Fantasy Football Today - NFL DFS Divisional Round Lineups, Picks, Stacks & Ownership Projections (Fantasy Football Today DFS podcast)

Episode Date: January 20, 2023

Download and follow Fantasy Football Today DFS! You can find FFT DFS on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else podcasts are found. Join our $5 Divisional Round DFS contest over on Draftkings- https://www.draftkings.com/draft/contest/140508789 Sia Nejad and Mike McClure are previewing the NFL DFS Divisional Round slate. They run through each game, offering their favorite stacks and plays, also letting you know which players to avoid. (1:10)- Jags at Chiefs (9:45)- Giants at Eagles  (20:40)- Bengals at Bills (25:50) - Cowboys at 49ers  'Fantasy Football Today DFS' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Follow our FFT DFS team on Twitter: @FFToday, @Mike5754 @SiaNejad Watch FFT DFS on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday 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 DFS 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." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/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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Welcome to Fantasy Football today. DFS, my name is Sian Ajad. This is your NFL divisional round. There's only a few weeks left, right? I am already lamenting the idea that we might not have football for, I don't know, seven to eight months, Mike. I hate the Super Bowl for that reason because I know it's the punctuation mark on the season, which means we've got an offseason to look forward to. However, we got a really cool slate coming up. Mike, it's a four-game slate. How are you feeling about it? I'm feeling really good about it, and I

want to say I'm happy that DraftKings decided to give us a main slate that gave us all four games rather than splitting into the two and two. Not that I don't like the two game slates, so definitely winnable, but I think it's really fun having to pick through these options here. Yeah, and four really pretty compelling games. Well, let's get it started. I don't think there's really any time that we need to waste here. Let's get into what some people might think is going to be the most exciting game. And it's certainly, if you look at the game total, it certainly looks to be the game with the most fireworks. We have the Jacksonville Jaguars plus eight and a half at the Kansas City Chiefs. Jags coming off that amazing comeback, you know, Mike, it looked like they were going to get completely stomped and they come back probably because they had some fire under them and

probably because of some mistakes from the Los Angeles Chargers. So I think this is very interesting because we very well could be looking at a Chargers-Chiefs game, and we're not. And I just wonder what that spread would have been, what that game would have played out like. With that said, Chiefs a pretty big favorite here, 8.5, 53-point total, like I said. I mean, there's going to be fireworks here, right? My question for you, Mike, is who do you like on both sides of the ball? Let's start with the Kansas City Chiefs. Yeah, I mean, I think you have to kind of like Patrick Mahomes a little bit,

just considering how pass-heavy the offense still tends to be. We expect them to score a ton of points. So definitely lean in there. Jerick McKinnon, guy who's scoring a touchdown in essentially every game, has a nice floor because of the upside that he provides in the passing game as well uh so i think that those two are in play for sure the guy that i'm higher on than the field by a meaningful margin when i say meaningful margin if you're familiar with like looking at a projection uh you know if you look at projections from any source i have them five

points higher than the medium projection across the industry. And that's Cadareous Tony. I am huge on Cadareous Tony in this game. Meikle Hardman has already been ruled out. Guy Moore will be available to return. However, I think that having the week off for Kansas City is still critical for Cadareous Tony finally getting him up to speed. I think they've developed packages for him. They will deploy them throughout the postseason here. So he's one of my favorite receivers this week. Yeah. And Kadarius

Tony, he is all the way down there at 4,100. We're going to be doing core plays at the end of this episode. So it's going to be the core four, kind of like what we did last week. Mike, I'm going to provide my core four as well. There might be some overlap and it sounds to me like Kadarius Tony might be in your core four. It's interesting too with Tony because he's 4100 it allows you to do a lot I mean there's there's not a ton of low-end options that we're going to want to play particularly at the running back position so I think the running back position it's really hard to find out which two running backs people are going to want to play or that I want to play for that matter McKinnon it sounds like he might be one of those running backs you want to play or that I want to play for that matter. McKinnon, it sounds like he might be one of those running backs you want to play this week.

Yeah, I'm mostly going to have Jarek McKinnon in there as one of the two. I don't expect to spend up at running back much at all, so he'll definitely be there for me. I think it's, you don't have to stack him with Patrick Mahomes. I think you certainly can. I think it's a good way to attack most of Kansas City's offensive scoring if you want to do that. Yeah. And I see a question in the chat. Am I worried about Tony's lack of volume? I personally am not worried about it. I think that he's got a lot of upside. I think there are a number of players on the slate in the price range that will end with single digit fantasy points. So I'm willing to take the risk on Tony. The upside that he possesses is pretty high in my opinion.

