Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (AFC): Knight, Najee, Juju and More! (12/08 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 8, 2022

Playoff spots are on the line, so let's get those lineups set! Who do we love this week (2:30)? It's time to start D'Andre Swift with confidence, but you should sit (6:25) Najee Harris and Dameon Pierce if you can ... News and notes (12:00) and One Question for Each Game (17:24). How much faith do we have in Deshaun Watson? Can you trust a Dolphins running back? How about Travis Etienne this week? .. Start or Sit for Jets-Bills (25:10), Jaguars-Titans (35:15), Chiefs-Broncos (44:25), Dolphins-Chargers (52:50), Browns-Bengals (1:05:40) and Ravens-Steelers (1:11:00) ... Email us at [e-mail] Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Welcome to Week 14, everybody. Games kick off tonight with the Rams and the Raiders. Welcome to week 14, everybody. Games kick off tonight with the Rams and the Raiders. Could be Baker Mayfield's return to something. And we welcome you to the show as we break down six AFC home. Yeah, I didn't know where I was going with that. It wasn't going to be fantasy relevance.

It wasn't going to be... Baker's return to something. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. But we could have him start tonight. We got six games to break down. The Jets at the Bills. Jaguars at the Titans. Hopefully Trevor Lawrence can play in this game.

Tough matchups for the running backs. Maybe for Derrick Henry. He might be surprised, but I'll tell you about that in a moment. Kansas City at Denver. Miami at Los Angeles. That'd be the Chargers. Cleveland at Cincinnati.

And Baltimore at Pittsburgh. Miami at Los Angeles. That'd be the Chargers. Cleveland at Cincinnati and Baltimore at Pittsburgh. All right. Hey, one week before the playoffs start in most of our leagues, do you guys have a lot on the line this week? A couple leagues, yeah. Some, you know, hoping for a bye. Some hoping to get in. Yes.

Not as much. Most of mine feel like they've pretty much been decided one way or the other. I mean, obviously, the Scott Fish Bowl is still a really big thing. Congratulations, Adam, on advancing to round three. Yay. Congratulations. But not a whole lot of leagues where I'm sitting like at sixth or seventh. It's pretty much uh Ricky Bobby

I think uh about half of my leagues I'm still in or out right you know huge week for me huge week I mean the biggest the biggest thing is I've got to beat you in the IDP league that's the most important thing like this season could be a complete failure but if if I could go undefeated in the IDP league, then nothing else matters. I'm going to roll over for you this week. You're going to win this week. I feel pretty good about that. Aaron Jones and David Montgomery are my starting running backs. So you should be good. I'm going to be starting. Oh, that's the big trade too, right? At least two IDPs that are on by that is the big trade. You're, you're going to be just fine in that league, but I will get you back in a couple of weeks. It will be just like the

2007 Patriots. You will beat the Giants in the last week of the regular season and then familiar ending in the postseason. Okay. Let's talk about players we love this week. Jamie, who do we love? Who's our star of the week? DeAndre Swift. Very excited about what he did

last week and got a chance to speak to him on Tuesday. He was on Fantasy Football Today on CBS Sports HQ. Unfortunately, you cannot find that interview. We were asked to take it down afterwards because DeAndre, unfortunately, where he sat, you could see the plays behind him. So the Lions respectfully asked us to take the video down. No way. Understandably so. So, yeah, that was fun. But he says he's healthy.

I know he showed up on the injury report on Wednesday. That's not the best thing because he didn't show up on the injury report all last week. And you remember what Dan Campbell said, that he was looking great, but he told me he feels great. And I'm hoping that the 51% snapshot that he had, most work that he's had since week one, over 100 total yards, scored a touchdown, great matchup against the Vikings. They've allowed five running backs in their last four games to go over 16 PPR points, six touchdowns from that group. And I think it's three of those guys, Ramondre Stevenson, Zonovan Knight, and Tony Pollard all over a hundred total yards. So it's, it's, it's been a run defense that's,

you know, somewhat leaky, or at least the defense to running backs that's somewhat leaky. And hopefully DeAndre Swift takes advantage of it. I think Jamal Williams will still get his touchdown. He's got 14 on the season on the ground.

Shockingly enough, his entire career prior to this year, he had 13 rushing touchdowns. So I think he'll score again. But I think DeAndre Swift will be the better of the two and have a big game.

So you're not, just to reiterate, you're not bothered by the fact that he's back on the injury report? I'm going to guess it's more of a maintenance thing because he, you know, unless he was lying to me, which obviously could be the case, you know, he said he feels great. He feels like the ankle and the shoulder are not a thing to worry about anymore. And he hopes to have more opportunities and touches like he had against the Jaguars. Okay. Don't lie to Jamie.

It's not cool. Then we'll take your interview down. Heath, who do you love this week? I'm going to say relative to everyone else, I think I love the Broncos, and that's not a very comfortable place to be. Including the quarterback? Not the quarterback. Everybody else.

Latavius Murray, Jerry Judy, Greg Dulcich. You made reference Adam that you know we we got excited about them what was it a month ago when they faced the Raiders and they scored 16 points but even in that game which they played from ahead most of the time and Russell Wilson only threw 31 passes Latavius Murray had 17 fantasy points Cortland Sutton had 13 fantasy points like it's still possible for Russell Wilson to continue to be terrible and these guys to be good. So Jerry Judy has been pretty fantastic this year when he's been a full time player. In the games that he's played, at least 80% of the snaps, he's averaging 14 and a half PPR fantasy points per game. Latavius Murray had four catches in Mike Boone's first game back.

So I think he's still got a role in the passing game. And the Chiefs are one of the worst in the NFL against pass catching running backs. And they're talking about using Greg Dulcich more as a wide receiver, more downfield. I think all three of those guys can be good starters this week against the Chiefs. And really, if you look at their schedule, it's possible they could be good starters for most of the rest of the season. Okay, that's definitely one of the games that we're talking about today. The other game I mentioned was the game against the Titans. It's coming off the Raiders coming off the Broncos by the Titans had

basically half their starting defense out and they were, and they were awful. I mean, they were just, that may have been the game where Jerry Judy got hurt though, after one play, I don't remember. Um,

but yeah, the Broncos have let us down before, but okay. It's bold. I mean, Judy seems actually like somebody I'm going to be telling everyone to start. Where do you guys have him? I can just imagine all the Jerry Judy questions pouring in on Sunday, and I'm going to be like,

Judy, start Judy, start Judy, and then I'm going to hate myself. But yeah, where do you have him ranked? 20th? I'm adjusting my rankings this morning, and he'll probably be close to 15. So I guess everyone's going to be on the same page there. Players to avoid. Heath, how are you feeling?

You want to go first here, or you want to throw it over to Jamie? Yeah, I've got a controversial one that I'm going to talk about on CBS Sports HQ at noon Eastern today. I'm pretty worried about Najee Harris. I hate the fact that Jalen Warren came back and Najee Harris' role in the passing game completely disappeared. He's basically right in that Isaiah Pacheco group of guys who might get you 20 carries, might not catch a pass.

The problem is he's playing a Ravens team in a game that has an over-under of 37. So a very likely 20-carry, 80 fantasy point game is possible for Najee Harris. I would like to not start him even with six teams on a buy. He's not a top 24 running back for me this week. And I would start Latavious Murray over Najee Harris. And just to keep it going. Yeah. Just to keep it going with the running backs you love. I mean, I know you guys are going to start Swift over him. Are you going to start Jamal Williams over Najee Harris? Yeah. Yeah, and you said 20 carries.

There have actually only been three running backs with more than 14 carries against the Ravens. One of them was Latavius Murray last week, and I do wonder if that stat's not really going to hold up if Lamar Jackson's not playing. They're just not going to be able to possess the ball as much, but the Ravens see the third fewest running back carries in the NFL per game. So it's a terrible matchup.

Their run defense has been unbelievable since they acquired Roquan Smith. It wasn't bad even before that. So, yeah, okay. Najee Harris, someone you should try to avoid for Latavius Murray and Jamal Williams. I will say, Jamal Williams, we're not going to talk about him today. That's on tomorrow's show. But Jamal Williams absolutely terrifies me because he had, what, 11 carries last week?

