Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (AFC), 2025 Questions, Which Starters are Resting? (01/02 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

Get some awesome Fantasy gear here: https://shop.cbssports.com/fantasy We read your emails at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com to start the show which include explanations for why people play in Week 18. The...n we've got your news and notes (14:00) ... Start or Sit and a 2025 question for Browns-Ravens (22:00), Bengals-Steelers (26:00), Texans-Titans (33:55), Dolphins-Jets (42:40), Jaguars-Colts (49:10), Chiefs-Broncos (53:40), Chargers-Raiders (1:00:30) and Bills-Patriots (1:04:00). In addition to telling you who to start and sit, we discuss 2025 values for Ladd McConkey, Courtland Sutton, Chase Brown, Khalil Shakir and many more ... We finish with more of your emails  Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Please VOTE for Fantasy Football Today in the Sports Podcast Awards in the "Best Fantasy Betting and Gaming Podcast" category: https://bit.ly/3Zxw3uS Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Shop our store: shop.cbssports.com/fantasy  SUBSCRIBE to FFT Express on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-express/id1528634304 Follow FFT Express on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qyGWfETSBFaciPrtvoWCC?si=6529cbee20634da8 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837 FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." Visit the betting arena on CBSSports.com for all the latest sportsbook reviews and sportsbook promos. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 What's in this McDonald's bag? The McValue Meal. For $5.79 plus tax, you can get your choice of junior chicken, McDouble, or chicken snack wrap, plus small fries and a small fountain drink. So pick up a McValue Meal today at participating McDonald's restaurants in Canada. Prices exclude delivery. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races, and he stays at his feet. This is gonna go the distance.
Starting point is 00:00:30 Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Fantasy Football Today, presented by Bet MGM, the sportsbook born in Vegas. It is week 18, starter sit for eight AFC home games, including two of them on Saturday. We should have a fun Saturday of football with the AFC North, Cleveland at Baltimore and Cincinnati at Pittsburgh.
Starting point is 00:00:56 Couple of big games there. We're gonna update you on who's resting players. We're gonna answer your questions at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Did I say that right? Fantasy football at C, yes I did.I. Yes, I did. And I've been saying that for 15 years. Felt wrong.
Starting point is 00:01:10 fantasyfootball.cbsi.com the letter I, and we got a lot of week 18 emails yesterday. I said, I said in your week 18 emails, we got a lot of them. So I'll read some of them on today's show. I'll read some on tomorrow's show. Good morning, Heath and Jamie. I think we should do a mail back now. I mean, we could, we probably only have about five minutes of content if we did that, but.
Starting point is 00:01:30 We just make fun of Dan for 40 minutes and then, you know, answer some emails. Oh, if we got Dan on the show, we'd have 35 minutes of content. Yeah, for sure. You know what? I'm gonna start with this. Why week 18?
Starting point is 00:01:41 Also FYI, for every game we preview, we're gonna start with the 2025 question and then we'll get into the week 18 starts and sits. But Heath said, why do you play in week 18 also FYI for every game we preview, we're gonna start with the 2025 question and then we'll get into the week 18 starts and sits. But he'd said, why do you play in week 18? Well, we did get some responses. I put a few in the notes. Eddie says in his league, week 18 is a free for all involving all 24 teams in the league.
Starting point is 00:02:00 The team that scores the most points in week 18 takes home a small prize. Points are tallied for all players on your roster, starters and bench, except for any players that are on IR. So they do like a bonus week. He also has a standard score. No, he has a, he said, starter sit, full PPR, standard scoring.
Starting point is 00:02:19 So I'm gonna go with PPR. We gotta be a little aware sometimes. Some people think that standard scoring go with PPR. We gotta be a little aware sometimes. Some people think that standard scoring is not PPR. Mm-hmm. I think that, yeah, maybe. He needs to make up 35 points in this league. Pick one, Garendo, Warren, Abdullah, Ray Davis, Blake Corum.
Starting point is 00:02:42 You just summed up week 18. Thank you. I like your end though this week. I would. Yes, that sounds great. No, come on. Come on. We got to really answer because Coram is going to get a huge workload apparently. No, but okay.
Starting point is 00:02:57 So here's the thing. I talk about this a lot throughout this season about like the uncertainty of groups of guys and how close they are together. I'm not going to express certainty when about like week 18 calls. I'll I'll give leans but like I have a mirror Abdullah Jalen Warren Blake Coram and Isaac Rondo back to back to back to back. Okay. Okay. Okay.
Starting point is 00:03:26 Well, that's fine. The first thing that I would do with these running backs is who's playing with their starters and who's playing backups with backups like Blake Corum, Ray Davis, Kenneth Gaines. Well now there's one more. I forget. I'll come to chiefs. The chiefs. The chief.
Starting point is 00:03:49 Steel. And can I give you a little context on that before you go any further? Because I looked at Kansas City the last two times they benched their starters in week 17 or 18. So in 2020, the rest of their starters, Darwin Thompson had 21 touches. He had 110 total yards and two touchdowns. He had seven catches. 2023, just last year, LaMichael Perrine didn't have as good of a game, but he had 24 touches and he had over 100 total yards.
Starting point is 00:04:20 They played the Chargers actually both times. Last year they beat the Chargers with Easton Stickett quarterback. They beat them 13 to 12 in week 18. In 2020 they got killed 38-21. Justin Herbert had a huge game, but in both instances the Chiefs gave their guys 21 or more touches and both of them had over 100 total yards and Darwin Thompson had like a massive fantasy game. Right. So again, I think it's case by case. So you're talking about a Chargers team that was completely terrible last year.
Starting point is 00:04:49 Right. And it also quit. They're playing a team that has to win. Right. Who are you talking about? The Chiefs today. No, yeah, I was talking about like the Blake Corum. No, no, I understand that.
Starting point is 00:04:59 So I think it's all case by case, you know. So like Khalil Herbert stepping in is in a different situation than Blake Corum. Backup stepping in, the Bengals are going to go full go with all their starters. Blake Corum is playing with Jimmy Garoppolo, who knows what on the offensive line, who knows what at receiver. And Seattle is trying, I'm sure to get, you know, depending on how they feel about Gino Smith, that's $2 million if they get a win just for him. You know, so, I don't know. Like a lot of these situations are just a little nerve racking if you are playing with, you know,
Starting point is 00:05:33 some of these guys. Like Ray Davis, I think is in a pretty good spot because the Patriots are going to arrest some guys too, and they stink. Yeah. All right, this is from, oh, sorry. This is from Eric. Was just, this is from. Eric! Was just watching the show.
Starting point is 00:05:46 Heath mentioned why he wanted to hear why people are playing in week 18. My league does a Pro Bowl in week 18. We take some of the buy-in money and reserve it for week 18 where we can build a lineup of anyone we want. And the high score for that week gets the cash. Keeps everyone. That's kind of the same thing as the first guy, right?
Starting point is 00:06:02 No, because in this case, they get to pick, it's almost DFS. They get to pick anyone they want. The first guy, it's your lineup. Just who scores the most points. Well, actually, I don't know. He said, yeah, it's a free for all. I think that this is different.
Starting point is 00:06:18 I think- Can two people choose the same guy? In theory, oh yeah, yeah, I think so. Okay, so they do that. We also have Brian from Maine. Why do I play in week 18? So he actually likes it. He thinks there's more strategy.
Starting point is 00:06:32 He thinks that you can kind of separate the best managers by playing in week 18. It's not just which players are on your team. You actually have to have more strategy in it. It's my skills as a fantasy manager versus yours. That's what he says. But the thing about that though is if it's a true championship, it's just two managers. Yeah. So basically it's who can get to the waiver wire first. A little bit. Yeah. It's not necessarily like I'm smarter than you
Starting point is 00:06:59 because like, well, I think about our magazine league and especially, depending on how waivers are done, like you should almost reset fab to a hundred dollars for everyone, if you're going to do that. Cause our magazine league, Adam got the first waiver pick week 15, week 16 and week 17, because he had the worst record going into the playoffs and just kept the worst record throughout the playoffs. And it's kind of true. It's a great strategy. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:26 I remember when Schaefer called you out for it and you tried to act like you didn't do it, but it was, it was, it was, it worked, it worked beautifully. I didn't do that. I didn't. All right. Time for some more emails, some starter sit questions here. This is from N. Should I sit? I did see a few though that said that week 18 was, you know, they do total points leagues.
