Fantasy Football Today - Quarterback Mania! 2023 Playoff Trust, Ranking Top 12, Early 2024 Predictions, & More! (12/12 Fantasy Football Today Dynasty)

Episode Date: December 13, 2023

Looking to dominate your fantasy league just like your redraft league? Look no further than Fantasy Football Today Dynasty hosted by our very own Heath Cummings! Download and follow Fantasy Football Today Dynasty on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you find your podcasts.  Chris Towers joins Heath Cummings on Fantasy Football Today Dynasty to discuss all things related to quarterbacks! Heath ranks his top 12 dynasty quarterbacks. (20:00) Which quarterbacks can you trust heading into the 2023 fantasy playoffs? (28:30) Which players can we actually count on in 2024? (34:00) We wrap up with deep waiver wire (41:48) targets and answer your YouTube chat questions! (49:10) Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection 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." 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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Their insurance solutions are designed to help protect you and your loved ones financially, giving you the peace of mind to focus on what truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations. Or visit SecurianCanada.ca. Securian Canada. Insurance designed for life. Welcome to Fantasy Football Today Dynasty. I am your host, Heath Cummings. And let me tell you, I am always excited about the guests that we have on, whether it's a fellow CBS employee, whether it's somebody from around the industry. I think it's one of my favorite things about this show is I get to talk to somebody different every week. But I've never been as excited to talk to somebody as I am today. Chris Towers, thank you very much. You knocked off Jamie Eisenberg last night in our YOLO Dynasty League. You clinched the one seed. This is a 14-team league.

We only get one buy. I got the buy. It's because of you and Raheem Mostert and Derek Henry. Thank you for not selling your team for parts. I'm glad you're still competing. Yeah, you know, the 10th most points in the league. Fourth? Sorry, sorry.

10th from the bottom. I was trying to do the most. 10th from the bottom? 10th from the bottom. Trying to make it sound as worse as possible. 220 points behind the leader, like 130 points behind me, but it's fine. Congratulations on your one seed. Yeah, I do have several leagues that are best ball and are just total points. This is not one of those leagues.

This is a league where we play head-to-head, and the seeding is determined by your record. I did want to take a little bit of time at the top of the show today, and we've got a lot of fun things to talk about. We are going to break down my updated top 12 at quarterback, a position we maybe don't talk about enough. We're going to talk about which quarterbacks we actually feel like you can definitely trust in the playoffs. We're going to talk about which quarterbacks have secured a job for the next year, which may be a more difficult question than it has been in past years. We will go over the deep waiver wire and at the very end of the show if we

can get through everything else quick enough we will be answering your playoff questions so have those ready don't put them all on the chat now because i'm not going to see them later but chris i did want to talk about our this is the league that we talk about more than any other uh the yolo dynasty league chris is in the league dave and jamie are in the league uh dan schneier's in the league it's it's been going on for eight years seven or eight years chris has already won the league twice and i thought looking at our two teams in the playoffs, I'm the one seed, you're the three seed. Vastly different approaches. Let's start with yours.

There was some question at the beginning of the year, is Chris going to tear it down or is he going to push one more year? He pushed one more year and he's been rewarded. Tell us about your roster chris yeah i mean i've got it sounds like a roster that has won a couple championships and is kind of on its last legs but cj strat at quarterback he stepped up with kirk cousins going down austin eckler derrick henry as my running backs davante adams stefan diggs tyler lockett at wide receiver isaiah likely dionte fore, Raheem Mostert in my flexes right now. Let's see. Calais Campbell, Christian Wilkins, Frankie, we don't need to go into the IDP. I don't think anybody cares about those guys.

Yeah. A good defense. I think upper half of the league defense. You know, that's one thing. This is like my only IDP league, and it's the only one I've ever played in. And I've realized having good IDP players, valuable in IDP, people forget. I cannot tell you guys, if you play in a dynasty IDP league, the effort I went to, to trade Bobby Okereke for a third round pick two years ago. And I couldn't get anybody who even wanted to give up that. I was lectured about how defensive scoring is not actually predictable and their past production or their projections aren't worth anything. I could not agree more.

You know what I say? Tell that to Deron Bland and the several weeks that he has won for me in this league this year. And so Chris told you his very old roster. It is interesting, Chris, that you have C.J. Stroud and you do not have you his his very old roster it is interesting chris that you have cj stroud and you do not have a backup quarterback on your roster well kirk cousins right but you don't have some no actual backup yeah you're playing this week yes you're going to need a quarterback dave's been hoarding backup quarterbacks just rotating through jake brownings and tommy devitos and joe flacos and Joe Flacco's.

And I don't know who he has right now, but hopefully left one of those guys for you. This is the team for me that I've rebuilt over the last two years, a complete and total tank job in both 2021 and 2022. I have Patrick Mahomes. My running backs are Brees Hall and Javante Williams. My wide receivers are Devante Smith, Garrett Wilson, Drake London, Jordan Addison. I've got Dave Ndajoku at tight end. I'm going to have one heck of a decision as far as who starts in my second flex as I choose between Jarek McKinnon, Rico Dowdle, Zamir White, maybe without Josh Jacobs. But the key for me, because I read those offensive players

and they're very exciting, but it doesn't sound like a contender. It sounds like a team that's probably still a year away, but moving in the right direction. I have two of the top four, I believe, linebackers in Foye Oluokun and Zaire Franklin. I have Micah Parsons. I have Jesse Bates, who's just been spectacular this year. Trey Hendrickson and Aiden Hutchinson.