He has to score. He's not getting the 15-16 anymore if DeAndre Swift is actually back. I think it's a question of what you expect with the touchdown. Because at this point, you know, you never want to predict touchdowns, but he's pretty predictable at this point.

I think you give him six, and then you give him 20 yards on top of that, 30 yards on top of it. You know what's funny, Jamie? Guess the two teams that give up the most rushing touchdowns from the two-yard line are closer. The Vikings and the Lions.

Correct. Isn't that funny? They're facing each other. Well, that's the other thing. I mentioned the over-under in that Baltimore-Pittsburgh game. There's a 15-point difference between these two games in terms of over-under. One of them's 37, the other one's 52. Alright, Jamie, who are you avoiding?

What's that? I thought it was 53. Did it go down? I haven't checked it this morning, so it may be 53. Who are you avoiding, Jamie? I'll stick with the same position. Damian Pierce. It's a brutal matchup against the Cowboys, and I

know, obviously, same thing with Najee Harris. There's six teams on a bye. It's hard to bench these guys, so I get it. It's hard to get them out of your lineup, but we saw what this was like for Damian Pierce before facing the Browns the previous two games against two good run defenses of the Commanders and the Dolphins, and he stunk. And the Cowboys' run defense has been pretty awesome.

So if they're behind, which I expect they will be, and his role in the passing game is somewhat there, but you're talking maybe three catches at most, I'm nervous about him. So he hasn't scored a touchdown in what seems like forever. I think it's week four since the last time he found the end zone. And so lack of scoring, minimal work in the passing game, rushing yards could be at a minimum here.

So I think it's back to where we were two weeks ago where he could be in a bad spot. All right, so are you guys going to start Cam Akers over Najee Harris or Damian Pierce? I'm not there yet. But, you know, again, whenever we say things like this, I don't want to speak for Heath, I'll speak for myself, but, you know, because I'm we say things like this i don't want to speak for

heath i'll speak for myself but you know because i'm with heath on nazi as well that you can't bench these guys this week it's just it's virtually impossible you have to have just the the perfect type of roster construction to be able to get away from guys that are getting the ball 15 plus times but it's just you know like when i put him in in the sit section of start sit you know heath in in what he you know writes and and dave as Dave as well, you have to sort of understand. We're just telling you to lower your expectations because, again, if you're lucky enough to play, to have guys. I go back to Jeff Wilson over those two guys, for example, because I like the setup that he has against the Chargers. And it's risky because he got one carry last week and Raheem Mostert may be better.

But I just think, looking at it logically, there's a better chance for a guy against Chargers versus a guy against Cowboys or a guy against Ravens. And if the workload is similar, I think the guy with the better matchup

is the one that went out. And Zonovan Knight and Isaiah Pacheco and Rashad White. And Deontay Foreman. Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully, Foreman plays. He did not practice. But if not, I would say Chuba there's, there's, yep. Yeah. Hopefully Foreman plays.

He did not practice. He said, I would say to hover over those guys too. We have no idea what's going on with the Seattle backfield. We'll tell you that in a minute, uh, what's going to happen with the Seattle backfield, get you the news and notes in a moment.

Uh, but you got to follow all this stuff on the CBS sports app. All right. You listen and you watch the podcast. You got your best bets in now and it's time to follow the action. And the best way to do that is at the CBS Sports app. It features lightning fast live scoring for every pro and college football game.

All major sports, of course. You can track your favorite teams or just individual games that you've been interested in with the click of a button. And it's also the way I get my breaking news alerts. Watch live sports. Stay on top of all the latest updates. It is totally free, whether you have an iPhone or an Android,

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Okay, Trevor Lawrence has a foot injury. He says he's going to play. CJ Beathard is his backup. He says he's going to play. C.J. Beathard is his backup. He says he's planning on playing, I think. But, wow. Do you guys expect Trevor Lawrence to play at this point? Yes. Okay, fingers crossed.

Because I would love those 40 pass attempts that every quarterback gets against the Titans. Lamar Jackson's not going to play. Baker Mayfield could start tonight. John Walford has a neck injury. Mayfield is well versed in the playbook after two days. So well versed that he's willing to show it to HQ. Jimmy Garoppolo could return

in the very, it seems unlikely. Maybe the Super Bowl. Tuatunga Bailoa should be good for this week. And at running back, Michael Carter practiced in full, but Robert Sala said Zonovan Knight, Bam Knight, is not going anywhere.

You guys have Knight, I think, somewhere around 15th. We'll talk about that game shortly. Zach Taylor said that Joe Mixon is their starting running back. How about this? Samaje Pirine has scored 19.3 or more PPR fantasy points in three straight games, and Joe Mixon has done that twice all season

in essentially nine and a half games. Do you guys expect a typical workload for Joe Mixon this week, assuming he hasn't officially, I don't know if he's officially cleared the concussion protocol, but it looks like it's going to happen. He has not. It's the same path that you typically see. Practice in full, then you clear the

protocol by the end of the week i would guess you know hopefully by friday um i guess if you have to make a decision on you know cam makers potentially versus joe mixon maybe you play it safe but i i think it looks like mix is in a place just keep an eye on that but um i would anticipate a as close to a full workload as joe mix you know we seen this scenario before where P. Ryan's come on for him and then disappeared. I don't think it'll be the same scenario, but game flow will probably matter if they want P. Ryan on pass now. We know what happened in the postseason last year. They like P. Ryan a lot. I think you'll see P. Ryan enough that you can maybe use him as a flex, but I think Mixon's a locked in number one running back.

Okay. Josh Jacobs is going to play tonight, reportedly. Ken Walker and DJ Dallas mispracticed. Travis Homer was limited. Today's going to be a big day on the practice front for the Seahawks, and then Friday as well. But it's not a surprise that Walker and Dallas did not practice on Wednesday. Travis Homer, though, does get into the equation here.

Deontay Foreman mispracticed, but he plans to play at Seattle. Najee Harris mispracticed with an oblique injury. That's not a surprise. He expects to play. Mark Ingram is likely out for the season, so if you're banking on Kamara, that's one less impediment for him. DeAndre Swift back on the injury report, but as we talked about earlier, we're not too concerned about it. Brandon Cook's mispracticed as we talked about earlier, we're not too concerned about it. Brandon Cook's missed practice

as we look at the wide receivers. Mike Williams was limited, so he's trending in the right direction to play on Sunday night. Jalen Waddell was limited. Same thing for him. Rondell Moore was not seen at practice. They have a Monday night game.

You'll get an official report, a practice report today for the Cardinals. Cortland Sutton unlikely to play, and Kadarius Toney was back. He was limited in practice. Do you think Kadarius Toney is worth rostering right now? Yes and no. I think you can certainly do it if you have a roster spot you've been toying with

and not really important to you right now. But also, Mikko Hartman can return in Week 15, and so it may just be a one-week scenario and he may not even play. So it's not a must-add by any stretch. All right, tight end news. Darren Waller expects to play next week. David Njoku is going to play this week. And Hayden Hurst is likely out.

Teron Armstead, as we look at offensive lines, and basically the two offensive line notes I have right now are in that same game, the Chargers-Dolphins game. Teron Armstead, mispractice. And two linemen for the Chargers could be on their way back. Corey Lindsley progressing through the concussion protocol. He's their starting center. Right tackle, Trey Pipkins, is day-to-day. Defensively, the Giants pretty beat up. Leonard Williams, one of their best players. He has a neck issue. He did not practice, and they're still missing cornerback Adoree Jackson. Meanwhile, Philadelphia could get slot cornerback

Avante Maddox back. Dave was giving me the numbers yesterday that they've been struggling against the slot since Maddox started missing games he could play this week. Tennessee starting cornerback Christian Fulton, their best cornerback. He has a groin injury, and he did not practice.

Charger safety Derwin James is day-to-day. Buffalo defensive end Von Miller is out for the season, or Derwin James, is day-to-day. Buffalo defensive end, Von Miller is out for the season, or edge rusher, whatever you want to call him. Seattle safety, Ryan Neal missed practice. It's a pretty big deal for their defense. He's been beat up lately. It was good to see Arizona cornerback, Byron

Murphy, back on the practice field. Hopefully he can make it back for this game against the Patriots on Monday. And this is a big deal. All the things I said about the Raiders having a good run defense, because they really have, just in terms of per carry, two running backs, I think their seventh best, I said, they're going to be missing a starting defensive tackle, Andrew Billings, a starting linebacker, Jayon Brown,

and also for what it's worth, starting cornerback, Rakesh Singh. They're very beat up going into this game tonight against the Rams. And the Vikings have probably the flu. A few key defensive players missing practice with an illness. We'll keep an eye on that. Okay, you ready for one question for each game? Yeah.