Starting point is 00:07:45 So those are a little different. Should I sit Devon HN for Bucky Irving and Josh Jacobs? I would do it for Bucky Irving. I would not do it for Jacob just because the Packers may pull guys at some point during the game, depending on the score. I actually had Jacobs projected higher than HN and HN projected higher than Bucky. But yeah. Laporta or John who Smith? Laporta. Yeah, I agree. And said he voted for us for the podcast awards. So thank you. Sports podcast group.com vote now. Best fans for gaming. Thank you. I think looking
Starting point is 00:08:24 at the you know, this all bus team that I'm putting together, I was like, Oh, who's the tight end? It's like Laporte has finished amazing. Kelsey's finished strong enough, you know, that it had a good enough season that it's like hard to call him a bus. He's a bus for I think, where we thought of him or what we thought of him. but he had enough good games. It's Kincaid. It's Kincaid.
Starting point is 00:08:48 Yeah. Yeah. I guess it was a two round difference between Laporta. Laporta was going at the two, three turn in some leagues. Even, even there at. Kelsey's ADP passed Laporta. So Kelsey was number one. But Kelsey was a point and a half better.
Starting point is 00:09:03 Like Laporta averaged 10.8 fantasy points per game. He was so bad. He still helped people a lot in the playoffs. If they didn't drop them. Uh, from Marlo from Indiana. I play in week 18, LOL. Should I pick up Blake Coram or Ray Davis? PPR.
Starting point is 00:09:22 I mean, for me, I'm going Davis. I, I'm going Coram. I just, I? I mean, for me, I'm going Davis. I, I'm going Coram. I just, I wonder like what percentage of the touches Ray Davis is going to get his tie Johnson getting set as well. Does, does Frank Gore Jr. get to make an appearance? I will find out, I guess, if he's elevated off the practice
Starting point is 00:09:38 one. All right. This is from Ryan. He says, Hey, Marty, rust, Ray, Frank, Wayne and Roland. If they hadn't had the first two in there, I would have had no chance. Marty, Rust, Ray, Frank, Wayne and Roland. That's Ozark, right? Maybe. Definitely Marty and Rust. Yeah. 100% Ozark. Good call. I don't remember who Ray, Frank, Wayne and Roland are. I think was Ray her dad or her uncle?
Starting point is 00:10:08 Rust I think was her uncle. Well, there were two uncles, right? Rust was definitely one of them. Okay. I think Ray was one of the Trailer Park dads. As much as I love this show, I don't remember all the characters. It does, by the way, so freak me out
Starting point is 00:10:24 with that Wolfman movie that she's in, that when I see her in the commercials, all the characters. It does, by the way, so freak me out with that Wolfman movie that she's in, that when I see her in the commercials, like the trailers. I haven't seen it. I don't even know. One of my favorite quotes that I can never ever say on the show. From the movie, from the other? From the show, like one of the best quotes ever.
Starting point is 00:10:42 I mean, she had several, but. Did she use profanity in the show? Once, just this once. All right, Ryan's question is Russ or Lamar Jackson? Lamar. Yeah. Lamar's QB1. That's the good thing about the Ravens.
Starting point is 00:10:58 Ravens have the first game, they've got the division on the line, go for it. And they're placing like the worst team in the world. Pick two, Jonathan Taylor, Breece Hall, Ray Davis, Jalen Warren, Amir Abdullah. Taylor's easy. It's not non PPR by the way. Non PPR, okay.
Starting point is 00:11:20 So I mean, look, Abdullah's in the conversation now for non PPR after what he did last week, right? He didn't practice. We should point that out. He didn't practice. Yeah, we got to keep an eye on his status. Or the- Breeze Hall, Ray Davis, Jalen Warren, Amir Abdullah.
Starting point is 00:11:36 I go Jalen Warren. He also missed practice as well, but as long as he's healthy, I go Warren. Yeah, I've got Bree've got Bruce the highest. Jalen Warren and non PPR Jamie has one touchdown this year. I mean, well, I'll I'll go back to something you've been saying for a long time. Dolphins haven't allowed a 50 yard rusher since like week six. Um, Bruce Hall barely scored against
Starting point is 00:12:01 Jacksonville. Yeah. Okay. All right. Hey, happy holidays, everybody. Still time to get your fantasy football champion or biggest loser something from our new fan shop, the fantasy football today new fan shop powered by Shop Sense. It has everything you need from trophies to t-shirts. We've got the gear to make your league unforgettable.
Starting point is 00:12:20 All right, so check it out at shop.cbsports.com slash fantasy. Just peruse a little bit. We like to online shop, right? Shop.cbsports.com slash fantasy. Just peruse a little bit. We like to online shop, right? Shop.cbsports.com slash fantasy. There's also the QR code that you can scan and I'll put a link in the episode description, but it's got memorabilia. It's got sports stuff and non-sports stuff that you're going to love for your home or for your fan cave.
Starting point is 00:12:42 Shop.cbsports.com slash fantasy. News and notes. Here's an update on who's resting. Well, first of all, Jalen hurts is still in the concussion protocol, but they're going to rest their starters. Saquon Barkley is not going to play, not going to go for the record against the Giants and the Rams are resting their starters as well. What's Boston Scott doing? That's what I said yesterday, right? Or Tuesday. Yeah. Yeah. Let's bring back Boston Scott to go score a touchdown. Isn't he on somebody's roster?
Starting point is 00:13:10 I think so. I mean, they'll probably let him go to go score against the giants. He's on the Steelers. Oh no, I think he's a free agent now. How funny would that be? It would be pretty funny. Some people, I'm not going to even hint towards any profanity on the show. Cause I don't want to make Thomas's job harder, but I will say that the, the
Starting point is 00:13:34 quotes that people are asking for a hint, it's exactly how I feel about week 18. And it starts with, I don't know. Okay. I got to find this out. It's so funny. All right, so we'll get it. All right. You know what?
Starting point is 00:13:49 Let's just do this in case you missed the previous two shows. Here are the teams that are sitting players that we know Buffalo. Philadelphia, Kansas City, the Rams. Anyone else that we know for sure? The Texans may pull guys at some point during the game. Right, but we don't know, but they said they're already playing their starters.
Starting point is 00:14:19 We just don't know, but those four teams- Right, Domingo Ryan said everybody needs to be ready. Okay, but those four teams that I mentioned, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Kansas City, and the Rams. Right, and then the Chargers are the one that we don't know yet because if the Steelers win, they are the five on Saturday. The Steelers are the five and the Chargers are locked into the six. Correct. If the Steelers lose and the Chargers win, then they are the five, the
Starting point is 00:14:49 Chargers. And the five is much more desirable than the six. The five is going to be the Texans. If they both lose, the Steelers are the five. Okay. And the Steelers could pull some players because if the Ravens win the first game, they really should flip the time, shouldn't they? If the Ravens win the first game, they really should flip the time, shouldn't they? If the Ravens win the first game, then the Steelers are eliminated from the division. And they could still play for the five or the six, but they're eliminated from the division. I think that was probably the thought is that the Steelers want to get the five, so they'll still play their guys no matter what. Probably.
Starting point is 00:15:19 And then you got Green Bay. Green Bay may not may pull some players. Right? That depends. Do they want to be the six or the seven? Right. Because they still have a chance to pull some players. Right. That depends. Do they want to be the six or the seven? Right. Because they still have a chance to beat the six. Absolutely. But the Chargers, they're not locked into their, I'm sorry, the Rams, they're not locked into their seat. They've decided to rest
Starting point is 00:15:34 their players. So the Chargers, the Rams, the commanders, didn't Harbaugh do like a spiel in his press conference or an interview about how, why he doesn't rest players? I would be surprised if he rested guys, like sat guys, like he, he may start them and treat it like a preseason game. Um, the one guy that I think will play the most of the regulars is Dobbins because he's 58, I think it's 58 yards shy of $150,000 incentive. And I would be surprised if Harbaugh
Starting point is 00:16:07 did not let him get that. I just saw the quote in the chat. Thank you someone for providing that quote from Ruth. What a great quote. Okay, Anthony Richardson mispractice. We'll see if he's able to play against Jaguars. Josh Dobbs is starting for the 49ers. The Dolphins are preparing for Tyler Huntley to start
Starting point is 00:16:28 in a huge game for them at the Jets. They are in the playoffs with a win and a Denver loss, but Denver is playing the Chiefs backups. Drake May is going to start. We don't know if he's going to finish the game. Derek Carr missed practice for the Saints. Alvin Kamara missed practice also. Aaron Jones was limited.