And Hutchinson and Micah Parsons specifically were guys that I spent late second or early third round picks on in our rookie drafts. I cannot emphasize enough what Chris said. In an IDP league, defensive players scoring actually counts. We've got seven IDP league, defensive players scoring actually counts. Yeah, I mean, especially like we've got seven IDP leagues. Like I've seen some where they do like two or three IDP spots. And like in that, I think you can pretty much just punt it

because there are going to be enough guys who can get you eight to ten points most weeks that it's like even in this league, the waiver wire is not barren with idp contributors but this is a deep ish roster both in terms of normal fantasy players because we've got the extra flex spot and three wide receivers and seven idp spots and so like having a good idp group actually does matter and it's it's kind of bit like just paying a little bit of attention to that has actually made a pretty significant difference in this league and like i think i you know we have a rookie draft but it's actually a free agent draft and you can you can draft veterans right in the rookie draft and i'll usually just draft like an underrated

defensive player with my fourth round pick because you do reach a point where it's like the chances of any given rookie in that range actually contribute anything are a lot lower and it might be better i think i took like christian wilkins in the fourth or fifth round of our free agent slash rookie draft last year and he's been a nice starter for me at the dl spot so when you look at your team with specifically Austin Eckler, Derek Henry, Devante Adams, Tyler Lockett, Raheem Mostert, are you thinking I'm going to try to tear this down at the 2024 rookie draft, or I'm just going to see how next year goes too. And maybe I'll sneak into the playoffs and just keep going. I think it's, i think i probably have to tear it down at some point

because you're we're we're pretty much at the you if we're not at the end with eckler and henry and and lockett i think we're probably at the end with lockett like we're very very close to the end with those guys so i i do think 2024 is going to be the the year where i finally have to take my medicine which you asked me i'm not looking forward to that is not a like you. I tanked for multiple years and I find the idea of that excruciating. The idea of having to put in work for no immediate reward is not something that my brain is wired for. So I'm really not looking forward to that.

So if any of one in our league wants to prop up my team for one year hit me up i'll make some bad trades love it um yeah it's you've got to know yourself as a dynasty manager and i know thyself the rebuild almost as much as contending but you asked me how i was feeling about my team going into the playoffs i think that was a subtle jab that because i'm the fourth highest scoring team you don't think i'm actually a content from the bottom fourth highest here's here's what i'll tell you is is that the the buy changes everything because in this league we've got seven teams that aren't that far apart on a week-to-week basis i don't know who's going to be better out of who i've got to win two coin flips as opposed to three and so i feel fantastic about that and then there's so much less pressure in the

playoffs i've got a couple of teams that look like yours um i've got an an eckler cup davante adams like all the way in and traded my first four picks next year too. That's a nerve wracking experience in the fantasy playoffs. Cause you know, what's coming. If I get, if I get bounced in the semifinals, I've got Brees hole and Garrett Wilson and Devante Smith and Drake London. And like,

and I still have my first round pick next year. So I feel fantastic about this team. I am in a spectacular mood almost entirely because of this team but see i i will also point out that like having a buy is objectively good and i understand this my i am i am a smart rational person who understands that if you get the opportunity to get a buy you should take it i am not a los angeles dodgers Dodgers or Atlanta Braves fan where I'm going to complain oh, my team had to rest. I will say I hate not having something

to play for this week. If my only league was one where I had a bye this week, that would be excruciating. I would hate just sitting there and not having anything to end. That's dumb. I know that. I know that having the bye, I'm in a couple leagues where I have a bye this that. I know that having the bye,

I'm in a couple leagues where I have a bye this week. I know that having the bye is a good thing. And yet I'm still like, I kind of wish I was playing this week. I had the most first or worst season of my career, I believe. I have 23 teams that have a traditional playoff structure. I have five teams playing this week. Wow. I earned nine by playing this week. Wow.

I earned nine buys, and I missed the playoffs in nine leagues, and I only have five teams playing. Now, some of them are kind of important, so I've got something to do, but I do have also three questions for you, Chris. Sure. We're talking about quarterback today. In fact, we're going to talk a lot about Brock Purdy right now. How many quarterbacks, and I don't know if you've been looking at my quarterback dynasty rankings or if you're going to look at it when

we start that process, but how many quarterbacks are you sure should be ranked higher than Brock Purdy? First off, let's start rest of season. How many quarterbacks are you sure rest of season you'd rather have than Brock Purdy? Rest of season, I would rather have Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, Dak Prescott, Justin Fields. I think that's probably it. You could maybe, like, Matthew Stafford's got an awesome upcoming schedule. You could maybe make an argument

that he'll be better than Brock Purdy. Tuatunga-Vailoa, kind of similar, but worse schedule. Patrick Mahomes, I think you'd probably rather have Brock Purdy rest of season, right? I've got it, and I've got the rankings here. I just sorted them, if you're looking at them, by my rest of season rankings.

I do still have Mahomes over Purdy, but that's mostly just because I'm super, super stubborn in that regard. And I just keep thinking that Mahomes is going to figure it out. They've not, obviously, yet. But, yeah, you said those five. I think those were right. I'd put Purdy behind one more. It's Mahomes.

I'd have Purdy at QB7. And it leads into our next question because he's a 24-year-old quarterback who's a year and a half into his career. And for the fantasy playoffs, we view him as QB7. How many quarterbacks are you sure should be ahead of Brock Purdy in Dynasty? So, like, that's one where I had Justin Fields rest of season. I don't know if I'd rather have justin fields rest or rest of career for dynasty because i think whether like brock party is definitely the 49er starter next year i'm leaning towards justin fields is probably the bear starter next year and if he's not the

bear starter he's probably someone's starter 2025 I think Brock Purdy's chances of starting in 2025 are probably twice as high as Justin Fields so I think you can make a very good case that Purdy is top five in dynasty right now but I'm not going to do it I would still take Hurts Allen Mahomes, Jackson, Stroud, I think Herbert. Kyler's an interesting one. I think Burrow and Tagovailoa are in that discussion. Even Dak, with the way this offense looks right now, he's probably still got five or six really good years left. So I would say in the 8 to 11 range. This is the first week, and I'll give one of my top 12 right now, the first week of his career where I updated it.

Brock Purdy did rank inside of my top 12 dynasty quarterbacks. He's QB 8 right now. The guy that I tweeted about it this morning and i just this is not a question but it's a it's a request make the case for trevor lawrence over brock purdy and don't talk about draft capital or college there's not one is there i mean he's just clearly it would be a talent case. Yeah. And I don't know. Like, I don't know that you can make that case based on talent.

