Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (AFC): Broncos RBs, Packers RBs, James Robinson (12/16 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 16, 2021

Urban Meyer is out and that means James Robinson is in our lineups! We'll talk about our excitement for Robinson, plus what to make of all of the COVID news ... Players we love (13:00) and players to avoid this week. Josh Jacobs is in a great spot, but is A.J. Dillon looking like a sit this week? We've also got your news and notes (16:30) and One Question for Each Game (21:30). Can Ben Roethlisberger come through again? Start or Sit Michael Pittman? D.J. Moore? And we have a fun Brandin Cooks debate ... Start or Sit for Titans-Steelers (30:10), Bengals-Broncos (38:40), Packers-Ravens (47:40), Jets-Dolphins (58:10), Patriots-Colts (1:04:00), Raiders-Browns (1:10:30), Panthers-Bills (1:13:00) and Texans-Jaguars (1:18:00) ... Email us at [e-mail] 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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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Beck. Oh, it is the end of an era. The Urban Meyer era is over. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What? It's not over yet. It's not over yet?

No, we still got the, you know, the remnants. Okay, all right. Would it be better to describe it the Urban Meyer era? Yeah, or Urban Fired. remnants okay all right would it be better to describe it the urban meyer error yeah or urban fired uh i want to make urban legend joke but i don't know how there's a lot that we can work with here and it was legendary it was yeah it was legendary mistake so that's cool and james robinson was your start of the week even before this news right he was um was, um, I did tweet, uh, from, you know, hearing some things that this was going to happen this week. I thought it would have happened on Monday or Tuesday. Um, but I did tweet,

I think it was Monday night or whenever, uh, I think it was Monday night. Um, that if urban fired, I'll make James Robinson start of the week. And then I originally was going with a different start of the week. I was going to go with Jalen hurts. um because I thought I you know I'd like to set up for him but the fact that he was splitting reps and practice on Wednesday made me a little concerned so I was like I'll just go with James Robinson you know the Carlos Hyde injuries kind of swayed it for me uh the fact that he's in the concussion protocol and they brought in Kerryon Johnson so I was like yeah Urban can't screw this up um it's Houston there's nobody else

to toy with um you know even if Robinson fumbles he can't screw this up. It's Houston. There's nobody else to toy with. Even if Robinson fumbles, he can't pull him out of the lineup. And so, yes, James Robinson was the star of the week. Outstanding. He still is. All right, give me three or four running backs you'd start him over. Oh, he's going to be in my top 12. I haven't adjusted my rankings yet, but he's the number one running back. So the Denver guys, unless one of them is out, obviously.

Packers? Packers guys, Antonio Gibson, Saquon Barkley, Zeke. Let's go. This is what we were waiting for. There's nobody to screw around with one of our favorite guys. Okay. Is there anything else we want to say about this, Heath? What is your take?

I think the other side of the equation, I'm not going to give any take on Urban Meyeryer or anything like that i do not want to get in trouble but i the other side of it is what about the jacksonville defense and what about the houston offense um because i like i think we talked about earlier in the week jamie has jacksonville quit on urban meyer are they now rejuvenated oh yeah and do they just destroy the texans in this game, it's a great call. What? I do think, though, offensively, you know,

you had the whole Marvin Jones narrative about, you know, what the report was that he left the field, left the team, left the facility, excuse me, and came back. And, you know, they got into a heated discussion. He has a connection with Beville, too, from the past. Right. Pat from Ohio. When I was tweeting about James Robinson last night,

he was replying to that. So good call, marvin jones uh you know you wonder if maybe lavisca chanel just because of the injuries obviously treadwell has been playing well you know so i think they're all in play i don't think they're mustard guys jones would be my favorite um you gotta hope you know maybe trevor lawrence plays a little bit more free uh look urban wasn't the the reason why a lot of these guys were struggling on the field the robinson situation is more so of, was he playing the guy that he liked in Carlos Hyde? Was that the conversation with Bernie Parmalee,

who he put it on, the running backs coach there? I think it's more Robinson as a playing time situation than the performance, because Trevor Lawrence obviously is still struggling, and I don't think Urban Leeming is going to change that. But it just all coincides with the matchup being as good as it could possibly get. And there is now a four-point spread. Jaguars were three-point favorites.

Now they are four-point favorites. But I don't know that they're good enough to really – they're 0-1 against Houston. So I'm surprised. I'm surprised they're favored to begin with. But I don't know why we're talking about this game. I think they were they're at home yeah we've removed urban meyer yes and i think like regardless of what happened

last week and what happened against the patriots i think vegas probably still thinks that rod taylor is better than davis mills for houston's chances of winning all right well what we shall see houston was like oh we're gonna go team dysfunction yeah this is a big win they probably Houston's chances of winning. All right. Well, we shall see. Houston was like, oh, we're going to go team dysfunction. This is a big win. They probably got their jackets out again. Remember when they wore them to the Foxborough? Everything's all hunky-dory from Houston.

They might still win. And, you know, God bless them if they do. But this is probably the most excited the Jaguars have been in a long time. Probably, yeah. All right. DeAndre Hopkins is expecting. I saw somebody tweet yesterday. Can you imagine the Jaguars team group chat right now? Oh my gosh.

Shad Khan is like he's leading the... He started the group text. DeAndre Hopkins expected to miss the rest of the regular season. He's got a knee injury. They're at Detroit this week. Schrager, let's show the results. We want to ask people,

who's going to be the best wide receiver on Arizona now that DeAndre Hopkins is out. Schrager will pull it up. But very, very close between Christian Kirk and A.J. Green. Here we go. Take a look at this.

44% said Kirk, 45% Green, and 9% this is on Facebook, by the way, 9% said Rondell Moore. Heath, who do you vote for, Green or Kirk? Who does that Kirk? I am still trying to adjust my eyes to this poll.

This is an interesting feature. I like it. It's interesting. I'd slightly go Kirk over Green, but I agree that it's this close, and I agree it's one of those two and not Rondell Moore. Okay. Jamie, who do you like i agree with you i think they're both kind of similar one week will be one guy one week will be another guy it's like a like a poor man's dallas you know of of how these guys will operate i think you know kyler will run more um you know just out of necessity because these guys don't clearly separate as well as DeAndre Hopkins does

or have as much, you know, faith in throwing to them as he did. But it's, you know, they're both in great spots. Should be added across the board. Well, what about Kyler? Is this a downgrade for him, a significant one? It's a downgrade, but not significant. I mean, Hopkins certainly has not been carrying him from a yardage standpoint.

He's been very good from a touchdown standpoint. He's got, I touchdowns than everybody else combined if i'm not mistaken um i think he has eight and everybody else combined is less than that kirk green and more um receiving touchdowns so somebody's gonna have to step up but you know the fact that we've seen him run the last couple of games is encouraging and i think he's you know he may go from a top five guy to a top eight guy but i'm not streaming quarterbacks to replace kyler murray and i have him about five playoffs myself i think it'll be really interesting to see over this last month of the season what happens to kyler's touchdown rate because that was his main thing holding him back as a passer the first couple years of his career it was a little bit better in his second year of 4.7 percent it jumped to almost six percent this year and a lot of that's

been Hopkins and so if he struggles in the red zone as a passer again maybe they just don't pass in the red zone because they have James Connor who just scores all the touchdowns and he by the way is questionable this week with the ankle injury at detroit this week then the colts next week then at dallas in your fantasy championship week 17 which of course you will all make okay the the covid news washington has 18 players on the covid list a lot of it is a key defensive lineman right now so as jamie was mentioning it is a very good setup for jalen hertz but jalen hertz is dealing with a high ankle sprain and splitting reps with Gardner Minshew.

So we'll have to see what the practice report is today. And we'll take a look at that game on tomorrow's show. But Washington has so many. You're not going to give Heath a chance to talk about Gardner. I mean, I know offense to Gardner Minshew, but I'm hoping it's Jalen Hurts this week. Well,

I think even if it's Jalen Hurts, assuming Miles Sanders is back, and I think he said yesterday that he expects to play, if you've got a quarterback with a high ankle sprain, maybe you just don't run him that much and you don't do anything with him that much. And Miles Sanders and Boston Scott run the ball 30 times. They're not going to need to do anything else

against Washington this week. Perhaps. If Washington's offense doesn't show up. All right, so Washington's got a lot of COVID cases. So does Cleveland. And they've got more high-profile offensive players on the list, including, of course, Baker Mayfield, Jarvis Landry, Austin Hooper,

two starting offensive linemen. And defensively, you've got John Johnson and Troy Hill in the secondary. You have defensive tackle Malik McDowell. So as we look at this game, Jamie, Cleveland at Las Vegas. Las Vegas at Cleveland. Oh, sorry. Las Vegas at Cleveland. This game's on Saturday. So they have even less, right? I can screw that up. This game on Saturday, they have even less time to come off the COVID list.

