Fantasy Football Today - Most 2025 Upside; Conference Championship Picks and DFS (01/23 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

We talk football to start the show by breaking down the Conference Championship games and giving our picks. Will it all come down to turnovers? Can the Commanders pull off the upset? Then we get into 2025 upside as Dave and Jamey rank the upside for a two trios of quarterbacks (8:40). Who has the most upside among Bo Nix, Caleb Williams and Drake Maye? ... We talk upside at running back (18:00) and wide receiver (24:40). Most upside between Breece Hall, Alvin Kamara and Chuba Hubbard, most upside between three Ohio State WRs and much more ... DFS preview (36:30)! Players we must have and players we are avoiding, and we give chalky lineups and contrarian lineups ... 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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with iGaming Ontario. This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Oh, God! This is gonna go the distance.

Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath. We are previewing a couple of pretty big games this weekend. And we are also talking about upside for 2025. Who has the most upside? Drake, May, Caleb Williams, Bo Nicks, who has the most upside? Breeze Hall, Alvin Kamara or Chuba Hubbard. Chuba Hubbard was actually a top nine running back per game

in weeks three through 16. Now remember they got off to a terrible start with Bryce Young, then they benched him, then Bryce Young came back and he was good. Chuba Hubbard was the number nine running back in fantasy on pace for 306 carries, almost 1700 total yards. Long intro, but we got a lot to talk about today. We welcome you to Fantasy Football Today presented by Bet MGM the sportsbook born in Vegas and guys I

Want to I don't know we have to take like the whole show to figure it out. I Want to pick both underdogs this week Why not I mean a six-point road underdog that's a bold, like picking the commanders is bold. I just I think Jalen Hurts is Jalen Hurt. And I love the way they're playing, and I don't love the Eagles offense right now. But I think it's all going to come down to one thing that I'll talk about soon. But yeah, I mean, the other one, obviously, Bill's Chiefs is kind of a toss up to me, but Chiefs never lose.

How you guys feeling about these games? I think I feel the same way you do about Philadelphia. Jalen hurts. Isn't right. The door is open for the commanders to find a way to win. I just, I get a little bit worried about over rating Washington because they scored 14 points off of turnovers last week. Detroit turned the ball over four times. Detroit's defense, nowhere near as good

as Philadelphia's defense. I kind of lean toward Philadelphia just in general. The only chance, the only chance I think Washington wins is if Jalen Hurts is not himself. If that leg injury is much more severe. And we saw it at the end of last season when he wasn't right. That that offense was terrible. That team was terrible.

Like they knew they weren't going anywhere. I totally agree. The only difference is they have a pretty significant upgrade in their backfield and that guy can carry them to this game, to this win. So, and also the Cosme injury with Jalen Carter on the other side there, that that's a tough one too. So I feel like Washington's luck runs out this week, but I do think they keep close because I think

I don't think Philadelphia's offense is going to run away from them. And yeah, the other game is definitely a toss up. I mean, you know, the bills already beat the Chiefs once this year. Right. That's not a bold prediction. The other one's a little bit bold. So you mentioned the turn. I think it was five turnovers for the Lions, I think off through that interception at the very end there. That is the key, right?

And I wanted to talk about turnovers, and we'll get to some fantasy. The key to this entire postseason. For every game all the time, you know, you can break it down every which way, but here are just some turnover stats. Patrick Mahomes has thrown eight interceptions in 19 postseason games. He's thrown one interception inceptions in 19 postseason games.

He's thrown one interception in his last eight postseason games. Mahomes has three playoff games in his career with two picks and he's lost two of those three. But this one's wild. Mahomes, I don't know if you can blame the refs for this one. Mahomes has 12 postseason fumbles. He's only lost one of them.

So luck has been on his side. Josh Allen's only thrown four picks in 12 postseason games. He's got nine postseason fumbles and he's lost two of them. But Jalen Hurts, I mean this is why I can't, I don't think I can pick the commander. Says Jalen Hurts just doesn't turn the ball over. He'll take a negative play, but he will not throw the ball up for grabs.

He has four picks in 12 postseason, oh sorry, that was Allen. He has two picks, yeah, two not throw the ball up for grabs. He has four picks in 12 postseason. Oh, sorry, that was Alan. He has two picks. Yeah, two picks in the playoffs. They were both in his first ever playoff game. So he's gone now six straight playoff games without interception. I think he's played seven total.

So, you know, these veteran quarterbacks, they don't turn the ball over in the playoffs. It's probably what it's gonna come down to. You know what another interesting aspect is? I know you guys made fun of me last year when I said that the Chiefs of Harrison-Butker, he's such a big advantage. I think I maybe said that going into the Super Bowl.

If I recall, I think Moody missed a couple of field goals for the Niners in the Super Bowl. That never happens. He missed one, maybe. These kickers have not been good. These four teams have had kickers who really haven't been that good this year. Buckers not having a great year.

Bass is not that good. Washington's had what, six kickers this year? Something crazy. And Jake Elliott hasn't had that good of a year. So that's just another interesting little wrinkle here. But I'm gonna pick, you know what, fine, let's do it. I'm gonna pick, you know what, fine, let's do it. I'm gonna pick the Chiefs and Eagles.