Starting point is 00:16:44 Should be good to go for Sunday night game at Detroit, biggest game of the week. Alvin Kamara mispracticed also. Aaron Jones was limited. Should be good to go for Sunday night game at Detroit. Biggest game of the week. Gus Edwards mispracticed. James Connor has been ruled out. Miles Sanders could be back this week for Carolina. Austin Eckler could be back this week for Washington. Tajay Spears mispracticed. Tony Pollard was limited. Amir Abdullah mispracticed with a foot injury. We're hoping that he plays because he had a great role in last week's game. Bucky Irving was limited. He should be fine. And Jerome Ford and Pierre Strong both mispracticed. They play on Saturday at Baltimore. Looks like Deontay Foreman will be served to the wolves, but he could get a lot of carries against the Reds.
Starting point is 00:17:18 They did sign a running back to him. Josh Kelly. Wide receiver news. Lad McConkey mispracticed with a toe injury we don't think that's serious steve samuel mispractice with ribs and wrist injuries terry mccloren me yeah terry mccloren mispractice too but that's not a huge surprise i want to i never mentioned that we did not talk about that game at all this the only game that we didn't talk about from last week was the sunday night game i mean aj torrell is not usually a guy that shadows a receiver and shuts him down, but he did a fantastic job against Terry McLaurin and probably decided some fantasy championships because of that. McLaurin had one of his worst games. Christian Watson mispracticed.
Starting point is 00:18:00 Jalen Waddle was limited. They're hopeful for him. And Deontay Johnson is going to play for the Texans this week. A lot of tight end news. Dallas Goddard's been designated to return from IR. I can't imagine you'll see him this week. Both Tampa Bay tight ends. Durham Payne missed practice and also K.Dotton missed practice. David Njoku missed practice. Not looking good for him on Saturday, which is interesting for Jerry Judy. And Hunter Henry was limited with a foot injury. And Tyler Conklin, who's on a bit of a hot streak he missed practice and I'll leave it at that. All right, we're gonna take a break come back and talk about Cleveland at Baltimore after this on fantasy football today This NFL season get in on all the hard-hitting action with FanDuel North America's number one sportsbook
Starting point is 00:18:39 You can bet on anything from money lines to spreads and player props or combine your bets in a same game parlay for a shot at an even bigger payout. Plus with super simple live betting, lightning fast bet settlement and instant withdrawals, FanDuel makes betting on the NFL easier than ever before. So make the most of this football season and download FanDuel today. 19 plus and physically located in Ontario. Gambling Palm, call 1-866-531-2600 or visit connectsontario.ca. We're back on fantasy football today talking about the first game of the week, Cleveland at Baltimore. All right, here's your 2025 question for this game. Jerry Judy 2025 breakout? Question mark.
Starting point is 00:19:18 I think he was a 2024 breakout. I think he was actually even better in 2022. I want to say it was like pretty good, but could he actually be a good for a full season? Jerry Judy, like a real fantasy asset? Yeah. Jerry Judy has 196, 40 more yards than he's ever had in his career and 17 more catches. And he's 84, 1166. I wonder where he ranks. And a game to play. He's 1166. He's gonna have a 1200 yard season.
Starting point is 00:19:49 Obviously it was very concentrated in one part of the year. But what do you think? Like can he be a start to finish fantasy asset? I think he could maybe like put up similar numbers in a more even, evenly distributed way, but this is just a disaster in terms of like, we have no idea who the quarterback is going to be. Yeah. Um, and there's not a lot of good options. Like the one great option they've basically cast to the curb the last two weeks of the season.
Starting point is 00:20:26 So I think he'd probably view him as a number three wide receiver. It's kind of interesting Jerry Judy in 2022 average 13.6 PPR fantasy points per game, but he was wide receiver 22 per game. This year is averaging 14 fantasy points per game even better, but he's wide receiver 28 per game. So he has had a better year, but wide receiver, I guess was just better this season. I think you really need to do this is this calls for the man who A's or stats. Yeah. Because especially at the wide receiver position, we've had so many injuries this year. Like Chris Godwin is wide receiver two, he played seven games where she rises wide receiver position. We've had so many injuries this year. Like Chris Godwin is wide receiver two.
Starting point is 00:21:05 He played seven games where she rises wide receiver 14. He played four games. Stefan digs the wide receiver 18. He played eight game. We have so many guys with partial seasons and that's made it possible for multiple guys to average a lot of fantasy points. Judy, by the way, if you have Azurstead in 2022, he had like three games where he barely played, You take away those games.
Starting point is 00:21:25 He actually was incredible. Take a look for she writes, you take away the one game or she writes, got hurt. He's a wide receiver to per game, averaging over 21 points per game this year. All right. On to the starts or sits for Cleveland and Baltimore. Are there any Browns that you want to start? No. Um, it's three wide receiver league.
Starting point is 00:21:43 I'm starting Jerry Judy. I mean, what's the hesitation with Judy without Nujoku? No. Three wide receiver league, I'm starting Jerry Judy. I mean, what's the hesitation with Judy without Nujoku obviously got 18 targets last week. Yeah, what's the hesitation there? I mean, look, Heath's right, you're starting him in three receiver leagues, but I don't think that the Ravens
Starting point is 00:22:01 and what they're about to do to the Browns is gonna be pretty. I wonder though, I think the question is, cause we expect that this game is going to be over at halftime. Um, like do, does Jerry Judy play in the, in the garbage time? Cause if so, he could have, he could put up some numbers in. It's fair point. Um, is that DTR? Is it Bailey's Appie?
Starting point is 00:22:26 Could that help? Would you rather start Zay Flowers or Jerry Judy? Flowers. Flowers. Okay, so onto the Ravens, Jackson, Henry, Andrews at this point must start. Flowers we talked about yesterday. He's ahead of Jerry Judy apparently,
Starting point is 00:22:44 but he's not, forget where he is in the rankings. I've got him, he's a high end number two for me. And I think a high end number three for Jamie. Yep. Okay. How about Rashad Bateman and Isaiah Likley? Any interest there? I mean, Bateman is just a boom bust number three receiver.
Starting point is 00:22:59 You know, if you think they're gonna, you know, get everybody involved and he's certainly in play. We've seen games where he's had monster performances. We've seen games where he's had monster performances. We've seen games where he's disappeared. So he's touched on our bust and likely is the same thing. I got a comment in the chat from Johnny. Any player can look good if you Azer stat them.
Starting point is 00:23:17 That sounds like a challenge, Johnny. That would be a fun. You throw a player by way, I'll see if I can make him look good. All right, Raven's DST is top two. We'll go to our next game in a moment. But if you haven't signed up yet for BetMGM, you can use the bonus code fantasy
Starting point is 00:23:32 and get an awesome offer up to a $1,500 first bet offer on your first wager with BetMGM. So here's how it works, just download the BetMGM app and sign up using the bonus code fantasy deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game and you're going to get up to $1,500 in bonus bets. If your bet loses, just make sure you use the bonus code fantasy. When you sign up Cincinnati is at Pittsburgh 2025 question for you, chase Brown or T Higgins. And I know there's a lot of moving parts.
Starting point is 00:24:07 So let me just like, right now, if you had to guess, you have to obviously pick a destination for T Higgins. Who do you think is gonna be a better fantasy value next? Who do you think is gonna go first, Chase Brown or T Higgins? Chase Brown. T Higgins and PPR and Chase Brown and non. Man, Chase Brown has been playing like a first round pick. What stops him from being that good
Starting point is 00:24:51 in 2025? Competition. The bingles deciding that we don't want to give him 400 touches in a season. So we should find somebody better than Zach Moss to share with him. Okay. What if it is Zach Moss? What if it's just him? It could be him. I mean, it could be. He signed a one year deal, right? I believe so. But, you know, look, it could be Khalil Herbert if they want to keep him, you know, as a backup there. You know, maybe they finally decided to buy into Travion Williams. Oh, it was a two year deal. Sorry. Well, and also I'm going to be a lot more confident in chase Brown. If they keep their coach, I'll be a little bit more concerned if they make a change. And I think that has to be at least a consideration.
Starting point is 00:25:21 If you have Joe Burrow and Jamar chase and Deagans and missed the playoffs. All right. How about, I would guess the defense coordinator goes first and then, you know, there's another year of let's see what they do. All right. How about we get to the starts and sits. So start your bangles. Jamie, you were high on Mike Osicki on the waiver wire show. How do you feel about him now? Still a top 12 guy for me. I think first off, the Steelers have been miserable against tight ends lately. And he did have a five for 53 game against them, I think it was 53 yards, but he had over 10 PPR points. And so just looking at the position, and I really do think that if they struggle to run
Starting point is 00:26:01 the ball, so like Khalil Herbert's in a great spot, but if this game does become a track meet, which it certainly was the last time, then we're gonna see, you know, Joe Burrow 40 plus pass attempts, which is not surprising. And I think if this is his last game of the year, he's going out throwing. So, you know, we're gonna see a lot of fireworks through the air. So that's the type of game where Gosecki has a chance to succeed. So nothing like what he did last week, I think closer to the 5 for 53 is realistic. So 10 PPR points is, is probably the ceiling. Wow. Okay. Sorry. I'm gonna take off track again. I'll try not to do this the entire
Starting point is 00:26:32 show, cause I know this is important, but you know, Zach Taylor is 45 and 52 in his career. Yep. Made a super bowl that goes a long way, I guess. We should talk more about Khalil Herbert here. He's about, he's top 18 or so in the rankings. And I'll give you some names. Breeze Hall or Khalil Herbert? Herbert. Herbert. Devon Achan or Khalil Herbert?