Yes, sir. All right. Thank you for your patience getting through the injuries. Hopefully they are helpful for people. The Jets are at the Bills. Who's a better flex, Bam Knight or Gabe Davis? Bam. I would say Bam.

I mean, they probably will have the same amount of catches if things continue. And, you know, one guy is getting over 100 total yards on a consistent basis without scoring a touchdown. One guy is needing a touchdown to be good at this point. Jacksonville at Tennessee. Start or sit? Travis? By the way, just because you brought up the Vikings-Lions,

how they marry each other with the goal line, the only two teams yet to allow a touchdown to a tight end. Really? How about that? That's very interesting. Jacksonville at Tennessee. Start or sit? Travis ETN.

Got to start. Do you, though? You do. No question. Again, I think it's a better version of Najee and Pierce. I know. It's one of those things where I have him only in one league, unfortunately, and I will start him because I have also in that league Aaron Jones

and David Montgomery, so I don't even know who I'm starting with him. Oh, I think I have Bam Knight in that league. And I'm just not happy about it. Just one of those. There are so many of those throughout the year. You start a guy, you're nervous about it. Hopefully they throw it to him. The Titans see the most running back targets in the NFL.

And Trevor Lawrence just doesn't do that. Hopefully that changes this week. Kansas City at Denver. Jerry Judy or Juju Smith-Schuster? Judy. Jerry Judy or Bam Knight? Bam. Even in full PPR?

Again, the catch is a problem. Do you think that's going to be the case though with michael carter back i i think as as heath has illustrated um a few times that mike white is not just throwing on third downs to his running backs he's throwing on first and second down i don't mean it in that sense i don't think michael carter is going to be the third down back i think that's going to be ty johnson i think that he's going to play more on first and second down certainly certainly, than James Robinson did last week. Bam Knight's not going anywhere.

He's not. But does that mean that Michael Carter's going to have no role like James Robinson? I think Carter replaces Johnson. Oh, okay. That's interesting. The first half two weeks ago, they all played, and Ty Johnson was

the third down back. But that could certainly happen. All right, the Dolphins are at the Chargers. Can you trust a Dolphins running back in this game? Trust is a tough word. It's not that tough. T-R-U-S-T? I don't know.

Or big trust. I think I'll go back to Wilson as a number two running back. It's just a hope and a prayer, though. There's no – and I've got Mostert as a high-end flex as well. One of those guys could be a top 15 running back, but who knows. I couldn't find anything about why Wilson only got one carry. He had a bad drop. I don't know if he was punished for that,

but I couldn't, I was looking, I couldn't find a single thing. I don't know if we have any insight to that at all, but it was surprising and crappy. I gave you my theory on Sunday night. I don't remember. You're just back in San Francisco and decided to do what they did in the old days with the running backs.

That's probably what it was, yeah. Cleveland at Cincinnati. How much faith do you have in the Browns passing game against what's been a very good pass defense? Not much. I'm starting Amari Cooper and it feels dumb. But other than that, none. I'm starting Judy over Cooper

just to tie in the guy we've been talking about. I might make that move too. I feel better about it. Okay. He is on the road, of course. A true road game. But he's in the same state. Ooh, that's true.

Is it drivable? Can he sleep at home and take the drive? We tried that last week, though. He's playing back in his old state. But this is one of two places they take a bus to, right? They take a bus to Detroit. They take a bus to Cincinnati. I guess.

I like the bus theory. You know, the last two road games, he has been shadowed by a good cornerback. I went and I watched all of his routes this morning from the game last week against the Texans. And Steven Nelson is a guy nobody really knows about or talks about. But Steven Nelson's having a very good year,

at least according to PFF rankings, at cornerback for the Texans. And he lined up opposite Amari Cooper. I'm pretty sure every single snap that Cooper was not in the slot. Um, and he did a good job against him to two road games ago. I'm not counting the bills games neutral site, but two road games ago was a Xavier and Howard following around. I don't think that the Bengals really have that guy. I don't think they're going to put Eli Apple on him. So, you know, shadow him. And I don't think that'd be a bad thing if they did. So with Awuzie out, you know, just wanted to bring that up.

If you're wondering what the hell happened to Amari Cooper, he got shadowed by Steven Nelson. Three road games ago, he got shadowed by Xavier Howard. Baltimore at Pittsburgh, is Mark Andrews the only must-start player in this game? Yep. By definition of liking, yes. Right.

All right, we're going to take a break. When we come back, Jetson. No, Friar Muth. You've got to start Friar Muth. Oh, yeah. Why did I forget about him? I'm sorry. Why did I forget about him?

What's the last game we're going to talk about? So let me give you some Pat Friar Muth stats here. I'll let Heath talk about touchdown let me give you some some pat fryer muth stats here i'll let heath talk about touchdown regression this is a fun this is an interesting conversation uh pat fryer muth has i think the fifth most targets and the fourth most yards among tight ends okay i i simply cannot find the stat, but he has one touchdown. Yes. My favorite is that he has three fewer targets than last year. 100 more yards than last

year. And six fewer touchdowns. When you put that in perspective and you look at Kenny Pickett, who's not throwing touchdowns, and the fact that Pat Frymuth only has six red zone and four green zone targets this year. How does that all come together when projecting touchdowns for Frymuth? I would expect, based on his usage and Kenny Pickett's touchdowns, that he would have three or four this year.

He has what, one? He has one. All right. I would have expected last year that he would have had four four this year he is what one he has one all right i would have expected last year that he would he had four would have had four or five yeah he had seven all right we're gonna take a break jets of bills when we come back hopefully it's a good one we'll be right back on fantasy football today did you know that across ontario utility damage happens 19 times a day that's over 4222 incidents a year don't let your next dig be one that causes costly delays or Dirt Report. The odds makers don't think this one's going to be a good one.

Last I checked, it was about 10 points. Let's see. Bills are 9.5-point favorites against the Jets. The Jets beat them a few weeks ago, so that's interesting. Jets put up certainly a big fight last week at the Vikings. Anyway, stat of the game. The Jets have allowed 14.2 or more PPR fantasy points to a running back in four of their last five games.

The only exception was the Bills. Jamie, do you like the Bills running back in this game? How do you see it working out between Cook and Singletary? I don't love either one. I think both are flexes. I would still lean towards Singletary? I don't love either one. I think both are flexes. I would still lean towards Singletary because of just the one game sample size that James Cook was better than him.

I don't want to rush to the conclusion that all of a sudden they're switching their philosophy on who's going to be the lead guy. But I think he's noted this on HQ, maybe it was Monday, that they certainly have proven in the past with Sean McDermott that they've not been afraid to go out of nowhere to Zach Moss over Devin Singletary on a whim. So they could go to James Cook as the lead guy,

but I have them basically back to back. They're both in my top 30. I would still start Pierce and Harris over both. I would not be surprised, though, if James Cook is better than either one and better than Singletary if he continues to have this role in the pass game. If he's getting five, six catches a week, he only had six last week for 41 yards, then that's going to be hard to overlook. But I still think Singletary should get the slight edge just based on what he's done all season and still being the preferred option in terms of goal-line opportunities. And I think in terms of their goal line opportunities.

And I think in terms of the production they've allowed to running back, it's worth saying it was Ramondre Stephenson twice, David Montgomery, and Dalvin Cook. There were no slouches at running back, but they allowed to score 14 PPR fantasy points or more. Yeah, and Stephenson had seven catches in one game, six catches in the other. Montgomery had just a solid game all around,

but he had three catches for 34 yards. And he was without Khalil Herbert in that game. He was. Now, I think, you know, I don't know if, I'm sorry if you mentioned this, James Cook has 11 targets in his last two games, and Devin Singletary does not have more than two, I think, in four or five straight games.