You know, what do you think of the Browns in general? I think get ready for a 30-carry game for Nick Chubb, which makes a lot of sense. You know, we saw the run-heavy approach the last time Baker was out. It was the Dearness Johnson game. You know, so they'll lean on Chubb quite a bit, and it makes a ton of sense because the Raiders' run defense has suspect so uh dearness johnson i think is a flex play um if you want to take a gamble on you know a player this week donovan peoples jones is not bad because he's

going to get as many targets he can handle and then you want to keep an eye on does david nijoku does david nijoku clear the protocols or does harris and bryant play Bryant play? Bryant practiced on a limited basis yesterday. So those two guys, because it doesn't seem like Hooper is going to clear the protocols in time. Like you said, Adam. So if you're in need of a tight end, the Raiders are bad against tight ends. So you can look at one of those guys as a flyer just in case, you know, they get an opportunity to start.

This is another one of those games where the line has just had a massive shift i believe it opened up as cleveland minus five at an over under of 44 the over under is down to 38 and a half which is one of the lowest lowest of the season and the raiders are now favored by a point and a half wow all right austin eckler expected to play tonight too Which is not good, obviously, for Carr. Oh, no. Austin Eckler expected to play. We'll keep an eye on that. Left tackle, Rashawn Slater, out for the Chargers. And cornerback, Asante Samuel, is going to be a game-time decision.

Meanwhile, Chris Jones, defensive lineman for the Chiefs, he is unlikely to play tonight. Not just that. They've ruled out LeJarrius Sneed and Willie Gay. This defense is in shambles without those three players. Well, all season long, we are playing the fantasy football today. Start, sit, challenge. You can go to cbssports.com slash start, sit, to play. Each week, answer 10 start or sit questions

to win a customized Trophy Smack championship belt with your name engraved. And the overall winner for the season wins $1, dollars and a guest appearance on the podcast which is valued at one thousand dollars as well one question this week is quarterback tasem hill joe burrow or kirk cousins tasem hill against the bucks burrow gets denver cousins against Bears. Who do you guys like? Cousins slightly overtakes them.

Yep. Burrow quite a ways behind both. I have a question. If the appearance on the podcast is valued at $1,000 and the winner does not want to accept the appearance, are you giving them $1,000? No, I'm giving whoever's on the show that day $1,000. You just said it's also valued at $1,000. You made it seem like it's a $1,000? No, I'm giving whoever's on the show that day $1,000.

Well, you just said it's also valued at $1,000. You made it seem like it's a $2,000 price. It is. You get $1,000 and you also get an extra $1,000 for coming on the show. You don't get paid the extra $1,000 for coming on the show. Being on the show is worth $1,000. Be very careful how you phrase that. Right, you got to be careful how you say that.

No, I'm paying them. You are? Okay. Yeah. $1 say that. No, I'm paying them. You are? Okay. Yeah. A thousand? No, I'm definitely not. What is going on? I'm just joking.

I mean, I'm honestly joking. It's not worth a thousand dollars to be on the show. Well, I mean, you know, somebody legally might say, you said it's worth a thousand dollars. I don't want to come on the show, so give me my thousand dollars. I want two thousand dollars. I'm not paying anybody anything.

So, put that in writing. Players that we love this week, Jamie's got James Robinson as his start of the week. Heath, how about you? Who do you love? I'm really starting to love Josh Jacobs, to be honest. That game script has kind of flipped on its head, and Jacobs is doing so much in the passing game.

I actually have him, I think, in full PPR ranked ahead of Nick Chubb now. So he's a top five running back for me in all formats. Okay, this is interesting. This was going to be one of our rankings disputes. I don't know if, Jamie, you've adjusted your rankings. You had him somewhere around 15, and Dave and Heath had him somewhere around 7.

No, he'll be up. He'll be up. Okay, so we don't have to dispute that. James Robinson or Josh Jacobs, Jamie? I'll go Robinson, but it's close. Okay, how about we go to some sits? Jamie, who are we avoiding this week? I would like to avoid DK Metcalf. He's just clearly been struggling from a connection with Russell Wilson,

production standpoint, obviously. And his track record against the Rams is spotty. Ramsey expected to return, not that he's going to shadow him, but he's going to see some time on him. And so I hope I'm wrong. I hope this is the week that Metcalf breaks out because most people are still starting him. But it's not a slam dunk.

I like Van Jefferson better than DK Metcalf this week. I like Darnell Mooney better than Metcalf this week. Mike Williams. Mike Parker. Mike Williams. No, I'd start Metcalf. I don't love Mike Williams. Okay. See if you can avoid DK Metcalf. How about Metcalf or

Rashad Penny? Metcalf and PPR. Heath, you got to sit. Yeah, and I'm uncomfortable with saying it, but it's how I feel right now. So I'm pretty worried about A.J. Dillon. This Ravens defense has just been so one-sided

in that they're awesome against the run and terrible against the pass. And I think the Packers are a pretty smart team, so I think they'll probably take advantage of that. I was concerned that Dillon, I think, only ran seven routes last week, did not see a target. It was all Aaron Jones in the passing game. I don't think you necessarily want the guy who's just going to run into the Ravens' line 15 to 17 times.

So I would like to get away from Dylan if I could. I would definitely start Clyde over him tonight. If Barkley is healthy, I'd start Barkley over him. I'd start the other running back in that game, Devontae Freeman, over him. So, yeah, I'm pretty worried about Dylan. Okay. Well, you can start Josh Jacobs.

You can consider sitting DK Metcalf and AJ Dylan. And you can definitely start using Grammarly. All right? You got a lot on your plate right now. Holiday time is stressful. A lot of shopping, a lot of crazy stuff going on. So save some time with all of your writing and all of your communicating with Grammarly Premium. Grammarly helps you communicate clearly and kindly, even when you're in a hurry. So yeah, proofreading something can take a long time.

And whether you're writing something like Jamie and Heath write or something for work, if you're in school, whatever it might be, you want to get the point across quickly. You want to do it clearly and effectively. You want to use the best vocabulary and avoid those grammatical errors that make you look a little bit silly. I've used Grammarly Premium and it's really, really easy to use and very, very helpful. Sometimes you don't even realize how much better your writing can be until you type something in Grammarly and they give you those tips. So if you want to take the stress out of getting the words right,

do it with Grammarly. And our listeners get 20% off Grammarly Premium at grammarly.com. That is 20% off at grammarmarly.com slash FFT. So this, maybe you're giving end of the year feedback or maybe you need to sound a little bit more formal or if you want to sound more friendly, anything that you need to convey in your writing, Grammarly can help you.

And again, it is Grammarly.com slash FFT for 20% off Grammarly Premium. G-R-A-M-M-A-R-L-Y dot com slash FFT. A lot of news and notes. James Conner mispractice. Yeah, it's not a huge surprise. They played on Monday. Yesterday was Wednesday.

Jalen Hurts, high ankle sprain. We talked about that. DK Metcalf, in addition to the foot injury that he's been on the injury report every week recently for, he's got this back injury now. You know, I'm sure he's going to play, but, well, I think he's going to play, but he's beat up. Javante Williams was limited with a knee injury. Oh, hey, Ezekiel Elliott says this is the best he's felt in a while, guys.

Fool you! Why? I mean, every week? Well, no, I probably like Zeke more than most people this week, Fool you. Why? No longer William. Every week. Well, no. Look, I probably like Zeke more than most people this week, but every week we get a new report about how healthy, how great Zeke is and all the work he's going to get. And then every week it's up yours, Fantasy Manager.

I'm going to test your love. Would you flex Zeke or DK? Oh, why? I would flex? I would flex I would I would flex Zeke. I would flex Zeke. You're also testing his Giants love too.

Giants love. I don't have any of that anymore. A lot going on there, DeHeath. Yeah. Tony Pollard missed practice. They're hoping he can come back this week. Leonard Fournette missed practice they're hoping he can come back this week Leonard Fournette missed practice with an ankle issue could just be a veteran rest day but hey if you have an empty roster spot why not take a look at Ronald Jones

you have to wonder if I don't know this is the week that they're going to do it but do they start to rest some of their key guys who? the Bucks what? hear me out in a situation where the guy's not 100%. Oh, okay.

Yeah, look, the fight for the one seed is so hot. So hot right now. Right, but they showed you last year that it didn't matter. Well, yes, they did. But, yeah. They won us a wild card. I'm not suggesting that they're going to sit guys that are healthy by any stretch. But if he's not 100%, they want him in January more so than they do in December.

Darren Waller mispractice. Kareem Hunt mispractice. Saquon did too, right? Yes. I didn't think that was anything new. Well, it's gone from limited to DNP. Okay. So we'll keep an eye on that.

Miles Sanders and Jordan Howard were both limited, right? Does that sound right DNP. Okay. We'll keep an eye on that. Miles Sanders and Jordan Howard were both limited, right? Does that sound right? Yes. Adrian Peterson has a chance to play. What do you make of that? Do you think he could mess up Rashad Penny? I don't know if it's tied to Alex Collins, who was back on the injury report yesterday with an abdomen problem.