Starting point is 00:27:01 Achan. Achan. Tyrone Tracy Jr. Khalil Herbert Tracy Tracy quorum or Herbert Herbert Herbert Herbert or flowers Herbert flowers and full PPR Herbert and everything else
Starting point is 00:27:19 Herbert or Pickens Pickens Herbert Pickens. Pickens. Herbert. Herbert's got four games in the last two years with 15 plus touches and three of them I think he's gone for like 19 PPR points. He's always been productive when he's gotten work.
Starting point is 00:27:38 Now he's always been bad in pass protection too. So he probably won't play on third down, that's my guess, but the Bengals are 10th in the NFL in running back targets on first and second down. You know how it is. I mean, Joe Mixon didn't play on third down. He still was routinely about a 50 catch guy, or at least on pace for that. So that's good.
Starting point is 00:27:57 They have of their 16 games, 13 times a running back has had 13 plus PPR points. Yeah, it's a great situation. It is a good run defense though. I should point that out. I mean, they do give up touchdowns. They give up fantasy points, but pretty good run defense. All right. On the other side of the ball, do we like Russell Wilson this week? Top 12 quarterback. Borderline. So you'd have to start him over anyone you had questions about like Jordan Love or Justin Herbert, I would assume anyone that you think might get pulled. Yes, I think if you're making that decision, you should probably start Russell Wilson.
Starting point is 00:28:37 Herbert is the tricky one because Herbert can go completely nuclear against the Raiders if they want him to. And that's they're totally dependent on each other. The last time Wilson faced the Bengals he had by far his best game 29 of 38 414 yards three touchdowns one interception 32.9 fantasy points. All right who likes Jalen Warren better than Najee Harris? Assuming that he's healthy, I do. Yep. And but not better than Khalil Herbert?
Starting point is 00:29:10 No, Herbert over the Steelers guys. Correct. OK, yeah, Warren's got two good games in a row. 14.2 points at Baltimore, 16.2 points at Kansas City in full PPR. He had five catches in both of those games, and he's got basically the same amount of carries as Najee Harris. In the last three weeks, and now should have had a bigger game against the Chiefs to go back to
Starting point is 00:29:31 your question, your point about the rushing totals. He had a rushing touchdown call back on holding call. Yeah, and that would have been his second touchdown of the year. Najee is what is he a top 24 guy for you? He still is. Yes. He also had a big game against the Bengals. He did. He's just outside of the top 24. Yeah, he had I think his best game of the year.
Starting point is 00:29:50 Must have been. Yeah, yeah, he had six catches in that game. So that's the last time he caught the ball. He said three in the next four games since that Cincinnati game. It's very weird. And how do we feel about Pickens trying to bounce back from an eight PPR fantasy point game against the cheaps where he was really frustrated, kept taking his helmet off. Luckily did not get penalized for it.
Starting point is 00:30:09 Um, but how do we feel about Pickens this week, Heath? Uh, I think you have to start them in a week like this. It's a good matchup. He's got the big upside potential and we expect he's going to play the whole game. So that makes him a starter. He's a number two wide receiver. Just get seven or more targets. There have been 16 wide receivers with seven or more targets against the Bengals. All of them have scored double digit PPR fantasy points. 12
Starting point is 00:30:36 of the 16 have scored 15.8 or more PPR fantasy points. And Pat Friarmouth or Mike Kosicki? Friarmouth. I mean, he's been on fire and he had a great game. Yeah look at his numbers he's got three touchdowns in his last five games, the last four games. He had a great game, the best game of the season was against the Bengals. Bengals are number one and most fantasy points allowed to tight ends. Like this is a great situation for him. Did you miss my joke? What? Oh, Friar. Friar, yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:06 Yeah. Yeah. I thought the targets would go down with Pickens back because his hot streak has sort of been with Pickens out but he had eight targets last week. So hooray. All right. Houston's at Tennessee, 2025.
Starting point is 00:31:20 Oh, I'm sorry. No DSTs in that game, right? No. All right, here we go. Houston DSTs in that game, right? No. All right. Here we go. Houston's at Tennessee 2025 questions. Anybody feeling a CJ Stroud bounce back next year? To what degree?
Starting point is 00:31:34 I don't think it could be worse. It would be hard to be worse, but it's going to like this is a team that's got to figure some things out in terms of their pass catchers because digs, they made that big move to change it to a one year deal and he's on ACL anyway, so they probably wouldn't want him back tank Dell. I don't think you can expect anything from him next year. So it's pretty much just Nico Collins. Like they're going to have to go get a good number two wide receiver.
Starting point is 00:32:02 Okay. If they like Deontay Johnson, it makes a lot of sense for him to stay. Yeah, could have been a pretty savvy pickup there. Yeah. So for this game, how are you guys approaching the Texans who they what did you say Jamie that to make Orion said everyone needs to be ready? Yeah, I would anticipate this almost like a preseason game, you know, so I've downgraded almost everybody for them. Joe Mixon was was a top 10 running back when I started doing
Starting point is 00:32:27 the rankings now I have him just outside the top 24 just with the anticipation of him maybe getting a driver too. Nico Collins was top five receiver now he's again outside the top 24 just with the idea of not playing very much and CJ Stroud is someone you can completely get away from because he hasn't been good even when he's been playing. So it just it doesn't seem like that they really have nothing to play for. So I understand you want to get your offense going a little bit here. To what extent we'll find out. It'd be very strange if they played everybody, especially after what Heath just said, you
Starting point is 00:33:00 know, losing digs during the season, losing tanked out in the, in the fashion that he was hurt. Again, that they're competitive games, not to say that they weren't, but you know, the last thing they can afford is another significant injury. And I, what I'm looking at here still shows that they are a one point underdog to the Titans that line moved around a lot. I think they went to be a favorite for a couple of days after Ryan said they were going to play, but I think you're looking at a quarter maybe for the starters. Maybe you get a half, but I don't want to start any Texans. And it's just the guests for us. It's just the guests. So
Starting point is 00:33:34 if you're out there, you want to ask us, Hey, should I start Nico Collins or this guy? Our guess is kind of as good as yours. It's a really tough spot to be in to play in week 18. But this is one of those where they could have big numbers or one or two of the guys have big numbers in the first quarter. Yeah, I'm trying to think of I think it was Carson Wentz maybe a couple years ago. Had like a three or Nick Foles maybe somebody had like a three touchdown first quarter. Her cousins there was something where they weren't supposed to play very much. I think it was cousins. Yeah, I think it was cousins. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:34:06 I think it was cousins in week 17. Schaefer would know. Schaefer, what do we think? Was it cousins? Week 18? Schaefer's not with us today. All right. Schaefer's taking the year off. New year, new podcast producer. Okay, oh, Jamie, remember by, should I talk about what I wrote in my notes about the Texans against quarterbacks? Titans, right? The Titans, yeah. I don't know what the hell this was.
Starting point is 00:34:37 You know, I put stats in my notes and then I try to sort of look at all the stats and sum it up with a sentence or two. Like exactly what I just said about wide receivers with seven or more targets against the Bengals. And I was reading my notes from week 17 about how quarterbacks do against the Titans. I have a segment section about mobile quarterbacks against the Titans. And I wrote, I don't know, I no idea why I wrote this. I wrote terrible. This is mobile quarterbacks against Tennessee. Terrible.
Starting point is 00:35:06 Among the worst in the NFL in allowing rushing touchdowns. In allowing, okay, sorry, I started over. Among the worst of the NFL in allowing rushing touchdowns and rushing yards to my wife. Like I have absolutely no idea why I typed that. I don't know if I was like talking to her why I typed that. I don't know if I was talking to her while I typed it, but very strange. But yeah, she's going to have a big game.