Yeah. And keep in mind, so Patrick Mahomes passing yards prop last time I checked it, Mike, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it was around 311 and a half. So that's a lot, right? And his past completions are in the mid to upper 20s. So I understand like the receiver core there, you don't really know week to week, but it does seem like Kadarius Toney is on an upper trajectory. And so, yeah, McKinnon's going to grab a couple. Obviously, Kelsey's going to get his handful

of targets and catches, but it's really Kadarius Toney, especially in the red zone where he might get it. Like, listen, Juju's going to get his work too, but Kadarius Toney is that dynamic threat. And I just think at 4,100, the upside is there. And even if, even if he has a floor game, I don't think that's going to destroy your lineup.

Yeah. Yeah. I'll mention quickly on my homes. Yeah. The prop now on DraftKings anyway, is up to three 15 and a half on the passing yards prop from homes. Definitely. It might be the highest prop we've seen all season for any quarterback.

I'd have to go back and look, but I'm pretty sure that it is. I'm pretty sure it is. I'm pretty sure it is as well. So I see a lot of people calling the Jags upset, thinking the game will be more competitive. That is definitely, definitely the scenario where Canaris Tony will be more involved for sure. So let me ask you this, because we only have four games to play with,

and this is the highest total. Is this where, you know, on this slate, so correct me if I'm wrong, normal slates, you have five lineups that you do. When it's a showdown, usually around three or four, it's a two-game slate. It's around three lineups, I believe. How about this slate? How many lineups are you doing? Yeah, this is a five-lineup slate for me. Just a normal, treated like a normal week um exactly five lineups and are mahomes or trevor

lawrence in the majority of any of those five lineups or in the majority of those five lineups um not necessarily mahomes will definitely be in there there's no chance trevor lawrence will make my player pool personally um but yeah uh mahomes will definitely be there it's going to be a toss up between him and Josh Allen. And from a pass-catching standpoint, we can't not talk about on the Kansas City side, Travis Kelsey. Is he making it into your builds predominantly, or are you just not wanting to spend up the $7,700?

And I say that, I think most people are like, oh, well, yeah, of course he's playing Travis Kelsey. Well, there's a lot of receivers we want to pay up for in other games, particularly like Jamar Chase, for example. You might want to pay up for an Eagles receiver, but there's receivers in that San Francisco game like CeeDee Lamb, Dibbo Samuel, who's not super expensive at $5,900. Does Kelsey make it into most of those builds? He does not. I actually don't have Travis Kelsey in my player pool as of right now.

Okay. And on the Jacksonville side, we know Travis Etienne, when this game, if it gets away from Jacksonville, we know he doesn't have much of a pass-catching role, and he absolutely would have been phased out if they hadn't come back against the Los Angeles Chargers. Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, maybe a dart with Marvin Jones, and of course, Evan Ingram is in the conversation. I think Christian Kirk and Zay Jones, especially if we go back to Week 10 and watch what they did to Kansas City, they both were amazing. Outstanding, got a ton of targets and were very efficient on those targets, got a bunch of yards. I like the discount that Zay Jones offers, but Christian Kirk at 6K

is a reasonable price as well. Who do you favor in that matchup? Honestly, my favorite Jags pass catcher is going to be Evan Ingram. I like playing him a lot in this particular setup. As far as the wide receivers for the Jags, Zay Jones is the only one that's barely cracking the player pool for me. I don't mind Christian Kirk. I think he's got plenty of upside. He's obviously shown it many times. It's more or less a price point issue for me.

He's up to 6K. That's a pretty big difference, obviously, zay jones at 4700 we've got cadareous tony down there at 4100 gabe davis in the bills game 4800 uh i mean the between stephon diggs at 77 and christian kirk at six it it's too close in my opinion so i'm personally going to be on the side of fading christian kirk gotcha and'll tell you, I've built a few lineups already and Zay Jones has made it into, I should say, I've only built two truly. Zay Jones did make it into one of them. And that was a Mahomes stack.

It was like, I had two stacks here so far and Mahomes was in one of them. I actually put Kelsey in that one, which I'm still kind of flirting with that idea. Kadarius Tony was in it. I could take Kelsey out, put McKinnon in. But the point I'm trying to make is I like Zay Jones on the way back just because I do want to of flirting with that idea. Kadarius Toney was in it. I could take Kelsey out, put McKinnon in, but the point I'm trying to make is I like Zay Jones on the way back just because I do want to have a run back option. I do think Zay Jones,

Kansas City's not good at covering the receiver. Let's just get that out of the way. Whether it's the slot where Christian Cook likes to line up a good amount or the boundary receivers where Zay Jones and guys like Marvin Jones might be, these guys are going to get their work. They're going to get their reception.

