Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (NFC); Beat the Waiver Wire; Cardinals-Seahawks Recap (11/21 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: November 20, 2020

Last night's game was a quasi-dud, but the RBs were good. Which Cardinals RB will be better rest of season? Is now the time to trade Tyler Lockett? ... News and notes (11:15) with a lot of discussion about the injuries in the Lions-Panthers game, then we'll look at some Week 11 tough calls (19:05) including Ezekiel Elliott vs. Amari Cooper, Todd Gurley vs. J.D. McKissic and how much we trust Michael Thomas this week (before the Taysom Hill news). We've got "Beat the Waiver Wire" (28:00) and the Startometer (30:45) for CLE-PHI, CIN-WAS and ATL-NO ... Start or Sit for Bucs-Rams (34:25), Packers-Colts (46:04), Eagles-Browns (55:22), Bengals-Washington (1:01:00), Cowboys-Minnesota (1:07:15), Falcons-Saints (1:10:00) ... Email us at [e-mail] You can also download and subscribe to the full-length Fantasy Football Today podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-podcast/id261735167 Follow the new FFT Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/FFToday Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCviK78rIWXhZdFzJ1Woi7Fg/videos Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter 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

This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. I'll tell you what I did was a spectacular play. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. What a play. Off to the races. Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Ben. Welcome to your Friday show, everybody.

This is Fantasy Football Today. And last night's game was a fill-in-the-blank. It was a blank fantasy game, Dave. Good. Perfect. Good at what? Perfect. Perfect?

It was not perfect. It was a quasi-dut. Jamie must have been playing against DeAndre Hopkins. You had Kyler Murray have his worst game of the year in terms of fantasy points. You had Russelller Murray have his worst game of the year in terms of fantasy points. You had Russell Wilson have his second worst game of the year. It was a quasi-dud. That's the answer I was looking for.

Quasi-dud. Nah, it was good. I think people who were brave enough to start Tyler Lockett were very happy. I think people who were brave enough to start Carlos Hyde were very happy. Drake and Edmonds were good, no matter what the format. And did we see the Seattle defense get a little bit better?

And could they be the DST that you coast with for the next several weeks? Maybe. Oh, yeah. If you can still pick them up, you should, because some leagues you can, and that would be Philadelphia and Washington and the Giants. No, it's Philadelphia, the Giants, the Jets, and Washington

are their next four games. Yeah, I mean, it was kind of like a drowsy first half. Second half was pretty good. We'll talk about that game. Seattle winning 28-21. That safety in the end zone was a huge play. We got the DeAndre Swift news. Bad call?

Yeah, the holding happened in the end before it was moved. Did you hear Mike Pereira's explanation? No. He kind of felt like the holding didn't start until the end zone. It looked like it to me and to most people, but to the referee,

the expert, he didn't really start actually holding him, turning him, he said, until he got into the end zone. So I think Mike Pereira, I think he sort of straddled the fence there, but I think he thought it was a good enough call. I mean, he had him sideways grabbing his jersey right up the line of scrimmage. All right. Take it up with Mike.

Take it up with Mikey P. A lot of Lions news, including DeAndre Smith, but also Kenny Galladay. Everybody missed practice, basically, for the Lions. We'll talk about that. No, Marvin Jones was limited. Oh, that's good stuff. Yeah. Are we going back to Ezekiel Elliott this week?

Are we trusting Todd Gurley against the great run defense that's given up only one rushing touchdown to the six running backs that have had 15 or more carries against them? That would be the

New Orleans Saints. Jameis Winston this week. Tom Brady this week. It's all going to be some good stuff. Some beat the waiver buyer. Let's get to the, before we do that,

let's get to the game. Seattle 28 and Arizona 21. All right, Chris Carson should be some good stuff. Some beat the waiver buyer. Let's get to the, uh, before we do that, let's get to the game. Seattle 28 and Arizona 21. All right. Chris Carson should be back next week. And, um, let me ask you this. Who would you rather have in a PPR league rest of season?

We'll start with the Cardinals, Kenyan, Drake, or Chase Edmonds. Still say Drake, but it might depend on format. You said PPR league. I did. Yeah. Um, I mean, Drake. You said PPR League? I did.

Yeah. I mean, Drake, Edmunds only had six touches. Yeah. Yeah, if this is the Drake you're getting, then it's Drake. If you're going to give him four catches a week, three catches a week, anything in that range, he'll be the better of the two. He's looked good since he's come back from the injury. Well, hold on.

Well, should we not? He had eight catches going into this game. That's what I'm saying. If this is the Drake you're getting, then you'd rather have Drake. If this is not the Drake you're getting, then you'd rather have Edmonds. Okay. But you have to make the evaluation now. Do you really think he's going to be involved in the passing game,

or is this just going to be that fluky game? It's probably going to be that fluky game. But I still see him as their main running back, their short yardage goal line guy. He's probably going to outperform Edmonds more often than not. I think you can, in PPR, start both. Do you have any concerns

about Russell Wilson that maybe they will become more of a running team, go back to their roots a little bit. Wilson was pretty conservative in this game. How many times did we see him kind of load up and not take the shot downfield and then tuck it and run? He had over 40 rushing yards.

And obviously they ran the ball pretty effectively in this game. This was tied for the fewest pass attempts of the year for Wilson. Do you think that this is going to be concerning where he won't be mega awesome? I think to a man, to a person, every beat writer I saw last night on Twitter for Seattle was praising this as the best game that they played all year. And so offense and defense.

And so this was a Pete Carroll game. And this was kind of my expectation going in was that they were going to be a little bit more conservative because they got one of their veteran running backs healthy. You kind of assume that DK Metcalf was going to have a tough game just because of what happened to him the last two times he faced Arizona and he didn't know Tyler Lockett's health. And so, you know, obviously I was joking about how it was perfect game for, for, uh, for these guys, but, um, for Russell, I think if they can have him after throwing seven interceptions

the last two games, be a little bit more conservative, they probably would prefer that. And the fact that if Carson does return in week 12, they probably would prefer to still, you know, establish their own game because we know what teams are in the playoffs. You know, it's great to be throwing the ball all over the place, but you have to have a running game to be successful in the playoffs. And this team is clearly headed to the playoffs. So I'm sure they want to get that aspect of their game fixed on top of the fact that this was one of their best defensive performances because Carlos Dunlap has been a difference maker since they added him and they were able to get a pass rush for the

first time all season. So they don't have to maybe have some of these heroic comeback efforts from Russell Wilson. So I think I wouldn't be concerned about it because if you tell me he's running 10 times, he had 10 carries in this game. I'll sign up for that with how he usually plays. So I think he'll be fine. I wouldn't be concerned about it because if you tell me he's running 10 times, he had 10 carries in this game. I'll sign up for that with how he usually plays. So I think he'll be fine. I wouldn't really panic about Russell Wilson. But I wouldn't expect him to be the number one quarterback in fantasy from this game forward. I don't think he'll do it.

I think if they've got Carson, then that means they've got Carson and Hyde to get that run game going. And if the defense is better and they're playing worse opponents, they don't need Russ to throw 35 times all over the place. Right. Maybe those opponents are bad enough where he can just be so efficient. And a game like this?

Sure. Yeah. But that's part of it, though. It's like, you know, DK Metcalf on five targets could have still, you know, four for 80 in touchdown. Right. And let's address Metcalf because that's probably what he should have had. He had a 40 yard catch called back.

So that would have been four for 86. I think it was exactly 40 yards. Maybe it was a little more than that. If it were 40 yards, it would have been four catches for 86 yards and a touchdown on six targets. He schooled Patrick Peterson on a play that got called back on a hold. And as Chris Towers mentioned on FFT and five, that happened to him a few weeks ago against the Cardinals. He would have had a walk-off touchdown catch in overtime and got called

back. So look, you don't have to worry about him facing Patrick Peterson again. And you know, he's fine. Lockett had a nice game. He was starting 85% of leagues. Do you think real quick,

do you think Carlos Hyde eats into Chris Carson's production? Or do you think they just go back to making Carson the workhorse? Carson will play next week. I think Carson gets the type of workload that Hyde had on Thursday. And 20 carries between their tops and running backs. So, most Garbo had six for 31. I figure it's probably eight for Hyde because he's a more proven player. Yeah, and then Carson gets the rest.

Carson will get around 15 touches a week, a little more than that. Okay, and then finally, anything else to say about maybe Christian Kirk? Larry Fitzgerald has had eight catches for 62 yards both games against Seattle. Same numbers. Crazy.

Christian Kirk? Tyler Lockett. Okay, you know what? Let's go back to Chris Kirk in a second. Tyler Lockett. Do you sell or do you, do you hold? Oh,

you can see what you could get in trade for Tyler Lockett. I don't know how many leagues still have their trade deadline to go. It's already passed in half of my leagues, but sure. You can see what you can get for Lockett. Knowing what we know about Seattle, potentially not being this crazy passing offense moving forward. Right.