Starting point is 00:35:31 When he texted me last night, he goes, why would I write this? And I said, you really had a crush on TyJ Spears. Yeah, so crazy. All right. So on Tennessee side, they said they're going to start both quarterbacks. So we're going to start neither. Play both. You can't start both. Play both. That's true. They're going to start both quarterbacks. So we're going to start neither. We can't start both play both.
Starting point is 00:35:45 That's true. They're going to play both quarter. You never know what could line up in the backfield. How about the running backs as it stands right now with Spears not practicing and Pollard limited Heath, how do you feel about the Titans running backs? If Tony Pollard plays without TaiJay Spears, then I think you start Tony Pollard. If they're both out, then Julius Chestnut is amongst the lower of the backup, backup running backs.
Starting point is 00:36:14 It's a good name to know though, if you're in a, in DFS or something like that. Yeah. I nearly made Pollard the start of the week because he missed last week's game with an illness. The fact that he practiced on a limited basis, like he's got huge opportunity here and he's, it'd be a little surprising if he got the two touchdown incentive that he needs, but it's not crazy. The yarders he should be able to get to whatever, I forget the market is like a look it up,
Starting point is 00:36:39 but he should get his at least one of his incentives. And do we feel really good about Ridley and O'Conkwo if we think the Texans are not playing their guys along? I think again, it's a matter of which quarterback is going to play and how they will favor their, their respective guys, because we have not seen Will Levis and Chigokan Koko connect. It's not like O'Conkwo has been hurt throughout the season. He just started doing this when Rudolph took over.
Starting point is 00:37:06 So did they change something in the game plan or did it come from a quarterback situation? Now O'Connor did have a 70-yard touchdown against the Texans in the first meeting and that was his only catch. Well, is Ridley at least an easy start? No. He's not an easy start at all.
Starting point is 00:37:23 I mean, I'm not sure why I'd be bothered by the fact that they're going to be rotating quarterbacks. Who cares? He's, he's been like kind of the same guy with both quarterbacks and he's facing a team that one is bad against wide receivers to begin with. And two is going to probably pulling, be pulling their guys in a week like this. Ridley, I feel like is one of those safer bets. I think there's a pretty big difference in his total targets when he's played with Levis and when he's played with Rudolph.
Starting point is 00:37:47 The last three games, he has five, five and six targets. That's awful. He's okay. But for the last seven games, he only has one game with more than seven targets to begin with. And it was against Jacksonville with Will Levis. But other than that, I mean, the three games before that,
Starting point is 00:38:02 six, six, seven. So it is just a straight up target problem for Cal. Well, yeah, I see a difference between six, six, seven, 12 and five, five, six. Yeah. Okay. I mean, that's fair. And the past, I think it's just a number three receiver. So I have him for me, it's in a similar range of Zay Flowers and slightly ahead of Jerry
Starting point is 00:38:21 Judy, you know, so not not a must start receiver for me, but certainly started through zero leaks. Okay. And why do you have the Texans DST top eight? Are you going to consider changing that? I keep lowering them. I mean, at first they were top three. All right. Let's take one more break. And we'll talk about the Dolphins and the Jets when we come back. That's a pretty interesting game because you know, we might not,
Starting point is 00:38:47 both teams could be going for a win here, even though it's a much more important game for the Dolphins. We'll be right back on FFT. The Dolphins are at the Jets, 2025 question. Garrett Wilson or Tyreek Hill? I will go with Garrett Wilson for right now. And this, again, this, this kind of goes back and I've talked about this before.
Starting point is 00:39:12 It's like, I don't often predict bounce back seasons for guys over 30. And so they do happen occasionally, but I'm probably going to be pretty low on Tyree kill going into next year. And I might, I mean, I can understand being low on Wilson as well. There's a lot of uncertainty as to whether Aaron Rodgers or Devontae Adams will be on that team. All right, Jamie, real quick, Garrett Wilson or Tyree kill next year. What do you think?
Starting point is 00:39:39 Just given the, the, the roster situations, I'll probably be Tyree kill, not by much over Wilson because if it's Rogers, I don't know if I want to trust anything that's going on with the jets, especially if Adams is still there. Is Wilson on the jets? That's well, that again, that's, that's, there's just so many moving parts of this, you know, so is, is Wilson there? There's just so many moving parts to this. So is Wilson there? I spoke to somebody who's close to the coaching, the GM coaching situation over the weekend
Starting point is 00:40:14 in the search that they're doing. And I asked the question, they have to be favoring Wilson because it's the owner. He's the only one that's still there. And you can't be looking at this and saying While he's complaining is a complaint complaints are a little ridiculous because he's fourth in the NFL going in the last week Fourth the NFL in target saying you're not getting the balls crazy But he's still like you have really taking out the you have two skill players that are huge assets to a coach in a gym in Breeze Hall and Garrett Wilson.
Starting point is 00:40:46 You have to make them happy and not the 40-year-old quarterback and the 32-year-old wide receiver. So it'd be very surprising if Wilson's not there. In any event, I do think Tyree Kill, they're most likely running it back. While I agree with Heath, I'll be lower on him than certainly this year. I think there's still enough upside in comparison to what Wilson's situation might be. All right, so Dolphins Jets for week 18, who are the easy starts in this game? A-chan, Hill, and John are starters.
Starting point is 00:41:25 How is A-chan, and he's not an easy, is he an easy star for you? Cause he has been just brutal with out to a, he has been, so he's, he's probably lower than I've ever had him ranked. But then it's like, I'm not starting Khalil Herbert over him. You know, it's like, I'm not, I'm not getting that cute with it.
Starting point is 00:41:45 I'd like for you to make a list, Adam, of who are the easy starts in week 18. Well, I think, look, these are the PPR points per game for Devon A. Chan in five games without Tua. 8.8, 5.9, 2.7, 10.5, 5.8. It's horrible. Why wouldn't I start Cleo Herbert over that? I mean, again, you can.
Starting point is 00:42:10 You know what? I'm going to do it. Go ahead. Yeah. You can start. He's definitely not a DFS play because he's going to be priced too high. Right. I also think, you know, the games that you're referencing prior to last week were all still competitive games. Like the fact that they couldn't get their run game going against the Browns was pretty disappointing,
Starting point is 00:42:30 especially after what they'd just done to San Francisco. Yeah. And so that was my hope for last week was, okay, no 2-0, they're going to run the ball, they're going to have success running the ball. He looked awesome against the 49ers and he stunk. What about Michael Carter? Would you start Michael Carter over... How about both running backs in this game? You start Michael Carter over A-chan both running backs in this game? You start Michael Carter over HN and or Breeze Hall?
Starting point is 00:42:47 No, no, but you can certainly make an argument for it for Breeze Hall. Actually, I think I would do it over Breeze Hall. I'm terrified of Breeze Hall at this point. Like, I don't even know why he's playing. So you like HN better than Hall? I do. Okay. And do you like... And two hasn't been ruled out yet to be fair? Yeah, everything changes if to a place. Do you like the Jets receivers?
Starting point is 00:43:12 Lower than they've been in a long time. I don't think Rogers finishes the game to be honest. Like I think he gets his 500 and he's done. I'm not sure that Rogers coming out of the game is a negative to either Adams or Wilson. It's probably negative for Adams. I imagine if Rogers is out with 500, whether Adams gets it or not. I was surprised how late Adams played with Taylor last week. He just stayed in the game with him and then got hurt and then tried to come back into the game.
Starting point is 00:43:36 Yeah, yeah, he did. I was watching it very intently. Yeah, yeah. Get back in the game. All right, so who's the highest ranked receiver in the game. All right. So who's the highest ranked receiver in this game? It's Adams for me. Followed by rank the three of them.
Starting point is 00:43:54 Adams Wilson Hill. Hill Adams Wilson for me. And Jalen Waddle would not be a thought if he plays. No, he would be last. Does he hurt Tyreek Hill in your opinion if he plays? Yeah. Although they both crushed the Jets last time, but that was Tua. Would you guys start the tight ends in the Bengals-Steelers game over John New Smith?
Starting point is 00:44:21 I would start Friar Muthoram. That's obviously with Huntley, not with Tua. And would you give any consideration to Tyler Conklin if he plays this week? Most of his production, almost all of it came with Turad Taylor last week, but he's got five, five, seven and eight targets in his last four games. Still too tough to trust. Is it tied in two? Any interest in the quarterbacks in this game?