After all that. What the logo is. What the logo is? Yeah, the colors. Oh, yeah. I think I'm just gonna go with the favorites. I have no idea what you're talking about with the colors, I'm just pretending.

Oh yeah, right, exactly. Mm-hmm, yeah. The logo has predicted the Super Bowl. Like three or four years in a row. Which logo? The Super Bowl logo. Well, I haven't seen it. The colors. Don't you know this story?

No. We talked about this literally each of the last two Super Bowls. Well, I don't remember what we talked about yesterday. You remember hyping up Harrison Butcher, but you don't remember the Super Bowl logo story. Okay, I'm reading about it now. That's the logo.

Yeah. Okay. What are your picks? Chief's Eagles. Eagles, Bills. Eagles, Bills. What are you rooting for? What do you want to see?

Bills commanders. Bills commanders. I just want to see? Those commanders. Those commanders. I just want to see good games. Dave, just as long as the Bears are good, Dave doesn't care. Do you know what an Eagles... I don't think Heath has been so giddy about a joke that he was trying to make as he was yesterday. Yeah, he was embarrassed.

Do you know what an Eagles commanders NFC championship game is to a Giants fan? This is tough. Yeah, with Saquon Barkley as the star, sure. I don't mind, I love Saquon. I'm happy, like I'm rooting for him, I don't care. He's in my Fando lineup, which we'll talk about a little bit later. All right, if you haven't signed up yet for BetMGM,

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if your bet loses. Just make sure that you use the bonus code fantasy when you sign up. All right, later on in the show, we'll be telling you the matchups to watch, you know, the, you know, Xavier Worthy, is he gonna in for a good game? It's kind of tough.

You look at the wide receivers in this game, in this slate. AJ Brown's been playing hurt, and he's got what, five targets in two games. Just Jalen Hurts is barely throwing, you know, they're just running so much. McLaurin, I don't know. I'll find out if you guys like him. I'll save that. But obviously he had one terrible game, one great game against the Eagles.

Wide receivers, a little bit tough, especially if to start three of them. But first, our first topic today is 2025 upside. So I have groups of three players. I want to know, I want you to rank them Upside, just Upside. Our first group, it's at quarterback and it's three of the rookies, now second year guys. Drake May, Caleb Williams, Bo Nix. Dave, you can start.

Rank them in terms of Upside. Drake May, Caleb Williams, Bo Nix. Williams, May, Nix. And I feel like we've seen the best of bone next. And I guess what I'm especially concerned about with him is what happens in his second season using CJ Stroud as the example, amazing rookie year, second season looks mortal again. In fact, he looked more like a rookie in his second season than his first season.

I think with the changes coming in New England and Chicago, those quarterbacks can be better in their second years. If they're worse, then that's a problem for those franchises. I wonder about what changes does Denver make that will make Bo Nix a better quarterback compared to the changes that defenses will make that'll make him tougher to them it'll make it harder for him to put up better numbers. So i think next might be viewed as like a safe twenty point fantasy guy that you'll draft late. you'll draft late. But I think May is going to have some upside as receiving core is going to get upgraded and Caleb Williams already we've we can check off one box his playbook will be better his play designs will be better with Ben Johnson and I'm sure Chicago will address their offensive line they've

already got the receivers we can see Caleb Williams have a very big jump in his second season. All right Jamie same same question question to you. Rank them in terms of upside. Drake, May, Caleb, Williams, Bo, Nix. I agree with the order. I think in terms of upside, that's the right way to go. With Williams, then May, then Nix. The one thing that's interesting about Nix, I think we could also see a potential receiving core

upgrade, whether it's another receiver or tight end being brought in. The one thing that I think just, to Dave's point, is we have a new head coach going to Chicago. being brought in the the one thing that I think just you know today's point is We have a new head coach going to Chicago. We have a new head coach Obviously, you know season play caller going to New England to work with a new quarterback Sean Payne's been through this before where you know, how does he evolve his offense and evolve his quarterback? And so I think that wrinkle helps Bo Nix not necessarily stay stagnant. The nice thing about all three of these guys is they can run.

We know that there's potential for all of those guys to have that if things break down. Nix started off running a little bit more early in the season, then he went away from it, then he went back to it. I think depending on what the receiving corps look like for Denver and for New England, that will probably determine how much upside Boeniks and Drake may have. Again, I agree with Dave. I think that the Patriots have the biggest jump in receiving corps, receivers getting upgraded.

The Bears are probably going to lose somebody. I mean, there's a chance of Keenan Allen not being back. That's a slight downgrade, I think. Just given Ben Johnson being there, Caleb Williams having the most talent of these three, he easily has the most upside of these three quarterbacks. They all can run. You guys mentioned that Drake may average 7.8 yards per carry.

That is the most yards per carry for a quarterback, a passer rating qualified quarterback, all right? So one who played enough. Since 2011, when Michael Vick and Christian Ponder both averaged 7.8 yards per carry. So Drake Mays yards per carry will decrease. How much of it was that first half against the Jets before he got concussed? I mean, it was the whole year. That was only like three carries, I think, for 50 something yards or whatever. But I don't know, I'm just going, that's off the top of my head, I don't know.