Not giving him away. I just don't think you're going to get what you expect in return from him. But you never know. That's why you put it out there. What would you want? Would you trade him for Ezekiel Elliott? In a heartbeat. Yes. Really? Yes.

Christian Kirk, do you consider four catches, 50 yards on six targets? And DeAndre Hopkins had 51 yards. I mean, this really wasn't a bad game for Christian Kirk. Just kind of a, I don't know. It was a bad game for everybody from the Arizona receivers outside of Fitzgerald and PPR. So, you know, you throw this one out. Seattle had a great game plan.

They played well. I want to see something, though. How many games has Kyler Murray thrown for more than what he threw last night? He threw, what, 269 yards?

I know the rushing numbers were down for him. Yeah. That was the biggest disappointment of all. Worst rushing game. Yeah, that shoulder injury was obviously a problem.

Yeah, you know, he's having a really good year. Yeah. He's picked it up with the passing. He's had a few games with 360, 380 yards. He's had a number of games where he's been right around 270, 280 yards. So this was fairly typical for him. Larry Fitzgerald kind of threw a wrench in it.

Okay. Yep. He was using them as a short area receiver. They've got the Patriots next week, then the Rams, Giants, Eagles, and Niners after that. Who do you think was started in more leagues, Kenyon Drake or Chase Edmonds? Edmonds. I'll say Edmonds. Wrong! Kenyon Drake,

just barely. 47% started, Edmonds 43% started. Oh, all right. Dave, that was Thursday night football. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah na na na i started edmunds over drake in the two league in the league where i have both of them it was ppr yeah yeah okay nice do we both ask the same exact question we did yeah yeah oh my god nerds uh by the way um so my free agent pickups in the guillotine league were uh amari cooper and amari cooper i picked up joe mixon nice so two

crappy players and uh who's that crappy i'm just kidding mixon's not crappy either just those two but all those other guys were at it i didn't see what the i didn't look at the transactions because i did quickly okay well i'm sorry you didn't get dobin Cook and A.J. Brown and Christopher Caffrey. All right. DeAndre Swift has a concussion. More on that in just a second. Let me promote a few things. Watch CBS Sports HQ, people. Noon Eastern on Monday

through Friday, 10 a.m. Eastern on Sunday. If you miss the noon show, you can watch it on demand on the CBS Sports app on OTT devices. Go to the CBS Sports app on your smart TV and scroll down until you see the FFT familiar faces. Sunday, we got FFT in five dropping at 8.30 in the morning. HQ, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Twitch at noon Eastern.

We got the Friday mailbag coming up. And make sure you're listening to the Fantasy Football Today in Five special episode. Saturdays with Jacob Gibbs, player props, you know, all those stats that Jacob Gibbs gives. You're going to love it. You're going to get some good advice for

player props, DFS, those types of things. DeAndre Swift has a concussion. If he does not play at Carolina, would you start Adrian Peterson or Kerryon Johnson? Not with confidence, but if I'm desperate at running back and I missed out on all the other guys

off the waiver wire, then yes. And what I've seen from the lions over the past couple of weeks, yes, they've committed to Deandre Swift. He played 73% of the snaps in their last game. Carry on has actually played more snaps the past two games, but Peterson's had more touches,

not just the last two games, but basically the last five games since the buy over carry on. So I would imagine that AP would be the primary back carry on would fill in maybe work passing downs. So who would you start him over? Would you start Peterson over? Let's say the Baltimore running backs of Rams running backs. I would start him over Akers and Henderson.

I would start him over the Ravens running backs, yes. Yeah. What did you say about Malcolm Brown? You would or you would not? I would start Malcolm Brown over Peterson because Brown is going to be involved in the passing game. I think Carrion would be probably more involved in the passing game than AP,

but both guys are probably going to get two catches at most. My God, Adrian Peterson has been so bad in his last six games. I don't think I can do the math right now, but he does not have a carry of longer than 13 yards in his last six games. He's just been just awful. He needs volume. I mean, that's

where, you know, that's where he's at in his career. He's not going to have a lot of explosive plays. But he does have, in three of his last five, he does have at least 11 touches. And that's with Swift. So maybe there's something to it. I mean, look, he's old. He's too old!

Can't get those long runs anymore. He's slow. Okay, Kenny Galladay mispracticed. Everyone on the team is limited or out, something like that. Including Matthew Stafford. What do we make of this? We previewed this game yesterday.

What are we supposed to do about the Lions? I mean, if Galladay is out there and Stafford plays, I think you start Stafford as a low-end number one quarterback. It's a good matchup against Carolina. I don't buy their defense being good, as we saw last week. I think you can, you know, if Galladay's out, then you could go back to Marvin Jones. As we've seen, he's been fairly productive

in the last three games without Kenny Galladay out there. If everybody's out, you're not touching Stafford. You're touching the Panthers' DST. Okay. No Galladay, no Swift, no Stafford? No, no, no. I'm saying Stafford plays. I expect Stafford to be out there.

I would hope so. You're right. Then the Panthers defense becomes attractive. Joe Mixon mispracticed. Gio Bernard or Zeke? Gio. Gio. T. Higgins mispracticed with an illness. Clyde Edwards-Elair mispracticed with an illness. Not COVID.

Right, not COVID. Same with Duke Johnson. Teddy Bridgewater's likely out. Not COVID. Right, not COVID. Same with Duke Johnson. Okay. Teddy Bridgewater's likely out. So we previewed the Carolina-Detroit game yesterday, even though today's NFC home game. So let me ask you about this. With Teddy Bridgewater out,

Jamie, are you still confident in Mike Davis? Likely out, likely out. Are you still confident in Mike Davis as your start of the week? And should we be starting DJ Moore and Robbie Anderson? I don't think much would change, to be honest with you. You know, PJ Walker, I think, will come in and do some nice things. I buy in this offense. You know, I buy into what this, you know, system is.

So Mike Davis is still, I wouldn't change him at all. You know, I think it's Detroit's defense has proven to be very inept at stopping running backs, stopping pass-catching running backs. I think they would lean on Davis a little bit more. Joe Brady will be creative in how they, running backs, stopping pass catching running backs. I think they would lean on Davis a little bit more. Joe Brady will be creative in how they run things. So I'm fine with Davis. If you want to downgrade DJ Moore and Robbie Anderson, that's fine. But just make sure you're not sitting them for guys who are in similar or better situations. One thing that might help Mike Davis is that if it's PJ Walker, PJ will run. And so that rushing threat from the quarterback typically helps the running back because

defenses have to account for both players. Yeah. So that I was discouraged about Davis because his playing time was down last week. He played. I think it was right around 50% of the snaps. That was weird. But, you know, they fell behind and maybe they want to get somebody else

in there in that type of situation. But this week he's healthy and pj walker's in i'd be a little more encouraged i'd be excited to start mike davis but at the same time if he's going to run that means fewer catches in most scenarios for the running back which is you know yeah but if he's more efficient of a runner if he's more efficient of a runner and we're starting davis're starting Davis. Jamie's starting him because he thinks he's going to be great no matter what he does. And there's a great chance of that. But I think I'm starting Davis because I think he scores. The Lions have allowed so many touchdowns over the season.

I believe it's 18 total touchdowns to running backs. 13 rushing, 5 receiving, 9 in the last 3. That's ridiculous. If he doesn't score, it's just an unbelievable farce. Yeah, if he doesn't score, it'll be Curtis Samuel. Calvin Ridley was limited in practice. Please play Calvin Ridley.

He said he was itching to get in two weeks ago before the bye and they wouldn't let him. So play, damn you. Yeah, let's get a full practice in on Friday. That'd be nice. Alvin Kamara has a foot issue, but he says he's fine.

Devontae Adams, meanwhile, has an ankle issue and he says he's fine. Devontae Adams, meanwhile, has an ankle issue, and he says he's not guaranteed to play. Just so you know, Jamal Williams has now played five games in the last three seasons without Devontae Adams, or last two seasons, rather. Five games in the last two seasons without Devontae Adams. He caught a touchdown in all three games last year,

and he had eight catches for 95 yards in one of the two games this year. The other game was a dud, though. But he has seen a boost in his receiving production with Devontae Adams out. Drew Locke was limited in practice. Noah Fant practiced and seems on track to play. Sammy Watkins was limited. He may have had some type of setback.

He may not play at Las Vegas. And Green Bay, good news for them. the Adams news is bad, but both starting cornerbacks could be back this week. Kevin King and Jair Alexander at Indianapolis, which by the way, the Colts could be without starting safety, Kari Willis.

And those are your news and notes. I've got some tough calls. I wanted to ask you about, but first Dave, you seem a little stressed. Are you okay, man? I'm stressed. I think you need a moment to chill. No, no. What about, but first, Dave, you seem a little stressed. Are you okay, man? I'm stressed?

I think you need a moment to chill. No, no. What about me is stressed? Adam, I had the best weekend last weekend. My parents were in town. My in-laws were in town. My daughter had her bat mitzvah. And when we talk about these moments where you just need to chill, I've done it after calamity happens or after I put furniture together. This was a different type of moment to chill. We just celebrated. It was hours and hours after the fact. My wife and I are at home.