Starting point is 00:44:46 No. Rodgers over Huntley? Rodgers had his best game throwing the ball of the season against the Dolphins. Only game over 300 yards. And under 20 fantasy points. Okay, start a DST in this game? Dolphins. Okay, start a DST in this game. Dolphins. Okay, over the Texans. 100% Jacksonville is that unless you tell me the Texas are playing the full game. Jacksonville at
Starting point is 00:45:16 Indianapolis 2025 question, can a new coach make Trevor Lawrence a must start quarterback? You can just get a good offensive mind like Doug Peterson. I think you're OK. Doug Peterson is a was a washed up like bad hire. Had one good year and then everyone figured him out. OK, Doug Peterson has a higher career winning percentage than Zach Taylor.
Starting point is 00:45:37 As a offensive mind, I'm just saying Doug Peterson had one good year and then he got figured out like he won the Super Bowl and then he has not been a good offensive coach since then. If you can say no Heath, you could just say no, it's fine, say no. No, I'm just saying if I was a young offensive minded coach, I feel like I might not wanna try that.
Starting point is 00:45:59 Cause everybody's gonna think I'm not a good offensive mind. You wouldn't go to Jacksonville, you're saying? I would go to Jacksonville. From what you hear in NFL circles, it sounds like that's where Ben Johnson would like to go. But I think he would only like to go there if Trent Bulkey is gone. Sorry, they're fifth, fifth pick right now.
Starting point is 00:46:20 And obviously a great building block at wide receiver. All right, so sounds like Heath is a no on that. and obviously a great building block at wide receiver. All right, so sounds like Heath is a no on that. Could Ben Johnson make Trevor Lawrence? It's maybe. I mean, we've seen, he hasn't been mediocre for as long as some of the guys that are now good. Like Sam Darnold's good now. So who knows?
Starting point is 00:46:43 It's true, you never know. No one is going to draft Trevor Lawrence as a starter in one quarterback leagues. He will be in that group of guys. If Ben Johnson is there as take a chance on this guy as your number two quarterback. And if he doesn't get off to a good start, you'll, you'll be cutting him. Could he have a, a Baker Mayfield Sam Darnold type of, you know, rebound on the same team? Yes.
Starting point is 00:47:11 No disrespect to Calvin Ridley, but Brian Thomas Jr. is is definitely the best receiver that he's going to play with. And you know, that could that could elevate him. Alright, so for this week, is Brian Thomas Jr. the only must start for the Jaguars or can we get one of their running backs in there in a good matchup? Too tough to trust. I mean look at what Tyrone Tracy did with 23 touches last week. Yeah, not good. But that was unusual because they had been pretty bad against running backs.
Starting point is 00:47:45 But two good games in a row for their defense against the against running backs for the Colts Colts and defense every again. All right. How do you feel? Then how do you feel about the Colts? Jonathan Taylor is a must start. Obviously, is anyone else a must start in this game? No, if flacco is starting, Pitman's a borderline must start guy. Josh Downs is back in the mix if you're still willing to trust him, but obviously that's what's disappointing. And then if you're looking for a great DFS play is Alec Pierce.
Starting point is 00:48:15 I mean, coming off the game that he just had in the matchup that he has. Downs and Pittman are number threes with Flacco, number fours with Richardson. I would start Pittman if Flacco starts over Zay Flowers, over Jerry Judy, over Calvin Ridley. I have him over Ridley, but not the other guys. I just don't understand why Downs was so uninvolved last week because- I don't understand it either.
Starting point is 00:48:36 Previously with Flacco, look at the nine targets, 12 targets, nine targets, nine targets, 10 targets. One of those games didn't know Michael Pittman, but only four targets last week. If things go back to the way they were, downs would be a really good start. Right. Yes. Another great point, just with the idea of that.
Starting point is 00:48:54 All right, if Richardson plays, would you start him this week? Is he like, I think Russell Wilson, you said was a top 12 quarterback. If Richardson plays against the Jaguars, would you rather have Wilson or Richardson? Just given the uncertainty of his back, I'd probably start Wilson given his matchup. So I'm going to give some real weak 18 and analysis now. If you were in one of those
Starting point is 00:49:14 leagues where like everybody's playing against everybody for total points, then I'd prefer Richardson. One of those leagues that we just found out about? Yes. Okay. And, uh, would you think it would depend on what spot you're in in this, in the standings? Well, I assumed that was just week 18 only. Like, you're just high core wins. I'd rather play Richardson. And we'll see.
Starting point is 00:49:39 Uh, by the way, um, anybody want to start Brenton strange in a great matchup? No, no. Okay. Anybody want to start the Colts DST? They will play well, because that's just the nature of what we do. They will play well. Kansas City's at Denver 2025 question. Do you think Cortland Sutton is a top 24 wide receiver in drafts? No, he will be close. But this is another team to watch what they do this off season. Does Wilson's salary come off the books this year? I don't know.
Starting point is 00:50:12 I don't think so. I do not know. Because if they have money to spend, this could be a T Higgins spot. Is this a start, start them all, sit them all game? If there was a running back in Denver, maybe, but there's not. Right. But Nick Sutton, yeah, it started them all. So I guess I meant like start the guys that you would typically start. Nick's and Sutton are layups.
Starting point is 00:50:43 Nick's is a must-star quarterback and Sutton is a must starters here. The the Broncos have two dead cap hits next year. 32 million to Russell Wilson, 250,000 to Rick Dulcich. So do you like do you like Cortland Sutton better than the waiver wire running backs like Khalil Herbert and Michael Tom, Michael Carter? I mean, look, he's been so consistent for the most part.
Starting point is 00:51:11 He's had two somewhat disappointing games in his last five. And that was really when Nick said disappointing games. So if you, if you trust that Nick's is going to play well and he had 20 fantasy points against the chiefs in arrowhead, which is really what kind of started him off as a must start fantasy quarterback, that stretch of games, they're benching everybody of significance, like McDuffie is not going to play. So their best corner is not going to be there. Chris Jones is not going to play.
Starting point is 00:51:35 So their best pass rusher or the best defensive player is not going to be there. Um, yeah, I'm, I'm trusting. Call the sun. 10 and a half points spread here. The Broncos are favored. Are the, the dolphins games at the same time as this one? Is that right? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:51:51 Both of the four, four 25 PM. Uh, window. I'm pretty sure they're both at four 25. If not, as a chiefs fan, you want the dolphins in, right? I don't know. Uh, it's like, there's a lot of competing, um, pettiness to go here. Like it's the division. Do you want it?
Starting point is 00:52:10 It'd be pretty hilarious to knock your division rival out playing your backups. Um, it'd be pretty hilarious to lose and have the Bengals all off season. Say the chiefs are afraid of our nine win team be pretty hilarious or eight win team be pretty hilarious to have to knock Tyree kill out of the playoffs by letting the Broncos win. So what he tweeted. Uh huh. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:52:33 He's a big fan of Kansas city. I'm sure that there's lots of players in the organization who returned to that feeling. Did you see it, Adam? Yeah. We thought what did he say? Like, oh, chief, you brought it up yesterday. Didn't you?
Starting point is 00:52:44 Yeah, I thought so. I didn't. Someone did Like, oh, chief, you brought it up yesterday, didn't you? Yeah, I thought so. I didn't. Someone did. I thought. I thought you did. Maybe not. Maybe Jamie did. The tweet. So but I thought we talked about on the show. Yeah, he's rooting for the chiefs. Did he say Happy New Year to the chiefs or something like that? Happy New Year, Kansas City. Yeah. And, you know, people are like, what are you doing? And the smart people that were
Starting point is 00:53:04 commenting, like he needs the chiefs to win. know, people are like, what are you doing? And then the smart people that were commenting were like, he needs the Chiefs to win. Would you start Jaleel McLaughlin, who I would assume would be your favorite Broncos running back or Travis ETN? ETN still, but that's close. Yeah, I'll go ETN. How about your favorite Chiefs running back or Julio Mugloff them? That's the thing with the Chiefs running backs. I don't know if it's going to be all Carson steel because you know, Heath brought this up the first time that they played because there was still the question of who was going to be the guy with Kareem hunt at that point.
Starting point is 00:53:41 And was this going to be a member? Smadjy P round was getting a little hot and that was the team that cut him this off season so could this be a smadzei p Ryan game now I would be surprised if it is because he still plays a pretty significant role for them and you have Pacheco banged up again so it seems like this should be just the the games that you referenced earlier you know with Michael P Ryan and Darwin Thompson like this this feels like a car steal game but the Broncos need to win this game. And their run defense is still pretty good.
Starting point is 00:54:09 This is one of those situations too, where like, you can't, and I think Pete said this before, you can't sit everybody. Like you're going to have to play some guys and you can't, you can't sit Deandre Hopkins and Hollywood Brown and Xavier worthy and Pacheco and Kareem hunt and some Ajay P Ryan. Like they're going to have to play some of these guys. You can only make so many inactive. You can only bring so many guys up. Um, I was looking on their practice squad. They do have Keonte Ingram, but, um, I don't think Pacheco or Hunt are going to play.