But. I thought he had 90 in the first half. It wasn't a huge day. In the game that he left early? He left at halftime. In my off, yeah. Let me tell you right now, he played like 30% of the snap. He had 46 rushing yards and a touchdown.

And six pass attempts in week eight. Yeah, no, it was the whole year. So that's gonna come down. Also, I'm just looking now. Over the last 10 years, 31 rookie quarterbacks who are, I don't know what the criteria is. They're pass or rating qualified or whatever.

True media is sorting this. Drake May, 26th in interception rate. The only players who have had a higher interception rate than Drake May as rookies, Josh Rosen, Sam Darnold, Justin Fields, Josh Allen, and Deshaun Kaiser. Wow, so in like six years, Drake May's gonna be awesome when he gets with Kevin O'Connell.

Yeah, or he could be Josh Allen. No, I mean, Drake Drake Maze is really interesting. People are completely overlooking the interceptions. And I know we should because it was kind of a problem for him in college to made a lot of risky throws. All right, Anthony Richardson, Justin Herbert, CJ Stroud. That's our next group of quarterbacks, Anthony Richardson, Justin Herbert and CJ Stroud. It's pretty easy to rank Richardson last.

I don't know, maybe even put him ahead of Stroud. Upside, he's first. No, no, no, I meant overall. Oh yeah. Again, if you just do upside, this guy scored 22 or more fantasy points in three of his last five games. Yeah, what are your thoughts? Go ahead, you can start, Jamie. Richardson, Herbert, Stroud.

I mean, we've seen the upside really for all three guys, you know small sample size for Richardson But I think if he ever gets it, you know with his ability to run he could be a top five fantasy quarterback But that's a huge ask at this point just based on what he's looked like as a passer Herbert's obviously done it in his career already and Stroud did it as a rookie So there's potential for both of those guys, but just based on what we saw the In the 2024 campaign. I'll say Richardson, Herbert, shroud in terms of upside right now. It's hard to say if Richardson's one though, because all of his, he has four, I think he has like four career games. Maybe it was just four games last year with 20 plus. Uh, and he had a

rushing touchdown in each of them. I don't remember how many that he had as a rookie, but he's got multiple passing touchdowns in three of 12 career games where he's played at least 90% of the snaps, 230 or more yards in one of those 12 games, he's gotta be a better thrower. I love that we're already hearing about him getting with a coach and learning how to be a better thrower. Indy, why didn't you do this like the day you drafted him? That's my question to the Colts organization. But if he does become a better thrower, then his upside is awesome.

But we have seen from Herbert as a rookie, as a second year player for part of his third year, and then for the tail end of last year, upside to average 25 fantasy points per game. And so I still, I think I would rather trust that than fingers crossed that Anthony Richardson becomes a better thrower and stays healthy and the offense is designed around him passing just as much as it is him rushing. Makes me a little bit nervous. Will there be more smash games for Richardson if it all works in his favor? Hell yeah, way more. But I just I feel like the guy I'm drafting first is going to be Herbert and the one that is the most

upside just for like 25 on a semi consistent basis. Give me Herbert over Richardson. Okay, and the last eight, last 11 games for Justin Herbert, he was a top 12 quarterback, back end, like 10. Almost 23 points per game. Yeah, 10th per game and four point, 11th per game and six point. He averaged 31 pass attempts per game, which isn't great. A lot though, I think, compared to what he was doing before that. And yeah, he was good. But that's what you should expect next year.

They're not going to open things up dramatically. Right. Depends on who their running back is. I don't think it's going to be worse than what it was this year. I would hope that they would address it. But if they address it in a major way, that's when I could say, all right, maybe we should pump the breaks on the upside for Herbert. Okay, let's take a break. Come back and do this with some running backs and wide receivers.

Talk more upside after this on Fantasy Football today. Bet MGM, authorized gaming partner of the NBA, has your back all season long. From tip off to the final buzzer, you're always taken care of with a sportsbook born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with Bet MGM. And no matter your team, your favorite player, or your style, there's something every NBA fan will love about Bet MGM. Download the app today and discover why Bet MGM is your basketball home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with Bet MGM, a sportsbook worth a slam dunk and authorized gaming partner of the NBA. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly.

If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. All right, welcome back. Here we go. By the way, to join our Facebook group. It's a really good way to chat with people during the off season about your dynasty questions about

upcoming drafts, whatever it is, just want to chat about fantasy football. So go to Facebook and search for fantasy football today. Running back, who has the most upside out of this trio? Rank them, Dave, Breeze Hall, Alvin Kamara, Chupa Hubbard. Wow. I'll say Breeze first. Gosh, it's definitely format dependent, but I'll breeze first. It's definitely format dependent but i'll say breeze first. And i think i'll lean chuba over camera i hate giving up on camera though i mean you have more fancy boys per game in ppr the both those guys. Last year is it so it's totally based on, all right. Alvin Camara is going to be 30 this coming season. Saints are going to probably bring in somebody or really hope that Kendra Miller gets it and stays healthy to help shoulder that workload.