I do worry that he could steal a touchdown. Yeah, that would be annoying. Eli Mitchell mispracticed. DJ Moore expected to play at Buffalo. Terry McLaurin mispracticed, still in the concussion protocol. So is JD McKissick, and they have

the Eagles this week. Alright, I don't know that we have rankings disputes so much. We can try to do them during the game, which was an idea I had this morning. It's a good idea. Yeah, no. It's a really good idea.

Heath's idea. Here's a fun question. Hey, Adam, what was the worst white elephant gift you've gotten? I've actually only gotten really good white elephant gifts. White elephant is really fun. It is when everybody in a group buys a gift. We did like $20 or less or $25 or less. You wrap them all up. You display

them on a shelf and then everybody gets around and you pick which one you want and you open it and that's your gift. But then the person who goes next or anyone later has the right to steal a previously opened gift. He didn't ask you to explain the white elephant gift process to him.

I have a good white elephant story. This is a holiday tip. White elephant is really fun. Look up the rules. It's a really, really fun holiday thing. Ten plus years ago, I went to a white elephant party with a large group of people, and my parents were also there and my dad brought as his white elephant gift a box set of clint eastwood movies that i had given him the prior year that was still unopened

that is so awesome yes yeah he was he was giving away the gift that i'd given him the year before um and never even opened it that is really funny man i tried to give away the diehard christmas book as a white elephant gift but nobody opened it i i was the last one to go and i ended up with my own gift that i brought. And I just kept it. All right, one question for each game. Tennessee at Pittsburgh. Can Ben Roethlisberger give us another good performance? I believe it is 20 or more points in six-point leagues in four of his last five games.

Yes, he'll be right around 20. Not a huge ceiling, but I think he can get to that threshold once again. Heath? Yeah, another fine game. I'd hesitate to say good. We don't have anybody on a bye. I don't expect 20 or 21 fantasy points to maybe even be a top, not a top 12, maybe not even a top 15 quarterback this week.

Oh, I don't know, man. We got some banged up guys. Yeah. All right, with Cincinnati's at Denver, is it Melvin Gordon or Javante Williams week or both or neither? Thoughts on the Broncos running backs? It would be nice if one of them sat, right?

Yeah. It's probably not going to happen as of right now. So let's say they both play. I would start both. Low end number twos. Williams over Gordon, but just barely. Neither of them has more than 11 carries in any game they've lost. They're two and a half points favorites.

Okay. Green Bay at Baltimore. Who's the best running back in this game? Aaron Jones, A.J. Dillon, Devontae Freeman in that order for me. I'd go Devontae Freeman, Aaron Jones, A.J. Dillon in that order. Jets, Dolphins, who's the best running back in this game? Duke Johnson. Currently, I would say, I mean, it's Myles Gaskin if he plays.

And if he doesn't, then it's Michael Carter if he plays. He's playing. And if he does, then maybe it's Duke Johnson. Or maybe it's Malcolm Brown. Or it could be Ty Johnson. Maybe it's Austin Walter. They wanted to start him last week before he got sick. And if not, it could be Michael P. Ryan.

Don't forget. Don't sleep on Jared Doakes. It's not going to be. It's going to be Michael Carter for the Jets. They've already said he's playing. So let's say Gaskin's back. Carter's back. And Malcolm Brown is practicing. So let's say Gaskin's back, Carter's back, and Malcolm Brown is practicing.

So I'll give you two scenarios. Gaskin's back, but no Malcolm Brown, and Carter's back. Who's better, Gaskin or Brown? Or Gaskin or Carter? Gaskin. Gaskin and Malcolm Brown are back, and I only bring that up because Gaskin had very little role in the running game

when Brown was healthy, and really no goal line role, or Carter in that scenario. I was just thinking about something. Maybe I'm wrong, but they were so confident that Carter's going to come back this week. And it was kind of weird they put Elijah Moore on IR with an injured quad. Have they just put these rookies on the IR to give them three weeks to deal with injuries and they're both going to come back a hundred percent because

they're not really playing for anything anyway. Um, I don't know in regards to more because by the time he comes back, right, definitely nothing to play for. Um, not that there was anything to play for when they put Carter on IR, but I'm going to guess there were probably

legit enough injuries that they didn't want to risk them hurting themselves further. They're a decisive team, it seems, with their IR moves. A lot of teams don't just, you know, Well, they did put Jack Wilson on IR, right? No, I don't think they did, but

Carter pretty quickly. Corey Davis, they were like, see ya, out for the year. I don't know what I. But Carter pretty quickly. Corey Davis, they were like, see ya. Out for the year. I don't know what I'm talking about here. All right, Patriots, Colts. Always a good thing to say. Start or sit Michael Pittman? Start him if he's three-win receivers.

I agree with that. I would sit him in two-receiver league. Raiders, Browns. Any sleepers in this game? Donovan Peoples-Jones? Njoku? That's a good one. Njoku would qualify? And Harrison Bryant, whoever starts there. We haven't really... What if it's Keenum?

And it's probably going to be Keenum. Yeah. Still, they're still sleepers? Yeah. Well, I mean, as much as I'm sure they would love to run the ball like the Patriots did against the Bills, that's probably not feasible. So they'll throw to somebody. All right. Carolina and Buffalo.

Start or sit DJ Moore? Low-end starter in two receiver leagues. Yeah, I would rather start him than Michael Pittman. Agreed. Okay. And then Houston and Jacksonville. David Johnson, anyone? Not now. No.

Because they fired Irv Meyer? Oh, yeah. Well, they have a decent run defense to begin with, so to be fair. It could be Roy Freeman. I like Johnson better than Freeman, but... Brandon, this is the last game we're going to do, so just to make sure we get to Brandon Cooks.

The rankings as of yesterday were very wild on Brandon Cooks. Jamie, are you going to move him up? No, no, Heath, are you going to move him up? Jamie and Dave have him top 20. Cooks outside your top 30, Heath. Yeah, I mean, that's true. I've got him 31, I think. I just don't feel very confident

in the Texans' offense. I think he's a boom-bust number three wide receiver who could be a top 15 guy this week and could give you three for 45. This very much surprised me. I thought he'd be in your top 20. Let's debate it. Jamie, make the case for Brandon Cooks.

Well, he was good against him in week one when Terod was healthy. And I think you saw last week Davis Mills got back to getting him targets that we look for with 11 targets. I'm going to guess they're probably chasing points here. I don't buy into Shaquille Griffin as necessarily a shutdown guy that you have to fear Brandon Cooks.

And so Davis Mills, Dave said this last week, and he was right, that Davis Mills is clearly right now better for Brandon Cooks than Terod Taylor is. And so I think you're looking at anything north of eight targets, and typically for him that's been good more times than not. Okay, Heath, I'm going to see if I can convince you, okay? Okay. To move him up.

He's had seven games with Davis Mills starting. And in those seven games, he has four games with 83 or more yards and three games with 47 or fewer yards. The three bad games were against Buffalo, New England, and Arizona.

We know Arizona, other than last week against Cup, great against number one wide receiver. So I look at it as he's been very good with Davis Mills unless he's had a brutal matchup. And obviously, I don't think we feel that

way about Jacksonville. Are you moving him up now? The Patriots game was a weird one. Yes, the Patriots game, everyone but him did well, basically. But Heath, are you ready to move him up? Did I win? You know, the one thing I realized when you were saying that was that I hadn't really separated Brandon Cooks with Terod Taylor from Brandon Cooks with Davis Mills.

And I think maybe I'm a little bit low on Cooks' target share with Davis Mills. I still don't really like his chances of scoring a touchdown. I think he scored one with Davis Mills. But I'm probably a little bit low on his targets. And so I will boost that up and try to get him inside the top 30, but I struggle with it because I don't think I'm going to rank him

ahead of Christian Kirk. I don't think I'm going to move him ahead of DK Metcalf. Is he ahead of Pittman? That's kind of the... Maybe I should put him... I'd probably need more moving Pittman down behind him okay um but why still make a situation than than Cooks even though Cooks has been better recently

I just have a hard time sitting DK Metcalf such a loyalist you don't just sit him I mean ranking somebody over somebody else is not everybody's decision well if I rank him 30th at wide receiver, it's pretty close to a sit for a lot of people, considering some of the guys I've got in front of them. But, yeah, I mean, I could see maybe getting Cooks into the 25 range. I don't think he'll get in my top 20. Okay, let's start with Tennessee and Pittsburgh.

And we have no buys this week, more games than ever. So the show might be a little bit, hopefully, a faster pace than normal. So just give it a listen. If you would have started on time, it would have been better. All right, all right. I got slack for not, flack, sorry, for not, I was going to say something else that started with S, for not starting on time.

But it wasn't me. It was someone else. I was a little delayed. My three-year-old is obsessed with Space Jam. Both versions of it. And he asked me which team would win. Michael Jordan's Space Jam team or LeBron James'

Space Jam team. So the three-year-old is already in the age-old debate of who's better, LeBron James or Michael Jordan. Nice. I am dying to know who's on the LeBron team and have this discussion, but we have work to do. Tennessee at Pittsburgh. Quite frankly, guys, I find this to be a very difficult game to project. It feels low-scoring to me, and that's bad for Roethlisberger and Claypool.