Like, I'm sure someone could do a reception perception breakdown of both of them and show that Trevor Lawrence is 12% better at throwing digs. And but like. I don't care like it's just like because we've been propping trevor lawrence up as a fantasy asset for three years now right this is his third season yeah based on he was the number one quarterback in high school he was the number one pick throughout his college career he was really good in college but you know he wasn't historically productive in college he was a very good college quarterback but he wasn't putting up joe burrow numbers you know in his time there so yeah i think at some

point you've gotta you've gotta just take guys for what they are and right. And we don't have any reason. We have no reason. Everybody just said it's just the system. We have no reason to believe Brock Purdy is going to be in a different system anytime soon. And Trevor Lawrence is not getting into that system because Brock Purdy is already there. So I just don't know that I really care that much.

And Lawrence got the injection of talent that we were hoping for in Calvin Ridley, and that didn't work out. Lawrence stalled out, if anything. He certainly didn't take the step forward many were hoping for. And so I think the concern you have with Purdy is Brandon Ayuk is probably not there long term. It seems possible, if not likely, that he's gone after this season because they're going to have to make some hard decisions. But and that would leave him still with Debo Samuel, Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle,

which is still going to put him in the top five in terms of weapons. It's just those guys are a little older or they're a little more injury prone than Brandon Iuke. or they're a little more injury prone than Brandon Ayuk. So you could see a point where like attrition really wears down the 49ers offense. And we've seen that a couple of times in the last five years in the Shanahan offense in this era where injuries have really hurt the 49ers and pretty in a less than ideal situation. I don't know how much I want for fantasy,

but that seems silly to hold against him too much because it's speculative. They don't have to let go of Brandon Ayuk. They could just keep him around. Our third question is not about Brock Purdy. It's about one of my other favorite subjects. How do you feel about the Dolphins right now? A bad, bad loss to the Titans last night. Tyreek's got some sort of ankle

issue. Tua was not good. Devon Achan wasn't near as good as Raheem Mostert. And now the Dolphins are heading into the stretch that we've been warning you about for two months.

They faced the Jets this week, and in fairness, at the Jets a month ago, Tyreek was good, Waddle was good, Mostert was good, A-Chan wasn't there, Tua was bad. Then they faced the Cowboys. Then they are at Baltimore in week 17. Are these league-winning players who have been regular season league winners going to be playoff league winners i think the biggest question is tyreek hill's injury because i saw some you know twitter

docs speculating that it could have been a high ankle mechanism is the the phrasing that we use and look the fact that he played through it is great well i don't know if it's actually great it's mostly a decoy yeah but it's also ankle injuries tend to get worse when you sleep on them and what you know after a couple days like we've seen guys play through ankle injuries and then miss time so it wouldn't it wouldn't surprise me if tyree kill was out in week 15 and what we've seen from this offense is man when tyree kill goes down it looks a lot different um but what we've seen from this offense is man when Tyree Kill goes down it looks a lot different um but like we've seen the Dolphins offense be very good against the Jets we saw them I think put up 38 points against the the Ravens last uh last December I think um

so I I'm not panicking about it but yeah I think it's a downgrade across the board for your main Dolphins. And I think mostly how I feel about Tunga Vailoa comes down to Terry Kill's health. You know, if he's limited in Week 15, I'm not sure Tua belongs in the top 12 at QB against the Jets. So, like, that's a big concern. Yes, I agree. I've got a couple of playoff teams that I've got Tua, and I'm at least going to look at the waiver wire and see that's a big concern yes i i agree i've got a couple of playoff teams that i've got to and i'm i'm at least gonna look at the waiver wire and see what's out there if i could if

i could find a matthew stafford i think i'd probably be starting him over to unless yes we think tyreek's gonna be a full go and even still it might be a question now the problem is there aren't a lot of quarterbacks out there right waivers. I don't know if it's normally like this. I can't remember, but Joe Flacco is the only quarterback inside my top 20 who's rostered in fewer than 60% of CBS leagues right now for week 15. It's really bad. And it's just a product of half of them got hurt. And so I think everybody is a little bit paranoid,

and a lot more people are caring to the normal. So yes, the waiver wire is pretty awful. You're probably still starting Tyreek. But I mean, we've said it for months. I wouldn't be surprised

if a lot of people who finish with a one or a two seed are in a lot of trouble. Hopefully, if you have Tyreek, you are into the bye and you're just hoping that he rests this week

and is ready for your important game in week 16. Let's take a short break, and then we'll get into the quarterback position in Dynasty. Did you know that across Ontario, utility damage happens 19 times a day? That's over 4,222 incidents a year. Don't let your next dig be one that causes costly delays or safety risks. Before you break ground, make it a point to

request a locate it's not just the law it's a step to keep your team and community safe visit ontarioonecall.ca and avoid unnecessary damages to get the job done right data sourced from the orcga 2023 dirt report okay chris so i thought we'd start this out, and we ranked the top 12 running backs last week, and we'll just rank the top 12 quarterbacks. I will go through my current dynasty rankings. I think we'll kind of do this on a tier-based system. The top four, I don't feel like there's probably a lot of argument there, maybe over order.

This is the first time I've not had Mahomes one or two in as long as I can remember. But Jalen Hurts is my QB1. Josh Allen is my QB2. Patrick Mahomes is my QB3. And I still have CJ Stroud as QB4. Are we on the same page there? I think that seems right.

I would probably put Stroud and Lamar Jackson in the same tier. And it might just be that Lamar Jackson belongs in that higher tier. But yeah, I think that's right. Because look, there's been a lot of consternation about Patrick Mahomes. And there's been a lot of like, oh, the Chiefs are paying for letting Tyree Kilgore on. It's like, it's worth remembering they won a Super Bowl literally this year. So like this, like, oh, it was such a mistake

to let Tyree Kilgore on. It's like, you're trying to win Super Bowls. And they did that. So like, I think it's worth keeping that in mind. But I have to assume this is the bottom for Patrick Mahomes and the quality of his receiving core. And, you know, depending on which stat service you cite, his wide receivers have the highest drop rate of the last decade, I believe, was the stat I saw from Bill Barnwell on ESPN yesterday. So it famous last words.

