Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (NFC)! Lance/Hill/Huntley; Eagles RBs; Cardinals RBs (12/31 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 31, 2021

Let's start with some Fill in the Blank! We would start Trey Lance/Tyler Huntley/Taysom Hill over ____ (2:00). The stud RB we're concerned about is ____ (8:00). We would start Darrel Williams over ____ (8:40). The WR we like but don't love is ____ (11:30) ... Any concerns about the weather this weekend (15:00)? Also, your news and notes (19:40) and One Question for Each Game (26:00) as we discuss D.J. Moore, Ezekiel Elliott, Aaron Jones, Brandon Aiyuk and Antonio Gibson ... Start or Sit for Cardinals-Cowboys (34:30), Lions-Seahawks (43:10), Vikings-Packers (52:00), Bucs-Jets (57:15), Eagles-Football Team (59:40), Texans-49ers (1:08:00), Panthers-Saints (1:13:50) and Giants-Bears (1:16:40) ... Email us at [e-mail] Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kick off an exciting football season with BetMGM, an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League. Yard after yard, down after down, the sportsbook born in Vegas gives you the chance to take action to the end zone and celebrate every highlight reel play. And as an official sportsbook partner of the NFL, BetMGM is the best place to fuel your football fandom on every game day. With a variety of exciting features, BetMGM offers you plenty of seamless ways to jump straight onto the gridiron and to embrace peak sports action. Ready for another season of gridiron glory? What are you waiting for?

Get off the bench, into the huddle, and head for the end zone all season long. Visit BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older. Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? For free assistance, call the Connex Ontario helpline at 1-866-531-2600.

BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. Tell you what, that 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. Adam Acer, Dave Richard, Jamie Eisenberg here on Friday, December 31st. Dave, I promise I'm going to do that every day for the rest of the year. Giving out the date. Happy New Year. I'll let it slide today.

Today's a big day. Today is, it doesn't feel like New Year's Eve. I don't know. Because it's 8.43 in the morning. Do you have plans? Yes. You do? I do. I have plans. Plans have been made. I'm actually going to leave my house.

Jamie, do you have plans? And then come right back to my house. No, I have three children. You have three young children. You have to to qualify it i've got two older children they have plans ah there you go so who's gonna make it to midnight i will fall asleep at 10 30 and then my wife will nudge me because i'm snoring and then she'll nudge me again when it's 11 55 we will say happy new year she'll give me a kiss and I'll go back to sleep. How romantic. Jamie's always up, so he'll be awake.

And I'll hopefully be finishing. Jamie will be up when it's New Year's in Hawaii. Well, I hope everybody has an amazing New Year and hope we have an amazing finish to our fantasy season. And by the way, if you're playing into Week 18, so are we. We've got podcasts.

We've got a normal week of podcasts. Probably not a mailbag next week. We won't get a ton of emails, but normal week of podcasting next week. We've got to talk about the weather. We've got to talk about all the news and notes. We've got to talk about the COVID list. Let's do some fill in the blank real quick here. Assuming Jimmy Garoppolo is not starting, I would start Trey Lance over blank.

Hmm. mcgaroppolo is not starting i would start trey lance over blank um it's going to be all the basic guys that you're not really considering anyway like mills rothlisberger ryan carr tannahill tua he's ahead of all those guys in one league i'm going up against just an absolute monster of a squad in the king classic. Jim Coventry has built an awesome squad and Russ is my other quarterback. I think Trey Lance just has the shot at more upside. I'll like Lance more if Elijah Mitchell does not play, but I'm probably going to end up starting Lance over Wilson there for the chance that he delivers a few more points than Russ. Russ is safer. I think just based on what Dave's saying,

I feel the same way. So we're probably the more vanilla of the two. Heath, I think, is more aggressive with Trey Lance. So I think based on what he said on HQ on Thursday, I think he's starting him over Russ. I think he's starting him over Cousins. I think he's starting him over... Does he have an opinion on Taysom Hill or Tyler Huntley?

Yeah, I think those are the questionable ones. You know, it's Lance, it's Taysom, um does he have an opinion on tasem hill or tyler huntley yeah i i think i think that those those are the questionable ones you know it's lance it's tasem it's it's huntley and it's comparing them to russell wilson and kirk cousins because everybody else like dave said it's it's pretty obvious you take the upside of trey lance over uh the the the mediocre fantasy guys so it's just a matter of do you trust trerey Lance more than you trust somebody like Cousins, like Russell Wilson, and then Taysom Hill or Tyler Huntley. I would put Trey Lance behind all those guys. I like the veteran guys better too.

A little worried about Cousins with Kubi Ball. Look, I don't know what impact this will have, but it could be five degrees. I think it's supposed to be five degrees on a Sunday night. I just think two weeks ago, he played in a primetime game on the road in pretty cold weather, and he didn't even throw for 100 yards. I have no idea if the weather had anything to do with that, but I don't know. It's spooking me a little bit on Cousins. We're going to talk about the weather in a bit, but is that a consideration, Jamie? Because right now you have Cousins ahead of Lance.

I'm actually facing Heath in the podcast league, and he has both Lance and Cousins. I think he's going to end up starting Lance. But do you throw the weather in there as an X factor? And the prime time? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, those are things that Cousins obviously struggles with. Well, I mean, prime time mostly. We saw it against the steelers you

know where he could have had a huge game but it was the dalvin cook show uh we saw it against the cowboys earlier this season i know that because he was the start of the week that week and he was terrible and the cowboys defense was awesome um and it's you know it's it's kind of played itself out obviously throughout his history that you know sometimes he plays well and just loses but you know his record is terrible on in primetime games he So if you're concerned and you think that there is more upside with Trey Lance or more upside with Taysom Hill or Tyler Huntley and certainly the latter, excuse me, not the latter, but Huntley and Trey Lance are probably available in several leagues, then you take the upside of those guys.

I wouldn't fight you on it for sure. Like Dave said, he thinks there's more upside potentially with Trey Lance and Russell Wilson. I get it, 100%. You might be able to say the same thing with Cousins, but there are things in his favor. He crushed this defense the last time he played them. That was week 11. It was over 300 yards, and it was three touchdowns.

I know it was indoors and all that stuff. He also had Dillon in that game, too. I've got a couple of stats I want to throw at everybody because I just think that this is useful information. It's a pro for Cousins, and it's a con for Cousins. Here's the pro. He has over 20 fantasy points in seven of his last 11 games without Thielen.

That includes a couple of games that Thielen played and left early, but we know that Thielen's missed some time in the past. Cousins has done okay. I don't know about specific opponents and whether good or bad defenses, but that's that track record. Here's a track record that I think everybody kind of realizes with Kirk Cousins. He's had 19 or fewer fantasy points in eight of his last 10 primetime games, night games, whether it's on Thursday, Sunday, or Monday.

And, I mean, that's kind of the feeling I get about cousins is every time he's in a primetime game or anytime he's in like a real major playoff implication type game, he, we, we's down his leg and I'm worried about the week. We freezing on his leg because it's cold and on top of it. So I'm,

I'm just thinking that this could be, the matchup is great, and not having Thielen actually isn't that big of a problem based on the research I did, but trusting Cousins just feels a little, eh, I don't know if I want to do it. He's a player I would say that I like and do not love. Okay, next fill in the blank, and I do think that it's a really interesting setup

to have Tyler Huntley, Taysom Hill, and Trey Lance as potential starters this week with, I think, very low floors and probably pretty high ceilings. They're going to be interesting. And just, I don't know if we heard it in this answer there, but could you just rank those three? Trey Lance, Tyler Huntley, Taysom Hill. Jamie,ie you can go first how would you rank them then dave hill huntley lance same and hill is especially at the top because there are some guys who could potentially be missing for carolina that would make that match up a breeze and i don't mean drew i mean just easy for for new orleans yeah uh you are talking about Shaq Thompson. Shaq Thompson, Brian Burns, Hassan Reddick, Stephon Gilmore. And Gilmore's almost certainly not going to play.