What does it feel like to you, Heath? Well, it definitely feels low-scoring. I mentioned the Browns and Raiders over under of 38.5. I think this is the second lowest at 41.5. The thing is, you're starting Najee. You're starting Deontay. Claypool's a boom-bust

number three wide receiver. The guys that were impacted by it are Roethlisberger and the name that I've tried not to mention all week because I just hate talking about Pat Fryermuth but like does he score a touchdown and the lower the Steelers projected point total is the least likely that seems yeah Tennessee's been very good against tight end stat of the game though on Fryermuth in the last seven games since their bye week Pat Fryermuth has the

most red zone targets in the NFL. He has 14. He also, he's tied for the most. He also has the most targets in goal-to-go situations, tied for the most with seven in the last seven games. So that's an explanation for all the touchdowns. And if you look at red zone targets, Frymuth and Johnson have a ton of them since the bye.

Chase Claypool has five. And goal-to-go, Fryermuth and Johnson have a ton of them since Dubai. Chase Claypool has five. And goal to go. Fryermuth has seven. Johnson has five. Claypool has three. Not terrible. And it's just so weird because, I mean, we all remember last year, really, the main reason that Chase Claypool was a fantasy thing was because he scored 11

touchdowns on 90 targets. Yeah. Yeah. And now he doesn't score touchdowns anymore. Well, I do think he's tough because his targets, he has, I think, double the amount of targets and losses than wins. But really, we should just consider, you know, when they're chasing points,

which they've been doing a lot lately. But Tennessee's offense has been so bad for three straight weeks. So, Jamie, talk to me about Claypool. How about this? Rank these flexes. If Najee, Deontay are must-starts, rank these flexes. Julio Jones, Chase Claypool, and I said Deontay.

I meant Deontay Johnson. Deontay Foreman is who I'm going to ask you to rank. Foreman, Julio Jones, Claypool. How would you rank them? Foreman, Claypool, and then by a wide margin, those two guys over Julio Jones. Heath, do you agree? No, no, no.

I do have Foreman first. I have Julio slightly above Claypool, and I mentioned it earlier in the week. He played 45% of the snaps in his first game back. They said he got through the game without any injuries. They plan on increasing his reps this week. He saw six targets in a game where he had 45% of the snaps.

I think he's probably going to see seven or eight targets. I feel slightly more comfortable with him than Claypool. You like Claypool, Jamie? No, but I mean, Julio has done absolutely nothing at all to make anybody feel confident

in him, trusting him. Still no touchdowns on the season. He has one game over eight PPR points on the year. And I believe, well, eight PPR points on the year. And I believe, well, TJ Watt is definitely playing at this point, and I think Joe Hayden is playing also. So this Steelers defense should be able to contain the passing game from the Titans.

So Julio may play well, but the larger sample size is he's just not very good. Don't think, Yeah, Claypool... Sorry, Hayden actually missed practice yesterday. Just keep that in mind. He's missed four games in a row, Joe Hayden, with a foot injury. So he did not practice Wednesday.

We'll see if he can make it out on the field Thursday. All right, let's talk about Deontay Foreman then. Is he ahead of committees like Green Bay, Denver? No, I'd start him over A.J. Dillon. Yeah, I struggle with him and Jones,

but I would definitely start him over A.J. Dillon. I'd start both the Broncos over Deontay Foreman, though. I would start Foreman over Penny. Why would we start the Broncos over Deontay Foreman when the Steelers' run defense has been horrendous lately? And he's clearly the main guy although he had the fewest snap snaps of three running back but I think a lot of that he didn't have one snap in the four he didn't have one carry in the fourth quarter McNichols had almost all of the work in the fourth quarter I don't know what the snap share was going into the fourth quarter it was a 20 nothing win over Jacksonville.

But I don't know. I mean, he's got an easier matchup than the Broncos guys. He got, I don't know if it's, it's easier, but I don't know if it's so much easier. Cause I think the Logan Wilson injury will show up a little bit more this week.

I may be, but yeah. Okay. So, so tell me why, I guess, obviously I'm, I'm skeptical,

but you know, make me a believer in the Broncos over Deontay Foreman. Well, I think the Broncos have done nothing that at least should warrant your concern based on how this offense has been operating. And you mentioned, Adam, that typically the carries are a little bit lower in games that they're losing. A lot lower. A lot lower. Yeah, but I don't think this is one of those scenarios

because Denver's defense should be able to contain the Bengals offense. The Bengals defense, I don't think is in great shape right now because of certainly one key injury, but they're banged up across the board. I trust both those guys right now. Again, if it was a solo act, it's easy, but you just look at what this offense is doing

and how they're operating. Foreman should be the lead guy of the Titans, but there's still the risk of if they're down um foreman should be uh you know the the lead guy of the titans but there's still the risk of if they're down is he on the field more so than mcnichols or hilliard and so we just haven't seen that when everybody's healthy because last week was a huge huge advantage for them so i like foreman setup i mean four straight running backs have been 20 or more ppr points against the steelers defense they've They've been bad. Yeah. Okay. Foreman or Penny? Yeah.

Oh, sorry. Foreman over Penny. The thing that really worries me, and maybe your explanation of the fourth quarter is the reason for it, but his snap share just has not... He's never played more than half the snaps for the Titans. So I know Gordon and Jelante are in a time share. Foreman's 100% in a timeshare.

The way I look at it is he's probably not on the field in third down. Right. So that's always going to hurt his, and I don't expect more than one or two catches. He may have zero, but I think he's going to get the majority of the carries, you know, so the snap,

the snap count might not be that high, but when he's in the game, it's the Titans. They still want to run the ball, and the Steelers' run defense has just been a wreck. But if you're looking at 16 carries for Foreman and 12 to 13 for Gordon and Williams, and they each get a couple targets more than he does,

I mean, they're in the same range. Okay. Okay, so Friar Muth, Jamie likes more than Heath. Friar Muth is top 10 for Jamie and Dave and 14th for Heath. I understand. He's got three or four targets in three straight games, but he always catches touchdowns.

This is not an easy matchup. They've been very good against tight ends. Yeah, it's just like this is the kind of guy that I'm just always going to be the low guy on, and you can just ignore me if you want to start him. That's what I would tell people. Pitts against the Niners or Fryermuth? I'd go Pitts.

Jamie? I'd go Pitts in PPR. I'd go Fryermuth in that. Dawson Knox or Fryermuth? Knox easy. Yeah, Knox easy. Now that DeAndre Hopkins is out, Zach Ertz or Fryermuth? Ertz in PPR. Fryermuth in that. I'd go Ertz. Frymuth? Ertz and PPR. Frymuth and that.

I'd do Ertz. Anything else here? Jeff Swain? Ferkser saw a big target share last week, but I don't think that means anything. I think Swain was wide open in the end zone and Tannehill missed him. And we're sitting Tannehill, right?

Yes. Let me do some quick Roethlisberger ors. Roethlisberger or Taysom Hill? Hill. Hill. Roethlisberger ors. Roethlisberger or Taysom Hill? Hill. Hill. Roethlisberger or Russell Wilson? Wilson. Russ.

Garoppolo? Ben. I'll go Jimmy. And the Titans DST is a low-end starter this week. All right, we're going to take a break here. When we come back, Cincinnati at Denver. Have we spoken about the Broncos running backs yet? We'll do that.

A little bit. Right after this. Did you know 66% of utility damage is caused by not requesting a locate? Don't let your project become part of this statistic. A quick locate request can save you from unexpected downtime, financial penalties, and keep you safe. Don't let avoidable damage cost you time and money. Click before you dig.

Ensure your next project is safe. Visit OntarioOneCall.ca. It's free. It's easy. It's the law. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. Bengals and Broncos. Start it off, Heath.

Give me your thoughts on this game. I'm still a little bit surprised that Denver's favored by two and a half. I think they opened at one and that has moved in their direction. So Vegas certainly thinks the Broncos are going to win the game. I think this is not that much different

than the Titans-Steelers game. It's probably a one possession game. It's probably in the low 40s as far as a total. You start Mixon, you start the Chase and Higgins, and you probably start the Broncos running backs. That's what makes

this tough for me because the Broncos have been very game-script dependent, as I keep mentioning, but they've only played three close games. Three games decided by eight or fewer points. And in those games, the running backs didn't have a lot of work, but that doesn't mean that wouldn't happen here. So, you know,

you want a competitive game. When they fall behind big, they lose big, it's bad for the running backs, but... We really don't have any reason to expect that. I guess I just really like the Bengals and I don't like the Broncos, so I have to get that out of my head and stop influencing that. They have the same record and it's in Denver, right? Yes. I just don't,

but I just look at who the Broncos have beaten. You know, the first three games of the year, it was the Jaguars, the jets and the giants. I think Bridgewater stinks. I mean, their passing offense is completely broken. Let's look at recently though. They've beaten the Cowboys and the chargers. Uh, yeah, they, the Cowboys game was really impressive. No question. And they have, and their defense has held up against the Cowboys and the chargers. Yeah. The Cowboys game was really impressive. No question. And their defense is held up against the Cowboys and the Chargers, yes. But I don't know. I mean, just like the way they played against the Chiefs, gosh,

they just were so outclassed. But fine. I'll just go with everybody thinks. Close game. I think we fall for the narrative of who's got the better quarterback all the time. And obviously, Burrow's a better quarterback than Teddy Bridgewater and jamar chase and t higgins are are in their situations better receivers than the broncos guys because of the quarterback but if you just look at the defense right now the broncos defense has been fantastic and i don't think it's enough credit

for the way that they played because i think a lot of people myself included thought when they got rid of von miller this was okay we're packing it in we're done and they played better since they got rid of von miller not an indication of him by any stretch, but they're just, their defense is playing great. Uh, we knew the secondary a chance to be good coming in. They, they, for the most part held up and, you know, Bradley Chubb in and out of the lineup has mattered for this, this team as well, you know, from a pass rush standpoint, but this is a really good unit and Burrow has been struggling. You know, he, he, I think, you know, reminded us of his greatness last week in the comeback effort against San Francisco.