So with Zay Jones at 4,700, he can be flat at some times, but you can say the same thing about Christian Kirk. There are games where Christian Kirk only has three or four catches and only a handful of yards. So I may end up in a high-scoring game taking the chance on Zay Jones. I love the Evan Ingram call. Is that it on this game? Is there anybody else to bring up before we move to the Giants

and the Philadelphia Eagles? I don't think so. It's just, yeah, it's mostly McKinnon and Kadarius Tony for me here and Evan Ingram. Yeah. And if there's any questions about this game or any others, let us know in the chat, by the way, Garrett, I see you King Noel Haslin, Wolfie 30. I don't think I've seen you before calling the upset Jags win. Okay. Well, Wolfie, you'll have to come back next week. You've called your shot. So you're going to have to let us know how you're feeling after, uh, after that game actually gets played out. And by the way, hit the like button, Josh D I see you as well. And, uh, thank you for all

the comments and let's see, Garrett, what do you have to say? Definitely less than an hour show. Yeah. This, this show is only going to go Garrett. I know you're the timer of the show. This show is only going to go like 30 to 40 minutes top. So keep me honest. Make sure like halftime after this game that I'm on the track here. Giants plus seven and a half at the Eagles. It's a 48 point total. I'll tell you, for those of you that are members at Sportsline, and I'm not going to give the pick away because I want it to be for the members, at least in this case, but I did put a pick in with respect to this particular game on a side or a total. So go check that out. Again, if you're a Sportsline member.

If you're not, it's like the cheapest find in all of sports handicapping. It's just amazing. So go to Sportsline. Check out all the DFS content that Mike provides across all sports. And then, of course, we have picks there, props against the spread, you name it. Okay, this one is really interesting to me. The one thing I do want to point out, because these two teams have played each other before. They played recently, of course, and that was a game where the Giants didn't really roll out anybody.

But I do think it's important to note that the Giants' defense is a little healthier now than they were when they played the Eagles that first time, and even the second time, defensively specifically. And then we have the Jalen Hurts thing where he's off the injury report, but that doesn't really tell us anything, right, Mike? Because I'm not saying he's still injured, but what I'm saying is if I'm the Eagles, I also take him off the injury report, whether he's injured or not. The last thing I want is the Giants to think he's still got an injury that I can maybe aggravate during the game. With all of that said, I can see why people would like Jalen Hurts, his rushing potential, his passing potential. I kind of think this is going to be more of a, not clock management, but more of a running game on both sides of the ball.

What do you think? Yeah, I certainly think it's going to try to be on the Giants side. So last week with the Giants, we watched them throw the football a ton. That's because they're a very well-coached team, and the way that you beat the Vikings is to throw the football. Here, I think that they're not going to try to necessarily get in a shootout. They want to keep this as low-scoring as they can. That's going to be controlling the clock, running a lot more with Saquon Barkley.

I expect him to be significantly higher this week than it was last week. So I do with Saquon Barkley. I expect his to be significantly higher this week than it was last week. So I do like Saquon Barkley in this game. He is the one running back spend up for me at this point. Currently my favorite play in the game though, is going to be on the Philly side. It's Dallas Goddard. I love Dallas Goddard here. The Giants have shown how much they really struggle to defend the tight end position, ranking 31st in the NFL in coverage to tight ends. Now, Goddard is certainly not TJ Hawkinson, but he does have upside. And that's the way that you expose this defense.

You've got the two great receivers on the outside. You've got Jalen Hurts' threat to run the football. It leaves a lot of Dallas Goddard open in my opinion in this spot so Goddard by far my favorite play in this game now let me ask you this in this is pertaining to Jalen Hurts and those pass catchers on the outside or I shouldn't say the outside because because Brown's going to play in the slot as well but the two builds that I did didn't really consider an eagle stack and I just wonder is the industry kind of not playing the Jalen Hertz stack? And is that a reason to maybe, if you're building five lineups, for example, to have a Jalen Hertz stack or two with Devante Smith or AJ Brown or a double stack?