Still don't know who that coach is going to be. Still don't know who the offensive coordinator is going to be. I feel like there's a lot that could go really wrong for Camara, which is why I'm going to put him third. I think Chuba will be the main running back again this coming year for Carolina. So he'll be second. And I still believe in Bryce Hall and braces the youngest of the three by by a wide margin. Remember, this is just upside. We're just doing upside here. Yeah, Bryce Hall has a chance to still be a top five fantasy running back.

Okay. So you go back and I know Camara was Camara top five and PPR fifth per game. Right. So two years in a row, not that same type of upside too, but he's got to be able to, he I know he led running backs and targets on a per game basis. Like he's got to be able to do that and still score a lot of touchdowns. Does he have all those opportunities? I don't know. Okay. So Dave goes, Breeze Hall, Chuba Hubbard, Alvin Kamara, Jamie?

Same order. Oh, OK. Hubbard, yeah, I did want to just bring up how good he was, but he averaged 4.8 yards per carry. Last year he averaged 3.8. They certainly made some big additions on the offensive line over the off season. So you figured that probably helped. And coach.

Yeah, right. Yeah, everything was better. And the quarterback play over the off season. So you figured that probably helped. And coach. Yeah, right. Everything was better. And the quarterback play was better too. He was overall number 13 per game, but in those last 13 games for him, or 14, yeah, 13 games, I think. He was number nine per game. So, all right, next up we've got DeAndre Swift,

Rico Dowdell, and Tyrone Tracy Jr. DeAndre Swift, Rico Dowdell, and Tyrone Tracy Jr. DeAndre Swift, Rico Dowdell, Tyrone Tracy Jr., Jamie who has the most upside ranked those three. I think just given the coaching change, I'm gonna go Swift first, you know, because if things hit for him in Ben Johnson's offense, knowing that right now, his competition is Roshan Johnson, who's had a hard time staying healthy,

and you know, who knows what the coaching staff will think of him. So I'll go Swift one. Um, is Tracy and who? Dowdell. Uh, yeah, Tracy will be two and Dowdell will be three. I don't know where Dowdell's playing next year. So that's a big part of this. So if he returns to the Cowboys, depending on who the coach is there, you know, you figure that they're going to have an, an upgrade or competition at least, uh, for that backfield knowing how Jerry Jones feels about running backs. So Doudel

will definitely be third. Okay, Dave. So Jamie's going Swift Tracy Doudel. I want to put Tracy first. And so I'll do it in pencil. I'll put Tracy first in pencil because I think I think he'll be the one a running back for the giants next year. Giants, uh, they, they just drafted Tracy Devin Singletary, if they cut them, they, they sink a ton of money on the cap. So I think Singletary will be back. The coach that drafted Tracy and signed Singletary is still there in Brian Dable. I, for now, I'm going to assume that that's their backfield tandem for 2025, as good or bad as it is, at least Tracy average 13.1 PPR points per game from

week five on that's better than what Swift did over the course of the 2024 season and not far off from what Swift did in 2022 with Detroit 13.7 PPR points per game. That was with Ben Johnson calling the shots. I think there's a little bit more uncertainty with Swift in Chicago moving forward. I think with Swift, one of the uncertainties is who's the goal line back? It's 31% of his team's carries from inside the five yard line. It was Roshan Johnson was getting those and you know, not always. That's really going to cap his upside if he can't score enough touchdowns.

It certainly did in Philly. Absolutely. But I should go look right now to see what happened in 2022. Did they trust him down there? Did they pull him for Jamal? Then I think they almost certainly pulled him for Jamal, right? They did, yeah. Didn't he draw like 18 touchdowns? 17.

He's been a very short yardage back. He was David Montgomery before David Montgomery was. That's always been an issue for Swift. He's not been a good short yardage back. He's a guy who averaged 3.8 yards per carry when usually, you know, he's much, much better there. Was that because, you know, he's played behind pretty good offensive lines pretty much his whole career did not necessarily do that this year But yeah, I don't know what a swift have so if that 42 catches in 17 games was that change of Keenan Allen comes back It's an interesting one Dowdle Dowdle the only case I would make for him is that they just rode him through he was on pace for

345 carries in the last seven games of the season. He had the third most carries in the NFL, and just their undisputed guys. So I guess there's a scenario where they don't really upgrade at running back. They don't really have cap space to do. He's a free agent. Yeah, right. If they bring him back, right. If they bring him back. So it just again, we're talking upside here. So if we're drafting today, I'm taking Tracy first, if we're just talking about who's got the chance to be the best of this trio, which I mean, that's why I've been

approaching this exercise. If Swift hits in Ben Johnson's offense, he could be a superstar. Like, I don't see that for these other two guys. Like I think Tracy, what you saw last year, given the fact that it's going to be most likely a rookie quarterback, or let's just say it's a decrepit Kirk cousins. Um, you know, it, I don't, I don't know if that environment makes things better for him. Okay. Let's go to 2022, uh, 2022 D'Andre Swift had four carries inside the five, two touchdowns, Jamal Williams, 33 carries inside the five, 14 rushing touchdowns. That was with Big Bet Johnson calling the plays in Motown. All right, let's go to wide receiver now.