But keep in mind, San Francisco's secondary was completely depleted and they were banged up throughout the game as well. So this is a little bit of a concern. You know, Chase, to me, is still in the same boat that I was going into last week where you're starting him. But I don't think it's everything is all of a sudden fixed with the struggles that he had prior to that. Higgins is still, I think, the safer of the two. But he's banged up. And so I think Denver wins this game. So I think the running backs from a Broncos standpoint

will stay in it. And I don't think if they lose the game, it's because they're getting blown out. Okay. So when you set it up like that, you have both Chase and Higgins, both of you in your top 18 i believe yep if that hits burrow is probably going to have a good game like he did last week with 25 fantasy points you know it could be one touchdown for one of the guys and 100 yards for the other and you know chase had two touchdowns was under 100 yards last week so burrow also has been

turnover prone yeah but i mean you look at his last five games four of them have been bad but it's really coincided with jamar chase not putting up numbers when chase finally did put up numbers was last week i think the difference is you can't like you're going into the fantasy playoffs it's like the old tyler lockett thing and it's really still the tyler lockett thing he's just been good five weeks in a row. You can't sit Jamar Chase with the kind of upside that he has in the fantasy playoffs. But you'll sit Joe Burrow for a

lot of quarterbacks, right? He's outside the top. Joe Burrow has not had the same type of success that Chase has. I kind of think he has. Relative to other quarterbacks. He's like, that's true. He might be 18 in the season. How many times this season have both guys had huge games? That's what I'm saying.

If you compare their game logs, it's pretty similar, I think. Burrow had been really good, throwing two touchdowns or more every single game until he and Jamar Chase both started struggling at the same time. Also, the run game got going, too. That was the start of it. Yeah. Yeah. You know what? struggling at the same time. Well, it was also the run game got going too. That was the start of it. The run game had, yeah, yeah. And you know what? I mean, if you want to,

if you think Denver's going to win, he's got 30 to 40 pass attempts in all six losses. 38 or more in three of six losses. I don't think this is a 30 to 17 Denver victory. I think this is like a 30-17 Denver victory. I think this is like a 24-17 Denver victory, a 24-20 Denver victory. And Mixon scores.

Burrow gets one. One of the guys has a big game receiving. I mean, Higgins is a better PPR guy than he is a non-PPR guy just because the touchdowns have not been there for him consistently. Chase is better in non-PPR than PPR because of the touchdown potential. But I think this is more on you know fomo you're you're not benching these two guys with the potential of what they can give you it's same thing with the kameka you know it's like i'm that's why i'm hesitant to say sit the kameka because he can go off anytime it's been six straight five straight games where he hasn't

done anything but it and like you said about tyra lockett you know it's those type of guys where they can win you your week but they've been losing your week a lot lately and i misspoke joe burrows still qb 12 relative to where chase is at wide receiver that's not the same thing but i think like and you've talked a lot about game script in this game and i just don't think we have any reason to like Like, there are certain games we can speculate on what the game script is and adjust expected run. And this is not one of those games.

And neither is Tennessee-Pittsburgh. We don't know. I agree. Nobody knows. That's why I started with these two games. They're a little bit difficult in that respect. And it's pretty amazing. Only eight wide receivers this year

have had more than seven targets against Denver. So it's pretty strange. So maybe you have to start those two guys, Higgins and Chase. But from a DFS standpoint, maybe this is one you avoid. CJ Uzama is 15th or 16th for Heath. It's not exactly a ringing endorsement, but he has six targets in two straight games. On the other side, okay, all right. So look, we'll just set it up.

You guys don't love Burrow this week. You're starting the two wide receivers. Mixon is a must start. You've already told me you're starting. Look, when it's a committee, it's never an amazing start for Williams and Gordon unless they're playing the Lions, but they're not bad.

So I'll compare them with a few players in a second. But Jerry Judy, we're sitting Bridgewater. Starter sit Jerry Judy. That's it. I think he's a boom bust number three wide receiver. Where's the boom gun? Yeah, we haven't seen it yet. But I still, like, I think he's in the Gabriel Davis,

Michael Gallup, Devontae Parker range. Okay. And those guys, maybe not. I like Davis and Parker significantly better than jerry jude noah fant start or sit no thank you i love it i do it no i can't yes you guys are great dave would say something different because dave's got to be the top 12 just barely uh he gave me a show notes for the for fft today as He hasn't been to sit, so I don't understand. All right. Well, there aren't that many good tight ends, I guess.

All right. So then... It's a great matchup, though. Melvin Gordon or Javante Williams. Who do you prefer? Javante. I think the only concern I have with Melvin Gordon, and it's a slight one, is if they are trailing, and this thumb issue is a problem,

how much will he be in passing down situations? Javante, I think, is already ahead of him in that regard to begin with. And so if he's not catching a pass like we saw last week, he ran the ball really well, 100 yards and two touchdowns, but it was Detroit. So if they are chasing and they need a pass catcher, is he completely off the field? Yeah, because that was last week, I think,

was the first week where there was a pretty... I don't know. I mean, it could change in one week. There was a pretty clear delineation in terms of their usage. Williams was the passing downs guy last week, and that would be a major problem for Gordon. Would you start Van Jefferson or a Broncos running back? Broncos running back. Wow.

I think I'd go Van over Melvin. Okay. How about Brandon Ayuk or a Broncos running back. Wow. I think I'd go Van over Melvin. Okay. How about Brandon Ayuk or Broncos running back? Broncos running back. I've got Van over Ayuk, so yeah, Broncos running backs. Okay. How about Jamar Chase or Broncos running back? Oh, boy.

Chase. Javante, Chase, Melvin. Javante, Chase, Melvin. That would be fun to watch. I think Javante Chase Melvin Javante Chase Melvin that would be fun to watch I think Javante would track him down and that's it for this game Green Bay at Baltimore Green Bay defense has been rough lately

they gave up 34 points to Minnesota 28 to the Rams 23 to Chicago technically 30 scored but 7 of them were on special teams six of them so seven of them um so yeah so that's interesting and and well less than 20 you're taking away all the special teams points all the extra points yeah you're gonna really yeah it's a good point could you imagine if I did that with every game? Well, if you take away the extra points.

Their defense only gave up 12. Yeah. All right, anyway. I think Green Bay is, you know, Rodgers is a must start. The ultimate Azers stats. Yeah. Rodgers is a must start.

Adams is a must start. Would you start Lazard or MVS? Any interest? I kind of like Lazard a little bit better. MVS is definitely in play because of the big play potential that he has against his defense. So they're both in a very similar range. I have it ranked MVS over Lazard in non-PPR,

Lazard over MVS in PPR. I do like Lazard without Cobb there. I think that's a good scenario for him to see some more opportunities in the slot. And Aaron Rodgers likes, I think, using him as a big slot receiver. The other part of this is MVS was on the injury report on Wednesday. So if for whatever reason he's out, then Lazard is in a very,

very good situation. Yeah. And the big plays you talked about doesn't have to be just the big play guys, but they just, they give up the most big pass plays in the NFL. Most 20 plus yard plays, most 40 plus yard plays.

I think I give that stat every single week. I think you should start Devante Adams. Yeah. Start Devante Adams. Now Heath, you said Devante Freeman is your favorite. By the way, Devante Adams was listening to the broadcast on Monday because they were talking about how great Johnson was playing against him and how little production he had done. And then all of a sudden it was like,

just like that. It was like, he was like, Oh, by the way, Hey, I'm, I'm, I'm the best receiver in football still. I know that Cooper cup guy's pretty good and that Jefferson guy's pretty good, but you know, 17's over here. He schooled Johnson on that last touchdown. That little slant right in the end zone. Johnson knew where he was going. He had the inside leverage. He was almost sideways.

And he burned him so badly. It was tough to watch. Alright. Want to talk more about the running backs? Or Heath, do you like Freeman the best of this group? I do. I like the fact that he's averaged 17 and a half, 18 touches over his last six games. I like the fact that he has at least five catches in three of his last four games.