All right, next, fill in the blank. The stud running back I'm concerned about is blank. Is Cordero still a stud? I don't think so. Anyone in your top 10 that you just feel a little about? I got to look at my top 10. DeAndre Swift. He's in your top 10?

Yeah, but I like what Dan Campbell said yesterday. Me too. Still, until we see what happens with the other two guys, I think you have to have a little bit of caution. He's 11th for me. He'll move to 10 if James Conner is active for Arizona. That's a good one. I don't think I've got any real concerns

about anybody in my top 10. I mean, Najee's in there. How about Kamara? Najee's had a bunch of games with 15 PPR points lately, so I can't complain that much. Are you guys all in on Kamara? Especially if that defense is missing those pieces. He just doesn't get that many touches with Mark Ingram, and he doesn't get that many catches with Taysom Hill. Are you guys all in on Kamara? Especially if that defense is missing those pieces.

He just doesn't get that many touches with Mark Ingram, and he doesn't get that many catches with Taysom Hill. So, I don't know. I think this is a good matchup. Get back on track. Feed him. I think so, too. I would start Darryl Williams over blank. Cordero Patterson.

Saquon Barkley. Devin Singletary. A Broncos running back, a kicker. Zeke Elliott for me, Sonny Michel on PPR, Gibson. I kind of like what I'm hearing out of Dallas, that Zeke feels great, the offensive line is getting healthy. Dave is falling for it. Am I? Okay. No, no, no. I don't mind Zeke this week, but I like Darrell Williams' situation better.

No, no. Look, he was measured at his fastest speed in weeks, and he says he feels he's getting faster and more explosive. So I didn't mean to tease you there. But it seems week after week some renewed optimism about Ezekiel Elliott and then he goes out and in that touchdown run that he had against Washington getting to the corner, it took him

45 minutes, you know, it's it's trying to you know, believe what he says and then what you see on the field I just think they're different different things. Well, it's also, I mean look he he could have had a ridiculously monster game if he stayed in the game and yeah um but who knows what

paul would have done also if he had stayed in the game too so i think you just you just have to approach it like you have been you know if he's on your team you're probably starting him unless you you know pick up a chase edmunds or had chase edmunds and and he's he's the guy ronald jones is on your team. Trying to think who these other guys that might have come along the last couple of weeks. Rashad Penny. Penny I would start ahead of him. Penny I would start ahead of him too, yes.

Jeff Wilson if there's no Elijah Mitchell. So Boston Scott is in a better spot in my opinion if there's no guys there too. Okay. The one thing with Williams I think Derek Gore is going to get some run. I think he's going to continue to be part of that offense. Oh, of course he's going to get some run.

If you're desperate at running back, I think you can find him off the waiver wire. He's giving it, however he's done it, it hasn't been pretty or particularly encouraging, but double-digit PPR points two of his last three games. He has their two biggest plays? Yeah. You mean run plays? No, plays. He has their two longest plays

of the season. Really? Yep. Derek Gore. At the end of the year, he takes off a mask, Scooby-Doo style, villain style, and it's Frank Gore. Or it's Jamal Charles. Alright, next fill in the blank.

Let's see where we're at here. We've got, did we do, okay, we did the Darrell ones. The wide receiver that I like but don't love is blank. Wide receiver I like but don't love. Do you want to taste? Ooh. You like Chase, but you don't love Jamar Chase. Ooh. You like Chase, but you don't love Chase. Well, I mean, as we talked about yesterday,

that you have to start him. There's way too much upside to not start him. But this is a much tougher matchup than he had last week. T. Higgins is the more favored receiver now. So we've seen some of the pitfalls of jamar chase and the last thing you want to do is have him have a pitfall this week so i like i said i'm not benching jamar chase by any stretch but he just makes me a little nervous remember the little noise that played when you swung on the vine in pitfall over the elegant no i don't know what you're talking about.

Because you're young. You're younger. Pitfall. What was that on? Just an old Pitfall Atari. Yeah. I don't even think I've ever seen an Atari. I was a big Nintendo guy, but never Atari.

Schrager, is that you? No, Schrager doesn't even know what a Sega is, I bet. Yeah. All right, Dave, wide receiver you like but don't love. I have two. I like Odell, and I think you're starting him at this point. The matchup is just too sweet.

Shout out to the NWO against Baltimore. I can't get away from him as a middle to low end number two receiver, but Tyler Boyd the last couple of weeks has had these very uncharacteristic big plays. He also had a third touchdown called back last week. He wasn't really called back. He dropped the pass, but

he got the opportunity. I wonder if people are going to gravitate toward that and say, well, he's been good the last two weeks. He'll keep it going. This does feel like the type of game where they will lean on Boyd a little bit more because they're going to have to theoretically keep up on the scoreboard with Kansas City. But I don't know if I really want to trust him outside of PPR leagues as a third receiver. look up the bad weather games from last year and how they turned out. And I just,

I really can't find, I thought I had a specific thing in my notes. Uh, we'll get to that in one second, but I was paying mostly attention. I just got a little lost for a second. I was looking at what I had to say about AJ green. Right.

Exactly. And Sammy Watkins, by the way, the wide receiver, I don't, I like, but don't love his DJ more. You know,

I went into it thinking, oh, wow, he probably hasn't been that good against the Saints. Actually, he crushes the Saints. It's been unbelievable. But Lattimore missed two of those games. He played 50% of the snaps in one of those games. So it hasn't always been against Lattimore. And he's also bad at the end of Sam Darnold's run.

That's the thing. The last five games with Sam Darnold, DJ Moore was a guy that you wanted to sit. So we'll talk about him in a little bit. Oh, that rhymes. Watch HQ on Sunday morning, 10 a.m. Until 1 p.m.

Dave, Jamie, Heath, Prisco, the sports line guys, a bunch of great analysts giving you gambling advice, fantasy advice, props.

Just it's three hours of football talk. You're going to love it. So turn on HQq on the cbs sports app on your roku on your apple tv amazon fire on your phone whatever 10 a.m literally anything that gets wi-fi uh tweet your start sit questions with the hashtag ask fft and our team will answer them as always every member of the ff team will be ready to answer questions that come in with that hashtag that That is hashtag AskFFT. Send your tweets.

All right, the weather. I sum it up as it's freaking cold. And the three games that I was looking at were Buffalo hosting Atlanta, Green Bay hosting Minnesota on Sunday night, and Chicago hosting the Giants, which I don't really think is too relevant anyway. We just, you know, Montgomery is going to be awesome. Giants, by the way, going to have at least one, maybe two defensive tackles out for that

game. So here's the only thing I found from my notes last year. I'm looking at my notes from December 27th of 2020. And I do remember the Green Bay, Tennessee game. That game was played on ice. And it was that cold in Tennessee? No, Tennessee at Green Bay. And it looked like Tennessee had never seen snow before.

They were incompetent. But Aaron Rodgers threw four touchdowns and scored 32 points. And there was also a Buffalo-New England game that night, or that day. And Josh Allen scored 39 points and threw four touchdowns. Oh, I remember that one. I don't remember that one. But I imagine it was cold in Foxborough on December 27th. So I don't have much here.

But in general, guys, are you downgrading anyone, specifically in Green Bay, with some really cold weather? And I'll look at Buffalo because I thought it was going to be windy. But, Dave, maybe you looked into that and it's not going to be windy. I don't think it's windy. I just think it's going to be cold. I don't think there's a wind issue this week. Okay, good.

But you know how the weather is. I don't think that's something that you can look at on a Friday morning and say, all right, for sure it's going to be this way come Sunday afternoon or Sunday night. Well, we've had pretty good indication by this point in the week what it's going to be this way come Sunday afternoon or Sunday night. Well, we've had pretty good indication by this point in the week what it was going to be like heading into the weekend with all the bad weather again. Sure.