We'll go in Ohio State in honor of the, can't even say it out loud. You know what they did on Monday, good for them. Rank these guys with upside, Marvin Harrison Jr., Jackson Smith and Jigba Garrett Wilson. Dave, you can go first. I love all these guys and they're all very talented. I'm going to take JSN based on how last season ended the optimism that the Seahawks will get it right with their new offensive coordinator and that JSN will lead the team and targets by a hefty margin. We saw last year, it was from week eight on once DK Metcalf got hurt.

JSN averaged 19 PPR points per game. That's that's hitting his upside. Garrett Wilson hasn't really come close to that in his career. And even if he's the number one guy for whoever the quarterback is in New York, I don't see him getting that high. his career. And even if he's the number one guy for whoever the quarterback is in New York, I don't see him getting that high. And Marvin Harrison, I want to say that we're going to see him thrive in the second season. Doesn't look like the Cardinals are changing their personnel, or at least their coaching staff on offense. Will they make the appropriate changes to make Marvin Harrison a superstar? I'm skeptical. And if they

do, it's going to hurt Trey McBride. If they don't, then they're acknowledging that Trey McBride is their number one guy. And that Marvin Harrison's more of like a one B as far as like the passing offense in general goes. So give me JSN first, give me G-dub second, and Marvin Harrison Jr., who we all love last year, myself included, bringing up the rear. I just wanna say, you know, you mentioned what JSN averaged. You wanna give that number again, once Metcalfe- 19 PPR points per game from week eight through, it's through week 17, I should've mentioned that,

cause week 18 he didn't do anything. Well I'm not- And on the air it's 14.9. I mean, I'm not gonna just take away week 18, he had a bad game against Rams backups. But I am gonna take away weeks eight and nine because Metcalf didn't play in those games. If you just wanna know what Jackson Smith and Jigba did once Metcalf came back,

he averaged 15.9 PPR fantasy points per game. He was around wide receiver 20 per game. It's good. But he had a 39 point game without DK Metcalf, a 37 point game against the Rams in week nine, 13 points against the Bills in week eight. So I just wanted to take those games away, I thought would be better. And they didn't, they didn't really have a great passing offense down the stretch last year. I

feel like they weren't throwing the ball that much. But what if I told you that the Seahawks could save 18 million bucks against the Cap? I know. It's worth mentioning, but I just, I don't know, for the sake of this exercise, probably should do it with Metcalf on the team. They could definitely move on from him.

It's like every off season we hear about them maybe trading him. All right, so I'm sorry, you went JSN, Garrett Wilson, Marvin Harrison Jr., and Jamie, how would you rank those three? Just in terms of upside, and I agree with Dave's sentiment, I love all three of these guys, but it would be Marvin Harrison one Garrett Wilson to JSN three.

How are you treating the Devante Adams situation as you consider Garrett Wilson's upside? I'm not expecting him back. Dave, what about that? Okay. So they save a ton on the cap if they cut it. Yeah. And you know, it's a toss up for me between Harrison and Wilson, because I hope the Jets get their quarterback situation right and realize what a talent that Wilson could be, you know, it hasn't really materialized over

the course of a season yet, whether due to poor quarterback play, inconsistent performances from him, obviously the addition of Devontae Adams, but if Marvin Harrison hits based on his pedigree, he could be a superstar. Big if, but again, you know, that's what we're looking at here.

We're talking about, can he reach his ceiling? And his ceiling should be better than these two guys. How do you feel about that, Dave? Do you still think of that way of Marvin Harrison Jr.? I didn't see much speed from him last year. And that's kind of an important trait to have if you're gonna play wide receiver in the NFL. That's so weird.

There've been a lot of good receivers. I remember when Traylon Burks came out, he's not a great example, but when Traylon Burks came out, he ran a really slow 40, like in the four sixes or something. And then there was this whole list of these wide receivers who ran slow 40s and ended up being really good. I remember a lot of them started with the letter D, Demarius Thomas and Des Bryant were two that I remember. So it's not the only thing that matters. But yeah, I mean, a lot of

people just kind of felt that way about Marvin Harrison. This guy? But I think he just does other things well, right? He's really good at contested catches. We didn't like the way they used him. Hardly any easy catches near the line of scrimmage. Everything downfield.

Same rookie numbers as his dad. Almost identical. Yeah. It's funny. Yeah, okay. All right, so I like the difference of opinion there. All. It's funny. Yeah. Okay. Alright, so I like the difference of opinion there. Alright, let's go last one here. Jerry Judy, Zay Flowers,

Xavier Worthy, who has the most upside? And for sake of argument here, let's say Rashid Rice is ready for week one. Jerry Judy, Zay Flowers, Xavier Worthy, Jamie, who has the most upside? Rank those. Well, I mean, if Flowers, Xavier Worthy, Jamie, who has the most upside rank those? Well, I mean, if we're doing hypotheticals, then who's the quarterback for the Browns?

A rookie. A rookie. Okay. So just not Deshaun Watson, which is not going to be him. Oh, it's definitely not going to be him. Yeah. So it's not Jameson. I mean, that's, it could be Jameson.