So if you have James Cook, hopefully that trend can continue where he's getting catches. Not necessarily the third down back, but he's getting a lot more targets than Singletary. Najee or Cook? Rank Najee with these guys. You did that, didn't you? Yeah.

Yeah, you did. Sorry. I was looking up that stat. What was the answer? How did you rank Najee with those guys? Najee, Singletary, Cook. Same. Okay. I guess we'll stick with the Bills. Any concerns about Josh Allen? Are you starting him without question? I don't know.

I think Tyler Huntley might be a little bit better. Maybe there's a chance for Brock Purdy. But, you know, Josh Allen has had some good moments this year, so probably stick with him. Well, I guess he had the two rushing 86 yards and two rushing touchdowns against the Jets, but the Jets have allowed four touchdown passes in their last nine games. You know what?

Josh Allen's a little bit lower than he usually is. He's about fifth. Well, he's fourth for Jamie, third for Heath, fifth for Dave, which is low for Josh Allen. Okay. Stefan Diggs is a start. Let's talk about Gabe Davis and Isaiah McKenzie. Heath, you are the high guy, barely, on Gabe Davis. You have him 23rd

in PPR. He's closer to 26th for Jamie and Dave. Yeah. I said this, I think it was like a month ago, that I'm just basically going to rank Gabe Davis as a borderline number two, high-end number three wide receiver every week because he's like the

slot machine. He's going to get six, five to seven targets probably, and they might go for 110 yards and two touchdowns, and they might go for 15 yards and no touchdowns, and they might go for 15 yards and no touchdowns. Yeah. It's pretty frustrating. You have to feel somewhat good about that call, Heath.

I mean, you had him as a bust this season. Yeah. Well, I can't believe he has only one game with more than seven targets. You know, that's just crazy. Well, but I don't think it's crazy based on what we were hoping he would become this year it's not crazy based on what he was last year like even when he had his good stretch it was he scored a bunch of touchdowns but it was mostly on the six or seven targets yeah but even isaiah mckenzie has two games with more than seven targets you know i think that

mckenzie's role though like dave davis you've talked about this a lot. The guy has an ADOT. It's just almost entirely down the field. It's hard to be a consistent high target earner. Isaiah McKenzie is getting targets that are three yards from the line of scrimmage. Okay, so you guys are definitely starting Jerry Judy over Gabe Davis. Let's see. Would you start? You wouldn't start like Deontay Johnson, who catches four or five balls every game.

You wouldn't start him over Davis. No, I think in this case, as Heath alluded to, you play the upside card here. You're hoping for the big game. You're hoping for more than just the touchdown catch that he had last week. You're hoping for what we expected Gabe Davis to be.

I'm a little bit lower. I think I'm just going to keep him in the high-end three receiver range, but similar to Heath, you know, like you're ranking him in a certain spot with the hope of what he can become. I think anybody who's been rostering Gabe Davis at this point understands that he's probably going to let you down more so than deliver. But when he does deliver, he's winning you your week, you know, so that that's the type of player he is. There's probably five guys I have ranked in that range that I have a hard time with him. And two guys I have ahead in that range that I have a hard time with him. Two guys I have ahead of him still are Marquise Brown and Mike Evans,

but I don't feel good about them either. The guys that I have behind him, Juju, Debo, Samuel, DJ Moore, I kind of want to move those guys ahead of him. Okay. Are you starting Isaiah McKenzie? Anybody interested in McKenzie? I am not. No. Okay. Dawson starting Isaiah McKenzie? Anybody interested in McKenzie? No.

Okay. Dawson Knox? No? No. Knox or Conklin? They're both in very bad spots. I'll take the guy with Josh Allen, slightly ahead of the guy with Mike White. Okay. Dawson Knox has a combined 17 yards on three targets in his last two games, but in the two games before that, he had 127 yards. He had 13 targets, so you never know. All right, going over to the Jets, starter Mike White. Let me ask you this more broadly.

You think the Jets' offense does well in this game? No. I think that there will be good fantasy production from a few guys. I don't think they score a bunch of points. Like you mentioned the spread of 9.5, the over-under 43.5. That means they've got an implied point total of basically 17. I might go slightly over that, but it'd be because of garbage time in the fourth quarter

is what you're hoping for, I think. See, I think they keep the game close. I mean, the Jets' defense has been fantastic. The Bills' offense has been struggling. I think Vegas has the number pretty close to accurate, you know, low 40s. I would anticipate a similar game from mike white that you got last week you know something over 300 yards which will help garrett wilson from a

yardage perspective from a catch perspective somebody else could be conklin might be surprised because the bills are so good against tight ends but it could be cory davis maybe elijah more hopefully it's the running backs because i think he's going to be under a lot of pressure so it's going to be probably zonovan knight and maybe one of the other two guys contributing in that regard but i think this is going to be a turnover game for Mike White because the Bills are going to put him in some tough spots and some, you know, down and distance situations that are not comfortable for him. And so this could feel like a 300, one and two type of game for for White. Remember, he had four picks it's, it's a very scary thing, you know, for the Mike White truthers that first game last year. Great.

Second game looking good, but got hurt. Third game bills turn into a pumpkin. First game this year. It looked great. Second game, not perfect, but you know, over 350 yards and then third game bills, you know, they may, they may, you know, make him uncomfortable again. I'd start like he's not, I'd start Tyler Huntley over him. Okay. You know, there's actually a pretty big injury in this game.

I'd start Brock Purdy over Mike White, too. If you watched the Bills game last week, my personal thought was they looked amazing except for one spot, left tackle. They had a hobbled second-string left tackle who couldn't do anything and really held them back. Deion Dawkins is their starting left tackle. He was limited in practice yesterday.

So, I mean, if he plays, if they're better at left tackle, you know, they crushed the Patriots. They really looked—this is the possibility of them just running away with the division now. They just—they smashed the Patriots last week. They—I guess the Dolphins, you know, we'll see what happens, but the Armstead injury is big. Anyway, this is a chance for them to assert themselves. And we'll see. I think the Dawkins injury

is a big deal. See if they're good at left tackle, but it's good that he was limited in practice yesterday, hopefully on his way back. All right, so that's the thing. I know we're going to start Garrett Wilson.

He's a must-start guy. He's top 15 for everyone. He's eighth for Heath. But Bam Knight, you know, you could see GameStrip going really bad for him unless you just think that he's just going to catch enough passes where it won't matter.

Yeah. That's it? Yeah. Okay. All right, so let me talk about Bam Knight here. Let's do Bam Knight or... Joe Mixon. Mixon. Mixon.

Mixon. Zeke. Knight. Zeke. James Conner. Against the Patriots. Conner. Conner.

Saquon Barkley. Barkley. Barkley. All right. Okay, I think that's it for this game. No Corey Davis, right? No. Deep league third option.

All right, Jacksonville is at Tennessee. Stat of the game. A running back has scored 10.4 or more PPR fantasy points against Tennessee in seven straight games. That's a nice, you know, decent four. Nobody has scored, oh, just Piran. Piran's the only one who scored more than 15.5 in those seven games. But so much of that is receiving.

You look at those last seven games against the Titans, only two running backs have more than 40 rushing yards. None had 60 rushing yards. Can they throw the ball to Travis Etienne, please? Trevor Lawrence is ninth in the NFL in pass attempts, but 17th in pass attempts to his running backs. I mentioned earlier the Titans see the most running back targets per game in the NFL.

I'll flip it around. Honestly, you look at the Jaguars, and they're not that bad against the run. They're bad against running backs because they give up a ton of receiving production, But I guess the general question here is, Heath, I'll throw it to you. How much faith do you have in these two running backs who are struggling in different ways going into this game? I'm pretty much starting both of them without thinking twice about it. There have been, if you take out the game where he only played five snaps, Travis Etienne

has at least three targets in four of his last five games. One of those games he has five targets. He hasn't done very much with them has been the problem. He's got a game with three catches for six yards and three catches for 12 yards. I would anticipate against the Titans he'd be more successful on his three or four catches that he gets in this game, and I would think there'd be more passes to him because of the way the Titans play defense. And Henry, the bad thing will be if he struggles again this week and you just have no

choice but to start him again next week because it's an even better matchup. But I'm not giving much consideration to sitting either one of these guys. Okay. I won't belabor the point then. Which quarterback you like better jamie lawrence or tannahill lawrence assuming he's gets in some some significant practice you know hopefully you know limited by friday if he doesn't practice at all but still says he's going to play and trailing burks does play then i might make it a little bit closer but i mean lawrence has much more upside you know just given the fact of how he's performed. The fact that he was able to come back

and still get you 18 points last week I think speaks to where he's at right now. He's playing well enough. Zay Jones was a disaster last week and didn't help him out at all. I think that Lawrence is in a good groove right now. He's playing well. Forget about his fantasy production.

