Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (AFC): Metcalf, Akers, Raiders (12/29 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 29, 2022

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  We certainly have some challenging start/sit decisions to make in Week 17. We'll go through the AFC home games today and give you an update on Cowboys-Titans (3:00) as the Titans are resting many starters and Tony Pollard is questionable. Then Jamey and Heath tell you who they love (5:00) and who they are avoiding (9:30) this week. Tyler Allgeier is the Start of the Week, but the Raiders options make us understandably nervous ... News and notes (11:40) and One Question for Each Game (21:00). Do we trust Garrett Wilson? How high is Cam Akers in the rankings? Start Rhamondre Stevenson? Sit all Raiders? ... Start or Sit for Jets-Seahawks (26:15), Rams-Chargers (40:40), Broncos-Chiefs (51:35), Jaguars-Texans (57:15), Dolphins-Patriots (1:03:35), Steelers-Ravens (1:07:40), 49ers-Raiders (1:11:40) and Bills-Bengals (1:18:40) ... 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. Let's win a fantasy championship. What's up, everybody? Welcome to the show on Thursday. We have eight AFC home games to take a look at today. And actually seven AFC home games and a NFC home game. Jets at Seattle. My head

is spinning over that game. I don't think there's an easy decision in that entire game, guys. Agree or disagree? Jets at Seattle, not a single easy decision. Garrett Wilson a single easy decision. Garrett Wilson is an easy decision. Is he, though? Third best against wide receivers. Yes, he's

an easy decision. Whether you think he's a number one or a number two, you're not benching Garrett Wilson with what he's done with every quarterback not named Zach Wilson. Okay, but you would bench DK? I think Marquis Goodwin's a pretty easy decision. Alright, Jets, Seahawks, Rams, Chargers, I think Marquise Goodwin's a pretty easy decision. All right.

Jets, Seahawks, Rams, Chargers, Denver, Kansas City, Jacksonville, Houston, Miami, New England, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, San Francisco at Las Vegas, no Derek Carr, Buffalo at Cincinnati on Monday night. That might be a pretty easy game for fantasy purposes. But tough one tonight with big news on the Thursday night game, Tennessee and Dallas. Heath, we were talking off the air. Weird week. Weird week. Tough to rank. I don't envy you having to do rankings.

Yeah. I'm going to say something now, and then we'll bring it up against Sunday night and see if we feel more or less like this. But should we have just left championship games in week 16 no no there's there's so much dumb stuff that's going to happen this week that's already begun with the the car benching because they don't want him to get hurt and have to pay him next year the derrick henry and the titans sitting um i would imagine we'll get more tom

foolery as the as the couple the next couple of days come. I think we ought to consider it. I think when you get to Sunday night, your answer might be a little different. But there's only one team that's sitting. There's no way people are doing that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, there's two teams. The Raiders. No, no, no. I mean, there's no way fantasy

leagues are going to do that. Oh, no. He was responding to me. The Raiders, are they sitting? Yeah. Right. I know. They're a unique case you know what fine fine rapaport's tweet said other veterans will take a step back so we'll find out yeah all right well they're going to take a step back as they're playing the 49ers so it's not going to be a good day for them, most likely. We will talk about that game. I'll tell you, Jared Stidham has thrown 26.2% of his career passes

to running backs. Jared Stidham. Jared Stidham, yeah. So Amir Abdul is going to have a big game then, huh? Sure. Let's talk about Thursday night first, Jamie, because Tennessee, Derrick Henry is listed as doubtful. They've already ruled out four defensive starters.

There are two more that are doubtful. So they're probably going to be without half their starting defense. And Derrick Henry. Start all, sit all. It's a very easy game to handicap. Yeah, so easy to sit Titans. But what about Pollard? Pollard's questionable.

If he plays, you start him. How much is he even going to play, though? You just have to take the chance. I mean, look, you made it to your championship with Tony Pollard. If he's active, you play him. Okay, would you play him over? Unless we hear something that he's going to be limited on a snap count, you know, and your team is loaded, then I get it.

I thought we'd already heard that. That he's going to be limited? Yeah. The only thing I've we'd already heard that. That he's going to be limited? Yeah. The only thing I've heard is it's questionable, so... I will find what I'm talking about. What about a guy like Leonard Fournette or Ken Walker? Yeah, those guys are easy to play over Pollard. Yeah, I totally get that.

Ken Walker over Pollard? The fact that he mispracticed on Wednesday, you can't take that chance. Right. Okay. Um, how about, uh, Garrett Wilson or Tony Pollard? I mean, if, if the choice is that in PPR, I'd play Garrett Wilson. Um, but again, you're talking about, you know, very good players. So, you know, I mean, like, I think if it comes down to Tony Pollard or Tyler Algier, who's my start of the week, then that's a tough call. You know, if you're talking about Tony Pollard or Bam Knight, you could have a good game.

But obviously, it's been really bad the last two weeks. I'm going to play Pollard. Okay. Well, I guess we're starting Tony Pollard then, most likely. Now, look, a lot of teams have great, great rosters at this point, obviously, and hopefully great choices. And we'll find out more. Obviously, we got a live stream at 2 o'clock, so you can join us there,

youtube.com slash fantasyfootball today. Hopefully, we get some type of report before that. If not, we'll be on Twitter. We'll get something. I mean, honestly, if he's going to be limited, your best case scenario is that they sent him. So you know. Absolutely.

Absolutely, yeah. Okay, Jamie Cordero Patterson. Sorry. Tyler Algier, the other one. Tyler Algier is apparently your star of the week. Tell us why you love Tyler Algier this week. Yeah, clearly he's been trending in the right direction for the Falcons. You saw the playing time last week.

Spike, by comparison to Cordero Patterson and Algier back-to-back weeks with at least 15 PPR points, 22 points in one of those games. And the role in the passing game was fun to see, you know, four catches last week against Baltimore. And what he did against Baltimore is really impressive because that run defense has been pretty special. The Cardinals run defense is not five games in a row with 17 or more PPR points to running back for the season.

It's like 13 guys have gotten to at least 15 PPR points. It should be an easy opportunity for them to running back for the season. It's like 13 guys have gotten to at least 15 PPR points. It's, it should be an easy opportunity for them to lean on him once again. And he comes through with a big performance. So he'll, he'll end up once I finished adjusting my rankings around 15th in, in non PPR, probably closer to 18 to 20 and in full PPR.

And so just love the setup for him this week. And not, not exactly the guy I thought I'd be saying to recommend in, uh, the championship week of your fantasy leagues, but it's, uh, it's been a nice two week climb for him.

I, more than that, but you know, the last two weeks, the Ascension has been fun to watch and the matchups. Great. Tyler Alger, would you start out here or David Montgomery at the lions?

Uh, I would start out here. Okay. In non PPR, full Full PPR, probably still Montgomery. Heath? I don't want to just automatically say his role in the passing game last week is going to be replicated. That's the danger, obviously. He's got

the zero catch potential, but it was nice to see four last week. Heath, who do you love this week? Travis Etienne. The Jags are apparently going to play all of their guys. According to Doug Peterson, the Texans are arguably the worst run defense in football or maybe the best matchup for running backs, at least in football. And Etienne has had a very good year that I think has been a little bit overshadowed because he's only scored four touchdowns. The Texans have given up more touchdowns to running backs than any other defense.

I think he has a chance to get 20 touchdowns. He has a chance to get into the end zone at least once. He is a top 10 running back this week, and I've had a hard time finding top 10 running backs. He's the one Jaguars star, and I'll say that with the guys you've been starting.

That makes me the most nervous from a playing time standpoint Etn Yeah, just because he can he can you know dealing with the foot injury I mean you can say same about Lawrence with the toe injury If they have any semblance of a lead going into you know fourth quarter, and he hasn't done anything by that point They could they could clearly I'm with you I mean he's top ten running back for me as well, but he's the one that just makes... I feel the most nervous about him.

Well, you guys don't... I don't know the rankings off the top of my head, but you don't have Kirk and Zay Jones ranked all that high, right? No. Kirk's around 20 and Jones like 26, 27. But yet you guys have... That's higher than me. You guys have Lawrence ranked pretty high.

So... I mean, as we saw last week his legs and evan ingram got him to 18 18 points that's not good yeah but if he gets if he has another passing touchdown which could go to ingram as well that's that's a pretty good day adam this week is awful um like it's tell me tell me the guys you want to rank as top eight quarterbacks we could do that as well okay yeah i mean it's um he's a he's a top six or seven guy yeah okay yeah five for jamie eight for dave and six for no five for heath trevor lauren yeah i'm i'm gonna drop him a few spots again just from the the concern of defensive touchdown, you know, wacky something, and they start to pull back at some point. I think there are only three quarterbacks that I feel very confident in this week,

and that would be Mahomes, Allen, and Burrow. So you've got three quarterbacks, eight running backs, and like nine wide receivers. Yeah, and then maybe, honestly, I wouldn't rank them fourth, but I feel like the one I have the most confidence in after that to at least be good is Jared Goff. Not Fields? No, I just don't know how healthy he is.