The kids are playing in the backyard. And I got that moment to chill. And I looked at my wife and I go, you know what? I'm going to have a Coors Light. And it was that rocky mountain goodness. It was crisp. It was clean. It tasted great. There was no aftertaste. It was fantastic. And I just was able to just soak in the moment of me getting older and everything's flying by, but also celebrating

my daughter, celebrating with my family. It was fantastic. So I used that time to chill. And I did it with Coors Light and it was refreshing and perfect. Drink it all in, and the iconic Coors Light mountains still turn blue when your beer is as cold as the Rockies. So, yeah, when you want to hit that reset button, reach for the beer that's made to chill and get Coors Light in the new look delivered straight to your door at get.coorslight.com. Get.coorslight.com. Celebrate responsibly, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado. Okay, I'm going to ask you about some tough calls. I'm going to do this in the sort of rankings dispute style, kind of quick hitters here.

JD McKissick or Todd Gurley in PPR? JD McKissick against the Bengals. Todd Gurley at New Orleans. I just told you New Orleans has faced six running backs this year that have had 15 or more carries, and Gurley's had 14 or more in every game. Gurley scored in all but one game. However, the Saints just don't give up rushing touchdowns. Those six running backs who had 14 or more in every game. Gurley scored in all but one game. However, the Saints just don't give up rushing touchdowns.

Those six running backs who had 15 or more carries, only one of them scored, and that was Aaron Jones. So in PPR, J.D. McKissick against the Bengals or Todd Gurley at New Orleans? They're back-to-back in my rankings, and I'm taking McKissick. And look, it wouldn't surprise me if Gurley scores. That's what he does.

I have a hard time saying that you should absolutely positively sit him. Are the odds against him this week? I would say, yeah, he's a bus candidate. But I do think McKissick continues to catch the ball because that's what he does. And that's what Washington's offense is all about. Saints are number one against running backs. Gurley's averaging 52.3 rushing yards per game.

Yeah, the Saints, number one against running backs, 3.43 yards per carry. And I think, I don't know if you've been noticing, the Bucs run defense hasn't been quite as great lately after since losing Vitavia. I think the Saints might be the best run defense in football. They're all, them and the Colts and the Bucs, I would say the three that are really in that discussion.

Let's go with the next tough call. A couple of Cowboys. Ezekiel Elliott at Minnesota or Amari Cooper at Minnesota. Ezekiel Elliott in four games without Dak Prescott is averaging 3.41 yards per carry. He has scored in PPR 11, 5, 8,

and 8 PPR fantasy points. And, I know you're going to say he had eight catches in his only game with Andy Dalton, but it's not true because he had, I think, no catches in the Washington game, and Dalton played most of that game. So Zeke or Cooper? PPR, it's Cooper.

In fact, I'm going Cooper and Lamb over Zeke in PPR. I'll take Zeke in both. I think fresh legs will help. I think them getting healthier across the board will help. And so I'm moderately encouraged by Zeke Elliott coming off their bye week. I mean, didn't you just see what the Vikings defense did to that Bears run game on Monday night? I'm just messing around with that. I think the Cowboys are going to have to throw

in this game. And Cooper's giving you modest numbers in PPR. Three of his past four. He was very good with Dalton against Arizona. He was. And I really like the matchup in the slot for Lamb this week. So I'm banking on Andy Dalton getting a little more time in the pocket and connecting

with those two. Yeah, I think the receivers will play well. I just think this is a game Zeke will find the end zone for the first time since week five. I think he'll be back involved in the passing game. Again, I'm moderately encouraged by him this week. What a sentence. Zeke hasn't found the end zone since week five.

I've got some sort of advanced stats on him if you'd like to hear them. I was going to save them for the game preview. By the way, Dave, you might be convincing me to start CeeDee Lamb. I already have him in my lineup because I have crappy players on my bench. Oh, great. What a sell job I've done. You've already got him in your lineup. Can we trade back? I'm starting him over Ronald Jones in a

PPR league. You have a couple of legal lineups there, buddy. Stop cheating. Me? What are you talking about? You have Jamal Williams on an IR spot for two weeks now. Dude, that's not cool. Yeah. Oh, my God. I didn't even notice.

I did not even notice. Oh, you didn't even notice? Have you been setting your lineup? It's in two different leagues. I saw it last night. I went looking to see who was cheating. No, it's not. Not me.

Not in IDP. I don't have him there. I have a Jamal Williams in one league. One league. One league. Let me tell you about Ezekiel Elliott, okay? ESPN wrote a good story about him. So the question was, is he facing eight men in the box, eight men fronts?

Among NFL backs, he has the fifth most carries against fronts of seven defenders or less. So no, he is not facing eight-man fronts. He is facing a lot of seven-man fronts and still doing poorly. As a rookie in 2016, he averaged 3.1 yards before contact and 1.96 yards per carry after first contact. This season, it's down to 2.06 yards before contact and 1.75 yards after first contact. For comparison's sake, Dalvin Cook is averaging 2.9 yards before contact.

Zeke's at 2.06. Huge difference there. And Cook is averaging 2.59 yards after first contact. Zeke, 1.75 yards after first contact. So, you know, those numbers are not kind to Ezekiel Elliott. They're not kind to his offensive line. And, you know, look, I know people think I have horrible takes and I say some wacky things. I just don't know if he's still a great football player.

I'm sorry to say it. I don't know if he's still a great running back. We haven't seen the explosive plays. It happens sometimes to running backs. It happened to Todd Gurley. Looks like it happened to Melvin Gordon. Is it happening to Zeke? I'm not ready to go there yet, guys.

But I think if he has another bad game, I think it's a discussion worth having. I think it's a discussion worth having after the season because you can't just make that call after four or five games. If it's consistent for the rest of the year where that offensive line let him down and the numbers are clearly different,

then we're going to say, okay, well, he needs the offensive line to be healthy in order for him to be good. We used to believe that Zeke would be playing well behind five old grandmas on the offensive line. It didn't matter. Maybe it will matter.

I found the two leagues where you're cheating. Let's get to this. Our magazine league, you have Jamal Williams in the IR spot. Okay, I do. Jeez. And our IDP league, you have Debo Samuel in the IR spot. Yeah, what's wrong with that? Oh. He's not in IR.

Oh, well, that's a problem then. I think we found the real gall, man. Who did Dave start against me last night? Oh, he started Russell Wilson and DeAndre Hopkins. I will take that in the July. Okay, moving on. Yeah, I'm sorry, everybody. That is

poor form on my part. Hazard. How much do you guys trust Michael Thomas? Is he a tough call this week? Because Heath has him in the 30s, low 30s. Wow. Wow. Heath has Michael Thomas in the low 30s? Unless that's Mike Thomas, the other one. But no, yeah, he's got him 32nd in non-PPR. I know Mike Thomas might be a flex. 26 in PPR. Yeah, I'm going to start him this week. It's Atlanta. They're not good.

I think Jameis will be good for Thomas. It's been a bad season. He's been, you know, banged up, obviously. He's had some issues with punching teammates. And, you know, he's at some point going to start to play well. It wouldn't be a shock if it's against Atlanta because they're not very good.

I've got him 15th in PPR. I don't think he's a top 12 guy this week, but I think he is still a guy that you want to put in your lineup. And I watched I watched that game and he doesn't look slow. He looks just as fast as he did before. So I don't think he's being hampered by injury.

His routes still look good. It's he's getting a downgraded quarterback this week. There's no question about it. You're right. It's a downgrade, but the thing that might be an upgrade is maybe Sean Payton does allow them to throw the ball down the field a little bit more because they know that Brees can't throw the ball downfield with the same level of success

that he has in the past. Is Thomas a downfield guy consistently? Are they going to throw five deep targets? I think we may see some more shots in the scene, you know, as opposed to, you know, a five-yard dig route or in route. We might see, you know, a little bit more of a skinny post.

You know, some chances 15 yards or more down the field. I think that'll certainly help Michael Thomas. And we know that Thomas can do that. I was thinking a little bit more about like 30 yards downfield. I don't know how many of those types of plays Thomas can be on the other end of. But, and this is why I kept him ranked where I have him. Winston threw 10 times last week. Five of them were to Michael Thomas.

Two were in the end zone. So he knows where to go with the football. Yeah. He's a top 10 guy for me. I'm not getting cute with Michael Thomas. He's top 15 for Dave. All right, let's move on then. Yeah, 15th. Taysom Hill. Where where would you rank tasem hill in your tight end rankings

if you some leagues you can play hill at tight end and he is my fan dual tight end and i quite frankly i think that is an absolute no-brainer you have to keep scrolling down to find tasem hill that's always a good thing inexpensive he is um so i mean it's not a no-brainer but it's it's a good value uh where would you rank Taysom Hill in your tight end rankings? 10. Right around there. I was going to say 13. So just outside of the top 12.