He's playing well. If he's healthy, I think he'll take advantage of the secondary. Okay. I didn't mention Traylon Burks, I think, during the injury segment, but he did not practice on Wednesday. He's in the concussion protocol. Tannehill or Mike White?

Tannehill. I would go Mike White. I mean, this matchup is so good. The Jaguars have, I think it's like 22 or more points to a quarterback in five of their last six games. They have been just awful against the pass.

And the Titans give up the most pass attempts. They see the most pass attempts in the NFL by like three more than second most team, which is Minnesota. So hopefully we can get the wide receivers and the quarterbacks going in this game. That brings us to Christian Kirk and Zay Jones. I'm assuming Kirk is a slam dunk.

Yes, not as much as Beathard starts, but obviously if Lawrence is fine, I think Kirk's got number one wide receiver. Not the top receiver, but top 12. What about Zay Jones? 63% rostered heath are you

projecting a bounce back for zay jones yeah i think um he will be right in that cory davis range i think i have them back to back as low end number three wide receivers so not quite as high as we had zay jones ranked last week but i still like that's too it was awful last week but he still had seven targets. I still think you project eight to nine targets in this game for him because they're going to throw even more passes against the Titans.

And most of the time this season, that's translated into five for 60 or six for 70 or something like that. I just want to go back, backtrack a little bit to Trevor Lawrence because I probably should have done some Trevor Lawrence ors. Would you start Trevor Lawrence or Derek Carr tonight?

Got to start Carr, I think. Got to start Carr. Oh, yeah, right, because of the injury. Okay, sorry. Trevor Lawrence or Kirk Cousins? I love Cousins this week. I'm going with Cousins. I don't know.

I'm not going to say I love him, but I'll go with Cousins. You want my favorite Cousins. I don't know. I'm not going to say I love him, but I'll go with Cousins. You want my favorite Cousins stat? Yeah. So, Kirk Cousins, his last five trips to Detroit, he has passed for 1,675 yards. Wow. Let me make sure I got it right here. Sorry, 1,637 yards.

15 total touchdowns, no interceptions. Oh, my gosh. It's a Lions defense that's a lot better than it's been in a long time, though. 100%. Totally agree. That's nothing to say that is predicting any future stats for him. That's crazy. But it's just what he's done in the past.

That's a great stat. Trevor Lawrence, last one, or Tom Brady at the Niners? Lawrence. Lawrence. Lawrence. Uh, Lawrence. Okay. Because you'll know by then. Tannehill or Brady? Uh, Tannehill.

Brady for me. All right, what else we got in this game? Henry. Yeah, I mean, oh, we'll get the tight ends. We'll get the tight ends in a second. I mean, in case anyone's interested, Jacksonville, they give up just under four yards per carry to running backs. They've held Damian Pierce, Deion Jackson,

Latavius Murray, Josh Jacobs, Gus Edwards, and Jamal Williams to under four yards per carry. That's all within their last seven games. When you've got a guy like Henry who's not running the ball very well right now, I wonder if that matters to you at all. Apparently it does not. He's top six in both formats. If

Traylon Burks plays, are you starting him? I would start him as certainly a number three receiver in three receiver leagues. I think you just have to anticipate what the concussion situation is right now. He's not playing. So I think if you're talking about Mac Hollins, maybe Van Jefferson,

those would be the only, I think, auxiliary parts to this game tonight. Matt Collins I would definitely play. I'd wait it out if Van Jefferson was my other option. Heath, do you like Evan Ingram this week? No, but I think he's really close to my top 12. He's tied in 12 or 13. You hope he scores a touchdown.

If Mike Williams plays, Evan Ingram or Gerald Everett? Ingram. Yeah, for sure. And what about on the other side? Chig Okonkwo, 19% rostered. Heath, I think I saw a tweet that his route participation or something or his target share went way up after the Traylon Burks injury. Season high, 58% of the snaps.

They've used him more like a wide receiver, more like the Falcons used Kyle Pitts last year, just send him downfield. He's averaging 18 yards per catch and had a season high in snaps, a season high in catches, season high in yards. He has five targets in back-to-back games. He's a desperation dart throw, but I kind of like him a little bit.

Definitely a deep dynasty stash. That's Chig Okonkwo. On CBS, it's like Chigozium Okonkwo. O-K-O-N-K-W-O. For sure. Chig is what we're going to call him. He was, I believe, the fastest tight end at the comic. He also had a season high in routes run last week.

He ran 20 routes, so it's positive. It's in the right direction. Jacksonville, 20th against opposing tight ends, and they have allowed four touchdowns to tight ends, two of them to Chiefs tight ends this season. Okay, if Trevor Lawrence is out, where do you think you'd rank the Titans DST? If it's C.J. Beathard? Yeah. Top five. Yep. out, where do you think you'd rank the Titans DST?

If it's C.J. Beathard? Yeah. Top five. Yep. Alright, Kansas City's at Denver. They're already top ten for me with Lawrence. Did you guys realize I'm sure the answer is yes, but I had no freaking idea that on Christmas weekend, almost all of the games

are on Saturday? Well, some of us work on Sunday. I work on Sunday, too. I had no idea. I had no clue until Schaefer told me yesterday, because we're probably going to move the Sunday morning live stream to Saturday morning. And you know, it's funny.

It's like we're doing Christmas on Christmas Eve this year, and I was so happy. I was like, yes! I don't have to miss football Sunday. And then I found out that all the games are on Saturday basically, except for three. So be prepared for that, people. It's a Christmas Eve special football.

And Schaefer and I go head-to-head, Giants-Vikings. Wouldn't it be Christmas Eve day? What do you mean? Like, Eve is the night, right? No. Christmas Eve is the night, right? No. Christmas Eve is just the day before Christmas. Is it the day before or the night before?

The day before. I mean, I'm obviously the wrong person to ask, so I don't know. Yeah, it's the day before Christmas. That's what Eve means. Like, Adam and Eve. Kansas City at Denver. All right.

Denver's defense certainly bounced back last week, especially their pass rush they had a terrible pass rush for the first three games without Bradley Chubb, but last week they had four sacks, the fifth highest pressure rate at the Ravens I don't really have a great

stat for this one Do the Chiefs do whatever they want, Heath? Or are they limited by the Broncos' defense in any way? I would expect they'll be maybe just a little bit limited early in the game, and then they'll figure it out and do whatever they want. This one, they have a very similar line

to Bill's Jets, which sounds strange, really, except for the Bills are at home and the Chiefs are on the road. Yeah, I think they'll probably put up 27 points. I have to clarify that I was joking about the Adam and Eve thing. I know that it has nothing to do with Christmas Eve.

Okay, sorry. What did you say, 24 points? Is that what you said? 27. 27 points for the Chiefs. All right, Pacheco or Latavius Murray, guys? Who's your favorite running back in this game? I like Pacheco just because I think they're going to win the game

and win it easily. So I think he's going to have another opportunity to score, but it would not be surprising if Murray is better because of his catches. I'm pretty sure, yeah, Pacheco and non-Latavius in full PPR. In half PPR, I will go Latavius. Pacheco, by the way, huge development. He had three catches in his first ten games. He has three catches in his last two games.

So that's cool. That is cool. Jarek McKinnon or Najee Harris? Najee. Najee Harris? Najee. Najee, right? Najee or Jarek McKinnon? Yeah, you can't trust McKinnon, right? No.

Yeah. All right. Okay. Juju. Jamie, starters to Juju Smith-Schuster. Starting three or zero leagues. Getting a little nervous just because of what's happened to him the last month. Obviously, some of it is injury-related, clearly, with the concussion missing a game.