That's all about his foot. If he's healthy, I think he's going to have a massive game, and I'll treat him as such. It's a tough week. I think he's going for the record. Not, and I'll treat him as such. But it's a tough week. I think he's going for the record. Not this week, but the last two games. The rushing record, yeah. Yeah.

Okay, players to avoid. Jamie, who are you sitting? All Raiders. I mean, Devontae Adams and Darren Waller included, if you can. That's in two receiver leagues for Adams. Waller's not going to be a top-12 tight end. It's just quarterback plus matchup. Not good.

And Heath? I think DeAndre Swift. Sounds like Jamal Williams is back, and so I have no clue if DeAndre Swift's going to have three key touches or 12. But, I mean, even last week when Jamal Williams left early, he had five. So I don't have any faith in DeAndre Swift, even last week when Jamal Williams left early, he had five, so I don't have any faith in DeAndre Swift, even in a great matchup. It was a great matchup.

I think I said on Monday the Bears are one of over the last five weeks, I think they're one of the five worst in yards before contact allowed to running back, so running backs are just getting a big head start. We know the Lions are good at that. Do you remember DeAndre Swift's last game against the Bears?

I don't. I was actually going to ask you about Jamal Williams, but no, I don't remember it. Six carries, six yards, one touchdown. Oh, a touchdown. Okay. Yeah, that was during his stretch of nothing but touchdowns. All right, well, we'll talk about that game tomorrow.

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Dalvin cook. Now he and Ryan Wilson have a brand new weekly NFL draft podcast called with the first pick where they dive deep into mock drafts, prospect profiles, stock watch, and more. and Ryan Wilson have a brand new weekly NFL draft podcast called With the First Pick, where they dive deep into mock drafts, prospect profiles, stock watch, and more. That's With the First Pick. Perfect time to start listening to that as we've got college football bowl games and the playoffs coming up. So With the First Pick, anywhere you listen to podcasts. I want to give a shout out to a loyal listener, a dedicated listener. Anthony reached out to Dan Schneier the other day. I know you guys have been chatting. And even though apparently you think that the cream is the best part of the Oreo, you're wrong about that.

But we still love you. And thank you for listening, Anthony. Appreciate it. Our listener of the day. News and notes. Heath Cummings is probable to return. He's not on right now. But he should be back.

Okay. News and notes. Teddy Bridgewater is going to start this week. Carson Wentz is going to start this week. Jared Stidham is going to start this week. And Colt McCoy is going to start this week. Okay, Jamie, so we look at all of the number one wide receivers on those teams. Tyreek Hill, let's say he's number one.

After that, we've got Waddle, McLaurin, Devante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins. How would you rank Waddle, McLaurin, Devante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins? Full PBR? Sure. Hopkins, Waddle, McLaurin, Adams. Okay. And then you got Jalen Hurts missing practice. And according to ESPN's Dan Graziano, Hurts may not even be fully healthy for their first playoff game. I guess some people in the organization wondering if he'll be able to play, but how effective he'll be in their first playoff game, which would be assuming that they get the bye.

So I don't know. I mean, are you thinking he's going to miss this week? I think you have to assume that. Nick Sirianni's talking a big game, understandably so. This game does have certainly playoff implications, but also franchise implications because if they win, they knock down the Saints one more spot to increase their draft pick. So that, I think, matters as well.

But clearly, as we've noted throughout the week, they want to make sure Jalen Hurts is healthy because they are a legitimate Super Bowl contender. So I would imagine that if he is in any way, shape, or form banged up, they can at least try and salvage next week's game if they need to to lock up the one seed because they just need to win one more game. So if he's still 80%, 90%, 98%, they should sit him just to make sure 100% healthy, get him right next week.

You get your game in before the bye, and then you hopefully have him for the playoffs. Okay, Lamar Jackson mispractice. Are you guys expecting Tyler Huntley or Lamar Jackson this week? Huntley. Huntley. Aaron Rodgers mispractice with a knee injury. He is expected to play.

No. And Jacksonville will not rest its starters this week. Let me ask you this. Who would you rather see in the playoffs? The Commanders

or the Packers? The Packers, obviously. I don't know if it's obvious. Well, the Commanders are so boring. I'm not saying

they're bad or anything. They're just really boring. I'm going to say the Seahawks. Well, I'm going to say the Lions. That's, yeah.. I'm going to say the Seahawks. Well, I'm going to say the Lions. That's... Yeah. And I add them to Giants.

What Giants are in? No, they are not in. They are not in. They win, they're in. But if they lose, they might see Jalen Hurts next week. It's a big game, obviously. This week against the Colts. Derrick Henry is doubtful. Tony Pollard, we'll talk about.

We'll see. We ran through that. Rolando Stevenson and Damian Harris were both limited. That game we'll talk about in a little bit. Miles Sanders mispracticed with a knee issue. A lot of guys mispracticed on Wednesday, so we're going to assume it's just a rest thing. Ken Walker, same thing. They're trying to keep him fresh

because he's dealing with the ankle. Aaron Jones was limited. That one's tough. Would you guys start Tony Pollard if he plays tonight or a Packers running back? Dylan Pollard Jones. I'd start Pollard over both. Nick Chubb says he will play the last two games of the season. Latavius Murray mispractice.

Alvin Kamara mispractice with a personal issue and a quad injury. Jamal Williams. What's that? He's mad. He's mad. You think this is squeaky wheel or just like wheels falling off? I mean, you know, having talked to him a handful of times, he's a pretty honest guy.

And I don't think he's kind of... He doesn't really play the NFL coach speak game. So, you ask him a question, I think he gives you an answer. Do you think he will get the squeaky wheel treatment, or do you think just... No, I think his role is what it is. I think they want to use

other guys on third down opportunities, which is frustrating. So he's mad because he wants fewer carries and more catches? I think he wants his role on third down opportunities, which is frustrating. So he's mad because he wants fewer carries and more catches? I think he wants his role in third downs. I don't think he wants to come off the field. Jamal Williams not on the injury report. Antonio Gibson

questionable. Think about this team, for example. He doesn't come off the field on the big play against the Bucs and that's him catching the ball as opposed to an injured Mark Ingram, they may win the division. Why? Did Ingram fumble on that play?

No, Ingram came up short. Oh, the yard short. A yard short, right. And he was sick about it. Had a 13-point comeback in three minutes. Yeah. And they're now a game behind the Panthers and the Bucs. Tyler Lockett. Sounds like he's trending in the right direction.

So they're not committing to Tyler Lockett playing yet, but that would be a pretty big deal. Chris Olave was limited at practice. I can't imagine anyone's going to start him with confidence right now. Christian Watson mispracticed. Devante Parker mispracticed. Mikko Hardman is going to play. Did Mikko Hardman crack your top 36, guys?

No. We have not ranked him yet because they were trying to get him to play. Did Mikko Hardman crack your top 36 guys? No. We have not ranked him yet because they were trying to get him to play last week and they were trying to get him to play the week before and they were trying to get him to play the week before that. So I think we'll wait until he's officially active. Okay. And Kendall Hinton practiced for the Broncos. Jerry Judy also left practice but he returned and I really

hope, I don't think this would be the case, but I hope Kendall Hinton does not play and push Jerry Judy back into the slot. I think we want him on the outside at this point. I think it's all a gamble at this point. We have a new coach, a new play caller. Yeah. Hayden Hurst could play this week.

They got the Monday night game. We're not interested in him. Hunter Henry did practice. Johnnie Smith did not practice here. Would Hunter Henry be a streaming option if he plays and Johnnie does not against the Dolphins? Great matchup. No. Tape leagues.

Greg Dolcich missed practice and Noah Fant missed practice. On the offensive line, the Bucs could be getting some good news with Ryan Jensen, their center, eligible to return from IR. Doesn't mean he'll play this week, but possibility. Green Bay left tackle David Bakhtiari was limited and Minnesota center Garrett Brad return from IR. Doesn't mean he'll play this week, but possibility. Green Bay left tackle David Bakhtiari was limited, and Minnesota

center Garrett Bradbury mispracticed. I believe he has missed three straight games. On defense, Titans are resting four defensive starters, probably going to be six key players, so they're going to roll over against the Cowboys, it seems. The Raiders, this definitely helps

Christian McCaffrey. Denzel Perryman, their starting linebacker, and Chandler Jones, starting defensive end, are both on IR. The Giants, if you're looking to stream the Giants DST this week, starting off the week with good news, Leonard Williams, Adory Jackson, Aziz Ojolari, all

key players, all injured, all limited. So, I would expect Williams to play the other two. Questionable. I think they started off the week with good news watching that Monday night game. Yeah, I just... You know what? Look, I'm just very nervous. Just let me be nervous about it.

What are you nervous about? They need to win the game. If they don't win the game, they're probably not going to the playoffs. So they are bad enough to lose to any team on any week. Kenny Moore for the Colts. I gave you a million dollars right now. You had to bet it on one team to win this week. Who would you bet it on?

