with tough matchups.

It's going to be a nail-biting finals for most. Is Le'Veon Bell actually going to be a league winner? And he will be facing Atlanta. And he's only 72% rostered, so you might be able to get him.

But Chris, is Le'Veon Bell going to be a league winner? He is going to be a must-start running back. I can't necessarily say he's going to be a league winner but for the today's fantasy football today newsletter i did write about five players who joined the must start conversation heading into week 16 and levy on bell was one of them because you figure damian williams will have a role he'll probably play 30% of the snaps. Darrell Williams. Sorry.

But Bell will probably just take on Edwards, Elair's work and most of his. And so you're probably looking at 15 carries, hopefully five or six targets. Yeah, I think Le'Veon Bell is going to be a must start option in week 16. He may not do

anything with it. Atlanta is a tough run defense, but you just figure the opportunity, the offense that he plays in, the fact that he won't be splitting carries most likely. I think it does line up for him to potentially be a league winner. Ben, what do you think? Yeah, we could be in for a big letdown spot here where Atlanta's not the best matchup. Darrell Williams could be on the field

a lot more than he ever has because Mahomes might just like him in pass protection and throwing to him. But you're going to start Le'Veon Bell in the fantasy championship. That's crazy. It is assuming he's healthy. We had the big update

that Clyde Edwards-Alaire is not expected to play this year in the regular season. No update on Le'Veon Bell. So we'll see if he's healthy, but we assume he is, and you're going to start him this week. Could be a letdown. Here's what I don't get. Are people forgetting that just three weeks ago, Clyde Edwards-Zeller didn't play?

And they faced a much, much better matchup in Denver. And Le'Veon Bell had 11 carries for 40 yards and two catches for 15 yards. Imagine what his start percentage would have been if he had been facing Denver and we had known that Clyde Edwards-Ziller wasn't going to play. That was the big fake-out game.

Darrell Williams in that game had six carries for 38 yards and one catch. So that was 13 touches for Le'Veon Bell and seven touches for Darrell Williams, which I think is a fairly realistic, let's say it's two-thirds of the touches go to Le'Veon Bell. So then I took a look at the Kansas City

running back carries in eight games since they got Le'Veon Bell. Total running back carries, not wide receivers, not Mahomes, just running backs. 17, 19, 9, 21, 16, 17, 18, and 32

last week when they had the ball for like 42 minutes or something. So that is in 6 of 8 games, fewer than 20, and they usually are in the 16 to 19 range in terms of running back carries since bringing over Le'Veon Bell, and since that point,

that was when they just became more of a passing offense. They just started throwing the ball downfield a lot more. So, yeah, I mean, Ben said the word could be a trap, and I kind of feel the same way because Atlanta does have, you know, they're giving up 3.73 yards per carry to running backs. I don't know who's going to get more catches between him and Williams.

I'm kind of nervous about it. I don't think it's going to get more catches between him and Williams. I'm kind of nervous about it. I don't think it's a slam dunk. Put it that way. That's fair. I think that's entirely fair. This has been, this really has not been the offense that we expected from Kansas City when they signed Clyde Oders-Alaire.

We thought, you know, obviously, Patrick Mahomes is the engine of the offense. Everyone knows that. But I think there was some expectation that Clyde Oders-Hilaire would go into that Kareem Hunt role, and it really hasn't happened this season. And so those are all fair points, Adam. Well done.

Thank you. Thank you. Would you guys start Miles Sanders at Dallas or Le'Veon Bell against the Falcons? I'd rather start Sanders. Yeah. Okay.

And the last thing I'll say, and we'll talk about it later in the week, is that the Falcons' run defense has been very good this year for the most part, especially since they fired Dan Quinn.

Not amazing the last few weeks. Good games from Kamara, Eckler, and Fournette scored twice last week. So I'm not saying it's an impossible matchup. All right, we're going to take a break. When we come back, we will talk about Russell Wilson.

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right. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. Alright, Russell Wilson. What do you got for us in the Fantasy Championship? And I'm not even sure why I'm having this discussion because everybody who started Russell Wilson lost. No, that's not true. In fact, I think Dave and Heath both started Russell Wilson

and won. They're in the championship. So is he a top 15 quarterback? That's what Sean Kalavig wants to know. He has now scored in his last six games. Let's get those fantasy points up for him in six point for passing touchdown leagues. Nine, 23, 16, 16, 30 against the jets and 13

fantasy points. That nine point game was against the Rams. He is playing the Rams. Ben is Russell Wilson, a top 15 quarterback this week. I have not finished my rankings yet, but he is going to be between 14 and 16. So really good question. Really good question. I would rather start Baker. I'm on the fence about Mitchell Trubisky against him. Trubisky has been playing well, but David Montgomery has been scoring the touchdowns. That's the one scary thing there. But Russell Wilson has the huge game upside. The reason we keep on starting Tyler Lockett, and it's so frustrating that you might end up just starting

Russell Wilson. But obviously, if you ever had your on Hurts, you're starting him. I'd rather start Breeze, definitely Baker, and potentially Mitchell Trubisky. Chris? I would definitely start Hurts. I don't think I agree on Breeze or Trubisky, but look, you don't feel good about Russell Wilson right now, obviously. And his last two games against the Rams have been really bad. Zero passing touchdowns in the last two games, both of them at the Rams.