Starting point is 00:54:41 No, Pacheco certainly not. He's hurt. Well if history is our guide, remember two times in the last four years, they've rested their starters in the final week and they gave the Michael P. Ryan 24 touches in 2023 and they gave Darwin Thompson 21 touches in 20. And that's the thing. I don't even remember if those guys were on the active roster the week before. They may have been practice for guys.
Starting point is 00:55:04 So Deandre Hopkins has some pretty big incentives for this week. One of which is playing the game. So you assume he's going to be on the field to start the game and then he comes off. You would assume the receivers are going to be Juju. I think Marques Brown probably plays because why would you not give him the opportunity to run a few routes and get a few more reps and after being out for the entire time, he's, he's someone that I think is still in play beyond those two. Like, okay.
Starting point is 00:55:31 It's Justin Watson, Juju and Marquis Brown. I think it'd be the three receivers Carson steel and, and some other JP Ryan makes sense as the running backs with steel, most likely getting the majority of work to me. The question is, is who's the offensive line? You're not playing Cree Humphrey. There's no way you're going to risk him getting hurt. You're not playing toree Humphrey. There's no way you're going to risk him getting hurt. You're not playing Tooney at this point.
Starting point is 00:55:46 Reid referenced that. And I think what he said was in past years, we've just played a lot, most of the offensive line, but we just rotate them a lot. Make sure nobody has to play for too long. I'm afraid they're going to play. I can't say his last name the right way. I'm sorry, Kingsley, Sue Amatia, but that would be really bad for Hirshman Wentz because he he's not been able to block anyone in the NFL. Can I just be honest with you guys? Like just a moment of honesty here. Yeah. Very bored by this discussion. I think we should move on.
Starting point is 00:56:19 This is the thing. This is like for 55 minutes of Heath. You've got to take this seriously. Heath, give choose between these four running backs all projected for 11 points that we don't know if they're going to play or not. But now. Yes. Talking about the rotation of the chiefs offensive, this is all of it. It's like, yeah, because we're not going to start any of these guys. We're not going to start Hopkins if he plays. They're not going to start Marquis Brown. All right. Denver DST. I thought that would be a funny moment of honesty. I hope it came off that way. Denver DST is top three.
Starting point is 00:56:49 Chargers are at the Raiders 2025 question. Lad McConkey or I know he's not in this game. Marvin Harrison Jr. Assuming the Chargers do not add another significant wide receiver, I'll take McConkie. Glad. Okay. Remember, if the Steelers beat Cincinnati on Saturday, the Chargers are locked into
Starting point is 00:57:13 the sixth seed. If the Steelers lose, the Chargers can get the five seed, the coveted five seed, instead of having to face Baltimore in round one. In all likelihood, they'd be able to pass. Everybody wants that seat. Oh yeah. Even I want the five seed. Uh, starters. I'll say, okay, so that's the problem here. Like how, what are you guys doing about your chargers?
Starting point is 00:57:32 Is it a similar situation to the Texans? Probably not as well. Better than that. Like Jamie, what are we doing about our chargers here? No, the, the, the Texans reference is correct. It's, it's probably expect them to play maybe half. Like why would you risk it more than that for a meaningless game if they don't have to win. So I still think Dobbins will get an opportunity to get his incentive. So it's somewhere close to 60 yards rushing. I think it's like 58 yards rushing, whatever he's short of 900 yards. And with that opportunity comes a chance to score.
Starting point is 00:58:01 So I still think he's worth starting. McConkey is a little bit more risky. So Herbert more risky. Uh, I think you just, you know, treat those guys. Look, they were great in the first half last week against the Patriots. They could do the same thing against the Raiders too. So McConkey would still be a number two receiver right now. I haven't ranked as a number one guy. Herbert I have ranked as a number one guy.
Starting point is 00:58:20 I'm hoping at this point that the Bengals win and we get the chargers on Sunday. I guess what we're expecting the Bengals win and we get the Chargers on Sunday. I guess what we're expecting the Bengals to win, right? I mean, it's the Bengals. They lost it home to the Steelers. It should be a good game. Should be better than the first game that day. Yeah. Ravens-Browns. So if the Steelers lose, the Chargers should have a pretty good offensive game here. We're gonna be pretty excited about them. Correct. All right. On the other side of
Starting point is 00:58:51 the ball, I think it's kind of interesting here. We're gonna like Abdullah if he plays and then like Jacobi Myers, obviously Bowers is a must-starp. What about Myers? He's he's a-end number two receiver. I'm starting him. Yeah. I mean, the Raiders have some starts here. So Abdullah or Breeze Hall. Abdullah. Abdullah, if he gets in a full practice, Breeze Hall, otherwise. Correct. And Hall over Madison, if that's the choice.
Starting point is 00:59:23 Abdullah or Aaron Jones at Detroit? Jones. Jones. Abdullah or Brian Robinson Jr. at Dallas? Abdullah, especially if Osnacko returns. I'll put Brian Robinson in the same category. If Abdullah's limited going into the game, I'll start Robinson. But otherwise, if Abdullah's a full go, I'll give him a start. You like Abdullah better than Jacoby Myers?
Starting point is 00:59:51 Yes. No. Okay. All right. And Buffalo's at New England. Ooh, I don't have a 2025 question ready for this one. Would you guys like to provide one or would you like me to think of it? 2025 question.
Starting point is 01:00:08 Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson? Josh Allen or Drake May? Probably Josh Allen. Who's your final, like who's your pick for MVP? MVP? MVP? It's Josh Allen. It's not over yet.
Starting point is 01:00:29 I don't have to go until after week 18. Allen's done. Like he's going to barely play. I think from the voters, it's over if Allen doesn't play. You think it's going to go to who? To Allen? I mean, just from what you hear, it just seems like Allen's going to get it. Like, you know, the push for Lamar makes a ton of sense, but you know,
Starting point is 01:00:49 it's, it's, it's so fascinating to see what these guys, what it comes down to me is for me, it's, um, Allen with Allen is, is needed more on his team. I think when Lamar is needed on his team for them to be successful. I'll just say that I think the, like the best argument from the Josh Allen backers is that Josh Allen should have won it last year, which I wouldn't necessarily disagree with. And so you can't give it to Lamar for the same reason you didn't give it to Alan last year, but if we're just looking at this season in a vacuum and the
Starting point is 01:01:22 statistics and their production and their, I don't think it's really that I think Lamar should be pretty close to unanimous. Yeah. I think there's a great case for, for, uh, Alan, especially when I heard that stat about like Lamar Jackson throwing to the most wide open players. Did you guys hear that on the, I think that he has something to do with that. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Um, but Alan, I mean, Alan definitely has the worst weapons, I would say around him. But I mean, I'm a, I'm a Jackson guy. I just don't think it should be unanimous. Uh, here's my 2025 question for this game. Who's going to be your highest
Starting point is 01:01:55 ranked Bill's wide receiver next year? I hope he's not on the team for Josh Allen sake. I hope that they go get him a number one again because that would be better. All right. Who are we starting in this game? Buffalo at New England. Ray Davis is my favorite Bills player right now. Do you like him better than any Patriot? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:02:31 Right. So here, the one thing about it is, so is Josh Allen just gonna go out, do a drive and then sit to get his consecutive start streak going? Or is he actually gonna play? I think the first one, I'd lean that way. Also, I do not want to hear when Lamar has five touchdowns against the Browns, a bunch of Bills fans saying Lamar's padding his MVP case and then Josh Allen goes out there for
Starting point is 01:02:53 one drive so he can keep his start streak alive. What if he goes out for one play? What if he goes out hands off and leaves? He's going to go out hand the ball off one time to Ray Davis and jog off the field. I do think James Cook plays also. He's 19 yards away from a thousand yards rushing. So I would guess they try to get him that. And you have this possibility of the Patriots playing their guys, winning the game, having a big game and you know Drake May having a big game, but you also have this possibility of the Patriots pulling their guys because they don't want to lose the number one pick, which they currently have. It's a, it's a fascinating situation here. I'm surprised they're actually playing Drake may to be honest with you.
Starting point is 01:03:34 The big question that's uncertain, uncertain from the Patriots standpoint is who's the running back because that guy could have a big game. Rondra Stevenson was on his way to a huge game against the Bills in a competitive game two games ago. And he had, this was the game where he fumbled and you know, didn't get the backward pass that led to the, you know, ultimately the game winning play. But he, you know, his, his snap count was fine. Last week he had three touches.