So who's the best tight end in that game? How would you rank the three tight ends in that game, Hill, Cook, and Hurst? Hurst, Hill, Cook. I think I feel the same way. Isn't there a chance that Jameis gets off to a rough start

and Sean Payton's like, nuts to this. I'm just going to put Taysom Hill in there. And then Taysom Hill gets 20 fantasy points. Rushing and throwing and catching and doing all that jazz. Let's beat the waiver wire. I'm going to be honest with you.

Most of the players I found are rostered in a lot of leagues. So I'm sorry about that. It was just sort of the way it worked out this week. But here we go. Zach Ertz is still 70% rostered. It's available in 30% of leagues. Take a look at Zach Ertz. The Seahawks DST, if you still can, at Philadelphia.

Giants, Jets, at Washington. Some leagues allow you to pick up players who have already played on Thursday. Obviously, you can't start them in the current week, but you can pick them up. The Washington DST, they're 72% rostered. They're at Dallas next week. They sacked Dallas six times a few weeks ago

and allowed three points at a huge game. But they've also been kind of bad against other good matchups, so keep that in mind. Maybe Nelson Aguilar, maybe a Raiders wide receiver at Atlanta next week. Wouldn't mind that so much. Maybe Henry Ruggs. Derek Carr, he's rostered in a lot of leagues. He's at Atlanta.

Tua's at the Jets. Maybe Jakeem Grant at the Jets. Maybe Daniel Jones at Cincinnati. Or if somebody dropped Darius Slayton. That's actually a good one. We know how much Cincinnati struggles against wide receivers. If somebody dropped Darius Slayton, that's actually a good one. We know how much Cincinnati struggles against wide receivers. If somebody dropped Darius Slayton, which I did,

if somebody dropped Sterling Shepard, which I know Jamie did in one league because he had to make those decisions this week, take a look at those two guys on their bye week. They get the Bengals next week. Maybe Evan Ingram too. Somebody could drop him. And the two DSTs I think in that game are appealing the Giants and the Bengals. You mentioned the Seahawks defense and you can still pick them up. I'd still pick up Carlos Hydes, I think, in that game are appealing the Giants and the Bengals.

You mentioned the Seahawks defense, if you can still pick them up. I'd still pick up Carlos Hyde, too. I mean, there's no guarantee Chris Carson plays next week. Cleveland's DST is 82% roster. That's going to be a tough one to find, but they're at Jacksonville. Maybe Teddy Bridgewater at Minnesota if you really need a quarterback next week.

There are no buys next week, so beat the waiver wire won't be as enticing. Saints DST is 82% rostered. They're at Denver. Josh Reynolds, maybe want to see what's going on there. Eight, I think seven or more targets in three straight games. Eight or more targets in three straight games. He's led all Rams

receivers in targets, catches, yards, air yards, red zone targets, and end zone targets over the last three games. Pretty good. He's 13% rostered. If people in your league aren't cheating and stashing Debo Samuel on our spots, he could be available.

I can't believe I'm doing that. I'm really sorry about that. That was a Jacob. By the way. Oh yeah. Good stuff. Jacob came up with that one. Green Bay against Chicago,

their DST. Jalen Rager. Jalen Rager is also getting a lot of targets lately. Target chair anyway. And he's 36% rostered. And he's facing Seattle. Good opportunity there. And Carson Wentz. People might be fed up if they dropped him. He's 78% rostered. I mean, Alshon, too, just in case he's back to form. Yeah. All right. Start-O-Meter. Or Jordan Howard.

Start-O-Meter. Let's go real quick on this. I want to get to the games here. I always take too long. Start-O-Meter on these three games. Cleveland and Philadelphia. Baker Mayfield. Zero. One. Kareem Hunt. Ten.

Ten. All right. Nick Chubb's obviously a ten as well. He's an eleven. Jarvis Landry, 30% target share in three games without Odell Beckham for Landry, but not a good matchup. What are you doing with Landry? Five.

I'm stashing Landry with the hope that when the weather starts to get better he starts to play better but it's supposed to rain again so I mean just another bad weather game in Cleveland. Okay. And Hooper?

Four. Yeah. Hooper or Taysom Hill? Hill. Okay. Carson Wentz? Two. No, that's too harsh 2.3 four any eagle other than miles sanders if urts plays yes if urts doesn't play goddard okay Okay. Goddard or... Oh, wait a minute.

Fulgham. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That guy. Remember him? Well, I don't remember him. Do the Eagles remember him? If the weather's bad, I don't think you can go with Fulgham.

But assuming they're not playing in a tornado, I think he'll be okay. Yeah, I'm just worried about his target share. I mean, you know, it's a one-game sample size, but it was a bad sample size. So I don't think he's a must-start. I think he's the number three receiver at best.

Cincinnati, Washington, Joe Burrow. Seven. Yeah, seven's fine. Giovanni Bernard or Joe Mixon. It's funny because like I like Gio by himself better than I do Mixon coming back. I hate saying that. I do too. It feels that way.

Gio is a eight in non-PPR, 9 in PPR. Okay, how about Tyler Boyd and T. Higgins? Higgins is a 10. Boyd is an 8. 9 for Higgins, 8 for Boyd. Start them. Start Alex Smith, 0 to 10? 3.

Okay. How about Antonio Gibson? 7. 8. Who do you like better this week, Gibson or McKissick in PPR? Gibson. Yes. Okay. McLaurin's a must start. Remember, the Bengals, it's like two wide

receivers every game. Any wide receiver gets more than six targets. They're always good. Cam Sims is a sleeper in DFS. Yeah. And if you're just absolutely done, you should be able to find a better receiver than Cam Sims on the waiver wire, but maybe you're in a deep league. Sims is someone to look at.

His playing time's been through the roof. Logan Thomas or Austin Hooper? Thomas. Thomas. Thomas. Thomas has 10 plus PPR in three of his past four. Atlanta at New Orleans. Yeah, but Hooper was playing really well before coming back to a terrible weather game.

You know, he was five catches three games in a row. I'd rather have Hooper than Thomas for the rest of the season. I'm not sure if I would. I wonder if Alex Smith and the check down mentality helps Thomas more. It might. Last game is Atlanta at New Orleans.

Matt Ryan. Eight. Ridley back. He's a 10. Ridley back. He's an eight. Ridley not back. He 10 Ridley back he's an 8 Ridley not back he's an 8 how about yeah Hayden Hurst 8

7 we talked about Jameis we've talked about Michael yeah alright that's it Emmanuel Sanders 4 3 ok go to the games Tampa Bay at the Rams Four. Three. Okay.

That equals seven. Go to the games. Tampa Bay at the Rams. Here's your stat of the game. I'm going to make a case for Jared Goff as a sleeper. Four straight quarterbacks have scored 20 or more fantasy points. They are Derek Carr, Daniel Jones, Drew Brees, and Teddy Bridgewater. Most of them were in the 20 to 22 range. But all four of them, Carr, Daniel Jones,

Breeze, and Bridgewater, threw multiple touchdown passes. We do know that the Bucs have a very good run defense, and we just know that Goff is not throwing the ball in the red zone. We talked about that on Wednesday. Very, very low red zone and green zone pass attempt numbers for Goff. But, you know, like, 20-22 points?

Maybe that's good enough to finish top 12 or close. I think you guys have them closer to 20. So I'm making the case for Goff as a sleeper. What do you think? I get what you're doing. And I think it's, I think it would be more possible if he had Whitworth at left tackle.

I'm nervous about that protection. And anytime Jared Goff's been in a game where defenses are able to pressure him, he wilts. He's that type of quarterback. So I, sure. You know, when we talk about Brady, I talk about how I think he can get rid of the ball quickly and make good reads and throw with good accuracy.

Goff could do that too, but I don't know if he'll be nearly as successful. And when they get inside the 10, it's not, all right, let's see where Jared Goff can go with the football. It's we've got three running backs. Let's rotate them in. Brown would be first and let's try and score on the ground i want to lay this game out a little bit for y'all tampa bay if you look at

the defenses the bucks are third in yards per play eighth in scoring defense the rams are second in yards per play second in scoring defense and i look at the theucs defense, though, and in my opinion, the four toughest matchups they've had have been the Saints, the Chargers, the Packers, and the Saints again, and in three of those four games, they gave up 31 to 38 points, and then you look at the Rams, and they've played the NFC East,

the Bears. They were great against Seattle last week, but I guess what I'm saying is jury's still out on these defenses, but right now they look like two of the best. And in terms of the offenses, did you know that the Rams actually average more yards per play?