But I just, look, I don't think it's suddenly going to be, you know, 30 degrees at night in Green Bay. But when it comes to wind and precipitation, that stuff changes. Well, you know, I think back to the Buffalo-New England game, and I think we were pretty much, hey, start Josh Allen, start Stephon Diggs. And they were bad.

That was a really bad weather game. So I don't want to just dismiss it, Jamie, and say there are no concerns. No, no, I'm with you. Yeah, so what do you think? I mean, is there anything actionable here? In this situation, no. I mean, like you said, you know, Kirk Cousins,

maybe you'd be a little bit concerned about. But if you're downgrading Kirk Cousins, you've got to downgrade Justin Jefferson to whatever degree. So, and KJ Osborne. So, you know, I think you take that into account. Now, Osborne, I'm going to guess, has probably played in some bad weather games before he transferred to Miami.

He played at Buffalo. So, University of Miami and University of Buffalo. So he, you know, maybe has... It's kind of funny to have to specify that, but yeah. Well, he may have some history in some bad weather games.

But I think he just, you know, you start the guys that have gotten you to this point. So Kirk Cousins is mostly, I'm going to guess, a 14-team lead quarterback slam dunk, a 12-team guy that is on the fence, and we mentioned some other options in Lance and Hill and Huntley. And you're obviously starting Justin Jefferson if you got to this point.

So I don't think much changes for the Vikings guys. All right, let me read you Kevin Roth. We've had him on the show. He's at Roto Grinders. He's an excellent follow on Twitter, at Kevin Roth WX. Kansas City at Cincinnati, temperature around freezing,

10 to 15 miles per hour. Probably not a huge deal. Giants, Bears, kind of similar. Temperature's lower, about 20, 15 to 20 mile per hour wind. If you're thinking about Darnell mooney maybe you maybe you avoid um some rain there's gonna be some rain whatever okay atlanta buffalo snow is likely temperature in the 20s 10 to 15 mile per hour wind and basically the same exact forecast for miami Tennessee. So we got snow. We've got,

uh, no warmer weather in Tennessee than Buffalo, but 10 to 15 mile per hour wind and some snow for Atlanta, Buffalo, Miami, Tennessee. Does that matter to anybody? Players,

offensive guys love being in the snow. Snow really matters if it's coming down heavy. Cause that impacts visibility. All right. All right. All right. You know what? Look, we'll keep an eye on it. This is why you should watch HQ on Sunday.

News and notes. Jimmy Garoppolo mispracticed, so we're thinking it's Trey Lance. Jared Goff mispracticed. Who do you think starts at quarterback for Detroit as of Friday morning? Tim Boyle.

Lamar Jackson mispracticed. That's why we think it's Tyler Huntley. Marquise Brown mispracticed with an illness. Sometimes that illness ends up being COVID. Yep, that's what happened to Ramondre Stevenson last week. I think it's what happened to Tyler Huntley last week. Yeah, possible. Definitely Stevenson, right?

A.J. Brown has a calf issue. They're calling it precautionary. He should be good to go. Eli Mitchell was limited. This will be kind of a messy situation. So, Jamie, give me the... Second practice in a row for him. Yeah.

Jamie, give me a 10-second overview on the Niners running backs before we dive into that game later. Both play. Mitchell is a number two running back, closer to 20 than he is to 10, like he would be if he was 100% healthy. Wilson will be a flex. There is no Mitchell.

Wilson is a borderline number one running back. Ben Roethlisberger acknowledged this could be his last game at Heinz Field. They have a Monday night game against Cleveland. And it looks like Pat Fryermuth should be playing. And we didn't really talk about him. I talked about him with Heath, who doesn't like Fryermuth most weeks. Fryermuth, four straight games with three or four targets. Dave, start or sit Pat Friar Muth if he plays?

One of the best touchdown or bust tight ends in fantasy this year. And if it's Roethlisberger's swan song, I'm sure they're going to let him throw a bunch. And I think he likes throwing to Friar Muth. I don't know if the target share necessarily indicates that, but in the red red zone it might i don't mind him as a top 12 tight end friar muth or gerald everett i think i like everett more okay randall cobb and marquez valdez scanting scantling return to practice doesn't mean that they'll play especially cobb uh jair alexander not expected to play tyler conklin was able to get in a limited session on Thursday. Left tackle Andrew Whitworth for the Rams is off the reserve COVID list.

Cam Akers is unlikely to play. This is actually pretty big news. We'll talk about this game, Tampa Bay at the Jets. Tevin Coleman is on the COVID list. So, Michael Carter, is he in your top 24, guys? He's right around 24th. He is not in non-PPR, and he is on the cusp in PPR, but I don't love him this week.

Andy Dalton practiced in full, and Justin Fields was limited in practice. So are we thinking it's Dalton at quarterback? I would guess if it's not 100%, Justin Fields is probably Dalton, the quarterback. James Conner missed practice. That is a big, big deal in fantasy. Mike Williams is off the COVID list.

Antonio Brown missed practice with an ankle issue. Probably maintenance worth thinking. There was no indication of it, so it's weird. Because I think technically they had a walkthrough. Okay, so we'll check on Antonio no indication of it you know so it's weird because i think technically they had a walkthrough okay so we'll check on antonio brown we'll get the updates and it's weird that evans isn't off the cover list because he was practicing right and apparently he was quite fatigued mike evans so if he plays i would assume if he's anywhere around his teammates he's got to be off the cover list right you would you would think so, right? Yeah. If he plays, are you starting Mike Evans?

I'd be nervous. Probably depends on who you're comparing him to, but it would be very difficult to sit somebody like Mike Evans coming back in this matchup against the Jets. DJ Moore or Mike Evans? He could have three catches

for three touchdowns. I would take Moore over Evans, especially. I don't know if I would do it in non-PPR, but I would in PPR. I would start Evans over Moore in non-PPR and half PPR. I'd start Moore in PPR.

Speaking of Moore, Elijah Moore mispracticed, so not looking good for him to play this week. Elijah. Emmanuel Sanders mispracticed, Clyde Edwards-Ziller mispracticed, and Antonio Gibson mispracticed with a hip injury. Seems like he's always ready to play, but he's... I'm starting to think Heath's theory might have some legs.

Oh, that Washington's tanking? Washington's going to do the Eagles a solid. Yep. Let me go through some noteworthy players on the COVID list. Dave already mentioned Carolina. They have Shaq Thompson, Ahsan Reddick, and Brian Burns on their defense on the COVID list. Defensive tackle Akeem Hicks for the Bears is still on the COVID list.

A lot of these guys could come back by Sunday. Carson Wentz, offensive tackle Braden Smith, defensive back TJ Carey, they're all on the COVID list. Denver's got two defensive players that I think are pretty important. Nose tackle Mike Purcell, cornerback Bryce Callahan.

They're getting ready to face the Chargers. Detroit's got two wide receivers, Kalief Raymond and Josh Reynolds on the COVID list. I don't know if this matters to anybody, maybe a deep, deep league dart throw. Mercedes Lewis is on the COVID list.

So Deguara, maybe some more potential there. And in premium leagues, there's two guys that you should be looking at right now. And that's Molly Cox and Deguara. Yeah. David Johnson's on the COVID list. If you're looking at the Jacksonville run game and Daria Gumbawale,

right now three starting offensive linemen for the Jaguars are on the COVID list, but four linebackers, not necessarily run stuffers, four linebackers for the Patriots, including Matt Judon, are on the list. I think Judon's coming back though, right? I don't know. I think a lot of these guys could. I don't know. Sure.

