Fantasy Football Today - LAST-MINUTE Week 15 Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Advice! Actives/Inactives Updates & Q&A! (12/15 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Starting point is 00:00:00 McDonald's has the gift that keeps giving. To Peter, your dog sitter, and Claire, who shovels your stairs. And to you, when you spend $25 on McDonald's gift cards in restaurants, get a coupon for a free Big Mac or McChicken. See details at participating McDonald's restaurants. With Uber Reserve, you can book your Uber ride in advance. 90 days in advance. Perfect for all you forward thinkers and planning gurus. Reserve your Uber ride up to 90 days in advance. Perfect for all you forward thinkers and planning gurus. Reserve your Uber ride up to 90 days in advance. Uber Reserve. See Uber app for details. It's Sunday morning. It's week 15. It's the fantasy playoffs. This is Fantasy Football

Starting point is 00:00:35 Today Express. I'm Jamie Eisenberg. That's Heath Cummings. All right, Heath, we've got a lot to get to here with all the injury news from the weekend, starting with Friday. We got some good news for Zach Charbonnet, Bad news, obviously, for Ken Walker. Charbonne clearly it must start running back. How high do you have him right? He is inside of my top 10. I think he's one spot behind Chuba Hubbard, a must start top 10 running back. Yeah, he's the easy one. Now we get to the fun ones here with some of these other running back situations. So let's start with Bucky Irving because we expect them to be out. We thought Rashad White's going to be an absolute superstar for this weekend. I'm a little bit concerned about Bucky Irving with the back as we saw the last time he played, I wasn't able to finish the game. How do you have the Bucks running backs ranked? This is probably the most difficult one of the day. I've currently got both Bucky Irving and Rashad White ranked as low ends number two running back options. There's a lot of volume available. That's the good thing in this offense, both in the running game and the passing game.

Starting point is 00:01:27 So they could both have double digit carries. They could both see three or four targets. There is more risk than usual for Bucky Irving, but there's a lot more upside for him than there are for most running backs that are ranked in that RB 25 range. So I would definitely start him over. Sincere McCormick, Ramon Ray Stevenson, Isaiah Pacheco. I would rather start Jonathan Taylor and Rico Dowell, guys like that. So you have Rashad White ranked higher than Bucky Irving?

Starting point is 00:01:51 I have Bucky Irving one spot ahead of Rashad White. Okay. I have it the other way just because I'm a little concerned. You know, I'm just worried that how healthy is the back? You know, clearly they feel good enough to play him. So that's a good sign. So I agree with you. He should be a number two running back. But as we've seen, they both kind of worked in tandem for a good portion of the stretch where Bucky Irving was great. It just was Bucky was out performing him and actually getting more work in the passing game.

Starting point is 00:02:12 But coming off the game Rashad white just had, I wonder if they give him maybe a little bit more of an opportunity here and certainly with the work in the passing game. So I'm going to give Rashad white a little bit of a nod, but look, it's good to have Bucky Irving on the field and hopefully he takes advantage of this matchup against the Chargers and does not re-injure his back, especially for anybody that has him on a buy, looking forward to getting him back next week. So we'll see what happens there.

Starting point is 00:02:32 All right. For the Jets, we got Breeze Hall expected to play, did not practice all week, but he is good to go with the knee injury. How do you feel about Hall? And then do you have any interest still in Braylon Allen or Isaiah Davis? This one is almost as difficult for me just because Hall like Irving coming off of an injury really a big question mark all week long. The other thing is the last time that he played in a game, he had a 57% rush here.

Starting point is 00:02:55 So we're still doing most of the works on early downs, but he only had a 3% target share. Both Isaiah Davis and Braylon Allen had more targets than Breece Hall the last time that he played. So I'm also ranking him as a low end number two running back. I would start him over the Tampa Baybacks. Braylon Allen and Isaiah Davis are now both just kind of touchdown dependent flexes in that RB 40ish range. Yeah. It's unfortunate for people that went in all this week on the free agent running backs. I mean, Patrick Taylor obviously did not play on Thursday. Didn't matter, excuse me, on Thursday.

Starting point is 00:03:26 And then you have the two Jets guys who we thought, okay, maybe one or the other would be relevant this week, especially with a great matchup against Jacksonville. And now here we go with Breeze Hall back, but it's obviously great to have Breeze Hall back. I'm with you, I think he's more of a number two running back. Actually would take Rashad White over Breeze Hall because again, the work in the passing game

Starting point is 00:03:40 and a little bit more, you know, I think a little bit more confidence in what the situation is there with white versus Irving versus Hall. So it just really nerve wracking to say that here we are in the fantasy playoffs. We have the trustees, injured running backs, didn't practice all week. And then we get to the other guy that we're talking about here, which is Tony Pollard did not practice all week, but we kind of expect them to play the entire time. And that's the report that we're going off of.