Can't use 49ers. Cowboys. Can't use Cowboys. What? Chiefs. Yeah, or Eagles. Even with Minshew. It's the Giants.

Come on. Well, Kenny Moore mispracticed for the Colts. They've been horrible since he got hurt. If you're in IDP leagues, check out Pete Werner for the Saints.

He was limited in practice. Hopefully he can get back out there. And Marcus Lattimore was also, or Marshawn Lattimore was also, God, I misspelled

both of their names, Lattimore and Werner. Both limited, blah, blah, blah. New England cornerback Marcus Jones with the concussion protocol and Miami Edge Bradley Chubb mispractice. And we're going to take a break. When we come back, one question for each game, starting with that Jet Seattle game. And we'll be right back on Fantasy Football today.

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and avoid unnecessary damages to get the job done right. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. Okay, Jet Seattle, I already asked this question earlier. It was, is there an easy lineup decision in this game? Jamie and Heath think Garrett Wilson is an easy lineup decision, so I will ask you, DK Metcalf? No, I will ask you, Geno Smith or Mike White? Geno for me.

Mike White. I don't like Geno this week, even if Lockett plays. Okay. Heath, give me a 10-second answer why you're going with Geno over Mike White. Well, I mean, as much as Geno has struggled lately mike white's had one good game out of three and um it is a road game for mike white it is still a like the seahawks are still just as much in the playoff hunt as the jets and so i think it'll be a very competitive game and the Seahawks have been a little bit tough to pass on. It's easy to run on them.

Yeah. Okay, Rams and Chargers. Would you start Cam Akers over the following players? DeAndre Swift, Rashad White, and Najee Harris? 1,000%, yes. Okay. Would you start him over Jarek McKinnon and let's say a half ppr league cam acres or mckinnon acres acres oh all right denver at kansas city any interest like a personal

question what that sounded like a personal question why that you needed that for your own lineups very specific no no no no i'm just going on to our next game, which has Jarek McKinnon in it. But Denver at Kansas City. Any interest in Courtland Sutton? Yes. Three receiver leagues, absolutely. Eh, a little. Okay.

Jerry Judy's a must-start in that game. Any interest in Isaiah Pacheco? Non-PBR, yes. I think he's a low-end number two in both formats. Jacksonville at Houston. Travis Etienne is a must-start. How about Christian Kirk or Cam Akers? Akers.

Definitely Akers in non-and-half. And full. Wow. All three. Okay. Miami. All three. Okay. Miami at New England, Ramondre Stevenson or Jalen Waddle? Who's a better flex?

Ramondre. Yep. Does that mean you guys have full confidence in Ramondre Stevenson? Yes. Less if Harris is back, but currently yes. Pittsburgh at Baltimore. Who is the best running back in this game?

Najee. Dobbins, just slightly. They're both low-end number twos. San Francisco at Las Vegas. Start all Niners, sit all Raiders? Yes. I'm not sitting Jacobs. Unless we get another report.

Oh, yeah, that's true. Start Jacobs. Are you starting, are you starting Brandon Ayuk? Yes. He is I think it's 145 yards away. I could be mistaken on that.

From his first 1,000 yard season. And so I would imagine that's something they try to get him. Maybe get him this week in case they don't play next week. Must start in three wide receiver leagues, or if you have a flex. In a two wide receiver league without a flex, he's borderline. I would agree 100%. I struggle with him and Devontae Adams. I would start Ayuk.

How about Kirk or Ayuk? Kirk. Kirk. Yeah, Ayuk had something like a 50-yard catch and run last week. That was almost all of his production. He will have three of those this week. I hope so. But Purdy did not look good throwing downfield.

He threw downfield a lot more than he usually does, but he just doesn't have a good arm. He had that great long touchdown pass to George Kittle that he was throwing to somebody else. Right, right. And Buffalo at Cincinnati. Bonanza?

And any interest in Gabe Davis or a Bills running back and who wins? Three questions for this one game. So, one, is it a Bonanza? Two, any interest in Gabe Davis or Buffalo or a Buffalo running back? And three, who wins? Sounds like four questions. Three and a half.

Yes, it's a bonanza. No interest in a Buffalo running back. Interest in Gabe Davis in the three receiver league. And Bills win. You were so close. I agree with all that except I think Bengals win. Yeah, that's right. Heath is right.

Bengals win. I really was surprised I didn't get interrupted with the music. Oh, yeah. No. Yeah, we're going back to Dave this week. I don't know how we're going to do it. We're going to have to brainstorm. How is this not the game of the week?

No, it can't be the game of the week. I just have to figure out a way to bring it up tomorrow. Okay. Hopefully, there'll be some injury update or something. I'm very excited for this game of the week. I just have to figure out a way to bring it up tomorrow. Okay. Hopefully there'll be some injury update or something. I'm very excited for this game. Me too. Monday Night Football, Island game. It's going to be awesome.

It's going to be the one game this week. Won't have to do any work. No notes. No nothing. I'm just going to sit down and watch the game. And I just can't wait. Are you just taking Tuesday's show off next week? No, I'll have my notes done before the game.

Or after the game. I'm going to watch that one. I mean, I do all your notes for you. No, that is not true. I do all the research on all the players for WaverWire. All right, let's go to the games. Here we go. This one is so interesting to me.

I feel like this game is full of players I don't want to start with good matchups and players I do want to start with bad matchups. This is Jets at Seattle. And stat of the game number one, since week nine, the Seahawks have seen the third most rush attempts and allowed the seventh most rushing yards in the NFL.

I believe this specifically to running backs. And they've had a bye in that stretch. So they've played fewer games than a number of teams. And yet they've seen the third most running back rush attempts and the seventh most running back rushing yards in football. So this is really relevant, I think, Heath, because Mike White has been, his last two games, on an efficiency basis, he's been awful

against Minnesota and Buffalo. He's just thrown the ball a ton. So everybody's running on the Seahawks. Do you think the Jets can run the ball, will run the ball, or do you think they have another 44-plus pass attempt kind of game? I've got them projected for 40 pass attempts, so not quite 44. But I think they might have a little bit of success running the ball. Zonovanite's a sneaky type flex, but I don't like him as anything bit of success running the balls. One of the nights, a sneaky type flex,

but I don't like him as anything close to a must start guy. Okay. Jamie, how do you see the jets offense playing out in this game at Seattle? I see them throwing. I mean, it's, it's been a tough go for them running the ball and yes, it's a, it's an easy matchup, but I think, you know, you're talking about, let's say team X that runs the ball. Well, we'll get a hundred yards from it's an easy matchup, but I think, you know, you're talking about, let's say, Team X that runs the ball well will get 100 yards from its running back. I think Jets probably are in the 60 to 70-yard range at most,

but it's hard to figure that it might be one guy because they've been chopping it up so much between two and sometimes three guys, depending on how the score has gone the last couple of weeks. Now, you know, you can say it's been some tough matchups for Bam Knight. You can say the return of Michael Carter, but, you know, you look at the three games that he played with Mike White, his numbers were very solid. And you hope that that's the case is that a better offensive production across the board, B quarterback who throws to running backs is there. So I will buy back into Bam Knight to a much higher extent, but that still does not mean he is a must-start guy like for example i will start him over deandre swift i will start him over uh deontay foreman

who's obviously coming off a huge game um i think there is uh there's good enough bounce back potential here that you can trust it if you're stuck so like i said before when you asked about you know pollard even with this matchup and the potential of what Mike White has done for him, you tell me Pollard's starting, I'm starting him over Bam Knight. But I will start Knight over, potentially, if there's still another limited practice for him, over Aaron Jones. I'm very concerned about Jones with this ankle injury, what he's done lately. And it has been a rollercoaster ride in terms of running back rush attempts

against the Seahawks. Last week, there were 20 for the Chiefs. Then you had Christian McCaffrey had 26. Foreman and Hubbard combined for 35. Well, they've been doing that to almost everybody. Josh Jacobs had 33 in that stretch. They've played some teams that are prone to give their running backs a ton of rush attempts and are very good at running the ball. Yeah. Right. Right. All right. So let's talk about Mike white here and you guys would start golf over white. I assume. Yes.

Yes. Dak over white. How about the struggling Justin Herbert or Mike white? Still Herbert. Still Herbert for me. The one like Minshew I struggle with, with white. They're very,

very close. And I, and I, I struggle with with White. They're very, very close. And I'm a little bit nervous about Dak and White. I have them both on a roster. I'm going to start Dak, but I kind of want to start White. I may change my mind at the last minute tonight. Oh, man. All right, so you guys have him ahead of Brock Purdy and Daniel Jones. And for Jamie, ahead of Geno Smith.

For Heath, it's flipped. I do have, ahead of Geno Smith. For Heath, it's flipped. I do have him ahead of Aaron Rodgers. Okay, Jamie has Rodgers, 11, White, 12. No, if you refresh, I made that switch this morning. Just refresh before we went on the air. If Watson plays, I will have Rodgers over White. Okay. Okay.