Anybody that's on the COVID list has a chance to. Assuming they were put on the list before Wednesday, they have a good chance of coming back. And one of the linemen, Norwell, for the Jaguars, I think he's definitely out for the game. Okay. Look at the Raiders. Darren Waller's on the COVID list,

and then you've got three key defensive players, Carl Nassif, Denzel Perryman, and Casey Hayward, a lineman, a linebacker, and a defensive back. And pretty much their best at each. Well, I don't know if Nassif's their best lineman, but really good players. Yeah. New Orleans left tackle or right tackle, Ryan Ramchick,

and now that's an old one. That was Christmas Eve, but Eric McCoy. How far away is Taylor from 2000? I have no idea. I'll look it up. Eric McCoy is also on the COVID list. So that's potentially three key starting linemen out for the Saints. Two defensive tackles out for the Giants.

Well, one's definitely out. The other possible comes back. Two defensive backs for the Bucs, Jamel Dean and Sean Murphy Bunting, are on the COVID list. And Tennessee, I mean, this is pretty big for Miami right now. Tennessee's got D'Amico Autry, Jayon Brown, and Bud Dupree, three defensive players

all in the front seven, all on the COVID list. Three good ones, too. Yeah. Don't know what to make of that. He's not close. Yeah, like 1,600? Yeah, 1,626. I thought maybe if he was close. He can get, he has an outside shot. Oh, he can get there for the season. Yeah.

He can get there for the season. But I was thinking like if he was like within 200 yards this week, because it's got to be a lot longer. Right. All right, let's do one question for each game. Arizona at Dallas. Good Zeke or bad Zeke? Good Zeke.

Well, good Zeke in relation to which version of Zeke? Not great Zeke. This year, good Zeke. This year's good Zeke. Startable Zeke in relation to which version of Zeke. Not great Zeke. This year, good Zeke. This year's good Zeke. Startable Zeke. Top 15? Right around there. In that range, yeah.

He's just starting. Yeah, he's a lot of faith in the Dallas offense right now. Detroit and Seattle, rank the wide receivers. Do I have Lockett or St. Brown ahead? St. Brown, Lockett, Metcalf, Kalief Raymond. He's on the COVID list. Kalief Raymond's on the COVID list? I'm pretty sure.

I know Josh Reynolds is on the COVID list. Raymond's on there too? That's what I saw this morning. I'll check. Yeah, that's one that slipped past me, if that's true. I have St. Brown over Lockett as well in PPR. All right, St. Brown,

Lockett. It's Lockett for sure over St. Brown and non and half. Yes. Metcalf behind those two. Is Raven on the cover? Yeah, he is.

He went on yesterday. We missed that one. Minnesota Green Bay. That changes everything. Minnesota Green Bay, I was everything. Minnesota Green Bay. I was going to ask you about Kirk Cousins and KJ Osborne, but we covered that. Well, we didn't really cover Osborne.

But one question for this game will now be Aaron Jones. Start or sit? Start. Start. Number two running back. Start. Aaron Jones or Zeke? Jones.

Zeke. Tampa Bay at the Jets. Tom Brady has scored four points and 16 points in his last two games. Does he have a big game here at the Jets? Well, it depends. Is Mike Evans and Antonio Brown playing or are they both out? Let's say Antonio Brown is certainly playing.

Let's say he's playing. He'll have a big game. He'll have a big game. He'll have a good game. Philadelphia, Washington. Who is the best running back in this game? Boston Scott. Gibson, if he plays. When you say Boston

Scott, Jamie, are you expecting Jordan Howard or no? That's if Jordan Howard is, are you expecting Jordan Howard or no? That's if Jordan Howard is out. What if Jordan Howard plays? Then Antonio Gibson, if he plays, is the best running back. Okay. I think it's going to be really concerning to go into a matchup this week with an Eagles running back if Howard plays. Because we don't know for sure if Howard will be the main guy,

or if Scott will be the main guy, or if they'll even split 50-50. They could really go any way. We've seen it before when players don't get a whole lot of practice during the week, they hold them out, or at least running backs. Yeah, but I also think it's very concerning to go into this week with Antonio Gibson in your lineup. Do you feel that way? I have him in three finals at least,

and he is on my bench in all three finals. For who? Well, Damien Harris, Sonny Michel, that's IDP League. Other one's a 10-team league. No, it's 12-team league. It's Eckler, Aaron Jones, and Ronald Jones. That's non-PPR.

And third one, I don't remember. I guess the Harris versus Gibson decision is a little tough. No, I don't trust Antonio Gibson. I just think there's the fact that he went from playing to limited to DNP. I know they're trying to arrest him. They've already shown you their hands that when they get behind, they're going to pull him. Okay, that's fair.

And it's Philadelphia. Philadelphia's run defense has been spectacular in its last eight games. They control time of possession. Gibson did score a touchdown last time out, but he had 15 carries for 26 yards and a touchdown. You love the catches. You're very involved in the passing game. But there's obviously a lot of health risk.

Okay, let's see. We've got a couple more games here. Three more games. One question for Houston San Francisco. What does Trey Lance mean for the rest of the 49ers offense? I think Kittle goes nuts. And Debo does work out of the backfield. And also, whatever few catches he has, but you're still starting him.

Ayuk is the concern. What about Wilson or Mitchell? So, here's what I think. I think the 49ers might just be focused on just winning the game, not trying to get Trey Lance ready for the playoffs or anything like that. And this is a worry, not necessarily what I think is definitely going to happen, but maybe they just really limit what Trey Lance does unless they have to

let him throw. Like if they're chasing points, you know, something like that if both running backs are healthy i think that takes the ball out of lance's hands on runs if one of the running backs misses the game and it would obviously be mitchell at this point then i think lance might have to run a little bit more and i'll take anybody running against houston's defense they're terrible they miss tackles all the time yeah they oddly enough

they allow the fewest rushing yards per game to quarterbacks. I didn't have a chance to look at... In Taysom Hill, I know this sounds like it's not relevant, but it is. Taysom Hill is facing Carolina, and they also have been very good against mobile quarterbacks.

But Taysom Hill, the Cowboys going into the Saints matchup, they had been very good against mobile quarterbacks, and then Hill ran for 100 yards. So I'm trying to figure out if I care at all about the fact that both the Panthers and the Texans have been great against mobile quarterbacks,

and I think I don't. I think it's a very small sample size, and if these guys want to run, they'll run. Lance, though, for what it's worth, he's played basically six quarters, a game and a half. And he was horrible for the rest of the 49ers. I mean, he basically is a ball hog. And other than a 76-yard touchdown to Debo,

wide open, busted coverage, ridiculous play, it has been awful for the Niners. Kittle didn't play in those games, but it hasn't been a lot of ball distribution, put it that way. I mean, you also have to hope that the additional reps he's gotten in practice, it was so early in his tenure.

Sure. Week four and week five. So he's gotten, I hope, a lot more reps since then. Carolina at the Saints. Start or sit DJ Moore? Start with PPR. Start with trepidation.

Yeah. Would you start DJ Moore or Christian Kirk? Kirk in non-PPR. Right. Moore probably in PPR, but that's close. I agree. Mari Cooper or DJ Moore?

Mari Cooper. I'll take Moore. And finally, Giants-Bears. Any interest in the Chicago passing game? I'll take Moore in PPR. I won't take him in non. No. Mooney is the only one take him in non. No. Not commit?

No. I have a trying guy in PPR. Alright. We're going to take a break and finally get into the games. You know, we talked about a lot of players, but we'll get into the games when we come back on Fantasy Football today. It's the season for new styles, and you love to shop for jackets and boots. So when you do, always make sure you get cash back from Rakuten. And it's not just clothing and shoes.

You can get cash back from over 750 stores on electronics, holiday travel, home decor, and more. It's super easy. And before you buy anything, always go to Rakuten first. Join free at Rakuten.ca. Start shopping and get your cash back sent to you by check or PayPal. Get the Rakuten app or join at Rakuten.ca. R-A-K-U-T-E-N.ca. Arizona is at Dallas. And Jamie pointing out last week, Dak Prescott, he thought he was going to have a big game because he's been so much better at home. And yeah, he's at home again. He scored at least 22 points in every home game.