I think it is. I think it's valid. All the ownership projections I'm seeing now definitely indicate that they're going to be significantly under-owned on the Eagles side. I'm showing A.J. Brown at 10%. I'm showing Devontae Smith at 4%. I'm not showing anyone having interest. And that's significant here because we're talking 10% on a four-game slate. We're not talking 10% on a 12 or 14-game slate. That's a big deal. I don't think anyone's going to play them. I get it if you want to go, uh, it's just a hard, hard time playing them over Jamar Chase, Steph, in my opinion, uh, just because the volume is a little more certain, uh, the targets are definitely more certain in those games. Um, but yes, if you like the Eagles pass catchers, I definitely recommend playing a lineup where

you stack them because the ownership will certainly, certainly be in your favor. And before we transition to the Giants pass catchers, I do want to ask you about Miles Sanders and potentially a dart throw on Boston Scott. If you just wanted to stack all the high end receivers with perhaps one of the top quarterbacks like a Patrick Mahomes. I mean, Miles Sanders looks to be like a great matchup, but you never know with Miles Sanders. Right. And then Boston Scott, he gets carries and he's only 4,300. And we know inside the red zone, inside the five, sometimes it is Boston Scott. Now, granted it's sometimes it's Jalen Hurts. Sometimes they pass it.

And sometimes it's Miles Sanders. But I do think you could get lucky with some Boston Scott carries here against the Giants defense that isn't very good at stopping the run. Do you like either of those two plays? I like the Boston Scott call out for sure. Sanders is fine. I think that Sanders is a decent pivot if you want to fade McKinnon or ETN. I think it's an okay pivot where you're just essentially betting that the touchdown luck falls in your favor there and one of McKinnon or ETN don't score. I think it's certainly valid. Again's those things are way more valid on a four game slate than a 12 to 15 uh you only got to outscore three players essentially you're not

15 to 30 uh in those positions so certainly valid to do that um scott is interesting i like scott for one same reason basically you're betting on that touchdown luck but what it allows you to get around him uh at that, it's very easy to build Stefan Diggs, Jamar Chase lineups with Josh Allen and Christian McCaffrey. If that's the direction you want to go, you can put those four players in a lineup incredibly easily. If you play Boston Scott. Right. And that's, that's sort of the rationale there with, with Boston Scott. There's just not a lot of good pay down options at the running back position. So you can either pay up and limit yourself with at the receiver at the quarterback

position or you can just take the chance on Boston Scott or maybe maybe there's another pay down option you like Mike but there's there's not much here on on this four game slate so I thought the shot at Boston Scott uh was uh interesting at least I'm I'm going to be playing and I'll tell you that right now on the giant side I do want to talk about the pass catchers. You mentioned Saquon Barkley. Any thoughts on Darius Slayton, Isaiah Hodgins, Richie James? My thought before I even get to you is this is not the Darius Slayton game. In fact, his catch number is three and a half. I'm probably on our prop show tomorrow. I very well could have the under there. Isaiah Hodgins, listen, he's great, and I'm always wrong on Isaiah Hodgins, but I don't play him. He's great and vice versa. But it does seem like a Richie James game because the Eagles, while they're great against the boundary receivers, they're not great against slot receivers unless Avante Maddox is back, which I don't suspect he will be back.

It does seem like a Richie James game, and at 3,900, there's some value there. Are you just worried about the upside is my question, and do you like any of the other pass catchers? Yeah, so I do like Richie James. I'm definitely in agreement with you there. Slayton, absolutely not for me. Hodgins, I think is fine. The price point is certainly starting to get up there.

I'd rather play Gabe Davis for $100 cheaper, personally, in these particular matchups. So I do like Richie James, though. I think that a lot of people are going to play Richie James. That's where I like my direct pivot to Kadarius Tony, where I'm projecting to be 2% owned. I don't think anyone's going to play Kadarius Tony. I think that everyone's going to play Richie James because Richie James is going to project three fantasy points higher for anyone looking at a projection set, right? I like them both.

I have a lineup where I'm playing both of them together. But yes, I do like Richie James. As of right now, I think Richie James is the only Giants pass catcher I'm playing, and the only other Giants player I'm playing is Saquon Barkley. And last question before we get to Cincinnati and Buffalo. Daniel Jones, you're making five lineups. Is he the quarterback in any of them? No.

Gotcha. Not me either, by the way. I mean, I love the rushing equity, but I just don't think this is the matchup for him. And don't look for the downfield passing and just the wide open receivers that you saw last week against. Who were they playing last week? Colgate?