Oh, I think they average the same amount of yards per play. They're 11th and 12th in yards per play, but the Rams run more plays. They actually have more yards per game than the Bucs, but they're not nearly as good in the red zone. So the Bucs score a lot more points. So that's kind of interesting there. Now let's get into the rankings. Tom Brady,

14th for Jamie, 11th for Dave, 10th for Heath. And we kind of talked about that a little bit earlier, but Dave, you were a little more optimistic about Brady. If you want to give a quick thought there. Yeah, just top 12 potential, but not necessarily top five potential. I don't see a three touchdown game coming for him, but I think he can connect for a couple of scores, decent yardage, hopefully not turn the ball over, hopefully not get sacked a bunch. I think the Bucks learned their lesson from the game against the saints and too many guys for him to throw to Evans, Godwin, Gronk, Brown, the running backs. I think that there's going to be so many weapons at their disposal,

and they're counting on Tom Brady to make the right read. I think he can do that. Keep the ball away from Jalen Ramsey, and have a good game. Not a great game, but a good one. Jamie, the Rams' run defense wasn't great at the start of the year, but in the last six weeks, it has been dominant. And of course, we know the Bucs run defense has been really good all year. Are there any running backs you want to start in this game?

No, and this is part of the reason I don't like Brady. When we've seen the Bucs get one-dimensional, he struggles because when the run game's not there to support him, he's had bad games. The New Orleans game is a perfect example of that. They didn't run the ball, and he was terrible because you get one-dimensional, teams know what you're going to do. The thing that's going to be tough for them in the run and in the pass is that monster in the

middle. Brady hates pressure up the middle. Aaron Donald is the best in the business, and he's going to disrupt the run game. Their linebackers are playing great. Leonard Floyd's having a monster season for them, and I think it's going to be tough for this entire offense for Tampa Bay.

I downgrade all of them, but the running backs in particular,. And I think it's going to be tough for this entire offense for Tampa Bay. So I downgrade all of them. But the running backs in particular, yeah, I think Ronald Jones is the safe for the two because you know his carries will be there. Leonard Fournette's probably a little bit safer in PPR, but I try to avoid both. Is Ronald Jones the best running back

in the game? Yes, he is the best running back in the game. Okay, so then let's spend the next 45 minutes talking about the wide receivers in this game. Who's the best and back in the game. Okay, so then let's spend the next 45 minutes talking about the wide receivers in this game. Who's the best and who's the worst? I'm going to throw Josh Reynolds in there, so I'm going to say we're talking about six wide receivers.

Who's the best and who's the worst? I would take Godwin as the best, but Cooper Cup not far behind. Mike Evans and Robert Woods make me nervous just given what their start percentage is probably going to be because Evans is most likely going to see a lot of Jalen Ramsey because he likes bigger physical receivers and Evans is their biggest physical. Let me interrupt you. I'm sorry. Good thought from Frank Stample on Twitch last night. He thinks Ramsey might spend the most

time on Antonio Brown because Evans is in the slot like a lot, 40% or something, something like, I don't remember the number, but Evans is in the slot a lot. And Antonio Brown for the, so far has not been in the slot either at all or very much at all. And we know Godwin will. So what do you think about Jamie? Would you think that maybe there's some merit to that? Oh, absolutely.

But I, I mean, we've seen Ramsey go inside too this year. He's, he's changed his game a little bit so um i just think that that's the the type of receiver that ramsey likes to shadow and i'm sure the rams will allow him to do that okay and uh so you said godwin then cup plus darius williams is playing really well for them too yeah but that's not a matchup that anybody will fear in tampa bay like brady's not going to think twice about throwing at Williams. Okay, I'm going to throw some running back names out there, and I want you to tell me which of the wide receivers in this game

you would actually start over these running backs. Mike Davis. For sure. No, no, no. Sorry. Tell me which of the wide receivers you'd start over the following guys. None. For sure, Mike Davis over all of them. Giovanni Bernard.

None. Yeah, I think I'd say none, too. I'm debating him versus Godwin. Godwin's my favorite receiver in the game. Let's go then a little bit lower. Let's go to JD McKissick. Godwin, Evans, thatissick. Godwin Evans. That's it.

Godwin. And that's it. Let's go with Clyde Edwards. He layer Godwin Evans. That's it. Godwin and cup. And that's it. Let's go to Damian Harris.

And let's say PPR. Godwin. Uh, Godwin and Cup. Okay. Dave likes him a lot. Damien Harris. How about Savan Ahmed? Let's only do a couple more here.

Yeah, Savan Ahmed, and then we'll do Naeem Hines. Ahmed first. Same thing. No, I'm going to go a little deeper with akmed it's gonna be godwin evans brown gronk too probably cup and woods so akmed will be behind them all in ppr so are you saying dave that you have all three bucks wide receivers ahead of cup and woods no i've got cup and i just didn't give you the right order. I've got Cup and Woods ahead of Antonio Brown. Okay. Do you guys both like Cup better than Woods?

Yeah, I do. Yeah, I mean, you've seen the targets for him, you know, including the 21 target game. Okay. So then I'm going to finish the discussion with this. Just give me like must start, good start, bad start. You start. Give me like one or two words for each player. Chris Godwin. Good start. Must start, good start.

Mike Evans. Leads the NFL in red zone and green zone targets. Mike Evans. Good start. Good start for Dave. Shaky for Jamie. Antonio Brown. Bad start. Flex. Cooper Cup. Good start. Flex. Cooper Cup. Good start.

High-end flex. Robert Woods. High-end flex. And Josh Reynolds. Bad start. Flex at best. It's funny how we're not giving him the credit. The other thing is, we've seen it

with our own two eyes. The Buccaneers, Carlton Davis shuts down. He's amazing. He got beat on a big catch last week. And we have seen that a little bit too. Think about the Giants game, how many chances Daniel Jones missed. And then the week after that, they were a mess. And like I said, they gave up 30 or more points in three of the four games against good opponents.

They crushed the Packers. I mean, there's been some vulnerabilities there. I'm I'm just, yeah, I don't know. I have a hard time. Trotterbacks struggle with pressure. These two guys,

we've seen very many examples of it this year where you get pressure on them and they wilt. And there's a lot of pressure on both of these guys. Fair. Which offense do you trust to handle that pressure better coming into the game? That's a great question. I mean, Which offense do you trust to handle that pressure better coming into the game? That's a great question.

I mean, I think you got to trust Brady more because of the offensive line concerns for the Rams. But the way that the Rams play, if they get their wide zone running game going, then their play action is fantastic fantastic And that's when golf picks you apart if the Bucks stop that which you assume that they're going to because their run defense is so Good and then golf gets in trouble. He's gonna be a disaster. That's what happening against Miami. And so This is an interesting game for both of these teams because you've seen when teams get physical with Tampa Bay They don't like offensively. They don't like it. That's what happened with New Orleans. This is a physical defense. That's true.

When teams get physical with the Rams, it's going back to the Super Bowl loss against the Patriots. They don't handle it very well. And so you mentioned that the schedule has been very easy for the Rams for the most part. You know, they've managed through some of their tougher games lately, the Bears and the Seahawks in particular. But that Dol that dolphins game, they got punched in the mouth by really good defense. And this is a really good defense.

And so I think the, the offensive line is going to be key for both of these teams as it is for most teams. That's not saying very much, but if Brady's getting pressure up the middle, he's going to start seeing ghosts again. And if golf is getting pressure anywhere, he's going to struggle.

So I think it's going to be a low scoring game. I'd play the under if you're betting it. Rob Gronkowski must start. He's in with a pulse yes okay has a touchdown catch in four of his last five games Rams or they're the fat in five straight he'd drop one against the same yeah yeah true that but he only had three targets last week that's why Heath had uh has him just outside the top 11th and non-13th in PPR Dave and Jamie have him top six and Tyler Higbee, a little bit of sleeper appeal there, right? For Tyler Higbee bucks allowed a touchdown,

a four touchdowns, tight ends in the last four games. Yeah. I mean, you don't know if he's going to be involved past four targets from game to game. Rams DST, low end starter bucks,

DST, a little bit better than that. In fact, Dave, we're just going to sit all the Rams running backs? Do we get into that? Yeah, I think so. I mean, Jamie, I asked him if there's any running backs

who wants to start. He said no. You agree? Well, I think we both agree that Brown is the best one. And it's just that Tampa has only allowed 11 or fewer fantasy points to eight straight running backs. There are eight straight games. A running back has had more than 11 fantasy points,

and it's been eight non-PPR. This is non-PPR in the past four. So their run defense has been good. Yeah. I'd start Brown over both Broncos guys and all the Ravens guys. Yeah, I'm with it. Okay.

Green Bay at Indianapolis. Do I have... No, I'm not gonna... Okay. Yeah, Green Bay at Indianapolis. There we go then. We're ready to move on. Here's your repeat stat of the game.

We gave this on Tuesday. A running back has 100 yards or a touchdown in every game this year against Green Bay. So who's it going to be? Who's going to get 100 yards or a touchdown? Hines? You got to try. Trust Naeem Hines if you can. You know, it's not a must start.

But, you know, if he gets the lead touches, he's going to have a good game. You'd think that would happen. If he does get the lead touches, he's going to have a good game because he's been so inconsistent. And Jordan Wilkins, just don't even bother. So, you know, one of these guys will probably score. Wouldn't be surprising if it's Taylor. But it wouldn't surprise me at all if Naeem Hines plays the most

and gets the most touches. I mean, two games so far for them this season that's happened. One was a disaster for them. One was a great game for them. Week one, it was a disaster because they were chasing points in a surprise loss to Jacksonville. And then last week, they had one of their best games offensively, and he was their best running back.