And it's a different offense at home, so it seems. I've got a bunch of stats of the game. Tell me if they matter. The stat of the game... Yes. Literally. Stat of the game number one. Does it matter? The Cardinals allow the fewest rushing touchdowns

to running backs. Nope. No. Nope. No. Okay. Does this matter? Arizona has allowed 10 pass plays of 20-plus yards. To be fair, they were great against Taylor last week. They were, but they're usually not a good run defense.

They just keep guys out of the end zone. In the last three games, 10 pass plays of 20-plus yards, six pass plays of 37-plus yards against the Cardinals. Their pass defense has fallen apart. That matters, right? That matters, and they're losing guys. Marco Wilson doesn't look like he's going to play.

Robert Alford's on IR. They're running out of defensive backs. I know Byron Murphy's still there. He's good. And Buda will do his part too. But I think that there's definitely some issues that the Cowboys can pick on.

Cowboys could potentially go five wide. You know, they don't have to necessarily use wide receivers. They could use three receivers, Schultz and Zeke, and just spread them out,

find the matchup they like, and attack, attack, attack. Attack, attack, attack. Yeah, so do you have confidence in Lamb and Cooper this week? Tremendous. Yes. I really wish they would stop playing Lamb

in the slot basically exclusively. I would think it's hurting him because I don't know what else it could be. He's all slot all the time now. Not entirely, but... I think they're most comfortable with that. Well, it seems to be hurting his numbers.

There's a breakout game coming. I hope it's this week for people that are starting him. So hopefully he might be the quiet squeaky wheel. That you're not hearing what they're saying, but they're saying that they're going to get him going. Last week it was Cooper talking. And stat of the game number three, Dalton Schultz... I just looked at my rankings.

I'm sorry. I would start Kirk over more in PPR. Okay. Stat of the game number three, Dalton Schultz facing this defense. Just a little theory that I was working on that Dave helped me out with. He's really kind of crushed cover two coverage, and the Cardinals don't play a lot of that. So I'm going to avoid him in DFS.

I think it's hard to get away from Schultz. He's been so good the last two weeks. But I heard Collinsworth talk about how teams are taking away the deep ball, and Schultz is benefiting from that. I don't know if that happens in this matchup. I just kind of want to see the more metrics we have, the more analysis we can do. Maybe this isn't the best matchup for Dalton Schultz.

But we'll see. I know you guys are, I'm sure, starting him. Okay. Kyler Murray, start or sit? Dave. You're starting Kyler Murray. You're hoping he can run like he did last week. He hasn't looked great as a thrower. Really?

Could we say since he's come back from the injury? And certainly since he's lost DeAndre Hopkins. I think it's really changed the offense more than we've initially believed. And this is a Dallas defense that is going to get after him with their pass rush. Whenever he gets sped up, it gets even worse. You tack on the coaching gaffes that Kingsbury's made, the play calls that he's made. I get a little nervous with him, but not enough to say you should sit him.

He's not anywhere near the Taysom Hill, Tyler Huntley, Trey Lance trifecta, but he's ahead of those guys. Just I don't know if he's got that gangbusters upside that we saw from him earlier this year. Jamie, if Connor's out, obviously Chase Edmonds is a must start, but if Connor plays, what do you do?

It's so tricky because I would anticipate, and Heath brought this up on Sunday, last Sunday after we went over the game, about Rondell Moore's absence for what it meant for Chase Edmonds as well. So I'm still probably going to lean PPR Edmonds over Connor, go back essentially to the beginning of the season when that's how we treated it. Probably Connor over Edmonds and non-PPR because of his touchdown potential,

but I just don't know if Connor's 100% healthy. The fact that he's missed every single practice since he's had this injury is very, very telling. We'll find out today. We'll have an update on the mailbag show. You want to tune in for that, obviously. We'll have it on HQ. We'll have it on the the mailbag show. So just, you know, you want to tune in for that. Obviously, we'll have it on HQ. We'll have it on the site.

But I'm hoping because I would anticipate people that are still playing have probably more shares in Edmonds than they do in Conor because of what unfolded last week, that Edmonds plays and Conor does not. Okay. But if they both play, are they going to even be in the top 20? Or are they both sits? Conor will still be in the top 24 in non-PPR. Edmonds will be outside of it.

It will be flipped in PPR and half PPR. Okay. Arizona wide receivers. You look at them in the red zone the last three games and in the green zone the last three games. And Zach Ertz is actually, I mean, I know he's not a wide receiver, but he's leading the team in red zone and green zone targets. Antoine Wesley's also been

a little bit involved there. But I know, so it's basically start Kirk and sit green. Yeah. And Ertz. Start Ertz. And Ertz, right.

Ertz or Schultz? Who do you like better? Schultz and PPR. Schultz and both. Man, Ertz though. Five, six, and eight catches in his last three games. 24 targets in his last two games without DeAndre Hopkins. He's been great and should have had a touchdown two games ago.

And this goes back to Dave's point about Cliff Kingsbury's play calling that he was fantastic in the first quarter, and then they just almost went away from him completely until it felt like the desperation fourth down play where Kyler threw it to him in double coverage. Right. I was watching that game and I was like, ooh, I'm facing. Jamie's got Zach Ertz. This isn't going so well. All right, that wasn't so bad.

And then Jamie had Joe Burrow, Joe Mixon, and T. Higgins the next day. And that was that. I don't even know why, but I bothered sweating that one out. Christian Kirk is around 20th in the rankings. He's, he's more or less a must start. 21 targets in two games without Hopkins. Pretty good.

And all right, that's it for Arizona. Dak Prescott is top three. Go right back to him. Let's talk Zeke here. So, all right, PPR,

Zeke or Christian Kirk? Zeke. David? I have him ranked ahead of Kirk. All right, Zeke it is.

We'd go Edmonds over Zeke if Connor's out. For sure. How about Rashad Penny or Zeke? I have Penny.

I like Penny better. Okay. All right. So Zeke's a number two running back. Pollard. All right. How about this? If Connor plays, Pollard or a Cardinals running back?

The Cardinals running back. I would go Pollard over Edmonds in non-PPR. I would go Pollard over Conner in PPR. I think I'd start both of them over Pollard. Probably would be Edmonds, Conner, Pollard. Pollard was doing very well as a fantasy option prior to last week when he did not play in the second half. Was he?

What do you mean by very well? I mean, how many points are we talking? I think he had 11 or more PPR points until his last three part of that. That might be right. He had that big run against the Saints. Okay, so Dallas wide receivers were sitting Gallup and starting Lamb and Cooper.

Gallup is a good DFS player. I make the case, I will make the case on the afternoon show, A.J. Green is a good DFS player. I will make the case on the afternoon show, AJ Green is a good DFS player. He's mega cheap. He didn't have a good game last week. He barely got targeted, but he had something like 20 targets

in the previous two games. He had a bunch of targets. And they're going to have to throw. But it's a DFS, I need to save some money type of thing. Dallas DST is top seven for you guys. So I know it's not a great matchup. I've lowered them since then.

They're not top seven anymore, but they're still startable. Six for Jamie and 12 for Dave and 10th for Heath. Bears over Cowboys? You badgered Heath into moving them up. Jamie has the Cowboys over the Bears. Dave has the Bears over the Cowboys. And Heath has the back-to-back. Hashtag Giants.

All right, Detroit at Seattle. Here is the repetitive quote of the game. He's a stud. He's a stud. I'll say it again. He's a stud. He's a stud. That was Jared Goff talking about Amandra St. Brown.

Tim Boyle also raved about Amandra St. Brown. They've talked about how he's gotten better coming out of his breaks, that he's just learning the position better. He's also a great blocker. The Lions are raving about Amandra St. Brown, who was the NFC Player of the Month. Is that what happened? Rookie of the Month.