Starting point is 00:04:00 So they are going to test out the ankle pregame. Do you have confidence in Tony Pollard that he will be okay? And are you starting? He is my favorite running back that we've talked about so far besides Zach Sharpen. I would start Sharpen a over him, but yeah, a borderline top 12 running back. Listen, you're not going to feel very good if he plays five plays and leaves injured, but that's kind of the types of risks that we're having to take at this point. Um, I, I would start him definitely over the Bucks or the Jets.

Starting point is 00:04:28 All right. We'll take a quick break here on Fantasy Football Today Express. When we come back, we'll wrap up the wide receiver tight end injuries and then get to some of your questions. With Uber Reserve, good things come to those who plan ahead. Family vacay? Reserve your ride as soon as you book your flights. To all the planners. Now you can reserve your Uber as soon as you book your flights. To all the planners, now you can reserve your Uber ride up to 90 days in advance. See Uber app for details.

Starting point is 00:04:52 All right, let's talk about the wide receiver injuries. Lad McConkey is expected to be a game time decision. They're gonna work him out pre-game dealing with the shoulder and the knee injury. It's a 425 start in the game for the Chargers and the Bucks. How you approaching McConkey and maybe Justin Herbert? So I think it just really comes down to what is your other option.

Starting point is 00:05:08 If you have another wide receiver in our top 48 that's playing at 430 or later, then I would be trying to wait it out for Lad McConkie. And if he plays, I'd view him as a high end number three wide receiver. If you really are like scraping the bottom of the barrel for a wide receiver, like you don't have Josh Palmer, you don't have Quinton Johnston, you don't have anybody that's ranked near those guys, then I think you just go ahead and play whoever you've

Starting point is 00:05:34 got in the early game. Because like we don't know for sure that Lad McConkie is going to play. And then even if he is active, he has the same risk that we just talked about with Bucky Irving and the same risk that we just talked about with Breece Irving and the same risk that we just talked about with Breeze Hall. So it's a, it's a double risk thing. It really depends on who you have on your bench. Easy to go get Josh Palmer if he's available and just sort of mix and match those two guys. As we saw Palmer had nine targets last week in place of McConkie desperation. There's going to be some guys in the four o'clock and you know, later games that I'm

Starting point is 00:06:01 thinking maybe like a Marvin Mims who's had some production recently for the Broncos. Um, try anything. Some of the guys in later games. I'm thinking maybe like a Marvin Mims who's had some production, you know, recently for the Broncos. Trying to think some of the guys in later games. But yeah, and that's, I think that's what I would say. Like if I can get Palmer, then I'm waiting. If I have to trust Marvin Mims, then I'm probably just trying to start somebody else. Right. Yeah. I'm thinking more like the deeper leagues, you know, those type of guys that, you know, just trying to find somebody. All right. Josh Downs also expected to play coming back from the shoulder injury. Shane Stikken wasn't 100% committed to it, but all the reports indicate he's going to play. How do you feel about Josh Downs? I'm not super optimistic. There's always the risk of a low volume Anthony Richardson passing

Starting point is 00:06:33 game. And for the most part, when we've seen Pittman and Downs together with Anthony Richardson, Pittman's been the number one in terms of targets. So I don't really want to start Josh Downs. He's a flex. I prefer Pittman and downs this week. Yes, I would go downs over Pittman just because I think based on how these guys will operate, probably Sir Tans. He's a little bit more Pittman downs in the slot. That's not where exactly Sir Tans goes all the time. Pittman more the big physical receiver and they are down Riley Moss. So I do think there's an opportunity here for Josh Downs to make some

Starting point is 00:07:02 plays. We'll talk about it quickly when we get to the weather real quick. Uh, David Njoku not expected to play any interest in the, uh, well, I guess let's start with James Winston because I know you're really high on Jamis. We got weather concerns in Cleveland. We got no tight end now expected to play without Njoku. How do you feel about Jamis? I'm really struggling with this game because I just always go look and see what Kevin Roth says about it over at Roto Grinders.

Starting point is 00:07:23 And he's got it as a yellow orange. And if it's a full orange, that's the point where I start making adjustments. Yellow orange. It sounds like this is really a big question mark. So it's a risk tolerance thing. I still think Jamus has top five potential this week. The chief's defense hasn't been particularly great. Jamus has been awesome as a fantasy starter. There's also a really low downside. I would start Jamis over my homes. He's a little, I think I had him eight on Thursday when we talked. He's 11 now. Okay. So you did downgrade him a little bit. Yeah. He's outside my top 12 Jamis. I'm nervous just because no Nujoku weather concerns, no Tillman. He also is not going to play. So just

Starting point is 00:07:58 having the two receivers clearly is enough for Jamis, but you know, you're losing weapons, bad weather, you know, Steve's back. Nolo could make things a little uncomfortable for Jamis. I know they have done a little poorly against quarterbacks lately, but they did step up against Justin Herbert last week who did have a receiver missing. So a little bit concerned about Jamis based on where the week started, where we are right now. And then one defensive note, which hopefully will help the Falcons offense in general, Max Crosby is now out for the season.