All right, so Mike White is basically right around 12th. He's 11th or 12th for everyone. And again, he's ahead of Geno Smith for Jamie. He's behind Geno Smith for Heath. Bam Knight, we just talked about. He's a flex. Obviously, he's a good opportunity here and some things going in his favor.

Okay, so we talked about it yesterday. We talked about it at the start of the show. I gave you reasons to fear Garrett Wilson. You guys have no fear. Okay, so we talked about it yesterday. We talked about it at the start of the show. I gave you reasons to fear Garrett Wilson. You guys have no fear. He's top 15 for both of you. He's top 8 for Heath. You guys are starting Garrett Wilson.

Fair enough. Tyler Conklin against the best matchup in fantasy. Heath, the Seahawks allow the most fantasy points to tight ends. And Conklin does have 7 and 8 targets in his last two games with Mike White. He didn't do anything with them. Start or sit Conklin? Yeah, he is, I think, my favorite streaming option on the week. But I don't have a streamer inside my top 12 tight ends. And I'm trying to get away from Darren Waller, but I still don't think I would start Conklin over Darren Waller.

So like you're probably going to need a touchdown to have a good day. He does not have more than 50 yards in a game since week eight, and he only has more than 34 yards in one of those games. There's a terrifying floor. And there's a terrifying floor, I think, with Darren Waller, too, because he's played about 45 percent of the snaps in two games. He just told us that apparently they're going to scale back some of the veterans. We don't know who.

Now, it could be the veterans they're going to scale back or the defensive players they put on IR right after they said they weren't going to play Carr anymore. So there was no specifics there. Okay. Yeah, and Conklin looks like about 15th for Jamie. Conklin will be ahead of Waller for me. Okay. Yeah, and Conklin looks like about 15th for Jamie. Conklin will be ahead of Waller for me. Okay.

Waller is currently 12th, so you'll be moving him down. Mark Andrews or Tyler Conklin? Still Andrews. Andrews. Alright, Heath, you're high on Geno Smith. You got him 9th. Jamie has him 15th. Dave has him 13th. Let's have a Geno Smith. You got him ninth. Jamie has him 15th. Dave has him 13th.

Let's have a Geno Smith discussion, guys. And obviously, Tyler Lockett's a big part of this. But go ahead, Heath. Make the case for Geno Smith. I think he still has a decent chance to get you to 275 yards and two touchdowns. He hasn't done that in the last two weeks. But one of those is against the 49ers. I'm not sure we should hold that much against him. He had such a great stretch from week seven through week 14, multiple touchdown

passes in all of those games, over 275 yards in four of those seven games. I just have a hard time completely going away from him over the last two games, especially with Pete Carroll talking about what an important revenge game this is for both Geno and himself. He said that? Yes. They asked him about the revenge game for Geno Smith, and he said, don't forget, it's a revenge game for me too. No way.

I think those were his words, yes. He's fun. All right, Jamie, make the case against Geno Smith. I mean, this defense has been absolutely fantastic. Since week three, only one quarterback has gone over 20 fantasy points against them, which was Josh Allen twice. And in the second game, when these two teams met before Quinn and Williams got hurt, they were crushing Josh Allen. So as good as Gino is, I think this team is certainly reinvigorated with the quarterback. I'm going to guess they're wearing their Mike White shirts on the trip again going out to Seattle. And so I think they can contain this Seahawks passing attack. I think Geno's struggling right now, which is unfortunate

because he's had a great season. But, you know, you're seeing a lot of flaws. You're seeing a lot of flaws in this offensive line too. And so I think the Jets can smell blood, and I think they'll take advantage of it. So, you know, you talk about hot quarterbacks that have faced the jets and, you know, Kirk cousins was as hot as they got when they faced him. Um,

they, they shut him down, you know, again, they contained Josh Allen. It was, it was all with his legs really for the majority of the held into 147 passing yards in the second meeting,

you know? So I think he's, it's, it's going to be tough for Gino, you know, it's unfortunate. Yeah. I mean, thinking about what they did to's unfortunate. Derek Goff, too.

I mean, thinking about what they did to him before the 51-yard Brock Wright reception. In their last seven games, the Jets have held Josh Allen twice, Trevor Simien, Kirk Cousins to 205 or fewer yards. So Josh Allen twice and Kirk Cousins, none of them threw for more than 205 yards. That's crazy.

Trevor Lawrence, you know, it's tough to really judge just the weather was so bad, but he had 229 yards. He had a rushing touchdown. It's tough, Heath. What's the difference between the 49ers game two weeks ago for Geno and the Jets game this week? I don't think the Jets defense is

as good as the 49ers defense. Might have a better secondary, though. Also, I don't also, it's like, I'm not, I don't think Geno's going to give you a 25-point game. I don't think there are 10 quarterbacks that are. The guys that I have ranked just behind Geno Smith are guys like Gardner Minshew and Mike White and Aaron Rodgers.

Right, okay. What's your confidence level in Ken Walker, guys? Not very high, but Geno's going to get a lot of work. That's the plus. I would love it if DJ Dallas didn't play because what happened last week was a little frustrating. He's a number two running back as long as he's fully healthy. Yeah.

Ken Walker ran 31 routes against the Niners and then 11 routes at Kansas City. It's just so unpredictable. You just don't know when he's going to catch passes. But 26 carries last week. I think his health is obviously something you've got to take into account. You know, he's fighting through some probably pretty painful ankle injury. Again, not practicing on Wednesday.

You know, so you have to assume at this point he's playing. But who just knows how fully functional he is. So Walker or Dobbins, Najee Harris, Walker, Walker, McKinnon or Walker, McKinnon PPR Walker for me. How about Camara? Camara. That may come down to which one of those guys

does more in practice over the next two days. Okay. How about DK Metcalf or Ken Walker? I'm not a big DK Metcalf guy this week, so I would go Walker. DK for me. I'm just starting DK. I mean, I'll start DK over him in PPR, but none in half.

So this is my other stat of the game for this game. Spending a lot of time in this game, because I think it's perhaps the most compelling fantasy game, just with the matchups. Let's take a look at the must-start wide receivers against the Jets. At least in my opinion, the guys who are must-starts. And there's only one that I think you could argue with, and it was Alan Lazard. He was more, the guys who are must-starts. There's only one that I think you could argue with, and it was

Alan Lazard. He was more or less playing like a must-start. Earlier in the year, Amari Cooper... I'm going to go ahead and argue with that one. Amari Cooper had a huge game in Week 2. Jamar Chase had 29 yards and a touchdown. T. Higgins had 93 yards. That was in Week 3.

The first three weeks of the season, the Jets kind of struggled. After that, Tyreek Hill had 47 yards. That was with Skylar Thompson. Alan three weeks of the season, the Jets kind of struggled. After that, Tyreek Hill had 47 yards. That was with Skylar Thompson. Alan Lazard had a big game. Stefan Diggs had 93 yards. Justin Jefferson, 45 yards and a touchdown. Diggs, three for 37. St. Brown, seven for 76. Christian

Kirk, three for 22. You know, with the bad weather. So, in my mind, they faced 10 must-start wide receivers. You don't put judy in that category no not certainly not then not with brett rippin and courtland sutton um in heath's mind he's removing alan lazard most of them got to at least 13 eight of them got to at least 13 ppr fantasy points um not a lot of huge games in there, though. So, I don't know. Over or under 14 PPR points for

DK Metcalf in this game. I think that's a great number. That's basically what he got to against San Francisco. Yeah. I'd go slightly over, but I agree. It's not a bad number. And the problem with Metcalf, though, is that he has been a guy who has struggled

in the tougher matchups. He had 36 yards against Denver. He had 35 yards at San Francisco. Arizona is always a tough matchup for him. He was under 40 yards twice. He had 55 yards against San Francisco in the second matchup. That's kind of been his thing. He has struggled against tougher cornerbacks and

tougher matchups. How much does Tyler Lockett factor into this, guys? How much would his presence impact your ranking of Metcalf? I would definitely lower Metcalf into the number two wide receiver range. It might be as simple as I'd take slightly over the 14 with

out Lockett and slightly under with Lockett. And Jamie, how about you? I would put them right around the same spot. Low or high 20s. So low end number two receivers. Okay. And the Jets have not allowed a touchdown pass

of 20 or more air yards since week six. And that is Tyler Lockett's specialty. And Geno Smith's specialty. It's strength versus strength. So they'd be number two guys. Okay. You'd start Jerry Judy over them? Yep.

Yes. I'm starting Judy over Metcalf without Lockett. All right. Okay. I think that pretty much sums up the game. Any interest in Noah Fant if he plays, which I assume he will? Touchdown or bust?

I mean, you know, they've been a little leaky to tight ends lately, but I think it's somewhat fluky. You know, Knox was the first guy to score against them in the second matchup. Brock Wright had the 51-yard touchdown catch on the fourth down play. I think that caught them by surprise. And then Evan Ingram, who's just been torching everybody, got them on Thursday night.