If I'm Frank Reich, I'm sticking with that until it, you know, fails. So I don't know why they wouldn't go back to Naeem Hines. He gives them such a different element offensively because you know when Taylor's in the game, they're probably running. Not a guarantee, obviously, but they're probably running. It's probably more of a power running game, power running attack, straight up the middle, something that's not very creative. They can do so many different things with Naeem Hines. It's not like he's just there and sproling his way through the season

when he's not getting carries. If he's getting carries, you saw it last week, he was explosive. It's the fear of the commitment not being there. After week one, when he had that big game in week one, there were five straight games where he didn't do anything. That wasn't running the ball to the same level. Okay.

I want to believe it, but in PPR, yes. Hines over Taylor, non PPR. I'm still going to go with Taylor because I think he can score. And I think that this coaching staff still wants to try to get him going. But every time Jordan Wilkins is on the field, I'm going to like scream at the TV curse. The other part of this was something like that with Hines is that this is a good offense field, I'm going to scream at the TV, curse, kill an angel, something like that. With Hines, this is a good offense that they're facing. If they're chasing points,

it's almost a certainty that Hines is going to be behind. That's for sure. That's the reason why I think you trust Hines. I know the Colts defense is really good. They had a great season, but Aaron Rodgers is playing at an MVP level and I don't think they're going to stop himgers is playing an MVP level and I don't think they're going to stop him. They may slow

him down. I don't think they're going to stop him. I don't think they're going to stop him. What if there's no Devontae Adams? Even if Devontae Adams is there, I don't think they're going to stop Aaron Rodgers. They'll slow him down. It'll make things easier if Adams isn't there. He's had great games without Adams on the field already this season. I think he'll have another good game as well.

He's had without Devontae Adams like four straight games with 30 or more points or something like that going back to last year. Both of them. Okay, yeah, 53, 32. Yeah, four straight games dating back to last year with 30 or more points

and six points for passing touchdown leagues without Adams. Now, this will be different competition for sure. But let me finish up on Naheem Hines here. Would you start him over Ronald Jones? Would you start him over Malcolm Brown? Yeah. PPR, yeah. How about Rex Burkhead or Naheem Hines?

Hines. I'd go Hines. Okay. That was your first stat of the day. Your second stat of the day is about Michael Pittman. He has seven and eight targets in his last two games. Against the Green Bay Packers, there have been 11 wide receivers with six or more targets. the day is about michael pitman he has seven and eight targets in his last two games against the green bay packers there have been 11 wide receivers with six or more targets and seven of them seven

out of 11 had solid games eight or more non-ppr points 12 or more ppr fantasy points so how many of them came in the last five without king exactly i field. Exactly. I think it's been fairly evenly distributed, but I can check on that. Do you guys have any faith in the passing game? Because, you know, I keep mentioning this. They haven't had a good running game. It's led to a lot of pass attempts for Phillip Rivers, and he's been kind of good three of the last four games.

Yeah, but that was against the Titans, and he played great. He just didn't get a huge fantasy game uh jacoby persett stole a touchdown he had over 300 yards and a touchdown in that game so it was 18 fantasy points and then the two prior to that i believe was detroit and cincinnati and the game that he struggles against baltimore so if king and alexander play I'd be more concerned about Rivers, but he's in that, oh, I'm stuck. I lost Breeze. Excuse me. I lost Breeze

and Josh Allen's on a bye and I didn't prepare. And so, you know, Rivers, Alex Smith, you couldn't get Jameis, let's say. These are okay options, but Rivers would be less attractive if the Packers' corners are there.

Okay, Rivers or Goff? I've got Goff. I'll go Rivers as of now, but if Alexander and King are in, then I'm going to play Goff. So here's the narrative on Aaron Rodgers that some fantasy managers have. He has just destroyed crap competition all year. He faced one or two really good opponents,

and he was horrible against Tampa Bay. And I just laid out that Tampa Bay's defense has actually struggled against good matchups, but they did not struggle against Aaron Rodgers. They struggled against good teams, I meant good offenses. And then he faced San Francisco, and they were, I don't know if they're good or not. He crushed them.

He also did good against New Orleans. I know they weren't the same defense that they are now, but he had a good game there. They were horrible when he faced them. But he did have a good game without Devontae Adams. Anyway, this is a team that gives up the second fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks. Only two have scored more than 18 quarterbacks,

but the competition hasn't really been that great against the Colts. So you have got, you guys have no problem starting Rogers, right? None. Okay. I mean, it's,

it's a downgrade if there's no Adams to an extent, you know, like he's still going to be top 10. Yeah. But like, if you have Rogers and Herbert, I'd start Herbert over Rogers and I'm starting Rogers over Herbert. You know,

I'm not gonna start Winston over him. I'm not going to start a burrow over I'm not going to start Burrow over him. The guys that are in the low-end starting range, no. Would you start Cam or Aaron Rodgers without Devontae Adams? Still Rodgers. I think I would too. Okay. Matt Ryan I'll take ahead of Rodgers.

Without Adams? Yeah. Start Aaron Jones. Jamal Williams, any interest? If there's no Devontae Adams, then he's in the flex conversation. And he's in the DFS conversation. Okay, talk to me about MVS and Lazard.

Don't expect Lazard to play a whole lot unless Adams is out. If Adams is out, then I think the Packers really don't have a choice. They'll put him out there. But MVS is going to be the same guy, whether Lazard plays, Adams plays, whichever. Downfield target.

Guy that Rodgers is going to try and take some chances with. Boom, bust, flex. He's got 10 targets the last two weeks. So he's been really successful in those 10 targets. Three touchdowns, but if he doesn't score, you're going to be really, really disappointed. And Adam, just your point about the Lions, like who they,

excuse me, the Colts, who they face, like it's, it's miserable. Yeah, it's so easy. I mean, like Stafford lit them up. Burrow should have had a bigger game. He doesn't get touchdowns, but he went for 313 in that game and he ran for a score. You know, you can say they did a good job against Lamar Jackson, but you know, not the same type of thrower, clearly.

Tannehill, they did well against. Huh? Tannehill. But Tannehill's offense line is a joke. Tannehill could have had, if A.J. Brown catches that ball, runs for a touchdown, it's a much different game. If Devon Adams is out, would you start Lazard or MVS over, let's say, Cooper Cup, Robert Woods?

No. No. Not those guys. How about Antonio Brown? Yes. Okay. Cooper Cup, Robert Woods. No, not those guys. How about Antonio Brown? Yes. Okay. If I needed somebody with that type of crazy upside,

I would start him over Brown, but I don't think I would rank it that way. Both Packers guys over all the Broncos guys. Robert Tunyon is a sit. Colts are great against tight ends. They haven't allowed a receiving touchdown to a tight end this year, but if Adams is out, Tunyon is a sit. Colts are great against tight ends. They haven't allowed a receiving touchdown to a tight end this year. But if Adams is out, Tunyon was actually a star when Adams was out. Would you start him?

His value would certainly improve, but low-end starter at best. He would make the top 12. All righty. So you might be able to pick him up if Adams is out. That's the only way we'd endorse that. 61% rostered Robert Tunyon. And I believe that is it for this game. Michael Pittman. Michael Pittman.

Okay, so if Adams plays, he's obviously the best wide receiver. Who's the second best wide receiver in this game? I think you can make the case for Pittman. And let me tell you something. We don't love Pittman this week because we're just not convinced. But he's 40% rostered, and this is definitely a beat-the-waiver-wire guy

because if he has another good game, then you might just be seeing a second-half breakout. He gets Tennessee next week. He just had 100 yards against them. He gets Houston, then Vegas, then Houston, then Pittsburgh. It's a great schedule for Pittman. It doesn't necessarily have to be a good game, but if it's still seven targets,

then that's something you buy into. Right. All right. So this is his toughest matchup rest of season. Michael Pittman is a beat the waiver wire guy for sure. And just going to guess we're not trusting a Colts tight end, right? No, but it's better for one of the two guys if Jack Doyle is out. Yeah.

All right. Philadelphia, Cleveland. That would be Allie Cox. Allie Cox. Philadelphia, Cleveland. Here we go. We got four games left, guys. Stat of, Philadelphia at Cleveland. That would be Allie Cox. Allie Cox? Philadelphia at Cleveland. Here we go. We got four games left, guys. Stat of the game number one.

Just a little note here. Miles Sanders has only caught 14 of 30 targets this year. That is terrible for a running back. And they've been so close to connecting. Last year, he caught 79.4% of his targets. So I think there is some receiving production still to come from Miles Sanders that we just haven't gotten.

So whatever, you're starting Miles Sanders. Stat of the game number two. Philadelphia, they're pretty good against wide receivers. Check this list. All of these players had 61 or fewer yards and no touchdowns against the Eagles. McLaurin, Woods, A.J. Green, Ayuk, Debo Samuel on my IR spot.

