Fantasy Football Today - Reacting to Every Wild Card Game (01/18 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: January 18, 2022

We give you a Fantasy takeaway from each game as Wild Card weekend is in the books! Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT 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 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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at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Fantasy takeaways from every wildcard game right now on Fantasy Football Today in 5. What's up, everybody? Welcome to the show. Adam Azer and Chris Towers here on a Monday night. The game almost over. Rams currently leading the Cardinals 34-11. So we'll go ahead and consider that one in the books. Let's go to Raiders-Bengals. We'll start with that.

Bengals 26, Raiders 19. Chris, give me a fantasy takeaway. Yeah, I mean, obviously with the Raiders, there's going to be a ton of turnover in terms of their coaching staff and potentially, I mean, we don't know what Derek Carr's future with the team is, but I will say if things remain the status quo, Darren Waller is still going to be a must-start tight end. I think he's probably going to drop to fifth in the consensus rankings, maybe sixth if Rob Gronkowski comes back, but I think he's going to be right there in the top four rounds for me in the rankings and still a potential difference maker. He had 21 targets in his past two games, seven catches for 76 yards on Saturday. How about the Bills and the Patriots, 47-17 Bills. I think Devin Singletary might be a strong RB2 next season. I've talked a lot about how the Bills have been one of the least valuable offenses for running backs in fantasy.

That's an issue when you don't know who the starter is or when Zach Moss and Devin Singletary were getting 35% of the snaps. Over the past six weeks, Devin Singletary has played over 86% of the snaps. He's run a bunch of routes. He's basically, if a fantasy running back was going to be relevant in this offense, this is how it would have to happen. He's dominating the work, you know, in the way that a Christian McCaffrey or a Le'Veon Bell does. Now that's only going to make him an RB2, but he could be a top three round pick next season. I know. I was actually just thinking that i feel like he's gonna fall well if we are drafting this week but uh if everything stayed

the same i mean you know we already did we already did i don't know where he went but uh late round three i mean it feels like singletary time as of right now let's go to the sunday games yeah and there's so much that could change i mean he could plummet they could draft someone whatever uh let's go to the sunday game start with eagles bucks 31 15 bucks yeah i'm not sure that i'm going to make any of the philadelphia eagles running backs a priority and that really means miles sanders i think i'll be lower on the consent than the consensus on him just because i mean he was coming back from the injury so we don't know how you know healthy he had he's been at the end of the season.

But seven carries for 16 yards against Tampa Bay, tough matchup. But Kenneth Gainwell had a significant role in the passing game, five catches for 49 yards and a touchdown on five targets. I just don't think Miles Sanders is ever going to have the kind of role that makes him anything more than a replaceable RB2. Spike the ball. Go spike the ball. Dak Prescott.

Oh, right out of time. 23-17, 49ers. You know, everybody's talking about that game as if the refs ruined this amazing chance for Dallas to win the game. And it's like, they had a third and goal from the 24-yard line with one second left on the clock, even if they get that off.

They weren't going to win. It's like a 10% chance of winning. So on that one, this is, Adam, I saw your wide receiver rankings that came out last week, and you're not going to like this one. There is no reason for you to have ranked CeeDee Lamb as a number one wide receiver for the 2022 fantasy season. Hey, you know, it's tough.

It's really tough. I had a theory. I don't know if we have time to get into it, but it was really about where he lined up. When Michael Gallup was healthy and he was lining up in the slot, he just wasn't nearly as good. When Michael Gallup went out, I thought it was really going to be a revival for CeeDee Lamb, and it hasn't happened.

Those rankings were before Week 18 and obviously before the wild card game, and he's been terrible in those two games since, so definitely going to have to reevaluate. His past six games, he's got 33 catches for 297 yards and no touchdowns but i really i really thought it was because he was playing the slot you know i so i i thought the gallop injury was going to change that it's we're going to talk about it's good point we're going to talk about it tomorrow it's going to be a hot topic on the full length show uh how about the uh sunday night blowout steelers chiefs 42 21 chiefs i mean i i've been worried about the Sunday night blowout Steelers Chiefs 42-21 Chiefs? I mean, I've been worried

about the Steelers offense, but the more I think about it, what is this team going to be able to do to upgrade a quarterback? I mean, they've shown no willingness to do it the last three seasons, but you know, Ben Roethlisberger is out the door. Who are they going to add? Is Jameis Winston going to be available? Maybe they can go sign him. That would be okay. But for the most part, I mean, the foundations of this offense look awfully shaky. Ben Roethlisberger was one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL this season, but I don't know if they're going to get better play next season. So it's a concern, especially for Deontay Johnson, who's really benefited from the huge target volume that he got with Ben Roethlisberger. I don't know if that's going to be there next season.

And finally, is it final? Two minutes left, 34-11 right now, Rams with the lead. So talk about Rams Cardinals. I mean, based on the way Twitter is right now, Cam Akers might end up in the first round for 2022 drafts. I don't think I would take him there. I think he's looked pretty good in this game, but I don't think I would take him there. I think he's looked pretty good this, uh, in this game, but you know, I don't think he's been unbelievable given the circumstances. He's been unbelievable, obviously six months removed from an Achilles terrorist and incredible that he's

got 95 yards from scrimmage as we speak. But I, I still don't know about the passing game workload for him. I still don't know, you know, the, the Rams running backs combined for nine rushing touchdowns this season, I would expect more from Cam Akers, but you know, I just, with this offense, I'm not sure how valuable the role is going to be. And I still have questions about the, the effectiveness coming off the Achilles. So I get the feeling I'm going to be lower than the consensus on Cam Akers because people are going to be really, really high on him. Yeah, I'm pretty high on him. And I actually took him 28th overall in our draft last week,

but I would consider him in the second round. I think lead running back for the Rams is really, really valuable. They don't really do committees. They will in the postseason, but I think if, you know. No, that's a good point. Yeah. Yeah, so 28th overall, I was thrilled to get him. Fourth pick of the third round

you can see the results of that mock on cbssports.com good stuff from chris towers a lot more on the full-length episode of fantasy football today thanks for watching and listening everybody and by the way if cam makers is catching passes from odell beckham next year then he's gonna have a lot of a lot of a trip to the moon yeah all right thanks everybody uh hope you enjoyed your weekend we're gonna talk a lot of football this week. Talk to you tomorrow.