Starting point is 00:08:24 So IDP leagues, you gotta find a replacement for one of the best pass rushers and this Raiders defense should be even worse. So maybe Kirk Cousins can find the end zone for the first time in four weeks. All right, let's get some questions Heath before we wrap this up. So you throw them up and we'll talk about it.

Starting point is 00:08:36 All right, so Cameron wants to know, Ramondre Stevenson or Najee Harris this week? I wish we knew the format, but let's assume PPR half PPR, how you approaching this? I'm going Najee just barely over a Mondrae in all formats. They're both borderline number twos. I've actually got them behind the bucks and behind Bricell.

Starting point is 00:08:53 I do hope that Ramon Dre fresh legs comes back from the bye week and does some damage against the Cardinals run defense like Charbonne did not to that extent, but you know, takes advantage of it. But yeah, I agree. I'd go nausea as well. Probably have a big role in the passing game without George Pickens to a tongue of I lower Sam Donald we going there. They're both top 12, but I will go with Sam Donald I like them both as potential top five quarterbacks, but I will go Donald as well next

Starting point is 00:09:14 James I guess it's Josh Josh Palmer James Mark James Palmer's reporter Josh Palmer Josh Downs that is that Colts game at 430 also? The Colts game? Yeah, it's in Denver. Okay, so that's really easy. If there's no Lad McConkey, I would start Josh Palmer. If Lad McConkey plays, I would start Josh Downs. Alright, I would go Downs either way. Next question. Bucky Irving or Sam Laporta PPR?

Starting point is 00:09:38 I'm going Bucky. I would go Bucky as well unless we get some report that he's going to be... Remember, both these games are also 4 o'clock. So you get a report that he's, uh, you know, going to be like, remember both these games are also four o'clock. So you get a report pregame. Hey, Bucky's going to be the backup. Then you go to the portal. Marvin Harrison, Jr. Adam feeling, I will go feeling I will go feeling as well. Uh, need a flex. Khalil Shakir, Jalen Waddle or Kate Otten.

Starting point is 00:10:02 Uh, I'm still going to go Shakir. I'm going to go Shakir as well, but I do like Jalen Waddle going back home to Houston. So we'll see if that matters for him. But Shakir is the safer option. Breece Hall or Devon H. And that's easy. Darno Mooney or Jalen Waddle.

Starting point is 00:10:17 Mooney. Yeah, especially again, no Max Crosby. This should be a huge game for the Falcons. Please Kirk Cousins deliver. Mooney or Waddle? We answered that right, so we'll go Mooney. Pick three. Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, Sincere McCormick, Breece Hall. Wow, so who's the odd man out here? I would sit Sincere McCormick. Yes, Sincerely sit McCormick. Next one. We'll go a couple more. Brian Thomas or DK McCaff?

Starting point is 00:10:40 Brian Thomas. Yeah, easy one for me too. All right, two more. Justin Herbert or Caleb Williams? I'm going Caleb. I'm going Herbert. And this is again, you'll know if McConkie plays. If McConkie plays, it's Herbert. If McConkie's out, it's Caleb. James Cook or Alvin Kamara, half PPR? Alvin Kamara for me.

Starting point is 00:11:01 Yeah, Alvin Kamara for me too. I'm nervous about both these guys to be honest with you. All right, last one. Jamis Winston or Aaron Rodgers. I do like Aaron Rodgers a lot this week too. Against Jacksonville. I'm going to go with Jamis and I'll just say like this was one where, because weather forecasts do change.

Starting point is 00:11:19 I'd probably be checking about 1230 and seeing what people are saying on Twitter, what Kevin Roth is saying right before game time about that weather in Cleveland, but assuming it doesn't get worse, I would go Jamis. I would go Jamis also. I am rooting very heavily against the jets today because Heath and I are in a tough matchup. My team sucked on Thursday night with Matthew Stafford, not playing great. And Puka was great. Karen Williams was okay.

Starting point is 00:11:42 Heath is going to beat me in the Yolo league because he's got Brice Hall back. He's got Devontae Adams. He's got Garrett Wilson. So go Jags go, shut down the Jets offense, and then maybe have a chance. You do currently have an illegal lineup in that league also. Oh no, I know.

Starting point is 00:11:54 I'm waiting till... Hiding your charters. I want to see what happens. That'll do it for us. Evan Ingram also out by the way, if you haven't seen. So Brenton Strange. There are some decent desperation tight ends. You got Brenton Strange you got Jordan Aikens in

Starting point is 00:12:07 Cleveland and there's one oh uh StoneSmartt for uh for the Chargers so some desperation titan plays if you're missing Evan Ingram. All right that'll do it for us we'll be back here at 11 30 a.m eastern on youtube answering all of your questions you can check out CBS Sports HQ at 10 a.m eastern as well get those lineups right check the weather, make sure everything is good for your fantasy playoff rosters. For Heath Cummings, I'm Jamie Eisenberg, this is Fantasy Club Tech.

Fantasy Football Today - LAST-MINUTE Week 15 Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Advice! Actives/Inactives Updates & Q&A! (12/15 Fantasy Football Podcast)

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