Who was that? Was it Michigan State they were playing last week? I'm not 100% sure. All right. So we do need to get to a couple of extremely interesting games. In my opinion, maybe the two most interesting games on the slate. That's, of course, Cincinnati Buffalo and Dallas at San Francisco. But before we do that, we are going to take a break and hear a word from our partners. We are back. This is Fantasy Football Today, DFS. That's Mike McClure. My name is Sia Najat. And we have a, we have a comment from Brandon Jones. He says, I love this show. Thanks to you guys. I want all four of my cash lineups last weekend. So before we get to the Bengals

bills game, I got to say, so I was with Mike, I was with Frank Stample this weekend. He's down in South Florida. We got a chance to hang out with a bunch of the other CBS sports guys. Long story short, he told me this is his most profitable NFL DFS year of his life. And it's because he played a ton of cash. And again, I just, I have to stress that I know it's the playoffs and it's a little different conversation when it comes to cash versus a tournament lineups, but throughout the regular season, Mike, especially when I was doing the solo pod, I was hammering home and just trying to boldface how profitable cash games can be, especially in terms of maintaining your bank role. And I asked Frank, because I wasn't sure, I said, what was the ratio of cash versus GPP week to week? And he said 75% cash and about 25% GPP. And again, this was his most profitable year.

So take that, tuck it away for everybody listening. By the way, everybody listening, hit the like button right now if you can. But tuck that away because it's really important. It's really fun to play these big tournaments. It's really fun. But you got to play the cash games too. At least to me, at least 50 to 60% of your investment needs to be in these double ups. Or if you want to get into the head to head, that's fine. But I prefer the double ups personally. And I just have to reiterate that point. By the way, Frank Stample came in inside the top six in both of our contests last week. By the way, that contest is live right now. So please, you can look at the link on YouTube, or if you're listening to the podcast, the link is there for you to hit. We're trying to fill up

200 for just this four game slate. So make sure you get into that contest. It's only five bucks. Okay, Bengals, plus five and a half at the Bills. It's a 48 and a half point total. The thing that really jumps out at me here, Mike, is the injuries across the Bengals offensive line. I mean, Lyle Collins, Alex Kappa, Jonah Williams all appear to be out. I don't know that we have confirmation that all three of them are definitely out, but that's what it's trending like. And with that, I just don't think, I mean, the Bills can create pressure even when they don't blitz. And I just don't think Burrow is going to have time to pass the ball downfield. That doesn't mean he's not going to have a lot of yards and a lot of completions.

It doesn't mean Jamar Chase isn't going to catch a bunch of balls. But I do think there's implications to that. And I just wonder, for me, I love Jamar Chase because I think he's going to rack up the receptions. I guess my question for you is, what are you thinking the game plan or what do you think, how does it play out on the Bengals side of the ball? Yeah, I think life's going to be pretty tough for Joe Burrow in this game, honestly. The Bills are one of the best teams in the NFL at putting pressure on the quarterback. I think it's going to be a lot easier for them to do so in this matchup. The biggest thing that you have to worry about though, with a makeshift offensive line, and that's basically what it is here at this point, that's okay to have when you're playing at home.

It's a lot easier to get the snap count off right and correct at that point. It becomes incredibly difficult when you're tired, when you're on the road, when you're in a more hostile environment. Yeah, I like Jamar Chase just through a volume standpoint. I think he's going to get a ton of short area targets as well. The interesting thing with the press coverage with the Bills, it is able to be beat if there is time to throw. I don't think there will be enough time to throw though personally. So I think it's going to come down to can they have a player too that's huge that goes for a touchdown on a busted coverage? I think it's very, very possible. But my focus is most definitely on the bill side absolutely love love love the bills in

this matchup before we get to the bills let me ask you because you know joe mixon he's at 6500 he's he's a no chance for me i mean just so incredibly inefficient not doing enough in the passing game but we've got jamar chase t hagens who hasn't been doing much lately tyler boyd hayden hurst are you interested in any of those guys uh no i have zero of them uh in my player pool the only one in the player pool on the scentsy side is jamar chase uh but if you know full disclosure i have really big positions on buffalo this week really so let's and i'll say the only guy i'm playing so far in the two lineups I've built, but just I'm speculating for, for further lineups. It's probably just going to be Jamar chase. If I'm taking a stab at a receiver, it's not going to be receiver in this

game. It's going to be one of the ones we already talked about that Mike reference, like let's say a Cadareous Tony or Richie James, you like the Buffalo side. I assume that means you like Josh Allen. And I assume you probably don't like the running backs too much against Cincinnati's like very good rush defense, but it sounds like you like Gabriel Davis. It sounds like you like Stefan Diggs. And I know you're a Dawson Knox guy. How are you playing that bill side? Yeah, bill side. So Josh Allen is a quarterback. I have the most, I have a more than Patrick Mahomes. I like both of them. Uh, I think Josh Allen runs a ton in this matchup personally. Um, I'm stacking them though with Stefan Diggs and Gabe Davis.