It probably can't get worse for Patrick Mahomes so I don't want to overreact to this season um but you know the fact that Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts have been so much better than him and have mostly lived up to what they did last year while Patrick Mahomes hasn't I think it's fine to to get put those guys ahead of him and I think it's fine to put those guys ahead of him. And I think it's good to put Mahomes' struggles, and I am the Patrick Mahomes defender, of course, because I'm a homer, but it's good to put them in context. This floor that we're seeing from Patrick Mahomes so far for this season is QB eight, one-tenth of a point behind Lamar Jackson for the year.

He's been clearly outplayed by Allen and Hurts, and I think they should be the clear top two. But anything else in terms of reaction, I just don't have the energy for. So I agree with you about Lamar Jackson. We'll just put him there at number five. That's easy. And then it gets incredibly messy.

Yeah, it's wide open. So I'm going to go. I'll give you my next three. Justin Herbert, Justin Fields, Brock Purdy. I agree with what you said about Fields. I think he's done enough this year that even if the Bears decide, you know what, we're going to take Caleb Williams, Justin Fields is going to be starting somewhere next year.

And I think he's good enough that he's probably going to be starting somewhere longer than next year. So I still – I think he still has a chance to break into that top three or four quarterbacks at one point once we get a good idea of where he's at. What if he's the starting quarterback for the Bears and he's got Marvin Harrison Jr. and DJ Moore as two wide receivers going in next year? He might be QB4 without even playing a game the thing that's so frustrating is like how much is he being held back by his coaching staff and because this is two years in a row now where well three years really because his first season the coaching staff was a disaster and they didn't use him right hardly at all last season early on they weren't using him as a designed

runner this year early on they weren't using him as a designed runner this year early on they weren't using him as much as a designer and it's just i i don't understand why it's taken each of the past two seasons a month for them to figure out what is plainly obvious about justin fields which is that he's maybe the most dynamic runner at the quarterback position we've ever seen yeah and that should be the focus of your team. And they did a good job getting him DJ Moore. And that's been a great fit because DJ Moore is a terrific downfield catcher, but he's also great with the ball in his hands.

And that's been such a good fit for Justin Fields. And I hope that we don't, wherever he's playing next year I hope we don't have this weird September hiccup like we've had each of the last two seasons because he should be a top five fantasy quarterback at all times even if he's not a good real life quarterback there's no reason why Justin Fields shouldn't be running the ball 10 times a game. So the top eight, we've got Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, CJ Stroud, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, Justin Fields, and Brock Purdy. We're going to go to number 13, Chris, and you can put these, maybe 14 even.

That's where the real drop-off is. I've got it Kyler Murray, then Trevor Lawrence, then Anthony Richardson, then Burrow, Tua, Dak. Put those guys in any order you want. Am I egregiously too high or too low on any of those six guys? I think you're too high on a guy that nobody has ever accused you of being too high on. That's Trevor Lawrence.

I don't think Trevor Lawrence belongs in the top ten. I would rather have Joe Burrow than Trevor Lawrence. We've seen the elite production from Joe Burrow that we're hoping for from Trevor Lawrence. I know Joe Burrow is a couple of years older, but the difference between 23 and 26, that doesn't really rate for me when it comes to dynasty purposes at the quarterback position. And I guess Joe Burrow has suffered two significant season ending injuries in four seasons in the NFL. And that's a little concerning,

but like we've had no flare ups from the knee since his rookie season, the wrist that feels like a freak injury. He laid it. I agree. So I'm not holding that against him. I I'd rather have him than Trevor Lawrence for sure. Do you think... I think the thing that he might get penalized

for is the fact that he's played with Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins. And we don't think he's probably going to have both Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins. We've not really seen him yet on a team like we're seeing with Mahomes, where the $50 million cap hit is starting to influence the guys like we're seeing with Mahomes, where the $50 million cap hit is starting

to influence the guys who you're playing with. And so that would be my only thing. And you said the 23-26. I think those are week one numbers. So it's probably 24-27 now. That probably shouldn't matter too much. Although I think it's easier to believe that Lawrence has room to grow than it is Burrow at those two ages, but you're right.

We've, we've given that excuse to Trevor Lawrence a lot. I agree with you. I'm going to drop Trevor Lawrence behind Joe Burrow. And like, I, I'm not sure there should really be a gap between Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow either.

And, and I was saying that in the opposite direction coming into the season when Joe Burrow was going, you know, five rounds ahead of Justin or Justin Herbert in redraft. So like I let you, you said it. I think after Jackson,

it's wide open. Like even you can go up to six down to 14. And if you wanted to make a case for Dak Prescott ahead of Justin Herbert, I think there's a reasonable case to be made based on how Dak Prescott's playing right now. You know, there are a lot of jokes about Mike McCarthy and this Cowboys offense, and they looked pretty funny after the first month and a half of the season. But since the bye week, they've been one of the most pass heavy teams. They've been one of the most aggressive downfield teams. Dak Prescott is operating at an incredibly high level in that Cowboys offense he's making throws to every part

of the field he's got CeeDee Lamb locked in long term I just I don't he's 30 is the case against Dak Prescott but right you know when you look at the aging curve of other quarterbacks, especially other elite quarterbacks, he's probably still got five or six really good years left. So I think you can absolutely make a case for Dak Prescott being as high as eight or nine. Let's shift this conversation just a little bit and look at the next three weeks because I know even in Dynasty, this time of year, the next three weeks matter more than anything else. And I want to kind of think of this from a, who can you trust? Who are you not even considering who they're facing? They are in your starting lineup.

We're going to do it first from a one quarterback perspective, and I'm just going to list off for you all the guys. I'll go down the list. You stop me if you would not trust somebody. These guys I all have projected for right around 20 fantasy points or better in the fantasy playoffs. Some of these numbers are wonky. If you're looking at the sheet, Chris, don't worry about that.

So Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, Dak Prescott, Patrick Mahomes? Yeah, I can't see myself sitting patrick mahomes okay i i agree lamar jackson justin field brock purdy to a tongue of iolo again i i'm kind of a dance with who you came to the dance with kind of guy so i'm probably still starting him but if tyreek's not playing this week that definitely changes, and I would rather start Matthew Stafford. So we have no idea on Justin Herbert's health.

We'll leave him off the lifts. Russell Wilson. The pass volume is so low there, I can't put him in that conversation. Jared Goff. All of his games are indoors. I think I'm probably okay with him trevor lawrence no no kyler murray i've got one league where i've got kyler murray and jared goff

as my two quarterbacks and i'm probably gonna start jared goff this week i think i'm probably gonna start j Jared Goff the rest of the way. Yeah, so Goff closer on the... There's not anybody else in a one quarterback league that you would say you definitely feel good about starting every week. You're not really worried about their matchups, right? You didn't mention Purdy.

I did. Purdy was in the first half of the list. Purdy and Fields? Yeah. They were right next to each other. I guess I wasn't listening. first half of the list party and fields yeah okay they were right next to each other so yeah oh yeah i guess i wasn't listening uh i you could maybe throw matthew stafford in there okay he's playing at a really high level i've really enjoyed watching matthew stafford play for most of this season and i'm glad that it's starting to reflect in his fantasy production his touchdown rate is actually still slightly below his career average,

but it was way below early on. And just the matchups, Washington, New Orleans, New York Giants. I could see Matthew Stafford just being someone I set in my lineup in week 15 and roll with the rest of the way. Now let's move to a 2QB discussion. I think most of these guys but not all of them will definitely count and I didn't mention CJ

Stroud I'm not right now expecting he's going to play this week but after that CJ Stroud's obviously in the group as well moving on to the super flex conversation Sam Howell Jordan Love Baker Mayfield all must starts right yes

Gino Smith Jordan Love, Baker Mayfield, all must starts, right? Yes. Geno Smith. If he plays, you're probably starting him. Gardner Minshew? No. Bryce Young? No. Will Lutz? I think I'd start Joe Flacco, maybe Jake Browning above both those guys.

Okay, so we've got about 12 one-quarterback league guys that we're comfortable with, and about six more that are definitely starts in super flex, and then you're scraping the bottom of the middle. And you start to think about how many quarterbacks have been injured, how many quarterbacks have been benched. You're already at half the league. I think half the league now, their week one quarterback has either been on pup kyler murray been on ir at some point or missed three games because i think justin fields missed

three or four um or gotten benched we're at at least half the league so like yeah it makes sense that there's only like 18 quarterbacks you actually feel decent about right now because the bottom of the rankings are like we've got to project drew lock to start this week drew one guy i didn't mention because i'm always lower on than everybody else derrick car um man i i don't understand the derrick car thing i like. Like, maybe he just thinks that if he doesn't start a game for the Saints, he's never starting in the NFL again. But, like, take a week off, man. They're, like, duct-tapping his limbs back together every week. Every week it's like there's no way Derek Carr is going to play.

And then he goes out there and he plays terribly. And the Saints offense looks like trash and it's like let him take a week off why are we doing this I don't understand I know I can't trust the guy who's left three different games with shoulder injuries has had two concussions in the last month and has a rib injury I their trust is not the word I would use for Derek Carr even in a 2qb league you might start him every game the rest of the way, but the chances of him leaving after a bad hit in the second quarter in any given game are higher than probably any other quarterback right now.

So I would agree with that, and I appreciate all you guys who maybe are not playing this week or in the playoffs but still listening to the dynasty podcast because that's the best thing about dynasty is it's relevant all year round so let's talk about the quarterbacks who we are confident are starting week one of the 2024 season and i think that probably this first list of guys 10 of 10 it's the same guys we were just talking about like josh allen patrick mahomes justin herbert Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, Brock Purdy, CJ Stroud, Dak Prescott, Tua Tunga-Vailoa,

Trevor Lawrence. Those are our 10 of 10s, right? Those guys are all starting. Yeah, and there are a handful of others. We're going to get to to those and we'll see if um kyler murray yes somewhere somewhere more or less confident in that than justin fields more more so murray's uh a 10 fields is a 10 or a nine and a half? Nine. Nine. Okay. Russell Wilson. They can't get out of that contract. There's been some speculation that they can by just ruining the next year and a half.

Yeah. But I don't think you trade picks for Sean Payton to do that. So we're going to the 10. I'm going to say a 10. 10. Derek Carr. Five. 50-50.

I think he's at the Andy Dalton three years ago point. Yeah. That's my favorite comparison. Jordan Love. 10. 10? Good. Yeah, because he's under contract for next year, right?

Yeah. Bryce Young. 9. They don't have their first run pick. Yeah. So it would be almost impossible to replace him. Yeah. So I think I'd go 10 on him.

This is an interesting one. Wait, I didn't say this one yet. Jared Gossett, 10. Right? Yes. Will Levis. uh wait i'm i didn't say this one yet jared gossettin right yes will levis i'd say seven i have no idea what direction the titans are going to go in uh there's been like if bill belichick leaves does um blanking on the titans mike uh mike frabel does he go to new england like i i was just like cycling through mid two thousands Patriots linebackers

trying to find the right one there. I would say seven. I'm going to go eight. I think that win last night gave, gives them a little bit more hope and a little bit worse draft pick. And so I'll go, I'll go eight on him. We've got Kirkirk cousins he's starting

somewhere 10 i don't know maybe there's a five percent chance he retires but i'm gonna say 10 so aaron rogers 10 10 okay those guys are those guys are definitely starting sam howell you know three weeks ago it sounded like a 10 uh and then he's had like his worst three weeks of the season i'll still say like an eight i think he's been feisty enough but yeah i'm gonna i'm gonna go with a six i've got a theory on the commanders and i don't know if it makes any sense or not um there's been a little bit of smoke around the Bears and interest in Eric Bien-Ami. My theory is that a month ago,

the commanders were ready to move on and they were going to name Eric Bien-Ami the interim coach to give him his first shot. And Bien-Ami looked at the remaining schedule and the fact they just traded the two of their best defensive players and said, no, thank you. Because I think if Ron Rivera is not going to be back next year. If Biennium is the head coach and they just make that elevation, then I think Sam Howell is probably going to be the starting quarterback. If Biennium is gone and Ron Rivera is gone

and you've got a whole new organization coming in, you have a top ten pick, I think it's probably like five and a half. Yeah. So it's really no sure thing with Sam. How about Baker Mayfield? Six. I think he's probably done enough to start somewhere. Anthony Richardson's a 10.