Juju, Marquise Brown, Slayton once, Cooper, Lamb, all bad games. So what do we do with Jarvis Landry? You can flex him in PPR. Yeah, I'd rather just stash him on my bench for now because, again, expect it to rain. They're going to run the ball. I think the Eagles offense is going to struggle because the Eagles offense just tends to struggle.

And so I don't think it's going to be a huge game for Jarvis Landry, but I do think there's big games coming. Travis Fulgham. Let's have a little discussion here. Since Jalen Rager returned, he has 12 targets. And those have been somewhat low pass attempts games for

Wentz. 27 in one of them. That's bad. But 37 in the other. And test attempt games for Wentz 27 in one of them that's bad but 37 in the other and that's low for Wentz but not that low so I'm guessing Fulgham is the only wide receiver you want to start for the Eagles yeah that's the case for me I don't want to start him at all that's interesting uh look at a touchdown in four or five games nobody was there the whole team was decimated. Okay, but he's still their best outside receiver, I think, and he should get more targets. Last week was the first time he didn't have seven targets

and 70 yards in his last five anyway. And I'm not giving the Browns credit for good pass defense because Mother Nature was on their side the last two games at home. No, the pass rush is going to be a problem for Wentz because miles garrett's having a monster season that's true which is why having a big rangy target 10 to 12 yards downfield is going to be something that helps him in this right but is that going to be i think it helps him more than it would help rager is that going to be where we have that time though because he guys now got it back two games in right they're're still using Richard Rogers. So they're still running out,

you know, the two tight end personnel, they have capable pass, catching running backs with Sanders or Scott, whoever they decide to use, whether they're connecting or not, they're throwing to them. You have Jeffrey back just on the field.

He only had one target last week. Doug Peterson said is, you know, his involvement is going to improve. So now there's another target or two or three or four or five, whoever that, you know, goes and Rager's obviously commanding targets.

It's a totally different scenario than what started for Fulgham because he was the only guy there. Rager wasn't there. Deshaun got hurt in that stretch. Goddard wasn't there. I mean, you know, it's just a whole slew of things that worked in his favor. I think he's a good number three receiver. I think he's somebody you definitely want to hold on to.

You're not going to drop him. But the other part of this is the way Cleveland slows the game down. And yes, you can factor weather into it. Deshaun Watson was 30 pass attempts last week. Derek Carr was 24 pass attempts. On the road at Cincinnati, 47 pass attempts for Burrow. But the game before that was Ben Roethlisberger, 22 pass attempts. Teams just don't throw a lot against Cleveland because of time of possession

and how that works in their favor. So I just don't know if Wentz is going to have the volume that's going to help Fulgham. He can score. I mean, I hope he does. I just don't trust it. After last week, that was a bad sign that he did not have the same level of involvement. Forget about the production.

Just the level of involvement wasn't the same. Okay. So Eagles tight ends. You said start Ertz if he plays. Start Goddard if Ertz doesn't play. Yep. Yeah. Low end starter.

Yeah. But Goddard's been so bad the last two games. Combined five catches for 48 yards on seven targets. Almost all of that production at the Giants. Yeah, he really just had one good game this year. Okay, so low end starters. So would you start like Jared Cook or an Eagles tight end? Goddard. Start Goddard. Yeah'd start Goddard.

Yeah, right. Okay, Baker Mayfield is outside of the top 20. He just does not throw enough. The Cleveland running backs are both going to be starts. Would you start Kareem Hunt or Chris Godwin? I think I may have asked you that. I'm sorry. I will start.

Kareem Hunt's not close. Yeah. All right, it's a good run defense here that the Eagles have. It's not close. Yeah. All right. It's a good run defense here that the Eagles have. Not that it seems to matter. It's a good run offense for the Browns. Yeah, they run on everyone. And then we talked about the Cleveland wide.

Okay, you're not really starting the Cleveland passing game, but Austin Hooper, one catch last week, two targets. But the previous three games, like I said, five catches in each of them, six or more targets in each of them. The Eagles have been pretty damn bad against tight ends so best tight end in this game is blank god as a player no as a fantasy guy uh i want to say goddard but i wouldn't surprise me it's hooper okay this is volume that the thing. Volume is so crucial for the Browns. They just don't throw their guys.

As Heath would say about Hooper and Goddard, five. Right. Cleveland DST, six for Jamie, 15th for Dave, 18th for Heath. Eagles DST, 19th for Jamie, 10th for Dave, 4th for Heath. So pretty different there,

but at least two of like, you could start the DSTs according to two of our rankers. Cincinnati at Washington. Your stat of the game. Ooh, this is fun. Alright, contrasting styles here. Washington allows the second

fewest fantasy points to wide receivers because they see the fewest wide receiver targets in the NFL. Only two wide receivers, three wide receivers, Marquise Brown, Marvin Jones, and Mari Cooper have had more than 72 yards against the football team. But this is a team that sees, like I said, the fewest wide receiver

targets in the NFL. Joe Burrow is second in the NFL in pass attempts behind only Tom Brady, and Brady hasn't had his bye. So a team that doesn't see any wide receivers targets against a team that throws the ball more than any other team in the NFL, I believe, per game. Pretty fun stuff.

So, with that said, Dave, your confidence in the Bengals passing game. What is it? It's good. It's high. I think that Burrow is going to continue to throw. I still don't give credit to Washington's defense, mainly for the reasons that you laid out. Last week, they tried to do something a little bit different against Detroit. They played a little more man coverage.

This was after the Lions scored on them early in the game. I don't know if that means that they're tinkering and that they're trying to figure out what might work and what might not work. But if they stick to their zone coverage, which is what they do a lot of, Burrow's going to pick them apart. He's much more efficient against zone coverages than Madden. So, Joe Burrow or Jameis Winston?

Burrow for me. Jameis. I think there's more upside with Jameis. The one thing I'm worried about Burrow, he came out of that game last week with a gimpy ankle, and I think almost every Washington defensive lineman, Chase Young included, former teammate of Joe Burrow for a brief moment, said he was pissed.

He asked Ron Rivera if he could go speak to the media. You don't hear this from young players like this. He wanted to take accountability for how bad they played. And so the nice thing for Burrow is Jonah Williams and Bobby Harder expected to play, so getting some healthy bodies there. But this pass rush is going to be a problem for him. I mean, pass rush has been a problem for him all season long. So he's going to get sacked.

He'll probably turn the ball over once or twice. He's going to have a very Jameis Winston-like game where he's probably going to be 300-2-2. Wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. Volume will definitely help. And, you know, again, Gio makes them more multidimensional in how they attack things. So that'll be a boost if he's out there

as opposed to Joe Mixon. But Burrow's a very good low-end starting quarterback this week. Again, I just think Winston has a higher ceiling. Would you guys start Joe Burrow or Derek Carr? Burrow. Okay. And Gio's a must-start if he plays. He'll play.

Gio's a must-start if Mixon does not play. Is Mixon going to be a top must start if he plays. He'll play. Gio's a must start if Mixon does not play. Is Mixon going to be a top 15 guy if he plays? Yep. Yeah, I think he'll be right in there. Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins, are they top 30 guys? Oh, yeah. Top 20. Top both of them.

All right, great. I've got Higgins in my top 12. Hey, all right. Let's do it. Hope he's out there. Yeah. And Tyler Boy Higgins in my top 12. Hey, all right. Yeah, same. Let's do it. Hope he's out there. Yeah. And Tyler Boyd, when he's had bad matchups, he's struggled.

We don't think this is a bad matchup as long as he gets the targets. Alex Smith is outside the top 20. Alex Smith or Baker Mayfield, if you're desperate. Smith. Smith, okay. I mean, Smith is the most passing yards in the NFL the last two weeks. And look at the Bengals the last few weeks. And look at the, look at the bangles the last few weeks, 30 points to rivers, 39 points to Mayfield,

21 points to Tannehill, 37 points to Roethlisberger. That's three of the last four quarterbacks. They faced rivers, Mayfield and Roethlisberger. It's not exactly Roethlisberger is great. The others too. Come on.

They all scored 30 or more fantasy points. They had 44, 28 and 46 pass attempts. And Alex Smith is throwing the ball or more fantasy points. They had 44, 28, and 46 pass attempts, and Alex Smith is throwing the ball a ton. So, they're, again, sleeper appeal. Yeah, I mean, Smith, you know, give him credit. The amount of time that he's throwing,

and something clicked for him in the second half where he was throwing the ball downfield more. He's feeling more comfortable, trusting his leg a little bit more. The hope would be that this game could be a sneaky bonanza with the way these two teams have a chance to score. You like the running backs because clearly we like three of them. And there's a lot of receivers that we like here.

Certainly one for the Washington side of things and two for the Bengals side of things. I wish it was three for the Bengals side of things. All right, Antonio Gibson. I don't see how a lot of people are going to be sitting him he's top 15 and uh jd mckissick is 21 in ppr for dave jamie and heath so he's just ahead of todd girley for dave in ppr he's well ahead of todd girley for jamie he's going to be ahead of duke. Is that right? Duke Johnson versus... Okay.