I love both of those guys. The Buffalo bills defense is by far my favorite defense of the slate. So that's the stack that I have in my optimal lineup. And it looks like when I run 20 in the first four of the 20, it has Josh Allen, Stefan Diggs, Gabe Davis, and the Bills D, all four of them. And in that lineup, is there a Cincinnati run back? There is not. Wow. See, okay. So we talk about this. We've talked about it all year,

that as much as you want to have a run back, sometimes it's not optimal. And in this case, Mike's programs and his simulations don't think it's optimal. And I get it. And in that stack, it's hard to bring Jamar Chase back, right? I mean, so you almost have to take a stab at a low-end receiver. But again, that low-end receiver, we can get with Kadarius Toney or Richie James or somebody of that ilk that's not in this game that can absolutely outscore any of those guys. Anybody else to talk about on the Bill side? James Cook as maybe a low-end $4,800 option.

I think he's interesting, but again, the Bengals' run defense is pretty good. But still, James Cook could have a day, right? He definitely could have a day. I like that he's got far more upside than Devin Singletary. I think the Bills know that he's the better running back between the two. So, yes, I think Cook, if you want to play a running back in this game, is by far the most viable running back between the two. So yes, I think Cook, if you wanted to play a running back in this game, is by far the most viable running back in this game. I think he could be treated very similar to Boston Scott. If you wanted to play something like that, I think

it's certainly in play. However, I do think that Josh Allen takes a few more rushing attempts in this game. And yeah, I think this game, while a lot of people think it could be a massive shootout, I think it could be a little lower scoring. Yeah. I'm going to have to agree with you there, by the way, James Cook out touched Singletary 12 to 10 last game. And we, he was trending that direction anyway, but he's certainly the more explosive back. And at this point is actually getting more touches than the alleged starter here. So I think we can move on from this game. Everybody remember his favorite defense was the Buffalo bill. So I think we can move on from this game. Everybody remember his favorite defense was the Buffalo Bills. So let's go over to speaking of defenses. San Francisco

has got a great defense. Well, parts of them are a great defense. They get to host the Dallas Cowboys and they are four point favorites. This has been trickling between four and three. It was, or I should say four and three and a half. It was three and a half all day yesterday. Now it's back up to four. I personally think that's the proper number. I might even kick it up to four and a half personally. I like San Francisco a decent amount in this game, but I can't deny the fact that I think the Cowboys will be able to move the ball,

especially via the passing game. Now the Niners are really good against the run, but they allow a ton of splash plays in their secondary. And Dak, sometimes he can showcase some inefficiency, but Mike, I think you might disagree with me here. I'm not sure just based on conversations earlier in the day, but I think Dak to CD is going to be a pretty valuable connection for the Cowboys. I think Dak to Dalton Schultz is going to be a valuable connection. I think some of these third string kind of receivers, I shouldn't say third string, but guys like T.Y.

Hilton, Michael Gallup, Noah Brown, I think they could all get involved too. I think Dak might have a day. I don't know that I'm willing to play him in DFS, but how are you feeling about this game on the Cowboys side? Not good on the Cowboys side, honestly. I think that, you know, much like the Giants, I think they're coming in a little inflated in this spot. They beat a team that by pretty much every standard was a below average NFL team that just happened to be in the playoffs because of the division they played in. I think that this environment overall

is a lot different for them to go into. The biggest thing is I think they'll have zero success running the football. I think it puts Dak in some third and long, some more of the uncomfortable situations. The real question here is, do they bracket CeeDee Lamb? Do they try to double him and simply make someone else beat them? Whether it is Dalton Schultz, whether it is Noah Brown, Michael Gallup, one of the backs

out of the backfield. But I do think that it could be difficult for them. I like the unders on Dak, not remotely close to playing him in DFS. He would be, I think he's probably the worst value for me in terms of all the quarterbacks. I think he would be the number eight quarterback out of all of them playing. And CeeDee Lamb, what are your thoughts there? I don't mind CeeDee Lamb. Look, I think that CeeDee Lamb is capable of paying off his price tag on two big plays in this game. So I'm way less likely to fade CeeDee Lamb than I am to fade someone like Dak.