I like the workload and the touchdown potential. And Jamie, he's last for you, right? He's behind these guys, the two Packers. I'd probably put him ahead of, when I adjust my rankings, I'll do it. I'll put Dylan behind him in PPR, but in non-PPR, I'll take him over Freeman. This Packers defense has been really good against the run,

in terms of touchdowns allowed. And Freeman has not been great when he's not scoring touchdowns. So, you know, he's going scoring touchdowns so you know he's going to have to really step up his production with either a backup quarterback or an injured quarterback against still a very good defense and so he's not a must-sit guy by any stretch but I just don't love the setup for Devante Freeman he's more of a bust alert for me you guys are very far apart on Aaron Jones in full PPR Jamie Jamie's got him, I think, 15th right now. Heath, somewhere around 24.

Yes, 24. That's exactly right. So, Heath, you're saying to consider sitting Aaron Jones? I just don't know if he's fully healthy yet. I was shocked that last week they gave him five carries. And it was awesome that he scored two touchdowns, but I didn't realize this until you said it, Adam. A.J. Dillon played a lot more or touched the ball a lot more

and played more in the red zone than Jones did. So I don't know that you can count on the touchdowns. I don't know that you can count. He's got 18 touches in his last two games combined. And I thought that week 12 against the Rams was just, yeah, it was his first game back. Don't worry about him only getting 10 touches. Then he got eight the next week against Chicago.

Just to say it for the third time this week, basically what we noticed in this game was goal-to-go situations are inside the five-yard line. It looks like Dylan was the guy on first and second down, and Jones was the guy on third down. Now, you might say, well, I'm pretty sure Jones scored on first and goal. It was first drive after halftime. A.J. Dillon gets five carries, does all the work.

He's kicking ass. He comes out of the game. Aaron Jones comes in. I believe it was first and goal. Gets the carry and scores. But earlier in the game, they got inside the five-yard line. Dylan got the carry on first down. He was in on second down.

Jones was in on third. Blah, blah, blah. So that's kind of the way I break it down. But, I mean, Dylan had 15 carries and Jones had five. But like we said yesterday, we don't know that that's going to happen again this week. So, Jamie, make a case, I guess, to start Aaron Jones. Well, it's the passing network. You know, I think you'll see him certainly much more involved. And as we know, for the, what is it, the billionth year in a row,

he's going to be their second-leading receiver. So he's obviously got that scenario locked down. Dylan did not have a target last week. So, you know, if he can't run against this great run defense, and the Ravens run defense has been great, Dylan's going to have to score. And so if he doesn't score, you're probably looking at an empty stat line like we saw last week, 15 for 71, not going to help a lot of people. Jones has proven in limited touches, in heavy workloads,

he finds a way to get in the end zone. And I think he'll be probably in the four to six catch range. So I hope his carries go up a little bit. To Heath's point, he was on the injury report again on Wednesday, so he's probably not at 100%. Still managing through this knee injury situation.

So Dillon will probably get more carries again. And certainly if the game is in the Packers' advantage, he will definitely get a lot of carries late in the game. But I still like Jones better in PPR by far. We haven't talked about Lamar Jackson. We should probably do that. Go ahead, Dave. Give me your thoughts on the Ravens

quarterback situation, because we don't even know if Lamar Jackson's going to play. Right. Right now, we're projecting Lamar Jackson's going to play. This is the lowest, I think, that I have ranked Lamar Jackson's going to play. This is the lowest I think that I have ranked Lamar Jackson since he became a starting quarterback, and I've got him 10th. I actually had him 12th earlier in the week, but I have downgraded Jalen Hurts for the time being. If Jalen Hurts gets a

full practice then, I would start him over Lamar Jackson. But if they're both limited, I would take Lamar Jackson over Hertz. I've also downgraded Stafford, losing Beckham and not just Beckham, but that whole team being in the COVID situation. So I've got him 12th. But it's not a great situation. I would start Tua over him,

but Tua is the only streamer I would start over him. I would also start Kirk Cousins over him, though. You think you're low on Lamar Jackson. Jamie's got him 14th. So if Jackson is out... He'd be lucky to finish 14th the last month. Yeah. If Jackson's out and Tyler Huntley is in,

Marquise Brown, start or sit? Yes, you start. Mark Andrews has actually been great with Tyler Huntley. But what about Marquise Brown? He's a number three receiver. Either way or just with Huntley? I think either way. I feel like I'm almost ranking Marquise Brown like I'm ranking Jamar Chase

and like I'm ranking DK Metcalf just based on the potential. But this is not an easy matchup. I mean, this is a really good defense. But you have Chase in your top 18. And where do you bring him? That's what I'm saying. It's not because necessarily I think they're going to have great games based on the matchup.

I think it's because of what they're capable of doing, and that's what Marquise Brown is capable of doing. But you have Brown so much lower than Chase, right? What I'm saying is I feel like I'm – I know why I'm ranking. I'm ranking Brown because of what I hope he can do, not as opposed to what I definitely think he's going to do. I'm sure, but if you were ranking him on based on what you hope he were doing, wouldn't that be much higher than in the 30s?

No, but it's also factoring in a gimpy Lamar Jackson and a backup quarterback in one of those two scenarios. Okay. I don't know what you make of this, but the Packers in their last three games, they've given up 76 or more yards to six wide receivers. That would be both Vikings guys, three Rams guys, and Demir Bird, and then you had the 46

yard touchdown for Jakeem Grant. I mean, their defense has kind of fallen apart the last few weeks. They used to really not give up big plays. Now that's all they're doing. And unfortunately for Brown, you can't make big plays, basically, if you're not going down the field, and he hasn't been doing that much. But this matchup looks a lot better from the last three weeks. Does that matter to you?

If we could get a positive report on Lamar, it would matter quite a bit to me. But positive in regards to what? Positive in full practice, there's no ankle issue or just limited he's going to play? I don't think we're getting

full practice, he's 100%. I don't think we're getting a full practice. I'd like a little bit more than limited he's going to play. Just something, like I'm feeling better. Just something, give me a little something. I don't need much. Just something like I'm feeling better. He's just something.

Give me a little something. I don't need much just because I do think the big play potential is pretty good. I don't think the big play potential is there at all. If Huntley is the quarterback. Yeah. Okay. And Bateman,

we're going to sit after the hundred yard game. It gets better. If it's Huntley, it seems like they have a connection. They don't though. I mean, his first game was really bad with Huntley, wasn't it? And that was without Marquise

Brown. It was bad, but I think the thing you look at sometimes when these backup quarterbacks come in is second-team players versus Snarrows. And not that Bateman's a second-team player, but he's not Marquise Brown. Three catches for 29.

How much practice time do those guys spend together? I don't know. Three catches for 29. How much of a preseason did those guys work together? How much practice time did those guys spend together? I don't know. Three catches for 29 yards on six targets at the Bears without Marquise Brown. But nobody did well in that game. Yeah, I know. Right. I don't know why.

It's also Huntley getting more experience. So are you telling me you would rank Bateman ahead of Marquise Brown? No. No, no, no. But Bateman's not. Just higher than he is currently. Yeah, Bateman gets a boost to

borderline number three receiver as opposed to number four receiver. Okay, and Baltimore's DST, or Green Bay's DST rather, is looks like ninth for Jamie, seventh for Heath, second for Dave.

Definitely in play this week, especially if Huntley plays. And by the way, you guys are way too low on Aaron Rodgers. You should have him number one. Just going to throw that out there like Dave does. Good for Dave. Jets at Dolphins. Okay, we got through with the fun games.

Here we go to finish the show. Jets at Dolphins. Who's a start? We already talked about this game. Who's a start in this game? Waddle. Waddle Dolphins. Who's a start? Who's a start in this game? Waddle. Tua. Parker.

So let me talk about the passing game with you here. Tell me how much faith you have in these guys. Because obviously the Jets do not have a good pass defense. However, they don't see a lot of pass attempts. And there's only been, let me get the stat here, only been one game so far

where multiple wide receivers have scored 14 or more PPR fantasy points. There have been three other games, so four total. If you want to drop that down to 13 or more PPR fantasy points, then you've got something. You've got four games. But that's not a great game, 13 or more PPR fantasy points. then you've got something. You've got four games. That is not a great game, 13 or more PPR fantasy

points. So, you're really confidently starting... Well, probably not. Are you confidently starting Devontae Parker? Yes. Ooh. I wouldn't say confidently, but he's a borderline number three for me. Alright, we've talked about

Marquise Brown, Michael Pittman. Is Parker ahead of them? Yes. I'm starting those guys over Devontae Parker. Parker's been really sneaky good this year. It's hard to know because you've got to look at the matchups and what he's done considering the opponents. So I can understand the enthusiasm that Jamie has.

He's been about 50-50 to get more than 10 points. He's been about 50-50 to get more than 10 points, right? He's been about 50-50 to get more than 10 points. That's probably the case. More than 11. I'm sorry, 5 for 60 last week. He's got 5 for 40, 4 for 40, 5 for 60, and then he's got 4 for 80, 8 for 80, 4 for 70. Yeah, but then that's what I'm talking about.