It could be Jameson. What if it's decrepit Kirk Cousins? I guess as long as it's not Deshaun Watson, which is going to be Jamis. What if it's decrepit Kirk Cousins? I guess as long as it's not Deshaun Watson, which is going to be the case. Upside I say Judy Wan, worthy two, flowers three. Dave? I might flip flowers and worthy, and I don't mean it's slight worthy but let's be real there they're gonna be it's gonna be a better and healthier receiving core. Can say it's just a matter of how many games will she rice play is there a suspension coming that get worthy off to a red hot start.

Does he play so well early on next year that he doesn't really lose his role. year that he doesn't really lose his role. So a lot of questions there, but I think the fun thing about it is Jerry Judy could be first on this list and he might be the third one on draft day that goes off the board. Yeah, he's an interesting one. Incredible end of the season. So, what if it's, okay, now I'm going to give you Shadr Sanders as his quarterback. Does that change the order of upside between Judy Flowers and Worthy? Then I would go Worthy Judy Flowers. I think, you know, the scenario Dave brought up with the Chiefs, barring something really significant changing in Baltimore, and I don't know if the change is necessarily better for flowers, unless it's just Mark Andrews leaves, but they sort of killed that storyline yesterday

with everything that they said, that he's still their guy. I don't think things get necessarily better from an environment standpoint. His role will be the same. We'll have some spike weeks. We'll have some games where he disappears. game you know assuming that there can raise back and healthy where they just don't throw as much and Lamar Jackson's just efficient gets his number that way worthy is. There there's a little bit of Tyree kill there you know in this office cuz the

speed is there the creativity and how they use them was there you know down the stretch yes rice being back will be a huge huge I was a huge it'll be a is there, the creativity and how they use them was there, you know, down the stretch. Yes, Rice being back will be a huge, huge, I don't want to say huge, it'll be a negative, but Kelsey may be gone, you know, and that may change some things. And so I think the one thing that we could see with the Chiefs, which we really haven't seen, you know, you can make the case, okay, peak Tyree kill, what they have from Sammy Watkins and Pete Kelsey. This may be their fastest receiving core, depending on who the third guy is, because Brown's a free agent as well.

So Marquis Brown. So we'll see what happens there. But Andy Reid with speed is just lethal. Mahomes with speed is lethal. And Worthy is showing that he's not just a speed guy. That was the story coming out of the draft, that he's's not just a speed guy. You know, that was the story coming out of the draft, you know, that he's more than just a speed guy. And you saw it the last three games of the regular season or the last three games they played in the regular season and play with kicking. He had 31 targets over that span. You know, they're still giving him, I think, 10 carries over that span.

You know, so they're finding ways to put the ball in his hand. And again, no rice there. And Kelsey was still being, you know, somewhat managed. No rice there and Kelsey was still being, you know, somewhat managed. Not the greatest playoff debut, but still second on the team in targets behind Kelsey had five catches, you know, just didn't do a lot with it. It just feels like he's on the cusp of a huge potential breakout. Rice there, not rice there. Okay. All right. Well, we're going to talk about Xavier worthy in just a little bit and see if we want to throw him in our DFS lineups.

Anything else here? Yeah, let's just run through the news and notes real quick. The Jets hired Aaron Glenn, the Lions defensive coordinator, a former jet to be their head coach. The Bengals hired Al Golden as their new defensive coordinator. He was that one, Adam. I have no issue with Al Golden. You know, he tried his best. He was dealt a bad hand. Al Golden was a former Miami Hurricanes head coach and he showed up and then like bam, almost immediately as I recall, it's been a while, the Nevin Shapiro, Yahoo story came out. And that was a pretty tough circumstance to work through. And one thing I'll say about Al Golden,

he did beat the Florida Gators in Miami. So that was good for him. I think he beat Oklahoma, he beat Ohio State maybe? Yeah, in like their one bad year. Jacksonville, this is so interesting. Jacksonville gets turned down by Liam Cohen and then they fire their GM, Trent Balky, not long after. So stupid.

And then maybe see if they can make another run at Liam Cohen. I know he's getting a raise. No, Liam Cohen staying in Tampa Bay. I think the thing that you might see, which is frustrating for Trevor Lawrence in the offense, is Robert Sala as the head coach. There was some talk of maybe, I think Jacksonville's dream scenario was Ben Johnson head coach Robert Sala defense coordinator and now it look it

look it's looking like maybe solid could be the head coach there. And for some weekend updates, not the SNL version, Philadelphia center Cam Juergens mispractice AJ Brown says he's feeling better. Philadelphia cornerback Quinyan Mitchell was limited and Dallas Goddard mispracticed. I think, I mean, I think that everyone's going to play for Philadelphia, I believe. Maybe not. They had a walkthrough. So it was just estimated practice reports.

The two injuries that don't look great right now are those two defensive backs, Taylor Rapp and Christian Benford for the Bills. So again, that's another reason why I'm picking the Chiefs. I don't know if those guys are going to play, but we'll talk more about DFS, who we like, who we don't like when we come back on Fantasy Football Today. All right, it's tough to set those lineups. There's only two games, but let's try anyway.