So I don't think Noah Fant is in the Evan Ingram range, and even in the Dawson Knox range. How about the Tyler Conklin? Did you say Conklin or Fant? For me, it's Conklin. They are in the same range for me, though. They're both around 15. I think if you're debating Noah

Fant and you're concerned, and Jawan Johnson's available, that's the Spider-Man meme. Let me just ask you one more Metcalf-Lockett question. Would you guys start DJ Moore against the Bucs over the Seahawks guys? 1,000% yes. I would start DK over DJ Moore if Lockett's out. I would start DJ Moore over both if Lockett plays.

Okie dokie. All right, our next game is the Rams and the Chargers. And I think, you know, a couple of tough calls here, maybe three, with Akers and Herbert and Mike Williams, perhaps. But here's your not-going-to-lie kind of weak stat of the game. The Rams are averaging 16.9 running back carries per game in losses, but they have had 19 or more running back carries in three of their last four losses.

Really, I just want to see how many carries Cam Akers can get. He had a bunch last week, but that's not the typical thing there. So I asked you a bunch of Akers questions earlier. Jamie, it sounded like you were pretty high on him. Where do you come out on Cam Akers? Top 15 running back. I think you've got to buy into what he's done over the last month. Four games with either 100 total yards or a touchdown. His numbers have

popped with Baker Mayfield being used in a passing game clearly, which is nice to see. Figure two catches, maybe three. Figure an opportunity here with a chance to run the ball. I don't want to all of a sudden say that this Chargers run defense is fixed. I think it's a good chance for Akers to have another solid game. I just wonder if with Akers and Higby, and he's a tough call too,

I guess. Well, you guys are starting him, but with Akers and Higby, I just wonder if we're getting a little carried away based on what happened against the Broncos. You know, that was obviously arguably the best game of the season for the Rams. The worst game that

we've seen maybe any team play all season in the Broncos. You usually just don't get that many carries from Cam Akers. You certainly don't get three touchdowns and then Higby obviously had his best game. Heath, could we go into this game overrating the Rams a little? Maybe overrating

the Rams a little bit, but we saw Cam Akers with a 100-yard game the week before that. He's played 75% of the snaps in each of the last two games. It's the first time in his career he's played 75% of the snaps in back-to-back games. I think he is fully healthy, fully recovered, and this Chargers run defense gives up tons of, like, I know they didn didn't give a lot of points to Zach Moss, but he was still picking up five yards of carry on a pretty regular basis. So I still expect

they're going to have great success running against the Chargers. I think Akers is a, and it's not like we have Cam Akers ranked as the top 12 running back. Okay. And Akers is averaging 4.6 yards per carry in his last six games. In his last two games, he has a 19 yard run and a 21 averaging 4.6 yards per carry in his last six games in his last two games he has a 19 yard run and a 21 yard run those are his longest runs of the season and he has five targets in his last two games which is nice that's nice which is so he's got that going for him start uh sit the rams wide receivers and start tyler higby i don't know if i overlook that i mean maybe i overlook this i I kind of poo-pooed Higbee earlier in the week, but

last week was his first game without Ben Skoranek, and I know that's not a huge deal, but it is sort of a short area target kind of guy. I don't know. Does that factor in at all? Is that a big boost for him? If you're looking for a white guy with an 8 on his jersey across the middle, there's

only one of them now. So that helps. Just like he's had such a disappointing season. And now you guys have him so high. I don't think that's fair. Like, I think you have to remember, Tyler Higbee was like tight in 22 in ADP. He's not had such a disappointing season. There were no expectations for Tyler Higbee.

Well, for a guy who's, if I look at the updated rankings, I mean, I think Jamie has him sixth this week. Yeah. He hasn't really been that, you know, James got him fifth. Well, I mean, again, you know, you're talking about what the, what the tight end landscape has been, you know, and, and to be fair, you know, you, you say he's at this point in season, in the beginning of the season, he was a must start PPR guy. Yeah. You know, so he, he, he certainly had that going for him.

And then, look, there's a quarterback change. And in the quarterback change, Kup got hurt. Robinson got hurt. There's nobody really of significance in this passing game, even the great Ben Skronic, that, you know, has prohibited Baker Mayfield from leaning on arguably the best pass catcher on the field for them. So it's not an easy matchup.

You know, this is one of those teams, the Chargers, that the numbers are a little skewed because when tight ends, the great tight ends have played them, they beat them up. Mostly Kelsey. But Derwin James now banged up again. And, you know, I don't think you should count on a touchdown per se for Higby, even though he's got three in his last two games. But you should count on probably a hefty amount of targets and receptions.

And so, you know, I think he's fairly safe at this point, knowing what, again, the position. Like, if you tell me Andrews, Waller, Higby, the one that stands out to me is Higby. Well, if Lamar Jackson plays, who would you start? No, obviously that changes things a little bit, but I'd probably still start Higby and PPR. You know, I mean, Andrews doesn't have a great history against Steelers.

I just, Higby had five targets two games ago. That's the thing. He had 11 targets last week, but he only had five before. You also mentioned those. Would you rather start Jason Hill? No, I think I would actually put Higby seventh, maybe sixth.

The only guy that Jamie has behind him that I would disagree with is Goddard. I'd definitely start Goddard over him. But again, you're talking about Goddard against a team that arguably is the best against tight ends all season. That doesn't really bother me that much, but fair.

No, I just was bringing it up. Tight ends is so bad. It's even worse this week with Waller and Andrews being so unreliable. Heath, you're a little lower on Higby of ninth. It just comes down to, you know,

and you know, Heath has said this a few times, you know, how, how much this week is, is frustrating for me. I'm, I'm at the point where I'm,

I'm trusting hot hands at this point, you know, and, and Higby is so involved with Baker Mayfield. Like, why would you get away from that? If that's the guy that's gotten you to this point to go a different direction?

So if you've been sitting Goddard or have Goddard and Higby and you want to go Goddard, I'm not going to fight you. But if you're talking about, I picked up Higby because of Mark Andrews' struggles or now Darren Waller's situation, to me that's an easy one. You've been the Dalton Schultz defender.

Would you go Dalton Schultz or Higby? I forgot about Dalton Schultz defender would you go Dalton Schultz or Higby I forgot about Dalton Schultz I would go Dalton Schultz I think I would go Dalton Schultz and I would go Dalton Schultz

I'm just going to stick with that are you going to say Dalton Schultz is more likely to score a touchdown than Tyler Higby yes I do think he is. Do they have the same number of touchdowns this season? They do? They do. I still think he's much more likely because Dak Prescott is more likely to

throw touchdowns than Baker Mayfield. All right, starters to Justin Herbert. Two straight games with fewer than nine points. Starters to Herbert. I'm starting him. I got some questions about with Eckler banged up. Is their seed locked in? I don't think so.

I don't think their seed is locked in, but they're going to be somewhere between six and seven. Their seed is absolutely... Why? They could be five. They're a game behind the Ravens. Yeah, if the Ravens lose out and the Chargers... I don't know who would have the tiebreaker, but if the Ravens lose out,

then the Ravens go to 10 and seven, and the Chargers right now are nine and six. The five would be worth it. Yes, the five gets you the AFC South winner. Right. I mean, they the AFC South winner. Right. I mean, they could lose to Jacksonville. Yeah, I mean, look, Herbert, I think you've got to understand what you're getting at this point.

A lot of past temps, terrible red zone production. If he gets you two scores, you're going to be great. If he doesn't, you're looking at a game like last week. I do think one thing that's been overshadowed because he hasn't got into the end zone in the last couple of weeks is since he's got Mike Williams and Keenan Allen both on the field together,

his efficiency in terms of yards per pass attempt, he was like six and a half yards per attempt for the first 13 weeks of the season, which is awful. It's really bad. He's been seven and a half yards per attempt the last three weeks, basically. So's really bad. He's been 7.5 yards per attempt the last three weeks, basically. So, things are better. They just haven't got into the end zone

recently. When I say their last five touchdowns have been rushing touchdowns from 1-1, 1-1, and three yards out. So, it's just great for Eckler. And it's easier to score against the Rams through the air than it is on the ground. Or has been this season. Yeah, it's just a matter of, is that catch going to go down to the one-yard line, or is it going to get into the end zone?

You know, what's going to happen on the next play? You got to start Austin Eckler. I understand he's banged up, right? But you got to start Eckler. 100%. Yeah, I mean, as long as he plays. I think the thing with Herbert, again, to talk about some of these other guys,

I'm not jumping from Herbert to White or Minchin. Chargers wide receivers, Keenan Allen's obviously a must start here. Mike Williams, start or sit, guys. He has in 10 healthy games, he has five games with 11.6 or fewer PPR fantasy points and five games with 19 or more PPR fantasy points. That is so Mike Williams, start or sit. I would start him, but this is most likely where Ramsey goes,

and it could be very tough for him. Again, it's a matter of who you have in comparison, so if you want to have a few of those conversations, we can, but for the most part, I think you're probably starting Mike Williams for the potential upside. I would start DJ Moore over him. I'd start Christian Watson over him if he plays. Full PPR, I think I'd start Greg Dortch over him. I'd start Christian Watson over him if he plays. Full PPR, I think I'd start Greg Dortch over him.