You have to look. He's played Buffalo twice. He's played New England once. Las Vegas, actually pretty good against wide receivers. And last time he played, he didn't really play a full snap share. He had five for 62 on five targets against the Giants. So the Jets actually give up the eighth fewest fantasy points to wide receivers. It's so misleading.

It is, but that's the thing. Teams run all over them. I'm assuming you think that no matter what the Dolphins are not going to do that. No. Right. But in the first meeting, it was kind of a disappointment for Tua. It was 20 points, right? Yep. Yeah.

He threw 33 times. He's won two in the last nine games to be under 22 points. And Gaskin had 23 carries in that game for a robust 89 yards. Okay. So I just think you guys are starting to over some pretty big names, right?

Jackson. Wilson. How do you think he was getting there? Parker's not having a more, more robust game. I think Waddle and Gasicki are both must starts. And I would guess that the running backs, if it's Duke Johnson or Myles Gaskin,

are probably going to catch five-plus passes. Also feels like, even though there's a week with no buys, it feels like the back end of the top 12 at quarterback is a little shaky for you guys. Like, not a great quarterback. That's the thing. Yeah, it's like the guys we're starting him over is Stafford with half a a team around him for me.

Hurts and Jackson, who are not healthy. Like, it's not like we're starting. I wouldn't be starting him over Lamar Jackson or Jalen Hurts if I thought those guys were 100 percent. Would you guys start Devante Parker or a running back in this game? Parker. Gaskin if he plays. That's fair. Gaskin if he plays well that's fair gas can be placed if gas gas can and malcolm brown play i'm not i'm not i'm not malcolm brown you're not okay well he was a big deal for gaskin's fantasy value before his injury a huge deal but okay we'll see what we'll see what the roles are

um michael carter i mean michael carter was playing really well before uh before his injury A huge deal. But, okay, we'll see what the roles are. Michael Carter. I mean, Michael Carter was playing really well before his injury. In fact, he's one of the only running backs who's ran well against the Dolphins recently. And he did have a 39-yard carry. He was not much other than that. But, yeah, just going to want to wait and see here with Carter. Yeah, I mean, next week he gets Jacksonville. So that's a good scenario. It's almost like just get through the game, don't get hurt, and

then next week I feel a lot more comfortable with him. But obviously a lot of his production, as we've noted time and time again, has come with different quarterbacks because Zach Wilson will not throw to his backs as much as Mike White did and Josh Johnson did. So mostly Mike White, I think, or Joe Flacco too. I think you look at

Wilson's done a little bit better lately, but you also have Tevin Coleman clearing the concussion protocol, so he's probably going to get some touches. Ty Johnson will get some touches. So Michael Carter, I think, is a flex. Definitely should be rostered if he was dropped, but I wouldn't love starting him this week if you can avoid it. I've pretty much taken the cautious approach with anybody coming back

from these extended absences, and that's the reason I was asking about the Carter IR trip and whether maybe he's actually 100% was because I would like to just rank Carter as what he was. But I'll probably just do what Jamie said and wait a week. Six straight games against the Dolphins where no running back has more than 11 carries. No running back has scored more than 6 non-PPR fantasy points or 13.6 PPR fantasy points. This has not been an easy matchup at all. Right, and you mentioned Gaskin. That's the one in that group.

He had 65 yards and 33% of the team snaps. He got hurt in that game. Who? Carter. Michael Carter. Yeah, he got hurt in that game. He had a big run. Okay, there was one other that game. He had a big run. Okay, there was one other thing that I wanted to look at here. I'll come back to it.

Okay, any interest in Crowder or anything like that? Are we done with this game? Done. Done with this game. Finished with this game. Start the Dolphins DST. Oh, Gusecki or Friarmuth? Gusecki, PPR, Friarmuth, non-PPR.

Gusecki or Knox? Knox. New England is at Indianapolis on Saturday. Contradictory stats of the game. The Colts have allowed 13 or more PPR fantasy points

to a wide receiver in all but three games. 17 or more PPR fantasy points to a wide receiver in all but four games. However, it's really been very recent that they've been much better.

In week nine, they got destroyed by Elijah Moore. Since then, no wide receiver has more than 38 yards. And that includes Diggs, 38 yards, and that includes Diggs, Cooks, and the Buccaneers wide receivers, and the Jaguars

wide receivers. What do you think? This usually is a really terrible secondary that you can be very good as a wide receiver. Jacoby Myers, Kendrick Bourne, Heath, any interest in these guys? Not really. Tell me how we're looking at the Patriots running backs

against a good run defense. Looking at Damian Harris. Tell him to take the week off. Yep. Harris would be better than Stevenson if he plays, but they're both back-end RB2 flex options at best. But if there's no Harris, Stevenson's a good, great

number two in non-PPR, in my opinion, and a decent one in full PPR. Yeah, he would be a number one running back for me in non-PPR. Who's a start in this game? Taylor. Yep. I'm facing him in at least two leagues. Do you think he has a bad week

by any chance? He could. Who do you think wins this game? The Patriots. Colts are two-point favorites, I believe. At home. At home.

I think I'd go with the Colts. Yeah, it's interesting. Carson Wentz throws 26.2 passes in wins, 39.3 passes per game in losses. That is an unbelievable gap. And this game... How many did Mac Jones throw?

I don't know. But this game, if they lose, it's still a game where I think they're just going to run, run, run. I mean, that's kind of the weakness of the Patriots' defense. Oh, believe me. This, as a former, you know, guy who covered games, you love this type of game

because it's probably over in three hours. It's a quick one. I've been feeling that way about the Sunday night or Monday night games recently. They seem like they're flying by and then all of a sudden TV has a way of making it

not fly by. Okay, so is there anything else you want to talk about in this game? I mean, we should probably go a little bit more into of a sudden TV has a weight of making it not fly by. But OK. So is there anything else you want to talk about this game. I mean we should probably go a little bit more. Nick Folk.

Michael Pittman. Nick Folk. Yeah. Your favorite player. Well you got to you got to respect Nick Folk. OK.

Pittman or Patriots running back if they both play. Both over Pittman and non PPR Pittman over both in PPR. I'd say Both over Pittman and non-PPR. Pittman over both in PPR. I'd say Harris over Pittman and non-PPR. Pittman over both in full PPR.

How about Pittman or Penny? I'll take my chance with Penny. I'd go Pittman and PPR, and not i just wonder you mentioned you said that it was kind of the weakness of the patriots defense was their run defense and i kind of assume that's by design that they most teams they would just rather run on them than throw on them they take away whatever you do best i wonder if they just clamp down on the run and see if carson wins can beat him if that's the case, you're probably looking at a pick six for the Patriots and J.C.

Jackson can handle it. Yeah, the Patriots only four running backs have scored. I call it a weakness. They're not great per carry. They give up the fourth most receiving yards per game, the running backs, although last three weeks they've been much better there, but they

just don't give up rushing touchdowns. Now, there was a point in time where the Steelers hadn't given up a rushing touchdown all year. It was through six or seven games, I think. And now they give up a rushing touchdown basically every week. So that's a, you know, it's a tough stat. But we know historically you can move the ball on the Patriots until you get near

the end zone and then you can't move the ball anymore. They do not give up rushing touchdowns. They do not give up receiving touchdowns to running backs. Only four running backs all year have scored against them and we'll see what jonathan taylor has in store i'm very happy i have taylor in three leagues and i'm on a buy in all three of them that oh yeah that is good that is nice i want to see i wonder if there's a correlation there having taylor and being on a bye. Okay, so we've seen... Wait, did all three? All three, I got them in the second round.

Wow. That's awesome. Two analyst leagues. You know, I said something earlier that I wanted to look up. The Dolphins have three players. This is totally off topic, but back to the Dolphins game.

They have three players that are ranked interior linemen, ranking all interior linemen against the run. They have two players in the top seven, Zach Seiler and Christian Wilkins. Wilkins, by the way, very good IDP player. Pick him up if you need a defensive lineman. And then they have John Jenkins, who is 13th.

He's only played six games, so I don't know if he's healthy. But they have three defensive tackles, interior defensive linemen, who are in the top 13 rated against the run, and two of them are top seven. So that's why the Dolphins have been so great. Anyway, that's a completely different game. Any interest in Jack Doyle?

Better than the Dolphins on fantasy points allowed the last five weeks. Against the run? Yes. Against fantasy points allowed to running backs. I should know this. I bet Heath gets it. That's kind of my thing.

Chiefs. No. He said I bet Heath gets it, so that's why I guessed that. Who? Well, that's why Heath doesn't like a certain player this week. Oh, Rams? No. Oh, Ravens.

Sure. All right. Jack Doyle, Hunter Henry. Noah, thanks, sure. All right, Jack Doyle, Hunter Henry. Noah, thank you. Yeah, I did move Henry ahead of Doyle. I had Henry too low, but neither of them are my top 15. You know the story with Henry.

If he scores, he's good, or he's decent. Patriots DST. Still startable. I mean, you're banking on Carson Wentz melting if you're starting him, and he can melt. I have no idea how many games I have left here. Two or three. All right, let's go to Cleveland and Las Vegas.