I think that he could still certainly get his on any given play. I'm not playing him over Stefan Diggs. I'm not playing him over Jamar Chase. If you want to play him in addition to those two, I think it's fine. I think it's okay to speculate and play a ceiling game on him over those two. Um, I don't think it's going to pay off for you in this particular matchup, so I'm not going to do it. Um, yeah, that's kind of where I'm at on. I'm not, I'm not playing as unders or anything like that in the betting market, but I'm off CD lamb. Yeah. And for the record, his betting number in terms of receiving yards is 77 and a half yards. And I'll tell you guys full disclosure.

I mean, I referenced a different sports line pick, which I didn't actually give out, but I referenced it. Um, I'll tell you right now I'm on Dax over of two 50, 250 and a half yards. It's up to two 53, two 55 and a half. I'm not a super high number. So the fact that I'm on the over doesn't necessarily mean he's a great DFS play, but I'm just putting it out there so that everybody knows. I like Dak a little bit more than Mike likes Dak. I like CeeDee Lamb a little bit more than Mike likes CeeDee Lamb, but I agree with him that Dak's probably not going to be in any of my tournament lineups. So I'm okay there. I do like CeeDee Lamb. I think Dalton Schultz is interesting. There's other tight ends I like a little bit better.

We talked about some of them, Evan Ingram, for example. But it's the other side of the ball that has a lot of intrigue for me, Mike. I like Christian McCaffrey, but I don't love Christian McCaffrey because Dallas is pretty good against running backs. But Deebo Samuel, I really, really like at 5,900. And I can envision a scenario where I have a Brock Purdy stack with Christian McCaffrey and Debo Samuel with some sort of run back on the other side, let's say a CD lamb.

I'm saving a lot of money on Brock Purdy. Debo is not price prohibitive. How do you feel about any of that? I like it. I like it quite a bit. I think that Debo is probably the most interesting piece here, especially if this game gets more competitive than I think it will be. For example, like if we think this game is super competitive, they're neutral or trailing

game script at any time. They're going to put the football in Debo's hands quite a bit. It's going to be trying to get McCaffrey involved, but it's certainly going to be Debo. You look back at that Seattle game, he ran the ball three times, which is always a positive sign to see him taking carries. He's just got so much upside. So I think the interesting question becomes, what are our thoughts on like Bover McKinnon?

I know they play different positions, but if you've got other running backs you like, or you're willing to play Boston Scott or one of those other guys, I think that Debo and then Debo versus Christian Kirk, right? Because of the price point. I like the Debo side. Yeah, I like the Debo side quite a bit too. I mean, part of it is we know what Dallas can do defensively. It's the pass rush that really can destroy an offense. Their secondary, not so much.

And I just feel like with Kyle Shanahan, and I think Dallas is expecting this, but it's one thing to expect it. It's another thing to be able to prevent it. And I think the short area passing game and just the quick outs in the potential yards after catch with guys like Christian McCaffrey and Debo Samuel, of course you can make the same arguments for George Kittle and Brandon Ayuk, but, but I think it's Debo and CMC that get featured more than anybody in the short area passing game. So that's kind of where I'm going with that. Anybody else on the San Francisco side that you like? Not a ton. I think that the one guy that you could mention is Brandon Ayuk. He tends to catch a few big balls over the middle, but it's not something I'm going to get to. I don't think a ton of people are going to play him.

I think that there's more obvious value in guys like Gabe Davis, say Jones, things like that. But I do think he's got some big playability. Um, but yeah, it's mostly Debo and McCaffrey for me in this game. Okay. You know what I think it's time for Garrett. How am I doing on time? We still have like five, six minutes to go based on our, the, the timeline we just randomly set for ourselves. And so I think Mike, I think it's time to go for your core four. And I'm going to add my core four as well, because why the hell not, right? Mike, let's talk about, because just so everybody knows, if you're new to the show, what we like to do is we like to give out Mike's top three at each position.

And then what we do is our cheat sheet. Well, now that we've kind of, you know, we've narrowed down to only so many games. So doing the top three doesn't make a lot of sense, because there's just going to be way too many players in that pool of games. So doing the top three doesn't make a lot of sense because there's just going to be way too many players in that pool of people and doing the cheat sheet doesn't make a lot of sense for the same reason. So what we did last week, what we're going to do this week is Mike's core four, and then we're going to do my core four, and then we're going to get out of here. So Mike, let's talk about your core four. All right. We're going to start. There's two tight ends in the core four. Surprise, surprise. We play double tight ends pretty much every week here. Dallas Goddard going to be number one in

the core four. I think this is an incredible spot for him against the Giants. Definitely a little pass funnel to the tight end position. I think that Jalen Hurts is going to lean on that quite a bit in this particular matchup. Number two for me is going to be Gabe Davis. I love the price point on Gabe Davis, 4,800. I think this is a great, great spot for him against Cincinnati. I love the bills to roll in this game. So I'm going with him. Stefan Diggs, the top wide receiver of choice for me, great price point, 7,700 makes a lot of sense. Again, very, very heavy on the bills. And then number four, Evan Ingram. I saw the question in the chat, double tight end with Goddard and Ingram. Yes, that is the direction that I am going this week.