But the last two weeks, you know, he's getting banged up. He's not getting as involved as we would like. You know, he made mention of this on HQ, which I, you know, agree you have to factor it in that Mahomes only threw 20 passes in that game or 27 passes in that game last week against the Bengals. So he may throw more. I would assume he throws more, but he may not have to throw more. But this is tough secondary, you know, so it's not like it's going to be a cakewalk for him.

The one thing that's been constant for the Broncos has been their pass defense. So I think Juju is somebody that you kind of start with some trepidation. The only thing I have him in, you know, because of buys, I'm starting him, but I don't love it. Okay, do you like Pacheco or Juju more? I give a slight lean to Pacheco.

Yep. Okay. Even a PBR. Yeah. Russell Wilson, as much as... I kind of feel, just not to derail this, but I feel kind of like Pacheco, like I do with Gabe Davis.

There's a big game waiting to happen, but he's tied to a great quarterback, but the production lately has been very frustrating. That's interesting. That's an interesting comparison because Pacheco, I feel like at this point, you know what you're getting.

You're going to get a good amount of carries. He has four straight games with 14 or more carries, two straight games with a rushing touchdown. Did I say Pacheco and Gabe Davis? Yep. Oh, you meant Juju? Juju and Gabe Davis. Ah, okay.

I followed that. Okay. It's a good thing I didn't pretend to agree with the comparison. Then I would have felt really stupid if you said... I meant Juju and Gabe Davis. Okay.

No, Pacheco I feel good about. Yeah, I hope you get a blowout win. In the five games they've won by 10 or more points, the running backs have had 23, 32, 16, 17, and 26 carries. So that's three of five blowout wins with 23 or more carries for Kansas City running backs. Start Kelsey and sit Russell Wilson.

Latavius Murray is, you guys like him better than Dave. Dave has him 30th. You guys have him 21st for Jamie, 16th for Heath. I don't know. Who's in that range? Let's see. Let's take a look at the old rankings. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm surprised he's low on them because I had to do our notes for HQ and Dave has Murray as a sit. I'm always the last to put my guys in. I would have used Murray as a set, but he got him in first. So I'm going to make Keith and Dave argue about Latavius Murray. You would have,

wait, you would use them as a starter or a set start start. You said set. Okay. Yeah. What did I say? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. It's one of those weeks. You should have seen how I butchered name that player yesterday. I would have liked that. I, yeah, I think, you know, you've seen two of thechered and named that player yesterday. Ooh, I would have liked that. Yeah, I think you've seen two of the last three games, 21 total touches. He's four catches in those two games.

I think this is a game where they're chasing points. He's going to be involved in the passing game, no quote and sudden. There's a lot to like about Latavius Murray this week. And you say this all the time, what the Chiefs give up to running backs in the passing game. He should be heavily involved from Russell Wilson as he's running for his life. They've been a lot better in the passing game, I think.

Well, not last week. Six catches at 49 yards to P. Ryan. But they held Eckler to two catches for 17 yards. McCaffrey, two for 24. But yeah, they do give up a ton in the passing game. All right. Latavius Murray or Miles Sanders at the Giants? Sanders. I mean, this could be the Giants? Sanders.

I mean, this could be a touchdown game for Sanders. Oh, shut up, Jamie. Did you mix up the names and mean to say Barkley? No. It could be a two-touchdown game for Barkley. No, it's going to be a three-touchdown game for Sanders. I can't believe I didn't... Oh, no, it's

Austin Scott week. Oh, shoot. Oh, no, you're right about that. That game opened at five and a half. I can't believe I didn't. Oh, no, it's Austin Scott week. Oh, shoot. Oh, no, you're right about that. That game opened at five and a half. I can't believe, like, that's only a seven-point spread. It shocks me. All right. Oh, a Dolphins running back or Latavius? Latavius.

All right. We like Jerry Judy quite a bit. He's going to be top 20. Start him. Sutton's unlikely to play. Greg Dulcich or Pat Frymuth? Frymuth.

Frymuth. Okay, but is Dulcich in that group of starts, like group of, you know, what's the name of the group, Heath? No, he's not in the circle of trust. He is in the circle of trust he is in the uh the triangle of consideration no he's the very top of the triangle he's the first guy that's not in that you just start him and don't think about it do you like him better than george kittle this week i do yeah kittle was uh 22nd in

my projections because of what the last month has looked like. I just moved him up to eighth because his name's George Kittle and it's tight end. Dolchus right now is behind Everett for me, but if Williams plays, he'll move up clearly. I hope what we got last week and the fact that the Broncos are saying he's going to play more of a wide receiver role without Sutton there in a game

again, chasing points, just feels like it's a natural setup for Dolchus to have a good game. Okay, guys, we're going to take a break. When we come back, we got the Dolphins and the Chargers a Sunday night special. Sure, why not? We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. Dolphins,

Chargers, who wins? Dolphins. I mean, I think it's a must-win game for both teams. Will there be more Dolphins fans or Chargers fans there? I mean, based on that stadium, I would assume Dolphins fans, but who knows? I'm going to lean to the Chargers.

Okay. The Chargers, you know, you're like, they're good, but they're not great. Well, last year they were fifth in points per game, and they were fourth in red zone touchdown rate. This year they're 14th in points per game. They are 25th in red zone touchdown rates. And they get in the red zone, they're not scoring a lot of touchdowns,

and that is hurting them. I saw this stat in the Miami Herald. The Chargers are allowing 5.43 rushing yards per attempt, which is currently the worst single season mark for any team in the Super Bowl era. Crazy. And they're actually even worse than that when you just look at running backs,

something like 5.6 yards per carry to running backs. But Jamie, it's a contrast of styles. And a lot of times teams just don't throw on the Chargers, you know, and that's why they, wide receivers aren't really And a lot of times, teams just don't throw on the Chargers. And that's why wide receivers aren't really having a lot of big games against the Chargers because the targets are low. The Dolphins,

third fewest running back carries in the NFL. The Chargers, the sixth most running back carries per game against them. Five of the last seven quarterbacks have thrown 30 or fewer passes against the Chargers. So it's interesting.

What kind of game plan do you think the Dolphins have here? Do we get enough running carries, basically, for these backs? I think you do. I think what we saw from the Dolphins following the Jeff Wilson trade, that I forget which game it was. He had 17 carries before the Houston game. It seemed as if they were trying to get their ground game going.

Which game? Was it the Browns? May have been. I think they slaughtered them, didn't they? Well, that's what I was looking at. They played the two teams in the last three games that are similar running back matchups, the Browns and the Texans.

They ran for 195 yards against the Browns and 66 against the Texans. Right, but that was the game where Texans. They ran for 195 yards against the Browns and 66 against the Texans. Right. But that was the game where Wilson had the calf cramp or whatever, you know, and didn't finish the game or it seemed like he left the game. Oh, they all left the game, right? Yeah. He did leave the game and then Tua left the game in the third quarter. Yeah, but Wilson came back at the end though, or at some point he came back. He definitely left the game. Yes. And Mostert did not play in that game. The Browns game, Moster moster did play and so that's why i think you know you mentioned he most of the high influx i totally agree you know i i think you can make an argument

that both guys can be starting this week you know based on how they'll probably be used you have tackle issues so you know run blocking versus pass blocking obviously your tackles are involved in run blocking but you know it's easier to sort of know, run up the middle on the chargers and how their defense has looked. You have a quarterback that is a little bit gimpy with an ankle injury, you know, a receiver who's gimpy with a leg injury and Jalen Waddle. And so it makes a lot of sense to take some pressure off of everything and run the ball. And so I think that that's the hope for Jeff Wilson. It's the hope for Raheem Mostert. Again, I would not be surprised if Mostert is better, but Wilson's just been better

of the two since the trade. So that's why I'd give him the slight edge, but I think both guys are in play. I think both guys, you should at least consider as flexes. And there's a, there's a chance for some big games here for both of them. Not that you're benching Tyree killer, you're benching Jalen Waddle because there's too much potential for those guys or Tua. But I do think that Mike McDaniel is smart enough to realize this is a team that you run against and hopefully they do.

And the thing is the Dolphins, they are 10th in pass attempts per game. They're not. They're not the Chargers. The Chargers are second behind the Bucs. Chargers throw almost 43 times per game. The Dolphins are about 36 times per game. But the Dolphins are second in passing yards. They don't have to throw

that much to be very efficient to put up yards. They are arguably the most efficient passing offense in football, but things change when they don't have their left tackle. Okay, so Tyreek Hill's a no-brainer. Would you start Jerry Judy or Jalen Waddell?