10. Yeah. Deshaun Watson. The sunk cost fallacy is really at play. I'd say it's a 10. I just, I don't see how Cleveland can go away. There's way too much guaranteed money there.

Nobody's going to take that on. Tommy DeVito. One. I mean, I guess Daniel Jones may not be ready, but like, Daniel's ready. Yeah.

Well, the timetable, we've seen, you know, nine month recoveries for quarterbacks and Daniel Jones has to be worried about his long-term future right now. I don't think Tommy DeVito is even better than Daniel Jones. And I say that as someone who's a Daniel

Jones skeptic, I would say a three for Tommy DeVito. Okay. So similar for Daniel Jones, like a 50, 50 50 shot if he's ready he plays if he's not he doesn't we just don't know the health wise okay gino smith i'll say seven because i would guess there's still a decent amount of guaranteed money there but there are starting to be some maybe we need to move on from p carroll vibes so those have been around for a few years now but kenny pickett i'm worried i'm legitimately worried that the steelers are going to convince themselves

that it was just oh if only kenny pickett didn't get hurt, we would have made the playoffs and been a... So I'm going to say like a six. I think it should be a zero. But I think there's a decent chance the Steelers convince themselves to give them another chance. And did I say Desmond Ritter? You did not. But three?

Maybe that's wishful thinking that the falcons actually try to upgrade the quarterback position because it was it's there's been a handful of these situations garrett wilson being the obvious one but i think drake london's right there where like if you bet on those guys in your drafts this year or you know trading for them because they you know we were hoping that their quarterback position would be better and you watch them play i don't think you can come to any conclusion other than you were right you were right to make that bet and it's just that aaron rogers tore his acl four plays into the season right i think if the jets had competent quarterback play it's it's so frustrating watching these like nine catch 98 yard games from Garrett Wilson, which are objectively good games.

Right. But then you see C.D. Lamb having like 12 catches, 160 yards and two touchdowns. And you're like, that should be Garrett Wilson. And Drake London, I don't think it's as good as Garrett Wilson. I don't think the situation was ever going to be that good. But that's another one where if you bet on the talent, at some point I believe you're going to be right. And I hope the Falcons actually try to upgrade the quarterback position

this offseason after just punting last year, after releasing a statement saying they weren't going to try to sign Lamar Jackson, which is still one of the dumbest things I've ever seen a team do in the offseason. So, yeah, I'm going to say a 3-3. I think it's a complete 50-50. It's a 5. Could see Arthur Smith, and we're going to run it back. I mean, probably going to lose by like 6 in the first round of the playoffs,

and we're right there. Really close. You build on this next year. Don't put, don't put that evil in the world. Let's, uh, let's take a short break.

We'll get to the deep waiver wire and then we will get to at least a couple of your playoff questions. Hopefully more. The deep waiver wire is not bad this week. It's a lot of guys that we've talked about and that probably should be rostered in all dynasty leagues, but definitely aren't because they're rostered in less than 10% of CBS leagues.

Let's start at the quarterback position. Bailey Zappy coming off a three touchdown performance is rostered in 7% of leagues. He's just a, in my opinion, desperation, super flex bandaid that I'd really rather not. I might even start some running backs and wide receivers over him this week, but Nick Mullins, I think

might be the prize at 2%. Kevin O'Connell has not yet announced a starter, but I can't imagine after an entire bi-week of considering benching Joshua Dobbs and then benching Joshua Jobs in the middle of a game that you're not going to start Nick Mullins. We're expecting Justin Jefferson to be back, or they're at least hopeful that he will be back. Is Nick Mullins like someone who could actually be a super flex difference maker in the fantasy playoffs? Yeah, I mean, I'm looking at my rankings for Week 15, and there are 12 guys at the bottom of my rankings

who I would rather not think about i would rather they just didn't exist and i didn't have to rank them and like yeah nick mullins could be better than drew lock or davis mills or aiden o'connell or desmond ritter or zach wilson or easton stick or nick mullins or nick mullins is the guy we're talking about or will levis or bryce young or mitchell trubisky or tommy devito or bailey there's a lot of bad quarterbacks yeah starting in week 15 and i i do just want to point out my most heartbreaking loss of week 15 it didn't actually matter uh for the standings i'm pretty sure i made the playoffs in that league anyway unless we have some weird scoring format but i did lose to producer thomas schaefer our super flex league. And if I had started Bailey Zappy instead of Tommy DeVito,

I would have won. And that's just dumb. That's a dumb thing to think about. So just wanted to throw that out. Shouts to shouts to Schaefer for, for making, getting the win there. I do have Nick Mullins ranked as a top 20 quarterback as of right now

for week 15. So I think in super flex, he's definitely a starter at running back. We've got three guys, Jordan Mason, 8% rostered scored his fourth touchdown of the season in their most recent game. The reason why Elijah Mitchell is once again, got a balking knee. And I just think that anybody who might be the starting running back for the 49ers and the fantasy playoffs should be rostered everywhere so if jordan if christian mcafree went down and mcafree wasn't and mitchell wasn't available jordan mason would be a top 15 running back most likely definitely a top 20 running back he doesn't catch passes but he doesn't off on the ground it doesn't matter zamir white five percent rostered we don't have updated news on josh jacobs i don't believe and then isaiah isaiah spiller actually i believe touched the ball more than joshua kelly in their

most recent game the uh the extended sharing impacted kelly more than it did eckler so we've got mason white and spiller white's the clear top choice here right if you need someone for week 15 i think he has to be but my expectations are not particularly high for samir white i'm not sure he's in my top 36 for uh week 15 right now even with a good matchup against the chargers even with josh jacobs out i the problem is he's probably not going to catch any passes this offense has really not been very good for running back since Josh McDaniels took over, uh, got fired. It went from being one of the best offenses for RB production overall.