We're almost at two hours. Yeah, we got to go here. Cleveland and Las Vegas. Stat of the game. Vegas so bad against tight ends. I give this stat almost every week. 76 yards or a touchdown. 70 yards or a touchdown in nine of their last 11 games.

Tight end against Las Vegas. If only one Browns tight end plays, he's probably a top eight tight end. If two Browns tight ends play, then Najoku is probably like a borderline top 12 guy. Yeah, I would say you don't want Njoku and Hooper playing. I'd be fine with either one of those guys with Bryant because Bryant I don't think will see as many target opportunities

as either Njoku or Hooper. You feel that way about Keenum, even if it's Keenum? Yes. Everything's expecting Keenum to start. Does Carr have any sleeper appeal to you with the secondary absences, presumably, with the COVID? No, what's the weather? Yeah, that's exactly what I was just getting ready to look up

to give the exact weather forecast. But I think it's going to be a classic Cleveland bad weather game. And the fact that Cleveland doesn't have any players makes me think that the Raiders are just going to run more. No, they're missing players in their secondary more so. I meant offensive players. Oh, okay. So, yeah, you know how it has the little windy thing?

It's 43 degrees first, so you don't play Derek Carr when it's 43 degrees outside. But also, it's going to feel much worse. Wind looks like it's around 20 miles an hour for the day. And it's either going to be snowing or raining, depending on whether that game finishes before or after the temperature drops below 32. This is a Nick Chubb game written all over it. Total dominant game for him.

So Chubb and Jacobs are going to be must-starts here. Is Hunter Renfro still a must-start under these circumstances? Oh boy. You have to. Yep. Okay. They don't have to throw it very far to get it to Hunter Renfro. Exactly. And then anyone else in this game? Who's the best?

Who's the... Yeah, no. It's Donovan Peoples-Jones, obviously. Yep. Yeah. Okay. Then let Landry get to clear. And then... Alright. If Landry plays, start or sit? Start. If Landry plays, I'll probably have him as a low-end number three. And you're going to start Waller if he plays, right?

Yes. Okay. Great. This game's over. Cleveland DST is top 10 browns dst or patriots dst uh patriots yeah and i think the raiders dst is a sneaky play too yeah sure um yeah that makes sense. All right, Carolina at Buffalo. I guess we have two games left. This one and the Houston game.

Dawson Knox has seven red zone targets in his last four games. This is your stat of the game. Only Chris Godwin, Cameron Brate, and Justin Jefferson have more in that time span. But what's funny is that Gabriel Davis also has seven red zone targets in those four games. So both of them getting a lot of looks where it counts, Dawson Knox and Gabriel Davis.

Who other than DJ Moore are you considering for Carolina? Nope. No one. You got to sit the running backs, right? Yep. And where's Moore in your rankings? Feels too high, but late teens, early 20s. I think I'd actually dropped him down 24.

Yeah. But assuming he comes out of practice okay, I'll probably move him up a little bit. I try on these Thursday games when you've got a guy that's within five spots in the rankings to move the questionable guys behind the guy who's playing on Thursday night. Because I think as of yesterday at least

you should have started Mike Williams over DJ more, but if more comes out of today's practice, okay, I'll probably move them back ahead of Williams. Okay. Also keep in mind that the, I, you probably don't care,

but the bills run defense has been struggling a bit lately. And a lot of it has coincided with star, the two little A's absence. He's missed four games now. Look who they struggled against though. Yes. Yes. Well, yeah, it was mostly Jonathan Taylor and Leonard Fournette. And the Patriots.

And one big run by Damian Harris. Well, I'm saying the team total, but a lot of attempts. But it's not like they've been struggling against teams like this. Sure. Is Starr back? I don't know. He played against the Patriots and then he missed last week's game.

This would be a revenge game for him, right? This would? Yes. Yes, this would be a revenge game for him, yes. We don't usually focus on defensive tackle revenge games. On the Bills side of the ball, do you have total confidence in Josh Allen? Total.

Number one quarterback this week. Wow, he's got the foot injury. He was at Hamilton. Not even going to walk and move. All right. Should be Rodgers. Can we make a bet, Rodgers versus Allen? No, they're both going to be great.

Let's make a bet. Let's make a bet. Both top three. Yeah. Because you're giving me a guy that's less than 100%. Then don't make him number one. Hey, you know Aaron Rodgers is definitely less than 100%. That's true.

Fair. All right. Yes. Gentleman's bet. Any bills running back? You know what? We both live. These are cold weather quarterbacks.

We both live relatively close to the ocean, right? Loser has to go jump in the ocean. I live close to the ocean? I mean, you can't be too far from the ocean, right? Loser has to go jump in the ocean. I live close to the ocean? I mean, you can't be too far from the ocean. I'm pretty far. I'm close to the Hudson River. Okay, yeah, you can jump in the Hudson River. Okay, I'll do that.

It's a great idea. Would you start Devin Singletary? No, it was Kramer, wasn't it? I'm sorry, yeah, Kramer. Would you start Devin Singletary. No, it was Kramer, wasn't it? I'm sorry. Yeah, Kramer. Would you start Devin Singletary? I would like not to, but not a bad flex. The thing that's so hard because it's gone back and forth for, what, four weeks in a row now? Is Zach Moss going to be active?

If Moss is not active, then I think Singletary is a borderline number two. If Moss is active, then Singletary is a low-end flex. Okay. So if Moss is inactive, would you start Singletary over Michael Carter? I would. Sorry. Yeah, maybe. Would you start Singletary if Moss is inactive

over A.J. Dillon? No. In PPR, I would.J. Dillon? No. In PPR, I would. Okay. Buffalo wide receivers. This is fairly interesting here. We're obviously going to start Stephon Diggs.

Who's your second favorite Buffalo wide receiver? I think you still got to go Beasley in PPR, but Davis is fun. I mean, season-high targets last week. Sanders goes down. There's an opportunity here to make some plays down the field, especially if Gilmore is going to be making things tough on Diggs.

Did have 51 pass attempts for Josh Allen. 54 pass attempts for Josh Allen last week. Every time Allen throws 40 or more times, Cole Beasley has 8 or more catches. Doesn't really feel like this is going to be that game, though. Joe. What, guys?

Davis over Beasley you said Heath? I think I would. Yeah. Both. All right. Would you start Beasley or Pittman

or Davis or Pittman? Davis for me. Pittman. Start Dawson Knox. Start the Bills DST. And Houston at Jacksonville. Stat of the game number one was about Brandon Cooks

and with Davis Mills. Stat of the game number two, the Texans have allowed 100 yards or a touchdown to a wide receiver in all but three games. Eh? Eh? Eh?

Eh? Marvin, let's go. Yeah, I think it's got to be Marvin. Not Treadwell? No. Could be, but no. Okay. Alright. So, we love James Robinson.

Marvin Jones or Gabriel Davis or Cole Beasley? Jones now. Yeah. We had a nice discussion about Brandon Cooks earlier. Jamie's high on him, top 20. I convinced Heath to move Brandon Cooks maybe to about 30. No, I had him 30.

I said 25. Oh, 25. Okay. That's great. And that's it, right? I mean, do you have any interest in Davis Mills? He's actually been pretty solid lately.

That took you being super flex, Leaks. And he's been solid against the Rams and the Seahawks 19 and 24 fantasy points in two starts yeah you're not that far from the beach how far am i from the beach i think 30 minutes i don't think so you know you say that but you know the traffic is dreadful oh my god i'm looking at google maps if i went right now to the beach when it's cold, maybe I could get there in 30. I doubt it, though. I don't see that happening.

So, David Johnson, can we talk about the Texans running backs here? Because in the last three games, the running backs have combined for 31 carries at Tennessee, 22 carries against the Jets, and 22 carries against Seattle. So they have run the ball a decent amount. You've done that all year.

Okay. That's not good, then. They're terrible. Why did I spend $5 on David Johnson in the podcast league? I think I'd have to start him. My goodness. I mean, look, you'd take what Royce Freeman did

last week, wouldn't you? Yeah, but anytime a guy catches a lot of passes against Seattle, it's just, oh, it was Seattle, basically. No, he's a fine... That's a 14-team league. And so I think he's a fine flex. You know what it is for me? It's going to be David Johnson versus Traquan Smith in a PPR league.

David Johnson. And you're in the playoffs. Not for long. McCaffrey and A.J. Brown, I might have a better shot, but you know. Yeah. Oh, I remember when you gave yourself the number one pick and then you had to pay for it. Of course. Karma.

I did not give myself the number one pick. Yes, you did. Would you start a DST in this game? I'd prefer not to, but they're desperation streamers. Jacksonville over the Texans now. Yep. Cool. All right, we're out of here, guys.

Thank you very much. Good show. Good luck, everybody. We'll talk to you today at 2 p.m. Eastern time right here at youtube.com slash fantasyfootballtoday to answer all of your start, sit questions for Jamie and Heath. I'm Adam. Have a great day. For a limited time, switch to Shopify Point of Sale,

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