Waddell. They're close. Waddle right now. If he's given through practice the rest of the week. Now, to be fair, Judy's also given through practice. He had an ankle injury that he was limited with.

So, you know, Waddle was struggling last week as well against the 49ers, but I think Waddle just has more upside. Okay, so then Tua, yeah, like full faith in him or what?

And then what about Herbert? Like Tua or Herbert, and do you have faith in him or what? And then what about Herbert? Like Tua or Herbert? And do you have faith in these guys? More faith in Tua than Herbert, but that might change if Williams does get in a full practice and looks like he's good to go. And then he has his full complement of weapons. And Tua's still dealing with this ankle injury.

So they're very close. I think you can make an argument for both sides. I just think Tua's shown you enough this season that he's been the better of the two and I would lean toward him. And I'm not considering sitting either one, right? They're both just no, no doubt about it.

Starters for me. The only thing that I would look at is, um, the, if you have Gino Smith, one of those guys, I think Gino's in a, in a little bit of a better spot against the Panthers where they could struggle to run,

and he's thrown the ball maybe 40 times. And then potentially, I don't think a lot of people would do this, and I get it, but Kirk Cousins, just because of what this matchup is and the projected score. What about Goff? Same thing.

You can make a case for Goff, too, over them. Okay. Yeah, Herbert, I mean, it's just really frustrating with Herbert. It's just he's not throwing the touchdowns. He's got the fifth most, the fourth most attempts in the green zone and the 11th most touchdowns in that range. He has six games this year, Herbert, with zero or one touchdown pass. He had five such games last season in a full season. So, you know, they're still throwing a ton. He's just not delivering with the touchdowns. After what you see right now, and the NFL draft is tomorrow, and both guys are available as they were oh so many years ago, you're the Miami Dolphins. Who do you take?

Burrow. I mean – Smart. Herbert. Not even a question. Not even a question. And, you know i because here's where i was going with that um if you listened i know you guys didn't but if you listen to uh

monday's beyond the box score episode we did a herbert versus burrow kind of breakdown and i did a twitter poll in herbert versus burrow yeah herbert versus burrow what did i say you said yeah but we did we did herbert versus burrow, but we're not talking Burrow. We did Herbert versus Burrow. In July, I did a Twitter poll basically asking people who they wanted as their NFL quarterback. 75% of people said Herbert. I did a poll again on Sunday

or Monday. 75% of people said Burrow. We were still a little unsure. I wanted to say Herbert would be my favorite, but I don't know. Maybe underestimating Burrow a little bit, over wanted to say Herbert would be my favorite, but I don't know. Maybe underestimating Burrow a little bit, overestimating Herbert. But I would take Herbert over, too.

And Heath said yes. Jamie, how about you? I would as well because, I mean, you know, the size is hard to get by and the arm strength. But I think, you know, it's hard to knock Tua continually. And that's all we've done is knock to a continually you know it's certainly not this season by comparison to previous years um our our buddy our our good friend our former co-worker andrew bomber um who uh does social media for the hard rock the the casino in in miami the sports book um he said he was looking for quote, a hit piece to do a hit piece on people who, um, uh, were, were negative toward Tua.

He found a clip of me and Pete, uh, Prisco from 2020 where Tua was about to make his first start. And it was, uh, who would you rather have right now, Tua or Herbert? And we both said Herbert. Um, but it wasn't like being negative about to it, but it was just funny. Like that, that, you know,

it's a, it's a big conversation. Yeah. I mean, I'll give you a controversial take. I think too, as a bit of a system quarterback, obviously he's good,

but he's had success. Yeah. I mean, like he's got Waddle and, and Hill making a ton of plays for him. And, and I think Mike McDaniel looks like he's just absolutely brilliant. This is all from afar, Heath.

I could be wrong, but you put Herbert in that system. I think he owns the NFL. I don't want this to happen because I live in South Florida and I have many friends who are diehard Dolphins fans. And this has been the happiest couple of months of the time that I've lived in South Florida for them. They are just so geeked. But if the

Dolphins lose this game, I'm not sure they're going to make the playoffs. I guess I haven't really looked at that. There'll be one game ahead of the Chargers, who are not currently in the playoffs, without the tiebreaker against the Chargers. And they play at Buffalo next week. Then they play the Packers. Then they play at New England. Then they play the Jets.

Are the Jets currently in the playoffs, though? Because I think the Jets are going to fade. I haven't seen their schedule, but I think they're going to fade. It's going to come down to, does the Raiders or the Browns get into the race and make it uncomfortable for them? You've got to worry about the Ravens now just because of the quarterback situation. So they could be in trouble. Jets could be in trouble.

Patriots are certainly in trouble. Chargers are clearly not solidified. But yes, they would have a stronger footing if they win this game. So there's a lot at play here for these teams. Are you considering the Dolphins are going to lose to the Patriots, Heath? At New England?

Yeah, they're going to crush the Patriots. I wouldn't bet on that at all. Just for your reference, we'll move on. The Jets, after they play the Bills this week, play the Lions, Jacksonville, Seattle, and Miami. That's one in four. One in three. I'm serious.

The Lions are better than them. Seattle's meh. I don't know. I don't know why you would say the Lions are better than them. The Lions are good. The Lions are favored against the Vikings. The Lions are good. They're solid. Lions have also proven that they're a little tough on the road, though. Right.

And that's games in New York. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You know my Lions theory, by the way? What? What they should do? The Lions should go get Brady this offseason.

Yeah, that'd be fun. Heath, let's talk about the Chargers wide receivers. We're definitely starting Eckler. Talked about Herbert. All right. Break down the Chargers wide receivers. I'm starting Keenan Allen. I don't really want to start the rest of the wide receivers.

Josh Palmer's a number three. If Mike Williams plays, he'll be a high-end number three right in the Gabe Davis, Mike Evans range, probably right behind those guys. That's where I'm at. I'm not really considering DeAndre Carter. So wait, Mike Williams would be where? 26-ish at wide receiver.mer's currently i think 32 33 jamie uh palmer is 26 right now without williams um i think williams would be in that same range because he's probably the most likely to see xavian howard if he's playing you know so that's

not going to be easy for him plus not 100 100%. So I think Heath is right there. More of a high-end number three receiver in his first game back against a very good corner. So I kind of view Palmer and Williams not fairly probably, but in the same range, just based on what the production has been for Palmer more times than not. Yeah, it's pretty weird. You would think the way the perception of the Dolphins in their defense, you would think that they're a great matchup for wide receivers.

They really haven't been. They're 12th best against receivers. They're not a bad matchup. But, I mean, look, the Niners guys were bad last week. Jefferson. That's kind of been why they've been good, though, right? Look at the quarterbacks that they played. Yeah, I mean, look, Stefan Diggs had seven for 74 on 11 targets.

Jamar Chase had four catches for 81 yards on six targets. The Jets receivers were terrible. Justin Jefferson had 107 yards, no touchdowns. There was a little bit of that quarterback thing. Amon Rasim Brown didn't have a good game. I don't remember what his health was, but he had seven. I think he was healthy. He had seven catches for 69 yards on 10 targets.

Amari Cooper was dreadful. Maybe, you know, it just kind of occurred to me, because even I've been pushing this narrative, a great matchup for wide receivers. It's not one you run away from. But if you're talking about a guy like Josh Palmer, who really hasn't been that great, he's been pretty hit or miss.

I'm not sure that this is the, I don't know. I don't know, I struggle with it. Because you expect the Dolphins to score a lot of points, and you expect the Chargers to throw a a lot of points and you expect the Chargers to throw a ton of passes and you want to start guys in this game. I'm not sure if I expect

the Dolphins to score a lot of points if Armstead's out. All right. Gerald Everett, start or sit? Given the position that he plays,

if Mike Williams is out, he's a must-start guy. If Mike Williams is in, he's a borderline starter. He's more borderline for me, even without Williams, but I wouldn't argue too much over it. It was a good game last

week. It was awful in his first game with Keenan Allen. I think you probably expect five targets and hope he gets you ten fantasy points. Cleveland is at Cincinnati. Okay. I don't know how much you care. Jamie, you might care about it. I feel like you like this stuff.