Yeah, non-PPR is easy to do. Non-PPR is easy to go with. Yeah, non-PPR, right. You're probably not going to be starting. He's so night and day in each format. It's crazy. Absolutely. And you know that stat I always give

about the wide receivers against Cincinnati that it's now 13 of the last 14 with six or more targets have either had 86 yards or a touchdown. My hope is that the second wide receiver in this game is J.D. McKissick who does line up. And be three guys because Logan Thomas has six targets the last two weeks.

Well, the Bengals aren't very good against tight ends either. No, they have been the last two weeks, but before that they allowed six touchdowns in three games to tight ends. Yeah, so it's weird. It's like, we're just making all these cases for all these pass catchers and Alex Smith is sitting there.

Like I think I like Smith better than Jared golf. Yeah. Okay. And Daniel. All right. I'm just happy to see Smith play. Oh yeah. It's pretty awesome.

Yeah. Uh, Terry McLaurin, by the way, just a little red alert for you i know you're all going to be starting them but in these two games with alex smith he has an 18 target share so you know it's not a i don't know if it's a great match those two but we'll see how it plays out of course you're starting him he's top 10 in both formats, I believe. Bengals DST is usable.

Low-end starter. Washington DST 7th for Jamie. 24th for Dave. Not really agreeing there. They're going to sack Burrow. That's what they do, and that's what Burrow does. Yes. If I go to the rankings page and I type in football, there they are. 7th,

24th, and 9th for Jamie, Dave, and Heath. Football team. Is this our last game at Atlanta, New Orleans? Oh, what happened to Dallas, Minnesota? Did I leave it out? All right, let's do Dallas, Minnesota right now. Okay. Would you like the quarterbacks in this game?

No. No. Cousins more than Dalton. Two quarterback leagues. Cousins more than Dalton. Two quarterback leagues. Cousins is fine. And why not Cousins? I mean, he's been really efficient. He's got 21 or more points in three of his last four games.

And 25 or more points four times this year in nine games. You don't have to throw that much. On the nose in two of his last three. How many? 36. Yeah, that's probably not going to happen in this game. Why not? Because we know what it is against the Cowboys.

I mean, before Roethlisberger. Cowboy was a different script. Yeah, that was okay. But before that, the three games before Roethlisberger, three straight quarterbacks threw 24 to 27 passes, less than 200 yards. But they all had two touchdowns. I'd be surprised if it's over 30, but it could happen.

All right, start Dalvin Cook. What do you think about Thielen and Jefferson this week? Those guys are annoying. Top 30 wide receivers. Top 30. Who's better? Thielen. Thielen and non-, Jefferson and PPR.

I don't know if Jefferson's going to get the targets. I mean, we're going back to the same thing that we just got done talking about with Cousins. Is he going to throw 30 to 36 times? But he seems to be favoring Jefferson at this point, though. Yeah, well, I agree. But there have been enough games to know that if Jefferson doesn't get the targets, he doesn't get the fantasy production,

and you're left feeling sad. So what about Amari Cooper versus Thielen and Jefferson? Cooper's better. I've got Cooper behind Thielen ahead of Jefferson. And Dave, you like CeeDee Lamb? I do. He's going to play in the slot against Jeff Gladney. That's a matchup from college.

They played against each other in college, although not necessarily play after play after play. Gladney has allowed a bunch of numbers from the slot. About a 60% catch rate, over 100 yards after catch, three touchdowns.

I could see Lamb just feasting on him. Who's the best tight end in this game? Lamb feasting, by the way. I like that. Dalton Schultz. If you told me Irv Smith was out, then I would take Rudolph. If Irv Smith is in, then I'll take Schultz.

And Smith has practiced each of the last two days on a limited basis. Okay, here we go. Ezekiel Elliott or Michael Thomas? Half PPR. Zeke I'll take Thomas Ezekiel Elliott or

a Steelers wide receiver format half I think I'm going to take the Steelers guys I'll take Juju and Deontay Johnson okay Zeke or Clyde?

Zeke. Alrighty. I think that's it. Dalvin Cook's a start. I think, right? Start Cook? I haven't finished my research on it yet. Not sure. He told us on Wednesday when we had a private

Zoom with him that he told Madison, get ready for some work this week. He also talked up Irv. Jamie, you asked him about if he could name a sleeper on both sides of the ball and Irv Smith was his pick on offense. Minnesota

DST is certainly in play. They're 79% rostered, but they're top six. So play them. Atlanta at New Orleans. Stat of the game, number one. Five tight ends have caught at least one touchdown against the Saints. And four of them had six or more targets.

This is against the Saints or the Falcons? I think this is against the Falcons. Crap. Typo of the game, number one. All right, I'll be right back and I'll check on that but I believe this was a Jared Cook stat he has a great matchup but he doesn't get targets Atlanta's allowed a

touchdown to a tight end in each of their past five but they haven't really played anyone five touchdowns five tight ends have caught at least one touchdown against Atlanta but four of them have had six or more targets and Jared Cook just doesn't really get that he's had that one touchdown to a tight end in their past five.

So yeah, I mean, like he's got Jared Cook 18th. You guys have him top 12 and non PPR top 14 and PPR. You want to talk about Jared Cook? Do you not? I'm curious. He was asked by the media about a season. He said he's having a down year. He admitted to it. And then he came out

and said, you know, he's hoping to rectify that. I'm just curious to see what's gonna happen with james you know james's track record they pointed this out when james was drafted you know that his his connection with nico leary at fsu and then it carried over to the start of his nfl career with oj howard and close to camera great yeah on a touchdown standpoint and so we'll see you know if uh if this factors in against a secondary that throughout the course of the season, more times than not, has been bad against tight ends. So the one capable guy that has struggled against them, really,

is Noah Fant. But we kind of know what Noah Fant has become. Yeah. Okay. Let's stick with the Saints then. Jameis Winston is like a low-end starter. Let's stick with the Saints then. Jameis Winston is like low-end starter. Just check the updated rankings. He is 12th, 14th, and 11th for Jamie, Dave, and Heath, respectively.

Would you start Jameis or Stafford? If Stafford's got everybody and he's practicing in full on Friday, I'm starting him. Yeah, right now I have Stafford ranked higher, but if Stafford does not have his guys, then he'll be lower. I wonder why Heath is low on Matt Ryan. He's got him 14th. You guys have Matt

Ryan in the top 10. It's so obvious. Matt Ryan is just, well, sorry, I didn't mean that as a slight to Heath, but to me when Calvin Ridley is playing and when Calvin Ridley and Julio Jones are healthy, you just start him. You know, he's really good. Is that basically how you guys feel about Matt Ryan?

Yeah, I mean, you know, I don't think they're going to have success running. You've kind of laid that out already with what Todd Gurley's looking at in terms of his run defense. He's coming off one of his best games of the season last week. He averages 22.2 points per game in his last five off a bye.

And so, you know, time to prepare. Opponent he's familiar with. A game where they're going to be throwing a lot. I think he'll be good, if not great. And Hayden Hurst is top seven, top five in PPR, top seven or non-PPR. He's coming on. Last four games, 54 to 68 yards, four to seven catches in each game for Hayden Hurst.

Saints are getting a little bit better against tight ends, but they still give up the fifth most fantasy points. Not last week. No, last week was the first time in a while that a tight end had more than 23 yards. That includes Gronk and Hunter Henry and TJ Hawkinson against the Saints. And Ian Thomas, not Logan Thomas.

Saints haven't allowed a touchdown to a tight end in four straight. And 62 yards is the max that they allowed to a tight end in that span. Yeah, and that was way more than any other tight end. Okay, so we know the deal here. There's a bunch of studs in this game. There's Julio and there's Ridley and there's Kamara. Gurley is an okay start because he scores all the time, but this is going to be a tough matchup for him. There's Ryan

and there's the tight ends are in play. Are there any sleepers in this game? You could call Jameis a sleeper. I'm like Olamide Zaccheaus, Emmanuel Sanders. Yeah, I mean Zaccheaus, if there's no Ridley, he saw the last time against the Broncos.

There was several. Cool. Yeah, I mean, Zaccheaus, if there's no Ridley, you saw the last time against the Broncos, you know, there was several. He had four for over 100. Cool. All right, that's it for today's show. Thanks, everybody. Good luck in week 11. We got the mailbag for you on Saturday. We got a bunch of stuff for you on Sunday.

Twitch, HQ, AskFFT on Twitter over the weekend. So, yeah, we'll talk to you throughout the weekend. The Bronx have placed Miles Garrett on the reserve COVID-19 list. All right, let's start the show over. Sorry about that. We'll talk about it on the mailbag.

That does make things a little more interesting for Philadelphia. Oh, I wish I'd caught that. Yeah, it'd be a lot better for him if he's not there. Meow. Okay.

We'll talk about that on the mailbag show. For Dave and Jamie, I'm Adam. Have a great weekend, everybody. See ya.