You go back to the game that he played at home against the Rams last season. He had four touchdowns. And this week is at home. So that could make a difference. With no fans, though, so I don't know. Yeah, and I don't know what his splits are this season. I think probably, like, I thought Drew Brees looked really bad yesterday. You are right.

I think it was one of those. What? You are right about that. That was our watch party game, so we watched the whole thing. I think he might have been the third best quarterback for the Saints yesterday. Who else threw a pass? Well, no, not in terms of who threw up like on the roster. Oh, well, you know, one of them has COVID. So

sure. I think no, I mean, look, he didn't play well. He certainly played better in the fourth quarter, but it was a rough game for him. No question. And I just, I don't know, like he's had you go back. Okay. Take out week 10 when he left with an injury he's had below seven yards per attempt in one two three four four of his last

five games who are you talking about breeze drew breeze okay he doesn't have michael thomas i just i think there's a lot going against him whereas russell wilson it's just like well he hasn't played well lately but we had a really really tough matchup this week, though. Right. Sure, sure. But he's had good games against them in the past. I don't think Russell Wilson is a slam dunk. I don't think Drew Brees has anywhere near the same kind of upside.

Oh, boy, I disagree. He still drew Brees. I mean, he's still... I don't know. I disagree because he still drew Brees. He mean, he's still... I don't know. I disagree because he's still Drew Brees. He scored 25 points. He scored 25 points with stupid Taysom Hill stealing a touchdown from him. So that obviously limits his upside a little bit. So that's a knock against Brees. But I just like...

If you want to talk about yards per attempt, look at Russell Wilson. His yards per attempt in his last six games is 6.55. He's on pace for 3,400 passing yards in his last six games. It's just not working. It's just not happening. And he's only throwing 32.2 times per game. In his first eight games, he was throwing 37 times per game. Now, here's the thing. You look at the

pass attempts in those six games, they're 4-2. In the two losses, he has thrown 37 and 43 passes. In the four wins, it's been 31 or fewer. So, the more competitive the game, the more he's going to throw. And that's a good thing.

Because I would think they're going to lose. I don't know. It could be a toss-up, right I think he could throw more the problem is he's placing the Rams does he really have big upside against the Rams they're the best team they're giving up the fewest fantasy points the quarterbacks yeah I think he does he had 60 rushing yards against them earlier this season obviously the two interceptions and a fumble lost in that game. You know, that really hurt. But like he had a four touchdown game with 23 attempts against them last year. He had 32 rushing yards in that one. He had 28 rushing yards and the other game.

Like, I just think if he gets 50 rushing yards and throws for 250 yards and has two touchdowns, I just think that's probably better than what you're likely to get from Brees. Ben, do you think... And I don't think that's the upside. Do you still think... Because we've been chasing this Tyler Lockett upside for eight weeks or something like that, and it's obviously tied to Drew Brees.

I just don't feel confident that he has that right now unless he's playing the Jets, and everybody has that against the Jets, quite honestly. Ben, am I overreacting? I know he's Russell Wilson, but he did the same thing last year. And every week, it's like, well, you can't sit Russell Wilson,

and you should have sat Russell Wilson. And I think he's been worse, basically, at the end of this year than he was at the end of last year. I'll go check the game log. Historically, too, the second half of seasons, he has had declines. So maybe it's some sort of trend there. But I do think he has upside.

I think it's just as high as Drew Brees' upside. Russell Wilson takes his downfield shots. They're not connecting as much right now. Drew Brees is going to dump the ball off a ton, but he has the best dump-off catcher to go take it to the house in the NFL. So I think Russell Wilson has upside, but I also think Baker Mayfield has upside this week,

and I think Mitch Trubisky has upside this week. Yeah, so Wilson scored 49 freaking points against the Bucs in Week 9 last year. And there's that upside, right? So he gets off to an amazing start, has a couple of bad games in Week 7 and 8, and then 49 points against Tampa Bay. So, of course, he's a must-start guy, but here's how he finished last season. Six points per passing touchdown leagues.

18, 11, 20, 9, 23, 12, 23 fantasy points. You know, it just... I don't want to fall into the same trap. For a guy who's not playing very well, I don't want to call him the same trap. For a guy who's not playing very well, I don't want to call him a slam dunk against the Rams, who are the best defense, but I think we all can agree to that. I think his upside is completely capped by that defense as well.