NFC Rookie of the Month, okay. So good stuff there. And you already said it's Lockett, St. I'm sorry, it was Lockett, St. Brown, Metcalf in this game? No, that's in non-PPR. So, it's St. Brown, Lockett, Metcalf?

Yeah. Okay, my bad. I imagine Lockett and St. Brown are pretty close? Yes. Okay. All right. So, let's talk about this.

Let's talk about DeAndre Swift. A running back has scored 11 or more non-PPR fantasy points in six of the last seven games against Seattle, 13 or more non-PPR fantasy points in five of the last seven games. That's non-PPR. In full PPR, they gave up the most receiving yards to running backs. So, Jamie, you said he's top 10. David, I think you have him 11th.

But, Jamie, you're a little hesitant on DeAndre Swift. So, what are your thoughts right now? I mean, I'm buying into the upside of what he hopefully will be and the fact that Dan Campbell said full go. But the only thing we just don't know, and they're the only ones that could tell us this and it's probably not going to unfold until during the game, is he full go in his previous role

or is he full go in his maybe new role of sharing touches with Craig Reynolds and Jamal Williams we saw him with one other guy and he was clearly the better of the two by far but will they rotate all three guys in and so you know there there has to be a little bit of concern, you know, just based on that. So I don't know if Dan Campbell's full goal comment is his workload full go or his health full go, you know? So, uh, if you have Deandre Swift, it's pretty clear, you should be starting in based on that assumption based on the matchup. Uh, but I just don't know how the game will unfold based on how Craig Reynolds and Jamal Williams will be used. And we don't know that aside from what the coaches will do. And for what it's worth, they rotated three running backs last week.

And for what it's worth, it reminds me a little bit of what Robert Sala was saying about Michael Carter two weeks ago. And he's had eight carries in that game. And Tevin Coleman also had eight carries in that game. And you were not led to believe that there was going to be any type of split between those two. He was just raving about Michael Carter. Look, the Seahawks, to sum it up, they have a great run defense. They really do, per carry.

They smother you, but they see the most carries per game from running backs. Teams run on them all the time, and they're the worst in the passing game, so they give up a ton of points. It sets up very well for a guy like DeAndre Swift. All right, so you like Swift as a top 12 guy, but were a little nervous about it.

Ronald Jones or DeAndre Swift? Swift. Swift in PPR, Jones in none. Half. Swift. I'll take Swift in none, too. Okay, Swift across the board for Dave. All right.

Monro St. Brown. That's not a potential for Ronald Jones. Monro St. Brown is a must start at this point. But we should mention that he's had this amazing run without DeAndre Swift on the field. And so what is Swift's return? Because you know Swift is a good pass catcher. What does that mean for St. Brown?

Look, I don't think the Lions have much of a choice. I think they've got to keep going to St. Brown. They're running out of receivers. Josh Reynolds, Kalief Raymond, they're not there. And Josh Reynolds not being there, I wonder if that has an impact too. But I still see him getting double-digit targets. It would be five games in a row, I believe, if that happened.

Yes, he has 11 or more in four straight games. Russell Wilson is close to the top 12, but he's in that range with those mobile quarterbacks, those streamers, the Taysom Hills and Tyler Huntleys and Trey Lances. Right, even though he's not mobile himself. You just look

at him and you think 20 fantasy points in the bank. He's also said that this could be his last home game in Seattle. He brought it up yesterday. He wasn't even asked about it. Yep, it was unsolicited. Yeah, yeah. And so it must mean something to him.

I don't know if that means that he's going to want to try and go out and throw four touchdowns. Only one quarterback in the last eight games against the Lions has scored more than 19 points. It's been a lot of bad quarterbacks. Well, Kyler Murray was one of them. Yeah. And Murray was just,

he was just off in that game. They were pressuring him a bunch. They're going to do the same thing to Russ. He's going to get pressured quite a bit, but Russ handles it. Russ handles pressure usually very well. All right. So Rashad Penny,

in a non-PPR league, would you start Rashad Penny or Swift? Penny. I believe I have Penny higher. It's not too complicated here, right? I mean, it's a great matchup. And when he's had great matchups

two of the last three weeks, he's rushed for 130 yards and at least one touchdown. So we him and then lockett i think people are going to start even though he was bad last week but jamie are you starting dk metcalf uh borderline number two receiver certainly in three receiver leagues the lions don't see a lot of targets but they give up the fourth most yards per catch to wide receivers. I think the most passing yards per attempt in the NFL. Number one guys typically crush them,

but that doesn't just nothing matters. Nothing matters with Metcalf. I don't know. Nothing else matters. Oh, yeah. Who's a better start at their respective position? DK Metcalf or Gerald Everett? Everett. Everett's the better start at their respective position? DK Metcalf or Gerald Everett? Everett's the better start at his position. I feel

way more comfortable with him. He's kind of turned into their version of Pat Fryer. They're using him a lot in the red zone. Would you start Gerald Everett against a team that has allowed 53 yards or a touchdown to seven tight ends in their last five games.

Or a tight end who, in his last seven games with a particular quarterback, does not have a touchdown and has only one red zone target. I'm still starting Pitts over. No, no, not him. Not him. Oh, okay. Matt? So, again, it was last seven games with a particular quarterback.

No touchdowns, one red zone target. I'll give you one more hint. In another game in that stretch with a different quarterback, he caught two touchdowns that had 100 yards. At the Jets. With a guy with a mustache

throwing to him. Oh, gotdard. Goddard, yeah. You're starting... You're starting... That's a heck of a stat with Goddard. I know.

I was looking... He's been pretty... One red zone target in his last seven with Jalen Hurts? It's wild. Yeah. Well, some of that...

He's also getting some... He should have scored last week, though. Yeah, that's right. And that was a red zone play, I believe. What happened last week? I don't remember.

He was wide open. Yeah. But the play called for Hurts to throw over the middle if the shallow crosser was open. So he didn't target him. He didn't target him. But basically, it was a defensive breakdown. But the quarterback wasn't looking his way.

That's happened to Kyle Pitts a bunch this year, by the way. It happens in football, yeah. It happens all the time. So Goddard or Everett? Goddard over Everett. All right. DK Metcalf. That was a hell of a stat.

Yeah, thank you. DK Metcalf. I have one stat today that is my favorite. It's in the Green Bay game. Looking forward to that. Saquon Barkley or DK Metcalf? Metcalf and PPR. I think I'm taking Saquon.

If Jordan Howard plays, would you go with an Eagles running back or Metcalf? If Howard plays? Yes. Yeah, that question's easier if Howard does. I'll start Howard over Metcalf and If Howard plays? Yes. Yeah, that question's easier if Howard does play. I'll start Howard over Metcalf and not PPR.

Okay. I think I will too. I think I'd... Gosh, I think I'd start Howard over him and half PPR. I think full PPR is where I might give a little lean to DK.

Would you start KJ Osborne or DK Metcalf? I have Osborne right here for now. Osborne. All right. I'm going to tell you about KJ Osborne or DK Metcalf? I have Osborne retired for now. Osborne. All right. I'm going to tell you about KJ Osborne. Here's my favorite stat.

So Minnesota at Green Bay. Stat of the game. Stat of the year. Stat of the year. Five-star lock stat of the year. Well, it's a conflicting stat because I know you know the first part of it. He's had six to nine targets.

Nice. In seven games. And he has scored 14 or more PPR fantasy points in six of those seven games, 17 or more PPR fantasy points in four of those seven games. So when Osborne gets six or more targets, and it's always been six to nine, he's been very good. But there have been 16 wide receivers

who have had six, seven, eight, or nine targets against the Packers this year, and only three of them, out of 16, only three of them scored 14 or more PPR fantasy points. 14 is... 316. Yeah. Hell yeah.