The Browns kind of have their number. They've won seven of the last eight games. Joe Burrow is 0-4 against the Browns. They were terrible in that Monday night football game. Their offensive line was a mess.

Miles Garrett lived in the backfield. Cleveland sacked him five times. Burrow in his rookie year, though, scored 30 points and 40 points in two games against them as a rookie. Then he was pretty bad in the last two games against them. But does the history matter of Cleveland just kind of owning the Cincinnati Bengals? I mean, you would have said, wow, Joe Burrow's never lost or Pajamo never beat Joe Burrow. Well, that's going to

change this year. So, you know, sometimes these things matter, but I think you got to look at the talent right now. The situation with the Browns offense you know deshaun watson should be better after knocking off the rust you would hope but he looks so bad last week the bangles just look like they're clicking at the right time you know we spent a lot of time the last couple weeks before the garoppolo injury saying man look how the 49ers trying to look you know mccaffrey trade and defense getting healthier a little bit you know with armstead coming back and um look like they're starting to make a push feel like the bangles trying to make a push you know and and that's the type of team you know that you want to start to back if you're looking to back a contender so i i think this could be a situation

where mixing back chase now a full game back um them probably hearing for, you know, by the time they get to kickoff, you know, seven days of, you haven't beaten the Browns, you haven't beaten the Browns, you haven't beaten the Browns. In their building, coming off the victory against the Chiefs, unless there's some hangover from that, I think they're going to smash the Browns.

Oh, okay, okay. So are there any tricky calls on the Bengals' side? Boyd. He's not just a sit at this point? No, I mean, again, we're six teams on a bye and no Hurst. He catches that touchdown last week. He'll probably feel a little bit different when he's wide open

and the ball hits him in the hands. He's still going to get probably six targets, seven targets with Hurst not there. If, for whatever reason, the run game stalls, then we might see a little bit of an uptick in production. But I agree with you.

In most cases, he's probably more of a set. I made the case two weeks ago that you could drop him. So not a slam dunk by any stretch, but he's in that gray area for sure. And then, Heath, break down the Cleveland Browns, specifically their passing game because everyone's starting nick chubb what do you think yeah i mean if if no joke who's able

to go then he's going to be right around tight end 10 to 12 probably um i don't want any part of deshaun watson until he shows that he's an nfl caliber quarterback again but amari cooper has so much upside he's hard to get away from. I just moved him down again, but he's still in my top 20. I think you're probably starting Amari Cooper unless you're really fortunate to have two guys we have ranked ahead of him. I don't really have any interest in anything but stashing Donovan Peoples-Jones

until we see Watson look like Watson. Okay. Yeah, I think that's all right. Okay, cool. Donovan Peoples-Jones or Tyler Boyd, if you're desperate. Boyd. I probably should change that.

I right now have Peoples-Jones ranked one or two spots ahead. It's just more of a hope that Watson can connect with him this week. If you're like me and you've held on to Kareem Hunt all year, and almost everyone has, he had 11 touches last week.

Woo! That's his second game with more than seven touches in his last seven games. So, hooray for Kareem Hunt. A little mini slump, by the way, for Nick Chubb. 15, rounding up and down. 15, 10, 20, and eight fantasy points in PPR in his last four games.

All right. I think one more game here, and that is Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Oh, somebody in our chat, Truly Epic, is guessing our height. Okay. He guessed Adam 5'10", Heath 6'2",

Jamie 5'11". He then amended it to Adam 5'10", Heath 6'2", Jamie 5'11". He then amended it to Adam 5'9", Heath still at 6'2", and Jamie 5'10". So he's only three inches high on you, but you got the other two right, right? I'm five. I'm almost 5'9". So close that I really feel like they should have given it to me on my driver's license. But it says 5'8". I reject five. I'm almost five, nine. I so close that I really feel like they should have given it to me on my driver's license, but it says five,

eight. I reject that. I always say I'm five, nine. Jamie's five, 11, right? I'm five,

10 and a half. So I tell people I'm five. Yeah. Good for you. See, I always tell people I'm six, two and always here. No,

you're a lot taller than that. Yeah. I think you are taller than that. Everybody else, everybody else thinks they're taller than they are or claims they're taller than they are, and so they see me a couple inches taller than them and they're like, well, you've got to be at least 6'4". You're tall

and thin, so you look taller than you probably are. That could be it. Do you know the movie, You're Tall and Fat? What is it? You're short and ugly. Give me my pen back. something like that that's uh

back to school Rodney Dangerfield no yeah no I've seen it I don't remember he's giving away like pens to everybody in the bookstore

and the kid's like I know you you're tall and fat that's his store it's like yeah you're short and ugly give me my pen back alright Baltimore

and Pittsburgh and uh whatever um Mark Andrews and Pat Fryermuther starts All right, Baltimore and Pittsburgh and whatever. Mark Andrews and Pat Fryer-Muther starts. Where, Heath, did you come out on Tyler Huntley this week? He's 26% rostered as of yesterday. High-end number two quarterback. I'm excited to start him in a two-quarterback or super flex league.

Unfortunately, I used all my fab on Jimmy Garoppolo, and so I'm not going to have that option, but no, I think last year he gave you 14 fantasy points per game with his yards. It was about 60 rushing yards, about eight, but 190 passing yards. And so if he has one touchdown and doesn't turn the ball over, that's a,

that's a good day. If he gets multiple touchdowns, it's awesome. But he also, I think in three of his four starts did not produce a touchdown last year. So somewhere in that, and he might turn the ball over a couple times, somewhere in that 14 to 19 point range

is probably what you expect. The turnovers are definitely... Win you your week or lose you your week. It's that, the swings are very wild. Yeah, I mean, 40 or more rushing yards in every game last year and last week. That's a nice floor, especially in a four-point-per-passing touchdown league.

Those turnovers, though, they're a problem for Tyler Huntley. What's the deal with J.K. Dobbin? What's the deal with the Baltimore backfield, actually? Dobbins in particular, I guess. I would say even if Dobbins plays, it's hands-off for everybody. You can't have some success running at the Steelers' defense,

but Gus Edwards does look like a plotter at this point. He's clearly not going to help in the passing game, so if he doesn't score, you're getting a very empty stat line. And Kenyon Drake is still in a timeshare where he's – I would anticipate unless they're in trouble, he's not going to play more than Gus Edwards. I think Edwards gets the first crack at it and probably on the field, if it's a low scoring game and they're competitive,

which is probably what's going to end up happening. So this feels like a field goal fest. It feels like a defensive battle. Like they typically have been throughout for the majority of their rivalry. Um, so I, there's not a lot to love about this game. Yeah.

But you know, as much as like, I don't really like, nobody likes Deontay love about this game. Yeah, but you know, as much as I don't really like, nobody likes Deontay Johnson at this point. He is four to five catches in eight straight games. So you're right, if you just want to wake up and put 10 PPR fantasy points in your lineup right in that range, do you feel like you'll at least get that

from Deontay Johnson? Or is the matchup so bad that he may not even be able to do that? I hate that Deontay Johnson has become Jacoby Myers. Yeah. Yeah. And by the way, go ahead. I'm probably starting

him in a PPR league this week where I start three wide receivers. Yeah, that's my point. He's, this upside apparently is the same as the floor. He's going to get you somewhere between 10 and 12 PPR fantasy points, probably. Specifically, it's 8.5 to 11 PPR fantasy points in seven of his last eight games. Jamie, we got the squeaky crickets for George Pickens. What do you think?

It'd be nice. I mean, it's not an easy matchup, and it's a very tough, you know, the targets, you know, he's been, I think it's now five games in a row, six or less. The last two weeks have been very frustrating. So, great. I hope that happens. But, I mean, the Ravens Ravens you know against a rookie quarterback

could be an ugly game this just this feels like you know 9-6 yeah okay so last question then

which DST do you prefer Ravens that's close I think that's right and we are done alright we got a live stream

at 2pm Eastern on today Thursday join us youtube.m. Eastern on today, Thursday. Join us at youtube.com slash fantasyfootball today. And for Jamie and Heath, I am Adam. We'll talk to you tomorrow with Starter Sip for the NFC home games and a recap of the game that everybody is so excited for. See you.