Okay. From Chris Wino, buy or sell Carson Wentz for the future in keeper leagues? I would say now is probably a good time to buy him just because he probably won't cost anything. It's a really tough situation, and the Eagles are going to have to make a tough decision either way this offseason because if they release him,

which they can't because they would have to pay, there would be a $59 million dead cap hit for Carson Wentz if they release him. If they trade him, it's still $34 million. Now, you can make that work. If you were already budgeting for Carson Wentz at $34 million, you think Jalen Hurts is the better option, you're essentially just paying Jalen Hurts $35 million instead, which probably isn't ideal. But I would imagine Carson Wentz is starting somewhere next year. I would imagine someone, Chicago, Jacksonville,

someone is going to take a chance. Jacksonville. Man, they could have Trevor Lawrence. They might have, yeah. They might have the best... Right, right. They're probably going to have Trevor Lawrence. No, no.

Here's the... I agree, Chris. But I'm hopeful that that happens for Carson Wentz. Does anybody believe in him that he still could be a fantasy starter? You know, anybody could be a fantasy starter, but you know what I mean, a difference maker in fantasy.

He's only a few years removed from an incredible, hey, this guy's the next elite quarterback season, and hey, maybe there's no more of that. Maybe he only starts one more year, but at his value right now, I do want to trade for him for him if he lands in let's say indianapolis next year he could resurge and have top five potential and you want to hold that kind of guy in dynasty and buy if you can i mean even last season you know he given the circumstances around him and how bad they were we were pretty happy with how Carson Wentz played last season.

There was a lot of talk about him. The numbers weren't great, but given that they had nobody healthy, I think people were pretty pleased with Carson Wentz and the way he finished the season, especially. So no, I don't think he's done. And I think if given the opportunity, if he lands in the right spot, you know, there is still room for him to be a fantasy starter. And, and that's the bigger thing is in dynasty, you're probably going to have to pay nothing.

All right. Our final topic is from Doug Adams, the devaluing of the running back position, making wide receivers more first round worthy. Do you guys see that happening in 2021? Fewer running backs, more wide receivers in round one. I think it was a great year this year for Zero RB. You had a lot of late round values, waiver wire pickup values. I think the big difference in round one next year

is that elite running back tier is not going to be as big. You have Saquon Barkley may not be a hundred percent by the beginning of the year. Zeke, we have the age concern is, is he the next girly? So it's good. It's going to be tough to say there's five or six elite running backs.

And I do think the wide receivers approved. There should be two, three, maybe even four in the first round and definitely Travis Kelsey in the first round. Yeah, I think it all comes down to value. And it's not, there's the question of one, the really, really great running backs score more points than wide receivers.

And so there is no bigger edge, except for maybe Travis Kelsey in fantasy, than having the running back who's averaging 25 points per game or 24, or in McCaffrey's case, 30 over the last year and a half, when he's played this year. But they're also much more injury prone than wide receivers, and their production fluctuates much more from year to year, and they're much more from year to year. And

they're much more dependent on their circumstances. And, and so this just kind of gets back always to that, the principles behind the zero RB discussion. And it's not, you know, you don't necessarily worry about the specific guys you taught. You're talking about, you know, the general trends of the position. Um, that being said, I don't think it makes wide receivers in round one more valuable. I don't think we're going to see more first round wide receivers. I think the key takeaway is that you should probably be drafting a lot more wide receivers after round one and maybe after round two. I do think Devante Adams and Tyree kill belong in the first round next season.

I think that's probably it. Although you can certainly make a case for Stefan digs, DK Metcalf, Deandre Hopkins. I think you make a case for any of those guys as first rounders. But I don't think, I don't think reaching for wide receivers in the first round is necessarily always the right play.

I think with how good the rookie wide receivers were this year, if those guys are going in round four or five, then it's just going to be another reason to not take a wide receiver in round one and just try to get those breakouts. You don't have to avoid wide receiver, but it's an excuse to take a running back over a wide receiver. I just think wide receiver is really deep.

It's really deep. And this conversation changes so much if you're in a two receiver or a three receiver league. Yes. Alright guys, that's it for today's topics. I want to thank our listeners. And I forgot, are we doing a show next Monday for week 17? i don't think we are

right no yeah we are oh we are we are okay yeah i'm normal working normally here that's right that's right so we'll see what our topics are i'm sure they will be very forward thinking going into 2021 but uh yeah so normal shows next week probably not gonna have a mailbag next week that's the only thing but normal show for week 16 for sure week 17 we'll see about the mailbag and normal shows for the holidays this week normal schedule then beginning in January beginning after week 17 three episodes

per week and of course breaking news when it happens we'll cover it want to thank Ben and Chris all of you for listening I'm Adam talk to you tomorrow with The Wave Alive