Love Evan Ingram in here. I think he's a great bring back on anything Kansas City related. I don't think you even need a game stack to be considering him bring back. If you're playing McKinnon, you're playing just Patrick Mahomes, whoever it may be. I like the opportunity ahead for Evan Ingram. All right. Before I get to my core four, Garrett has a question about Tony Pollard. We didn't actually address Tony Pollard. Of course, we're not playing Zeke, but Tony Pollard is interesting. And Garrett's question is kind of geared towards a potential negative game script and getting targets there, which is certainly possible. He doesn't get as many targets as I would like. And that's partly because he's not on the field as much as I'd like, but do you like

Pollard in this matchup at all? Obviously San Fran is very good against the running back, but Tony Pollard is explosive against anybody. How do you feel about him? Yeah, he's explosive against anybody. I don't mind it. I think that the scenario I'd do it is just a direct pivot from Jarek McKinnon and you're just betting he doesn't land in the end zone while you are betting on Pollard essentially landing in the end zone. I think it's possible he sees eight targets in this game, catches six of them, maybe 40 yards, you know, gets you to your 10 to 11 fantasy points. I think it's an incredibly big uphill battle for a 20 fantasy point game from Tony Pollard. Yeah, that's totally fair. All right, let's get to my core four. Mike, I'm going to start with CD lamb, who I do think is going to have a big game. I'm

expecting somewhat of fireworks in this, in this Dallas, San Francisco game. I think I agree with you that Dallas is, is over overpriced and just overvalued coming off that game against Tampa, who shouldn't have been in the playoffs, but I also think they can push the ball against San Francisco's defense. I mean, I recall what Jared Stidham did against them, and I understand that's just a one game sample size, but I do think Dak is at a point where even if he has some of those Dak inefficiencies and turns the ball over, all the better for the passing game and Dak and CeeDee Lamb. So I like CeeDee Lamb at 7,300. Debo Samuel at 5,900, I just think is tremendous value. So I'm all over that. I understand the volume could be an issue with Debo, but it's the playoffs. I think Debo and CMC are kind of the guys that are going to touch the ball the most outside of Brock Purdy. CMC is my third guy in there. Very expensive. But my fourth guy is Zay Jones, who's a nice little pay down option. And Debo is not super expensive either. So it's CeeDee Lamb, Debo Samuel, Christian McCaffrey, and Zay Jones at 4,700. Those are my core four.

If anybody has any questions for Mike and I, please go ahead and message us on Twitter or just send a tweet out and ask us whatever you want, and one of us will definitely try to get back to you. But, Mike, anything else to wrap up this show? Any insight I missed? Any questions I didn't ask? No. up this show? Any insight I missed? Any questions I didn't ask? No, I think that the Bengals ownership will be very interesting. I think there are very strong opinions on both sides, clearly.

It's the most fascinating game of the season so far, the postseason, just in terms of overall market movement. The game opened three and a half. It's currently five and a half, despite a little over 72% of the betting tickets being on the Cincinnati side. We've seen some pretty significant movement the other way. Oh, that's interesting. So that's sharp movement. That's big money coming in on the bills, right? Yeah, we're looking at about 65% of the money on the bills while 70% to 75% of the actual tickets on the Cincy side. Yeah, that tells a pretty clear story there. Okay, Mike. And by the way, if you want to listen to Mike's content or read it,

you read it on Sportsline, but he's already done a podcast with RJ White, with the coach and Larry Harstein, the maestro. And you can find that in your Early Edge podcast feed. And we'll be doing Early Edge shows all weekend for the primetime games. So everybody check that out. Make sure you're subscribed to the Early Edge. But this, this right here is Fantasy Football Today DFS. And this has been your NFL DFS Divisional Round Preview.

Ask us any questions you got. But for now, we are out of here. That's Mike McCord. Thank you, Mike. My name is Sian Jha. This is Fantasy Football Today DFS. And we'll see you next time.