I would start Mike Williams over Devontae Adams and Mike Evans. Okay. I agree with all of that, except for Dortch. Unless we knew for sure he's lined up in the slot and playing the same amount of snaps. Okay, and then sit Gerald Everett, and the Chargers DST is startable for sure. All right, we'll take a break.

We have six games left, so we've got to pick up the pace here. We will when we come back on Fantasy Football today. Denver is at Kansas City. Okay, do you want to start anyone other than Jerry Judy for the Broncos, Jamie? No, but I think Sutton in three receiver leagues, he's on the cusp. Give me a real quick thought on Latavius Murray, because Latavius Murray gets you around 10 PPR points most weeks. And last week obviously was awful, but thoughts on Murray? Well, last week was a change because Chase Edmonds was there. So I think you have to

factor in last week being awful. Three guys now sharing the ball uh new new coach so to me murray is kind of hands off so if you if you're desperate you need a flex go ahead but you know i i just i don't want to trust it okay well just to clear up the usage in that game mac was a non-factor until the final drive of the game. Murray and Edmonds were basically splitting snaps in the first three quarters. Edmonds was the passing downs guy. Murray had almost all the carries. So probably Murray losing his catch potential. But still, based on last week,

would be probably the ball carrier. But yeah, he's very unappealing. So Jerry Judy is top 12 for you guys. And I don't have to really get that into it. He's just been awesome lately. In the last three games, he's ninth among wide receivers and targets, fifth in catches, sixth in yards, and second behind Justin Jefferson in catches that have gone for 16 or more yards.

Start him. Sutton, we said earlier, is a number three guy. If Dulcich plays Heath, would you consider Greg Dulcich? Yeah, absolutely. If he was played and cleared and no question about his playing time, he would be a top 12 tight end for me. Definitely over Darren Waller, over Taysom Hill, in the Tyler Higby range.

As far as the Chiefs go, do you think the Broncos' defense bounces back and is respectable in this game, or is this just they're done? What does Russell Wilson do? He's decent. He's in, you know, 230 yards and a touchdown or two. Doesn't turn it over twice in the first quarter? Just once. I think they're respectable then.

Okay. I mean mean they were down 27-0 before you blinked in this game and then Russell And they almost won. I

yeah this defense you can't trust them. No I don't mean as a DST I just mean like the game script and which Chiefs

which Chiefs are you no doubt about it starting Mahomes and who else? Kelsey. No, I'm sorry, Kelsey, of course. No Juju?

Like, Juju's no doubt about it? I mean, Juju had a good game against them the last time, but this has still been the strength of this defense. So he's in that borderline range, for me at least, of DK Metcalf, Mike Williams, Brandon Ayuk. You know those guys where, you know, you see certainly some upside, but you also can see the flaws.

I'd probably say similar things about McKinnon, just because you never know if it's going to be a minimal usage game, but I do think that they want to get him the record that he may or may not want, which is to score a touchdown in five consecutive games. It'll be the first time anybody's done that since 1970. A running back scoring a receiving touchdown. Running back scoring a receiving touchdown.

Oh, I was like, yeah, that doesn't... Running back, running back. Zeke's already crushed that record. No, okay, running back scoring a receiving touchdown in five straight games. Gotcha. Okay, so just back to Juju real quick. He's had a couple of real stinkers in his last four games,

but in those two games, Mahomes threw 27 and 28 times for 223 and 224 yards. When Mahomes has a regular game, Juju's almost a lock for 17 PPR points. So I just want to say that. I'm confident in him as a number two guy. Sounds like you are too. Yeah, low end. Low end start are too. Yeah, low end. Low end starter, yeah. Yeah, I think he's a must start in number three league,

and he's a questionable guy in a two wide receiver league. So, I don't know. McKinnon drives me crazy, but okay. I mean, look, you said it before. The Chiefs are one of the teams you would say is a lock to win this week. I think at this point, assuming that that's the case, Mahomes is chasing the MVP right now, right? Not chasing, he's trying to lock up the MVP.

So is this a pad to stats game for him? We're going to see just because I made the joke on HQ yesterday about how much the Chiefs like records. And they have done some things, especially with Kelsey, of trying to get him certain records at certain times. They've got all kinds of numbers and things they're chasing. Mahomes probably unlikely, but like 750 yards away from the passing yards record. Kelsey is got a chance at his own tight end receiving yards record and his, and the tight

end catch record. And then McKinnon with the possible five straight receiving touchdowns record, if they know about that one. We'll find out. It could be a record-chasing game. What about Pacheco? He's the only guy we haven't talked about. Would you rather start Pacheco or Latavius Murray?

Pacheco, for sure. That's not close. Pacheco or Tony Pollard? Unless, again, you get word that Pollard's really going to be limited. It's Pollard. Unless, again, you get word that Pollard's really going to be limited. It's Pollard. Pacheco or, as of right now, Aaron Jones?

Jones. Jones as long as he's okay, yeah. But Pacheco over Swift. Bam Knight or Pacheco? Who? Bam. I'll take Bam. I'll go Pacheco. Alright i'll take bam i'll go pacheco all right that's it uh nope dst kansas city's dst fourth for jamie 12th for heath um just just to tie this in and again you'll have another

conversation about this later uh tom pelosaro said on the nfl network that tony pollard is very much in doubt. Wow. Okay. Jacksonville's at Houston. Stat of the game. Justin Herbert, 25 points. Jalen Hurts, 23. Daniel Jones, 21.

Patrick Mahomes, 36 points. Are the only quarterbacks to score more than 17 points against the Texans. They have held Justin Fields to four points, Trevor Lawrence to nine, Derek Carr to 15, Tua Tungabailoa to 17, but he left the game early. Deshaun Watson to five, Dak Prescott to 15 fantasy points.

You know, it's interesting. And on the bright side, three of the last five quarterbacks to face the Texans have thrown 39 or more passes. So I asked you earlier, I know you guys are starting them, but Heath, start or sit, Trevor Lawrence. had three of the last five quarterbacks to face the Texans have thrown 39 or more passes so I asked you earlier I know you guys are starting them but Heath starter Sid Trevor Lawrence I am starting Trevor Lawrence I mean we we don't have 12 quarterbacks we like I'm not starting Gardner Minshew or Mike White over Trevor Lawrence I'm starting him okay so like if we're not getting away from Herbert after what he's done the last two weeks we're're not getting away from herbert after what he's done the last two weeks

we're definitely not getting away from trevor lawrence yeah i i was gonna say you know what i said about higby he's he is as dialed in as a quarterback you'll find right now he just looks so good he does and so using his legs peterson has just been fantastic and you give if if they win the division he's coach of the year i don't care about what anybody else has done. To turn what Urban Meyer's disaster was into the playoff team, that's very, very impressive. Coach of the year. All right. They've got so many good candidates.

I can't remember a year with so many good candidates. Like Shanahan with three different quarterbacks to win that division. Sirianni could very well win it. Dable, Salah. Dan Campbell if the Lions make the playoffs? It is a good year. All right. He's not

going to win it, but he's done a good job. Yeah, that's a good one too. Steve. Sure. Okay, so Trevor Lawrence or Justin Herbert. Who would you guys rather start? Lawrence.

Lawrence. Lawrence or Dak? Lawrence. Lawrence. Okay. ETN's a must start. Kirk is not a must start kirk is not a must start and well if you look at the receivers that have actually done well against the texans it's always outside guys they're amazing against slot receivers

they don't really get a lot of targets against slot receivers but any thought to actually if you go back to the first time these teams played it was marvin jones was the only one who had a good game and inggram was solid too. So Juju was not playing in the slot against the Texans? All I know is the numbers they give up to players who start the play

lined up in the slot, to wide receivers lined up in the slot. They give up the second fewest yards. So Juju, you know, Juju plays both spots, you know. He moves in and out. But I think Kirk has a much higher slot percentage than Juju does both spots. He moves in and out. But I think Kirk has a much higher slot percentage than Juju does. Anyway, just bringing that up, any thoughts on the Jaguars receivers real quick?

I think Kirk is, to me, a low-end number two in PPR and a borderline guy in non-PPR. And Zay Jones is not far behind him in both formats. Would you start Brandon Cooks in this game over either Kirk or Zay Jones? Not there yet. I would go Kirk Cooks Jones. Kirk Cooks Jones. Zay Jones has also a pretty simple formula.

When Trevor Lawrence throws a lot, Zay Jones is awesome. When Lawrence throws like 31 or fewer pass attempts, Zay Jones does not do well. And teams usually don't throw much on the Texans, but they are lately. Pete Prisco has talked about this a lot, that since the Jaguars have moved Darius Williams outside, their pass defense has been much better.