Starting point is 01:04:00 Yeah. The backwards pass that went in the end zone. One of the B bills was just circling the ball like, come on, come on, anybody want to, anybody pick it up? Finally did. I, so this is a really difficult game to trust anyone. I mean, you might, might go with Hunter Henry Heath. You have Hunter Henry six. Jamie would probably have them hire if not for the fact that we don't know how long these guys are going to play, but this is a, this is kind of an annoying game with a ton of question marks. Maybe the toughest one to figure out to mouse. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:04:32 Right. We don't know. I don't know if we have another game where we don't know about both teams and how many, how many of their starters they'll play. And the line kind of tells you, I think that that even with the Bills backups, they still think they can win. Yeah. Oh, let's go Bills. Let's go Eagles. All right, let's read some emails at fantasyfootballatcbsi.com. Some week 18 questions from VJ Davidson,
Starting point is 01:04:58 who's a YouTube subscriber. Thank you very much. He says, shout out to Heath's deadpan and Jamie's dog. And Jamie's dog did make an appearance today. So good stuff. All right Kyler or Tua or Grab a Colts or Colts quarterback or Josh Dobbs off the waiver wire. Who's your favorite quarterback? Kyron Williams, no, you can't start him or a mirror of doula definitely a mirror doula Man, I have Abdullah though, so.
Starting point is 01:05:26 He could also pick up Ray Davis or Blake Coram or Michael Carter. He could pick up anybody. Khalil Herbert. Herbert would be the preferred one. Carter would be second. Kenneth Gainwell. He didn't say Herbert. So of Ray Davis, Ty Johnson, Blake Coram, Michael Carter, who's your guy? Carter. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:05:43 Wide receivers. I don't know how many he needs, but Nico, Cortland, Sutton, Malik neighbors, Jalen McMillan. Uh, Nico would be my least favorite just as of right now. Yep. Sutton and McMillan, I think are my favorites. Uh, neighbors is my favorite of the rest. Um, pretty crazy that he's going to have more receptions than Puka and not catch powers.
Starting point is 01:06:12 I'm ready for them to sit neighbors now. Like we can sit neighbors. Let's just sit bench him. Uh, Chico Conqua or Joe who's probably not going to play. So go with Chig. And all right. Thank you, Vijay. Next question is from Mario.
Starting point is 01:06:24 He needs two running backs, two receivers, and a flex and a tight end. Would you make any changes? He has Trey McBride and Mark Andrews. We're gonna stick with McBride. Would you put Mims in over any of these guys? McMillan, Zacchaeus, Coram, Ray Davis, Tyrone Tracy Jr. Yeah. Zacchaeus, Coram, Ray Davis, Tyrone Tracy Jr.
Starting point is 01:06:48 Yeah. I think it's still too risky. Mims, I think- I might go Mims over Zacchaeus. Yeah, I would do that. I mean, they're both coming off big games. Zacchaeus has done it twice now. Maybe I wouldn't. I think I would do that just because,
Starting point is 01:07:00 because Mims is facing the Chiefs backups, but- It's just revenge games for Zacchaeus and he can't do it again. No, I guess he could. From David, Thielen or Dobbins in flex? I think Thielen is probably safer, but again you'll know Saturday night if the Chargers are playing to play their guys then it's Dobbins. Yeah, Dobbins for sure if the Bengals win. From Paul, I'm up 13 points going into the second week of a championship. I've got Justin Herbert on my bench
Starting point is 01:07:34 and Kyler Murray starting. Would you keep Kyler over, over Herbert? I would play Herbert if they're playing. Yeah, in case you're confused. I would play Kyler either way. That's what he just said. If the Bengals, okay, so he's going Kyler either way. That's what he just said. If the Bengals, okay, so he's going Kyler either way, but if the Bengals beat the Steelers, then the Chargers can be the five seed with a win.
Starting point is 01:07:54 If the Steelers win, if the Steelers win, the Chargers are locked into the six. Would you start Devante Smith? No, we're not going to start Devante Smith. Alvin Camaro is probably not going to play. Would you start Amir Abdullah over Brian Robinson Jr. Yes. Depends on Abdullah's practice status. Actually, you could start them over John who Smith and keep Brian Robinson
Starting point is 01:08:14 Jr. In your line. Well, again, the, the, the commanders may treat it like a preseason game and only play their guys for half. Well, in that case, we wouldn't want to play as the key is right. Correct. But it's, it was the same thing. I mean, if the, if the Broncos are up big, you know, we wouldn't want to play Zaccheaus, right? Correct. But it's, well, it's the same thing. I mean, if the, if the Broncos are up big, you know, who do they start to pull? All right.
Starting point is 01:08:30 This is from Jason. My commissioner refuses to change championship week to week 17. I haven't left because it's a family league. Jordan love or the waiver wire options. Obs over love. Yeah. I mean, Dobbs was three for four. If you want to go by that against the lions. I don't know that Jordan loves going to have a ton of completions. Right. All right. This is, it doesn't throw much in regular games. Right.
Starting point is 01:08:47 From Steve, I have Saquon Barker. I have a lot of experience with the game. I've played a lot of games. I've played a lot of games. I've played a lot of games. I've played a lot of games. I've played a lot of games. I've played a lot of games.
Starting point is 01:08:55 I've played a lot of games. I've played a lot of games. I've played a lot of games. I've played a lot of games. I've played a lot of games. I've played a lot of games. I've played a lot of games. I've played a lot of games.
Starting point is 01:09:03 I've played a lot of games. I've played a lot of games. I've played a lot of games. I've played a lot of games. I've played a lot of games. going to have a ton of completions. Right. All right. This is a throw much in regular games. Right. From Steve, I have Sequon Barkley. Should I play Josh? Stop.
Starting point is 01:09:12 I mean, this is a setup, all set up. Should I play Blake Coram, Zach Charbonneau or an Eagles backup pick to Charbonneau is my start of the week. So he's going to reward us for all the People that got ruined by him last week. Um, who was it Sharbonae Coram and who? Eagles backups. I like Gainwell slightly better than Coram. I do too. Okay. All right. Does it matter if Shipley's potentially back? It might but yeah.
Starting point is 01:09:41 potentially back? It might, but. Yeah. Well, thanks for, thanks guys. This is one that, you know, who are the Eagles able to sit? They can't sit everybody else. Well, what do you know about their offensive line rotation?
Starting point is 01:09:54 Can you take me through that? I could walk you through it, but Adam would get bored. Doesn't like real football. Oh my gosh, I love real football. I just, I cannot wait for the playoffs. Dude, gosh, I love real football. I just I cannot wait for the play that that uh, peaceful yesterday was awesome. Oh, finally we had a good game. But yeah, that was a lot of fun. And then the Rose Bowl was not.
Starting point is 01:10:17 My gosh. Oregon. Yeah. Yeah, terrible. High State looks nasty right now. You should just tank like tank for Jeremiah Smith in two years. That guy is going to the Hall of Fame. He could play three years in the NFL, he'll go in the Hall of Fame. Oh geez, here we go.
Starting point is 01:10:34 That's how good he is. Jeremiah Smith, the Buckeyes wide receiver is un-freaking-believable. He's, of all the Buckeyes wide receivers, he's gonna be the best. So he can't come out for two years, right? Yeah, he's a true freshman. So you wonder, does he, he plays next year, does he play the following year? Oh yeah, he's gonna play.
Starting point is 01:10:51 Yeah, and he's gonna just, I mean, you can't say that after what your quarterback just did. He's gonna guarantee he's gonna play. He played in a meaningless ball game for at least a half. You think Germany's gonna sit out a season? Come on now to get a record No to TV to be there and maybe to get a record. All right, we're we're out of here folks We'll talk to you happy with how that unfolded I couldn't care less and nobody's gonna care less You ever won a bowl game with 13 years who cares? Who cares? I don't you had a you had a player. This is how funny this is You had a player stay in college for nine years
Starting point is 01:11:26 Nine years and not win a bowl game. Well, no, he probably won a bowl game. No, you haven't won a bowl game in 13 years. He hasn't been on the team the whole nine years. He's been, he was, he's only been on the team for three years. Can you talk about Kamikorm? He won a bowl game with somebody else.
Starting point is 01:11:41 Yeah, he won with Oregon. I'm pretty sure. Can you talk about his tight end Kamikorm who played eight or nine. Jamie says nine. I thought it was eight, play eight or nine years in college. Nine years of college. Yeah. He's a, he's 63 years old. No, the hurricanes have one. He's one.
Starting point is 01:11:54 All right. Take care everybody. We'll talk to you tomorrow with the NFC home game. See ya.

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