Who are the must have players? Who do you guys love this week? When I set my lineup, the first name I put in was Saquon Barkley. And I know that I would imagine a lot of people will do that, but I just, I can't resist the matchup. Commander's run defense has been bad. Past five games, 4.9 yards per carry,

seven rushing touchdowns allowed. They're just, they haven't been great, and Saquon has smoked them both times. So might be chalky and he's definitely expensive, but he was the very first name that I put into my lineup. There are three must plays for me. Barkley is one, Kelsey is the other, and Josh Allen is the third. And figure out the rest. We're going to have the same lineups. I feel like- Everybody's going to have the same. Everybody's and figure out the rest. Where can i have the same lineups everybody's got the same you have to hit on a cur to Samuel you have to hit on a you know like we saw last week brian robinson scoring two touchdowns and nobody playing him cream on scoring two touchdowns like one of those type of things. Ty Johnson goes for a 60 yard touchdown catch from Josh Allen. That's gonna be how you win something like this.

Or you just go nuts and you say, I'm gonna play Kenny Pickett. Well, I think, you know, which quarterback, let's start with the quarterback. You guys are gonna start Josh Allen. Josh Allen is my fan duel quarterback. To me, there are three quarterbacks. I would not play Jalen Hurts.

Yeah, I agree. But does that mean you should play Jalen Hurts? You know what I mean? Right. Look, there's gonna be everybody's gonna have a million different lineup combinations. Hurts is gonna get played a lot. But if you're ranking them, you know, just based on health and recent performances, like how would you trust Jalen Hurts? Why would you trust Jalen Hurts when you could start my homes for 500 less? The only reason would be to be contrarian and to hope that the leg injury isn't that bad.

Yep. So Buffalo and Kansas City have played three times in the playoffs. Kansas City's won all three games in the 2020 season, 2021 playoffs, 2020 season. They won 38, 24 at home. Next year, 2020 season, they won 3824 at home. Next year, 2021 season, they won 4236. That was the crazy game in Kansas City. And in the 2023 season, they won in Buffalo 2724. Josh Allen scored 30 or more fantasy points and six points

for passing touchdown leagues in all three games. Patrick Mahomes did that in two of three games. Mahomes has had a passer rating of one twenty three point one or better in all three games against Buffalo. And it also just in the playoffs and also just seems like he starts to run more in the playoffs. He will do whatever it takes. So I was tempted to put him in there but you know at the end of the day he just hasn't really had that great of a year and he didn't really have he did

he had a bad fantasy game last week even though he made an incredible thing. We never talked about that throw. Holy cow that throw. Same throw Joe Burrow had. To who? Burrow did it to T Higgins like two weeks prior against Pittsburgh. I think. Did you guys notice how windy it was? You know why it was so windy in the stadium, by the way? Because there were so many fans. Nice. I heard that dad joke over the weekend on Sunday and I kept meeting to say it on the show and I kept forgetting. So and I forgot again, but I was going to leave the show with it, but luckily it just came up organically

You have a weather report for what's expected this weekend? I don't think no I don't but I don't think it's I think it's just gonna be cold. Let's see what Kevin Roth says Yeah, they're both going in Florida. How about that? I'm gonna be that cold for Washington, Philadelphia low 40s Buffalo Kansas City, temperatures around freezings, but freezing light winds. This is at rotogrinders.com slash weather slash NFL. So I'm not concerned about weather here. All right, so quarterback don't start Jalen Hurts

is basically what we're saying. Running back, do you feel like you have to pay up for Barkley? Dave, you obviously do. I do. I mean, you know, it's so the one fan to line up that I did so far was Barkley and James Cook. And the first version that I had was Barkley and Eckler. I mean, the second running back is no guarantee. You know, Chiefs running defense obviously is good, but they gave up the two

touchdowns to Cook the first time that they played Robinson. I don't want to trust that. We both had, I had Eckler too. So just we got the same lineups. And yeah, I was also flunked. To find the wide receivers to trust at a discount, going with Barkley and Cook as safe plays with huge upside makes a ton of sense. And that's what I'm doing on DraftKings.

I think two players that I have the most questions about are James Cook. For most of the season, the Chiefs had a great run defense. It has not been that great lately. James Cook did score twice against them, but he did not have a good game. He was not efficient. Last week he didn't get the touchdown,

but he usually gets touchdowns. So it's him and it's McLaurin. How much do you trust him? He's pretty expensive, but I don't think people are gonna pay up for AJ Brown after what we've seen. McLaurin is the high end guy that I think people are going to trust the most.

So who do you guys trust more, James Cook or Terry McLaurin? Right now James Cook. Why not both? Oh, okay. I'm gonna roll with both. Easier to do that on DraftKings because you get the full point for each catch. If I had to pick one, I think McLaurin probably has the better game script, tougher matchup, but the better game script to expect good numbers. tougher matchup, but the better game script to expect good numbers.

Bills did run pretty successfully the last two weeks kind of overall against two great run defenses. A lot as Josh Allen, though. The cook obviously was very good against Denver. Wasn't as good last week against the Ravens. So I didn't actually I forgot I have both James Cook and Austin Eckler and Saquon Barkley in my Fandle lineup. I have Cook at flex. I don't know why I shied away from McClure and I think I just couldn't really afford him. It's tough like if you put Barkley and Josh Allen in your lineup you know that's tough. You might try doing it with Kelsey too. Oh I did.