Okay. So that's a Cooks thing. Evan Ingram is top four in non-PPR, top two in full PPR. Start him over everyone but Kelsey. And that's it. Wait, did we get that right, though? Because you wanted us to have Kittle second.

I mean, I would put Kittle second, but that's fine. Maybe I'd put Ingram second in PPR because Kittle doesn't get a lot of targets. That's why I have it. Yeah. That was on Monday. I don't want you yelling at me. I wasn't going to yell at you.

When do I yell at you? It's been at least three years since I've yelled at you, I'd say. Three years? Probably. We're on a good run. Let's talk about Brandon Cooks, though, because the Jaguars, I guess getting better, but they're 19th against receivers.

Cooks had nine targets and a touchdown last week. Would you start Brandon Cooks or Jahan Dotson? I'll take Cooks and PPR, Dotson and Nunn. I am going to go Cooks in both, but they are right in the same range. Mike Evans or Brandon Cooks?

Cooks. I've got Evans higher. Bam Knight or Brandon Cooks? Cooks. I will take Bam Knight. Jaguars DST or Chiefs DST? One of those is playing Russell Wilson. One of them is playing Davis Mills.

Davis Mills is better than Russell Wilson. I don't believe that Davis Mills is better than Russell Wilson. I'm kidding. But you both have, I think you both have the Chiefs. I am going Chiefs DST. I've been called out for not having Jacksonville's DST high enough, which means that Jacksonville's DST is going to be awful. I would call you out for not having theville's DST high enough, which means that Jacksonville's DST is going to be awful. I would call you out for not having the Chiefs DST high enough, too.

You have them 12th? Okay. How many did they score last night against the Broncos? Yeah, probably not good. Well, they did have a touchdown. Did they? Yeah, that was how they got up 27-0. I think they had an interception for a touchdown.

So they probably had a good game. Let's see. Yes, they had a huge game. Actually, they had six sacks and a touchdown against the Broncos in Week 14. I'll move them up. Miami at New England. Small sample size stat of the game.

Jalen Waddell in two games with Teddy Bridgewater. Just the throws that Bridgewater made when he was on the field because Bridgewater has not started a game. He's come in in relief twice. Waddle had one catch for 19 yards on two targets at the Bengals, and three catches for

77 yards on seven targets against the Vikings. Also, Waddle in his last six games overall has had a target share below 17% in three of the last six games. He's pretty big play dependent. Starters hit Jalen Waddell, guys. Start him, but in that same low-end number two range.

As Kirk and for you, Metcalf? Mike Williams, Brandon Aiyuk. He's better than those guys, but in that range. I would start Garrett Wilson and Jerry Judy and DJ Moore over him if I had all four of those guys. Agreed. Boy, would you? Wow. He's Jalen Waddell. He had an 84-yard touchdown. I think there's a real chance

there's a disaster. Jalen Waddell without two has not been the same guy. It's pretty limited. I think there's a real risk of this Dolphins team starting Teddy Bridgewater going into Foxborough, just not really scoring.

Dave likes Bridgewater this week. You guys are not feeling that, right? No, I think Dave's been kind of all over the place with Bridgewater because Tuesday morning when we discussed him, he was Teddy, Teddy,

Teddy. And then on HQ, he was, I backed off my Teddy take. Okay, let's see where he has him. In his latest rankings, he is Bridgewater 18th. I think he was all the way up to 12 at one point. Okay, so nobody's that high on Bridgewater.

Obviously, the appeal of Bridgewater if you're in a two-quarterback league is the two wide receivers. It doesn't take much for them to make a huge play for you, right? This is why the Dolphins have Teddy Bridgewater for this situation, because he's proven backup, proven starter in this league at times, and hopefully can still get them to the playoffs. But yeah, as Heath said, there's real potential for failure. Tua's been great.

Mike McDaniel's been amazing as a play caller. And the last month, whether it's just teams figuring them out or poor play or some offensive line, you know, injuries, Austin Jackson not being there at the right tackle spot. It's been it's been a little bit of a disaster. So, you know, it seemed as if they were turning in the right direction against Buffalo. And then whether it was the concussion or just poor play last week, they took a huge step back in the second half. And now it's a back-up quarterback on the road against Bill Belichick. So you've got to really take all those things into account.

Are you sitting the Dolphins running backs? Yeah. I would like to, yeah. Are you sitting the entire Patriots passing game? I would like to, yeah. Are you sitting Mike Kosicki? Yep. No, this is the week sitting by Kosicki? Yep.

So this is the week for Kosicki. He caught two touchdowns from Teddy Bridgewater earlier this year. So Stevenson, we

talked a lot about yesterday. Would you guys start Cam Akers or Amandre Stevenson? Amandre. Yeah.

How about Leonard Fournette or Amondre Stevenson? Ramondre. Yeah. How about Leonard Fournette or Ramondre Stevenson? Fournette. Okay. And definitely, if Pollard doesn't play, definitely Zeke, right? Yes. Okay. So. Zeke is a top five guy if Pollard doesn't play.

Yeah. Patriots wide receivers. Okay, that's it for this game, right? Yeah, that's it for this game. Oh, wait. How about the... You guys have the Patriots DST top five. Heath, you have them number one?

Crazy. I just told you what I think could happen to the Dolphins. Number one. 49ers have got to be number one. Cowboys and Niners have to be one, too. Jamie's got it right. Dave's got it right. Heath, adjust the rankings. Cowboys and Niners have to be one, too. Jamie's got it right. Dave's got it right. Heath, adjust the rankings.

Cowboys and Niners have to be one, too. I will. All right, fine. Pittsburgh and Baltimore. All right, stat of the game. I don't have bad stats of the game to this today. I'm sorry, everyone. I could look up a fun fact about Baltimore if people would prefer that, but running backs are averaging

3.2 yards per carry against the Ravens in seven games since they acquired Roquan Smith. However, however, last two games, Cleveland, 4.9 yards per carry. Tyler Algier, 4.1 yards per carry. So I don't know if that's anything. I'll say the most encouraging thing

for Najee Harris going into this game is that before the Lamar Jackson injury, the Ravens were first, second, or third in terms of fewest running back carries per game. Almost no running backs would ever get more than 13 carries. But since then, you have had Nick

Chubb, I think Latavius Murray, and Tyler Algier, all with a decent amount of carries, all with 14 or more carries. So, they're just not as good offensively. They don't possess the ball for as much without Lamar Jackson. So anyway, Najee Harris, guys, I know it's a tough matchup. He did score against them last time he played. He had six catches last week.

Jamie, how do you feel about Najee? If you tell me right now he's going to be that involved in the passing game, then I have him ranked too low. But it's hard to figure because the three games prior to that, he was a non-factor in the passing game, including the first game against Baltimore. So this feels like a 6-3, 9-6 type of game, and we've certainly seen Baltimore do that.

You referenced the Browns game. It was 13-3. I just don't see a lot of points because these two defenses are so good. So for me, Najee Harris is a is a flex option yeah I think he's a he's a poor man's version of Tyler Algier he's not going to be as efficient he doesn't have as good a matchup they both had the one week spike in passing game but you can't really count on that so yeah Algier is a low end number two and Najee's uh more of a flex Kenny Pickett has five games this season with 38 or more pass attempts in those five and Najee's more of a flex. Kenny Pickett has five games this season with

38 or more pass attempts. In those five games, Najee Harris has three, three, six, four, and six catches. So that's what it is. It's not like he played more on third down or anything like that. It's just he will catch more passes if Kenny Pickett throws a bunch of passes. And I don't think this is

a huge pass volume game for Pickett because I don't think the Ravens are going to score that much. Right. The total in this game is 35. So who do you want to start in this game? No one. Shane. Absolutely no one.

Can't think of anyone that I want to start. Friar Muth? Maybe just because of his position, but it's tough, it's tough. It's really tough. You know, I mean, you know, Dobbins had the big game against them in the first meeting, but the last two weeks, the Steelers run defense has been absolutely terrifying. You know,

what they did to the Panthers, you know, so which Panthers offense was it or which Steelers defense is it? You know, I think you got to give the Steelers defense some credit because then they did the same thing against Josh Jacobs. Now granted you heard the complaints from Jacobs after the game that they got away from the run, but give the Steelers run defense some credit. And so I think just knowing what the offense looks like for Baltimore right now, where it feels like it's completely broken. Dobbins breaking off that 44 yard run, which he should have scored on, you know, probably normal J.K. Dobbins, but, you know, gets them down to the inside the five.

I forget where he ended up, but, you know, you know punching it in you know play or two later that i don't want to say take that away and you know you're getting that because it's still an 80 yard day for him but you know it's it's two guys splitting touches which you know i got burned by it last week because dobbins was my start of the week that edwards is still a significant factor could be him falling in the end zone this week they both don't catch passes the receiving cores are both in some tough spots based on the matchups that they're dealing with. So yeah, this is an easy game to avoid if you can. Gus Edwards, by the

way, is averaging 5.2 yards per carry this season. That is now all four seasons of his career between 5 and 5.3 yards per carry. And Mark Andrews I guess we definitely have to talk about. Which tight end do you like better in this game? Fryer and Booth right now. I think I have Andrews, I guess we definitely have to talk about. Which tight end do you like better in this game? Fryermuth right now.