But the one thing about Josh McDaniels offense, and this is going back, I mean, 20 years now, basically is they throw to their running backs on first and second down at a rate higher than basically any team in the NFL and that was the only time Josh Jacobs was catching passes he he played like I want to say he's played like fewer than 100 third down snaps since the start of last season he just doesn't play third down and so there's been a significant drop off in Josh Jacobs production where he's averaging I, 14.2 PPR points per game since Josh McDaniels got fired on 20 carries. That's a pretty inefficient number.

I have to imagine Zemir White is a worse player than Josh Jacobs, probably a significantly worse player. Yeah, agreed. So my expectations for Zemir White are like 12 to 14 carries and maybe 8 to 9 ppr points counterpoint he is facing the chargers right no that's that's a good point and thursday night football maybe they give him a little bit of the zekiel elliott treatment and just you know run him a ton but i i'm considering ranking amir abdullah ahead of him Yeah, I think in my full PPR projections,

Abdullah came out that way. Now, if Easton Stick is starting for the Chargers, which he is, I think he'd probably tilt the game script in the Raiders' favor, so I'm not sure how many passes there are for Abdullah either. But he's someone who you could also add in a deeper league as a flex.

Mason's the guy, if you're looking for a stash, that has the most upside for sure. I've got four wide receivers. Again, guys who probably were rostered at some point this season may have been dropped. Parker Washington, 9% rostered. Wandale Robinson, 9% rostered. Dontavious Wicks, Dontavian Wicks, 5% rostered.

We've got Jaden Reed, I believe, was checked out for a concussion last night or not. We've not got an update on him. Christian Watson, who knows if he's going to be back. Wicks could be their number two wide receiver. And then John Mechie, 4% rostered, but saw really increased involvement with both Tank Dell and Nico Collins out.

If we get CJ Stroud back and Nico Collins out, Mechie could be a really interesting guy. Yeah, I mean, not someone that you'd be able to rank, I think, even inside of the top 40, just because we haven't seen that kind of production from him. But look, I had a league where I was fighting for a playoff spot and I had to start Xavier Gibson last week. And I actually got a touchdown out of him and like eight points.

And like, that's what you're hoping for for eight to ten points from John Mechie but it's perfectly reasonable that he could do that if given the opportunity and CJ Stroud plays obviously um I think just in in a vacuum Wanda Robinson is probably my favorite here where you know he didn't really do much for most of last night's game I think he had what two or three catches on the final drive like 40 yards um but you know early round pick i think it was a day two pick for the giants uh last year tore his acl last year but was starting to show some signs before the injury could just be a situation where he's getting healthy and you know has an actual role in that offense that desperately has needed pass catching. So I think it was six catches for 79 yards yesterday.

I think he's the clear top option if he's available. Yeah, Robinson's the top option. Both Washington and Wicks, I think, are fine deep flexes this week as well. Mechie's more speculative until we see that Collins is out and Stroud is back. There's one tight end. It's Tucker Kraft. I probably need both Jaden Reed and Christian Watson to be out to move him any higher than top 20 at tight end. But with Luke Musgrave on IR, with Jordan Love probably throwing 35 passes,

Kraft has done a couple of things that make him a little bit exciting. At the very least, I'd like to have him on a bench. We're going to take – we don't have to take one more break. I already took two breaks, Chris. You got 10 more minutes to answer some listener playoff questions here? Absolutely. Let's do it. We did have a question about Joe Flacco

heading back to the practice squad following his win. This, I believe the way it was explained on Twitter is that this was something they were willing to expose Flacco to waivers one more week. It's a procedural maneuver because Flacco told them that he wants to stay there and he wants to start for them next week. So if somebody else comes and offers him a job that's not on the practice squad, he's not going to take it. I think he's pretty much confirmed the starter, right?

I think they said that explicitly. Yes. We've got a week 15 start set question. Sure, it's the playoffs. We don't normally do that on the Dynasty Show, but Juice asks, Dalton Kincaid, Dallas Goddard,

or Cole Komet this week? I do have Cole Komet ranked highest. Obviously, the matchup against the Browns isn't great, but I'm real worried about Kincaid and what we saw in week 14 with Dawson Knox back. It was back to, I think Kincaid had his lowest air, his second lowest air yard since his week seven breakout,

I think was what it came out to be. It was like 4.75 average depth of target, which that's not way outside of the norm for him but it's been like six to seven yards when Dawson Knox was out and he actually only had I think eight targets total two of them were 10 yards or longer past the line of scrimmage if you take those two out I think he had seven air yards on his other six remaining targets. So it's right back to where it was early on with Dalton Kincaid. And, you know, there might be enough PPR volume to make him a viable starter, but I think he's back squarely in the low-end tight end one discussion.

Somebody asking about Davis Allen at tight end. Definitely somebody to stash. We don't think Higby's got a long-term absence, though, right? I think we'd expect Higby to probably be back this week yeah from what it sounded like he was pushing to play i don't know if he wasn't in the concussion protocol it was a neck injury um and yeah davis allen middling prospect doesn't have a huge athletic profile so not someone that i think would uh would have much of a chance especially like Higby just signed an extension, right?

Like three weeks ago. So am I crazy for starting Joe Flacco over to it in super flex? If Tyreek is out, I don't know if I'm going to move to a that far. I've got Flacco at 20 at QB. I don't think I'm going to move to a that far down, but based on the way that offense looked last night with tyreek hill out i think we're going to get a lot of rushing and it you know joe flacco might throw 15 to 20 more passes than two of this week especially if the jets offense doesn't show up so these are the types

of decisions that will actually cost me sleep in week 15 dac versus Lamar. Either one of these guys could be like the week winning QB one with 50 fantasy points. Dak in a shootout against Josh Allen and the bills Lamar facing a Jacksonville defense. It's given up 65 points over the last two weeks to Joe Flacco and Jake Browning. Who are you going with between these two, Chris?