John 316. Only... Austin 316, you knucklehead. Oh, whatever. 14 PPR fantasy points is kind of like a borderline 2-3 wide receiver. That's a number I use. So you have on one hand Osborne with a lot of success,

but you also have on the other hand the Packers with a lot of success against guys in that range. And going down the list of receivers against the Packers, a lot of the ones who did well had a lot of targets. Now, you had Demir Bird a few weeks ago. Dakeem Grant. Dakeem Grant, thank you, with huge plays. However, I don't know, I thought that was fun.

I thought that was interesting, a little yin and yang for Osborne. I mean, with feeling out, you've got to take a chance on Osborne. I think he's had one bad game without feeling there. That's right. And the target numbers are, like you said, it's something you should buy into. The sample size is big enough. Okay, so you go for more of the pro than the con there.

Yes. I mean, the Packers have allowed at least 14 PPR points to multiple pass catchers in every game since that game against, well, in that game, since week 10, or week 11 rather, multiple touchdowns or multiple big games to wide receivers except against Cleveland because it's Cleveland. I mean, come on. Can't expect a bunch of big games to wide receivers except against Cleveland because it's Cleveland. I mean, come on. Can't expect a bunch of big games there.

Their pass defense has been really bad. And you mentioned it earlier in the show, Jair Alexander not expected to play. I think that that helps a lot. Cousins or Wilson? Cousins. Who'd you say, Jamie? You said Wilson? Wilson. Dave says Cousins. Cousins. Who'd you say, Jamie?

You said Wilson? Wilson. Dave says Cousins. Cousins or Tyler Huntley. Where do we settle on that? Huntley versus Cousins. I put Cousins behind those guys. I have Cousins ahead.

It changed my opinion. I have Cousins ahead of those guys for now. Those guys being Taysom Hill, Trey Lance, and Tyler Huntley. Right. The triple T trifecta trio. So right now, Dave has Cousins 10th and Jamie has him 15th. And it's those three guys plus Russell Wilson and Justin Herbert are the differences. Dave has Cousins ahead of them and Jamie has Cousins behind them.

Okay. Interesting stuff. Heath, if case you're curious, has Cousins 13th, kind of right in the middle of that group. Start Dalvin Cook. Start Justin Jefferson. Sit Tyler Conklin, I assume. Try to, yeah.

You should be able to. All right. You guys are too low on Aaron Rodgers. He's fifth, fourth, and sixth. Why isn't he number one? Give the man some respect. He's not playing against Atlanta. Yeah, he's playing against Minnesota.

You're starting Aaron Rodgers. He should be number one. You heard it here first. Green Bay, ignore me. Go by their rankings, but I seriously doubt you have any Aaron Rodgers versus josh allen dak prescott mahomes right debates here so anyway uh okay aj let's start with aj dylan and knock him out he dave is he a sit he's a flex he's got the opportunity to score that's basically the name of

the game right now but he's starting to lose playing time back to Aaron Jones. I know we're not super enthused about, say, Cordaro Patterson or Michael Carter. Would you start A.J. Dillon over them? God, they're really close. I think I like Carter better. Okay. I would start Dillon over Carter in non-PPR,

Carter over Dillon in PPR. And would you start Aaron Jones? You said you'd start Jones over Zeke. No, Dave said Zeke over Jones, right? And Jamie said Jones over Zeke? I think. I'm taking Zeke. I would start Aaron Jones over Zeke. Aaron Jones or Ronald Jones?

I have Ronald. Ronald Jones. Aaron Jones or Eagles starting running back? No, Aaron Jones or Boston Scott if Howard's out? That's the only question there. I currently have Jones higher, but I may switch that and go Scott over Jones. In non-PPR, Jones will still be over Scott in PPR.

Start anyone other than Devontae Adams in the passing game? And Rodgers? MBS is the number three receiver in three receivers. And Lazard is close. Okay, so you prefer MBS? Yep, more upside. And just to ask this question, are you downgrading Dalvin Cook because he's coming off the COVID list?

No. Okay. Packers, DST, I think these are DST sits, yeah, sit the DSTs. Let's go to Tampa at the Jets. This is a weird one. Stat of the game. There have only been seven wide receivers all year

with 70, well, with 69, more than 69 yards, nice, against the Jets. Only five receivers with more than 74 yards. It is weird, but they don't give up a ton of production in the passing game, and I think they give up the, now they don't give up a ton of production in the passing game. They are

22nd against quarterbacks, but I think they're 8th best against wide receivers. I don't know. Does anything matter to you in this game, or do you think the Bucs just do whatever they want? I think the Bucs do whatever they want. We've got a lot of questions, obviously, about still trusting Gronk without some receiver help drawing coverage away

from him. I don't care. You're starting him against the jets and you asked earlier about brady having a big game there's clearly the potential for that you know so i i think again if these guys have gotten you to this point they're not in any you know precarious enough situations that you would say i'm getting away from brady I'm getting away from Gronk. You're starting them. And Rojo should have a big game. And Antonio Brown should have a big game. There's just a lot to love about those guys.

And if you're sitting there going, well, they're going to blow out the jets. That's not good for Brady. Actually it is. They have won five games by 14 or more points. And he's thrown 36 or more passes in four of them. They don't care about the score.

They run it up. All right, so it seems like Ronald Jones is a must start, and you get him in your lineup. Tom Brady or Jalen Hurts? Brady. Brady. Rob Gronkowski or Dalton Schultz? Gronk.

Gronk. Is there anyone you're starting over Gronk other than Kelsey Kittle Andrews? No. I don't think so. Okay. And for the Jets, it's really just Michael Carter, and he's a borderline number two?

He's below the border for me. Carter is 24th for me in PPR and 27th in non-PPR. Would you guys start Javante Williams or Michael Carter? Williams. Javante, so. Yes. And just

the matchup you mentioned. So I started Carter against you last week. In that same league, I'm starting Darrell Williams over. Yes. I like that. That makes sense. We're finished with this game. Bucks DST is top three.

Philadelphia at Washington. This is a fun one for you football fans. Read an article on ESPN.com about the Eagles' defense. Why has it changed? TJ Edwards, not really a household name by any means, starting linebacker for them. He's become their middle linebacker. Starting in week 8. Yeah, their team...

This is from ESPN and referencing Pro Football Focus. Their team's defensive grade went from 25th to 5th since moving Edwards to middle linebacker, according to Pro Football Focus. Opponent rush yards per game went from 133 per game to 79.8 per game, which is second best. That's wild.

Yeah. So he's made a big difference. They've also faced easier teams, no question. But, yeah, I think we already talked about Antonio Gibson, but this is actually a fairly interesting game because Hurts is so up and down. Let's start with him. All right, let's start with Jalen Hurts.

Dave, your thoughts, start or sit. Let's start with Jalen Hertz. Dave, your thoughts. Start or sit? He's a top 10 fantasy quarterback. The rushing upside is what makes him alluring and will continue to make him alluring. The Washington defense shouldn't scare anybody. They've allowed at least 22 fantasy points to four of the last six quarterbacks that they've faced.

Hertz crushed them for 28 fantasy points a couple of weeks ago. You're starting them. Okay. Yeah, it's just the 19 points last week, the two games against the Giants he struggled, and then sometimes he just rushed. Well, one game against the Giants when he hurt his ankle.

Yeah, he just stunk in that game. Huh? He was horrible in that game. Yeah, but we don't know when he got hurt. So he played the whole game. Okay. Yeah. I think, again, if you say what his upside is

and the floor is 19, you have to take that. True. Okay. So, Star Hurts, where are you going to rank? Well, I'm sure you have Scott ranked right now as if Howard were out. Is that right?

Yes. Yes, but he might move up a few spots for me as I continue to evaluate where he stands. Okay. So right now he's 22nd in PPR for Jamie, 24th for David, and actually 13th for Heath. This is Boston Scott. If Howard...