I think I have Andrews slightly higher with their both low-end options, and I'd rather start Tyler Higby over both of them. How about Njoku at Washington? I don't like Njoku very much. So you'd start those guys. Jamie would start Njoku over Fryerm, over Frymuth and Andrews. Yeah, I think Njoku's... The first two games with Watson were certainly encouraging.

Then he played Baltimore, and then he played in the snow. How about Dalton Schultz tonight? Schultz over Frymuth and Andrews. These guys over Schultz. San Francisco is at Las Vegas. Stat of the game, Christian McCaffrey and Melvin Gordon. I said this yesterday. Christian McCaffrey and Melvin Gordon are the only running backs to score

more than 13.4 PPR fantasy points against the Niners, and they have not allowed 60 rushing yards. You should probably clarify that. Why? Because McCaffrey was not on the Niners when he did. Well, I think that's implied. No running back has rushed for 60 yards against San Francisco this year.

Oh, God. The floor is so low for Josh Jacobs. Where did you guys end up ranking him? Jamie, you can start. I am in the process of adjusting following the car news, so he will be probably closer to 20. I hope that Stidham throws the ball to him still.

But it's just, it's terrifying. It's absolutely terrifying. If you're Jacobs at this point, do you even want to play? Because all you're doing is risking injury when you're going into free agency. Like if I'm him, I'd be like, you know what? You're sitting car. He's not coming to the building. I'm going to go play cards with him. You know, good luck. I think it just depends on, does he want the rushing title? And I don't, there's no way to know that. I will say like my only case for Jacobs is that if you look at the running backs against the 49ers as a whole, they've given up about 20 fantasy points per game to running backs

over the last three weeks. They've given up about 17 per game to running backs over the last three weeks. They've given up about 17 per game to running backs over the last five weeks. Really? There are not that many running backs that touch the ball for the Raiders. They're really giving up that many points over the last few weeks? We had 17 fantasy points

for the three Washington backs combined last week. We had 19 fantasy points for the two Seahawks. We had 23 fantasy points for the two Buccaneers. I mean, it should be noted that... You get to start all the Raiders running backs this week. Well, that's the difference, though. Josh Jacobs gets 90% of the team's rush attempts. Maybe.

But it really... Okay, this is a PPR conversation because if you're not playing in a full PPR league, then it's even less appealing because a lot of that is just catches. It's just really hard to get any yards on the ground against the Raiders. But, I mean, if you're in a PPR league, like I said, in his career, Stidham has thrown, I think, 61 passes or something, and he's completed about 52% of them, which is bad.

But he's thrown 26% of his attempts to running backs. I have no idea if that's going to hold up, but you could easily see Josh Jacobs PPRing his way into a decent game. Hard to see him running his way, though. To your point, Keith, about the rushing title, the guy he's competing with is not playing this week. That's true.

And that is who? Henry. Oh, der. Der. Okay, Adams or Mike Evans? Adams. Evans. Wow.

Adams or DJ Moore? Moore. Moore. Adams or Tyler Algier? Tyler Algier. Algier for sure and Nolan. I think I'd still go Adams and PPR. I mean, just think about this.

Adams has 18 targets the last two games and has been miserable with Derek Carr. Yeah. Now he's got to go with Jared Stidham against the 49ers. This just feels absolutely awful. But you know what's weird? The Niners have actually been really bad against receivers this year. They've been bad against receivers at times this year.

They've also faced good quarterback play in some of those games. This could be a total disaster. I mean, total, total disaster. But last week they gave up 77 yards and a touchdown to McLaurin, 76 yards and a touchdown to Dotson, 52 yards and a touchdown to Samuel. They weren't facing good quarterbacks last week.

By comparison, yes they were. I mean, maybe, but still, I mean, that's what, 19 targets for those three guys and like 200 yards and three touchdowns. I don't know. They've had their moments. They were great against the Seahawks. They gave up a 75-yard touchdown to Trent Shurfield.

It's weird. For as great as this defense is, giving up the six most fantasy points to wide receivers is a little weird. What did we see at times with Devontae Adams without Aaron Rodgers? Very, very rare, but not good. Actually,

I think one game. Am I crazy? Oh, no. One game last year with Jordan Love against the Chiefs. Got a ton of targets. Did nothing with it. But there was the eight games, I don't know, six years ago, whatever the heck it was, when Rodgers missed the last half of the season.

And Adams was good. He was something like top 12. Not elite, but he was good. And that was with, gosh, who were their quarterbacks then? I don't know. Scrubs. The Packers quarterbacks then when Rodgers missed? I wanted to say Brian Hoyer, but I don't think he was on that team.

I don't remember. Brett Hundley? Brett Hundley. That's what it was. I got the initials right. Brian Hoyer. All right. Brock Purdy.

We haven't talked about him. Brock Purdy is your third favorite streamer, right? Behind White and Minshew in some order? Minshew White? Yep. Okay. Would you start Daniel Jones against the Colts or Brock Purdy at your third favorite streamer, right? Behind White and Minshew, in some order? Minshew, White? Yep. Okay, would you start Daniel Jones against the Colts or Brock Purdy at the Raiders? Jones.

Jones. Jones. Purdy or Aaron Rodgers? Rodgers. Ooh, I got a good one. Tom Brady or Purdy?dy purdy and then brandon iuk is like a borderline number two guy something like that yes i think again you know it comes down to um they clearly can still win next week and Minnesota loses if Minnesota wins this week. But if they somehow are not going to get the two seed,

they may sit guys next week. The only way that's happening is if they lose and Minnesota wins. Right? The only way that week 17, the only way they're eliminated from the two seed is if they lose to the Raiders

and Minnesota beats the Packers. So yeah, I guess that situation is not really relevant. But I do think getting IUK to 1,000 yards is something that they will try to do. Okay. Kittle is top four. You guys have Ingram ahead of him and Kelsey. And who would be the other one ahead of him?

Hawkinson. Hawkinson. Okay. Start the Niners DST. And sit Darren Waller if you can. We'll go to our last game here. It is Buffalo at Cincinnati. I mean, it's the best game of the week, but it's kind of an easy one for fantasy, right, Heath? Are there any tough calls in this game?

Yeah, I mean, I don't want to start the running back for Buffalo, Devin Singletary, but I think in a flex conversation, he is a tough call. I think Gabe Davis, in a similar way, is a tough call. I think Gabe Davis in a similar way is a tough call. And then if Hayden Hurst is able to play, he might be kind of a Dawson Knox is kind of a tough call. Knox is yeah. How do you guys feel about Dawson Knox on fire?

Again, hot hand. And, and you know what? I think, look, I don't know if this is correlated, but I think you can make this case. Josh Allen, I've laid it out.

He is not throwing the ball deep nearly as much lately. Now, if you look at the A dot or the air yards for pass attempts, you wouldn't see that. But just in terms of the take the top off the defense, 35-yard pass, air yard pass down the field or more, not happening as much as it was. That could be benefiting Dawson Knox for sure.

Also, since he hurt his elbow, first nine games you had 13 pass attempts of 35 or more air yards for Josh Allen. Those went for 440 yards and four touchdowns. Since he hurt his elbow,

in six games, he's thrown seven passes of 30 or more yards, only four passes of 35 or more air yards, and they've all been incomplete. So he has not completed a single deep ball, really, of 35 or more air yards since he hurt his elbow. I looked at all four of them. I would say two of them should have been caught. One of them, I don't remember, Gabe Davis just wasn't looking up. But it is a big difference. And Josh Allen just he just, he hasn't been that good passing the ball since the elbow injury. It's benefited

Dawson Knox, I think. By the way, which quarterback do you prefer in this game? Allen. Since week eight, Joe Burrow is QB4 per game. Josh Allen is QB5 so must start guys even though Allen's getting it done with his legs

more than his arm confidence in Diggs this week? still starting him the opposite of the hot hand but I'm not sitting him would you start Devin Singletary over a Dolphins running back? I would would you start Devin Singletary or Isaiah Pacheco?

Pacheco. Pacheco. Yeah, it should be noted. The Bengals run defense is nasty. Really, really good. And I can't wait for this game, and the Bengals are going to win. I already bet my $10 on it, so let's go. Best bet.

Okay. Thanks, guys. Can't believe you mushed the Bengals. No, I didn't. We're good. Remember my best bet last week? It was an absolute lock. Eagles plus six.

Spiking? No, Eagles plus six. And we just barely hugged onto that one. Thank God I got it at plus six. All right. Have a good day, everybody. Talk to you at 2 o'clock for the live stream. Apparently, Heath is going to swing on by for a little bit.

Looking forward to that. For Jamie and Heath and Thomas, I'm Adam. Let's go get a win. Good luck tonight. We'll talk to you tomorrow.