And why can't we just start them both? These are the type of decisions that I never actually want to make in the playoffs like it's always great to have as many good players as you can but as the playoffs get closer and i know it's hard to make trades but as the playoffs get closer i want as few decisions as possible i want as many like you've got two top four quarterbacks there and i've got Lamar Jackson third and Dak Prescott fourth this week. So I I'll start Lamar Jackson ahead of him, but it will take zero cajoling to talk me into Dak Prescott. I like, I don't need to be talked into him.

So this is not crazy at all. Thinking about starting Stafford over two of this week, I am starting to staff over. I've got it ranked that way. We've got a couple of trades here that we can try to try to grade we've got a half ppr super flex he got a 2024 first and justin fields for kyler murray james cook brannon cooks a third and a fourth that's it's a. Yeah, I think I'd rather be on the Fields and a first side. Probably. Especially, I'm assuming, since you're making this trade,

that you're not contending. And I don't like carrying running backs, especially like James Cook over the offseason. So I might have, I think Fields and Murray you could call pretty close to a wash. And so, yeah, I think I'm not going to care about Brandon Cooks next year or a third or a fourth. I'll take the first. I think that's a solid B. We've got one more trade here that I saw.

Traded Mahomes and Jaden Reid for two firsts, a second, and George Pickens in a one quarterback league. Love it. In a one quarterback league, I love it. Yeah, I think Reid and Pickens whatever. So two firsts and a second for Patrick Mahomes, that feels good.

And somebody says Chase Brown time. He's been pretty good so far. Is he going to be a starting running back next year? I don't know. The Bengals have been – well, so Mixon, I think, only has this year, right? That was the way the contract was structured. They can get out for free after this year. So I think he's got a decent chance, but he would –

I think he would probably have to show even more than he has for them to feel confident going into next season with him as their starting running back, given this is a contender. So they want as few question marks as they can, and they might have question marks at wide receiver. We've got a question mark about DeAndre Swift, who's, I don't know, been in a little bit of a slump, I guess you might say. How do you feel about swift in the fantasy playoffs he does get to face the new york

giants in week 16 i believe so it's seahawks this week giants week 16 cardinals week 17 i feel pretty great about deandre swift yeah not an rb1 but probably in the rb15 range although i do have him 12th for this week so there you go drake london or deontay johnson drake london had one catch for eight yards i think before last week if i'm remembering correctly he's a little bit up and down deontay johnson's playing with mitch trisky. Yeah, like Deontay Johnson's been less up and down, but you know, I think you'd probably rather chase the higher ceiling. So yeah, I have, I'm pretty sure I have Drake London ranked ahead of

Deontay Johnson this week. Yeah, I do. What about Daniel Jones versus Danny DeVito? That's a good question. I had somebody say Daniel Jones is not better than DeVito, Chris. Agree or disagree? I think Daniel Jones is probably better than Tommy DeVito, but that is a question that I don't really care for. I don't really want to spend. You've only got a finite number of brain cells, and you're losing them constantly to attrition.

I don't want to waste any of them thinking about Daniel Jones versus Tommy DeVito. Yeah, I mean I would if Dan or Adam – Right, yeah, like if I get to troll Dan about it, but other than that. So I think this is a good question. You've got no Justin Herbert. You've got Kyler facing the 49ers. Pretty terrible matchup. Would you start Kyler, or would you start Will Levis, Baker Mayfield, Zach Wilson, or Desmond Ritter? I'm still going with Kyler. I have Baker ahead of Kyler in my projections. I will probably have

Kyler ahead of Baker in my rankings. I believe that even in some years in which the cardinals have been bad and the 49ers have been the best defense in the nfl which is most of kyler's career he's had some pretty fans like he's the type of guy who can have a great great great performance against a great defense uh one more a chan gibbs or breeze hall and non-PPR, Chris? Rank them. It becomes much, much more difficult in non-PPR because all three of them are much better in PPR. I would think... Let me see. I have Jameer Gibbs ranked highest of this group in non-PPR.

I think his chance of scoring a touchdown in any given week are probably higher. Maybe not that much higher than A-Chan's, given the way the Dolphins use him, but A-Chan might get 12 touches. Gibbs probably is going to get 15 to 16, so I'll go Gibbs. Yeah, I've got it.

Hall, Gibbs, A-Chan. I will, in the projections, I'll probably move Hall behind Gibbs. He's somebody who, and I don't know how you view this, Chris, maybe a good thing to finish on with breeze hall that the inefficiency has been so bad for like two months now but the efficiency was so good at the beginning of the year that his season-long efficiency looks fine and for his

career he still looks elite do you project him as a three three and a half yard per carry guy now because it's been that way for a couple of months? I rarely project anyone for three yards per carry. I've got him at four yards per carry, which is below what his season is. But obviously, I mean, yeah, his success rate is 35%, which is just outrageously low. But I think Brees Hall is someone I feel a lot more confident in ppr scoring because he's had you know i think it's 19 targets over the past three games or something like the the workload there has been very strong and he's making more plays in the passing game which

makes sense he's you know the the criticisms that that robert sala had of him are fair but they're a little less worrisome in the passing game where you're trying to break the big plays more often. He's a top 10 running back for me in full PPR. He's top 15 in non. Yeah, I'm planning on starting all three of those guys where I have them. It's a good problem to have, except that one of them is probably going to score 20 on your bench.

Chris, thank you for being here today. Thank you again for the number one seed in our Dynasty League. I'm looking forward to watching you guys fight for the right to face me in Week 16. Thank you for everybody who played along with us here on YouTube, listening on the podcast. We will talk to you next Tuesday. For a limited time, switch to Shopify point of sale, and you could save up to 20% and improve your bottom line.

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