I kind of went cheap at receiver just because I think this, this, it's funny because like you could see great game from Daniels, you can see great game for Alan, great game from Holmes, and that really doesn't have to be because of, it even hurts, great because of a receiver. You know what, let's go ahead and review our lineups then because Jamie, let's compare our Fandool lineups. I have a feeling they're quite similar. Go ahead.

So I have Josh Allen at quarterback, Saquon Barkley and James Cook at running back. I have Khalil Shakir, Xavier Worthy, and Diami Brown at receiver. Kelsey at tight end, Ertz at flex, and the commander's defense. We have the same exact lineup,

except I have Eckler at flex Flex and you have Ertz. Yep. That's awful. We're like it's just... But this is what almost everybody's dealing with. You know, you got to have something that sets yourself apart because there's going to be so many of the same combinations. All right. I'm going to make a new lineup that...

I'm going to keep this one, but I'm going to make a new one that's like just completely different. So Alan, Barclay, Cook, Worthy, Shakir, Diyami Brown, Travis Kelsey, Austin Eckler, Commanders DST. Good. Can I make a suggestion? I was gonna go as Zacchaeus with another revenge game factor, but he's banged up. Yeah. Let me make a suggestion. I don't know if we have time for them. Could each of us make a unique lineup with like one, one specification, like one of us makes a lineup with Hertz as the quarterback. One of us makes a lineup, you got to go super cheap at running back, like three contrarian lineups.

Because if you're going to make a new lineup, I think I could give mine, which isn't that far off from you. And then we could each try and make a unique lineup to give an idea a taste of What it would be like to have something contrarian for the FS this week. Yeah, sure. All right. So why don't I give my lineup? Like if we're excited that does someone want to make a lineup without Barclay cook or Eckler Mmm No How about Barclay Cook or Eckler? No. It's a challenge. That's too, no. I don't see how, which two running backs would I start?

I mean, Brian Robinson. I'm fine starting Brian Robinson. I'm not starting. One of the Bill Stiffs. No, I'm not willing to do that. And even just as an exercise, I'm not saying you have to put $25 on it. I don't want to do something that I think is going to lose.

Okay, anchors. I mean, it's just, you know, okay, so you have to pick a hail Mary run back to Mark Lee and Kelsey are going to be the two most popular players. Right. So Brian Robinson is doing a lineup without those two guys. Can you do that? Sure. So I don't have the pricing for any, but I would go Jane Daniels, um, Eckler and Karim hunt. Then McLaurin.

All right. I'll do the line up that Adam or Devante Smith and Marquise Brown. Goddard Earths, FLEX and pick a defense. I miss that. Dave, go ahead. What are you doing? I'm building a lineup without Saquon Cook or Eckler. Okay. You know, why don't you do this for Express? I'm building a lineup without Saquon, Cook, or Eckler. Why don't you do this for Express?

We could. Done. Unfortunately, I erased my original lineup. It was with Mahomes. I had Barclay Cook, Kelsey, and a bunch of cheap receivers along with McLaurin. I'll have two lineups written on the site so you can see what one on Fandl, one on Drakken. Okay, cool. Okay, I have a new lineup. And Dalton Kincaid is going to be in it. So it's Mahomes, Barclay. That's like $3 on fire.

Mahomes, Barclay, Robinson at running back. Worthy, McLaurin, Diami Brown, Kelsey, I like this. Kelsey at tight end, Dalton Kincaid at flex, and the Chiefs DST. I like that lineup. Okay. Did we want to give any more? It's been out of our Kincaid, hopefully it doesn't.

I mean, yeah, it's the Chiefs, they struggle with tight ends at times. Dawson Knox for the win. Probably. Anything else guys? Okay great. No. Enjoy the games. What are you guys gonna get together with people? No. I might be with Heath depending on how our basketball team does. Oh what's at stake? For basketball? Mm-hmm. Oh they have a tournament so Sunday is usually

elimination day so if they do well Saturday, we'll determine what time we play on Sunday. Heath was Heath was scrimmaging with the kids yesterday. He was he was killing them. Yeah. Wow. He took I think one shot. But he was just distributing and rebounding and running out of breath. It was pretty funny. At one point, at one point, he passed the ball and he said to, and mind you, these are 12, maybe a couple 13 year olds, he says to the kid, bring out the ball, he goes, walk

it up the court. He takes his time. And then we made eye contact and I just lost it. So if you win Saturday, what time do you play Sunday? We don't know. So we were 0 and 2 on Saturday last weekend and we had the 9 o'clock game in the morning which is when the crappy teams play. And if we win, we play later in the day so that you just have to win one then you get

to the championship. Okay, but you'll be home in time for the games? Depends. I don't know. It's three three o'clock game. He missed. I mean, this is his dedication to being a coach. He missed the first half of Chief's tech since last week.

Yeah, that's why I'm not going to coach ever. Oh, yeah, that's why. All right. All right, everybody. We will talk to you all on Monday. Enjoy your weekend. Enjoy the games. And we'll see who's in the Super Bowl. For Dave and Jamie, I'm Adam. Have a good one. Talk you all on Monday. Enjoy your weekend, enjoy the games, and we'll see who's in the Super Bowl. For Dave and Jamie, I'm Adam.

Have a good one. Talk to you later on Monday.