There's so much upside, though, if there's no Howard and Sanders. Oh, yeah. I'll say it for the fifth time. The last eight games, Eagles running backs are averaging 30.5 carries per game. This game is the telltale sign. They had 30 carries for 200 yards, the two

guys, Sanders and Howard. Yeah. Washington looks defeated right now, too. It's sad. They're going to be rotating quarterbacks. Well, Sweat may not play, right? His brother, unfortunately, passed away. Yeah.

And, I mean, that's just another loss. Yeah. It's a beat-up unit. It's starting to feel like it'll be a repeat of what we saw a couple weeks ago when the Eagles ran for 200 yards against them. I don't think there's been a team maybe all year that's totaled 100 yards against them. And Philly got 200 with their running backs.

Only two teams. It's usually a great run defense. Only two teams all year have rushed for more than 4.44 yards per carry, and they are Carolina and Philadelphia. And Philadelphia averaged six yards per carry. All right, so if Jordan Howard plays, you said you'd rank him ahead of Scott as of now. Now if we get a report, Howard's going to play,

but he's not full go, whatever, then that could change. But where would he be? I mean, would he crack the top 24, Jordan Howard, if he plays? Yes. I think so. I think it's harder for him to crack it in full PPR.

I think he'd be right around maybe 13 carries, one catch, good chance to score. I'd have a hard time with him versus Devin Singletary. And how would you rank

right now, Boston Scott versus Devin Singletary? Scott's ahead of Singletary. Yes. Okay. Wide receivers. Any interest in Devontae Smith or Terry McLaurin?

No. Smith over McLaurin. When I heard about the football team changing quarterbacks in the game, and I know that Scott Turner, their offensive coordinator, kind of refuted that, that made me extremely nervous about McLaurin you've had a whole season's worth of data on McLaurin there's no real reason to feel good about him especially in a matchup against the Eagles

who've been great against the pass yeah and they're gonna they are going to stick Darius Slay on him I think there's makes all the sense in the world. Why wouldn't they? They did it last time. Would you start Devante Smith or who's like a number three? Marquez Valdez-Scantling. MVS. MVS. And Lazard. How about Devante? I like what Devante Smith did last week, though.

And I like what they've been saying about him, that he's been showing a lot more in practice. It's just the targets. That's the problem. It sucks. Absolutely sucks. It's really tough to trust. So Dallas Goddard, I know,

even despite the greatest stat that you've ever heard, you like him. You're going to start Dallas Goddard. He crushed them two weeks ago, 135 yards on nine targets. And Antonio Gibson, I don't know, is there more that we have to say about Antonio Gibson? Dave, so after our little discussion earlier, now how are you feeling about Gibson?

If he practices on Friday and ends up playing in the game, I still like his chances to get close to 15 touches, have a good opportunity to score. Without McKissick in there, we know that there's been a bump in targets for him and catches for him. I think he can be the engine of that offense. I just don't know if the engine is anything

better than what you'd find in a 1995 Toyota Tercel. He's like a number two running back if he goes. How about a Buick Skylark? It's just crazy that he has not rushed for more than 36 yards in three straight games. Right. You've got it. You're counting on the work in the passing game and you're

counting on him finding the end zone. But in two of those games, he has two catches or less. Two of which games? Two of his last three. And then in the other game, what did he have? He had six catches. That was against Philly. Yeah, I don't really count last week. He only played a half. He had six carries and six catches. That was against Philly. Yeah, I don't really count last week. He only played a half.

He had six carries and two catches, including a touchdown catch. Is that fair? He got yanked in the Dallas blowout. Yeah, no, you got lucky with him last week. Oh, for sure. You got lucky with him two weeks ago. That was one of the biggest blowouts

that I think I've ever seen. Last week? That Dallas-Washington game. Did you see Dallas-Atlanta earlier this year? This was worse. What was the score at halftime? It wasn't even halftime. It was like midway through the second quarter.

It was three touchdowns. It was ridiculous. I'll tell you this. So last week was my wife's birthday. The whole week? Lastay lucky girl um well i mean you know it's your wife it should be a whole week um so it was it was uh last sunday so i left our office um right around halftime of the three four o'clock games which two of them were interesting one was terrible was the seahawks bears game it ended up being a good game but just didn't really matter um and so i got home i caught the end of the the steelers game which is obviously a dud and then watching uh the start

on and off of the uh of the cowboys game and then driving i'm sorry i was at my mother-in-law's house and driving home i i watched none of the second half i had no interest in the second you didn't need to that was one of the only times. It was the only time all year where I said, I don't think I'm going to watch. I ended up watching it. It was why not? But that felt like the most useless hour and a half of my life.

It was completely. It was checking to see the starters that were still in because I was playing against Zeke in an important game. So once they pulled him, I was like, I have no reason to watch this anymore. Did you see the Malik Turner catch? Nope. It was a hell of a play. It was 42-7 at halftime. Anyway, back

to the topic du jour. I'll give you some Antonio Gibsons. Antonio Gibson or Amonra St. Brown? Amonra Come on! Amonra All right. Amonra St but you try and come on. All right. Amon Ra,

St. Brown or Brandon? No, sorry. Antonio Gibson or Brandon Cooks? Cooks. Cooks. Go a little farther down the list.

Antonio Gibson or Odell Beckham? Beckham. I like Beckham a lot. I think I'd go Beckham too. Yeah. We've got three games left. Houston at San Francisco. Stat of the game. San Francisco has allowed 80 yards or a touchdown to eight wide receivers in their last five games.

A lot of good ones in there. Jefferson, Thielen, Lockett, Eskridge, Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, Russell Gage, A.J. Brown. So it's mostly studs, but bodes well for Brandon Cooks. Is he a must start? Yes. Yeah, the only concern would be, you know, does he suffer from these guys coming off the COVID list?

And is he winded? Is he exhausted? Is he 100%? He practiced all week, right? He practiced all week. Yes. I don't know. When was he cleared off the COVID list?

Wednesday or Thursday? It had to have been Wednesday, if not earlier. I'll tell you. I'll take a look. I'm good with it. Must start. I think you're still starting him, but it's just something to – we said the same thing about Tyreek Hill.

If you had told me all week long Tyreek Hill was winning, you still would have said start him. Probably. When was Tyreek taken off that list, though? Was it Friday or Saturday? Tyreek was taken off Saturday. Brandon Cooks Wednesday. At this point, he's nothing.

Brandon Cooks came off the COVID list Wednesday. Perfect. Practiced all week. Got back in rhythm with Davis Mills. I want to tell you, I was going to say, I hope someone has the guts to start Davis Mills in their fantasy championship. And you know who that someone is me and Heath.

He's our super flex. So it's easy though. No, I was using them in DFS. I think that that's a good use of your quarterback budget this week. Stanford guy going back to Northern California. There you go.

And he scored 18 to 24 points in four straight starts, including games against the Rams and the Seahawks. Those are not easy matchups, and the Chargers not too easy either. Okay, so anyway, real quick, Rex Burkhead, any interest this week coming off of 22 carries, 149 yards, two touchdowns? Is he playing the Chargers again? I don't think so. With some of their defensive players?

No. All right, so sit Burkhead. Start Cooks. Brevin Jordan made the top 24, but... Yeah, desperation tight end play. He does have two touchdowns in his last three games with Davis Mills starting. Trey Lance.

Okay, let's check the updated rankings on Trey Lance. We spent a lot of time on Lance at the top of the show, so we're not going to do it here, but if you're just skipping around looking at time codes, basically the first fill-in-the-blank was about Trey Lance. We spent a lot of time on Lance at the top of the show, so we're not going to do it here, but if you're just skipping around, looking at time codes, basically the first fill in the blank was about Trey Lance, so you can listen to that. He's currently 14th for Jamie and 15th for

Dave and 11th for Heath. So he is worth starting. Always worth considering. Houston actually has allowed only six touchdown passes in their last seven games, but it's going to be the rushing. I'm just looking at one league where I have all three of Taysom Hill, Tyler Huntley, and Trey Lance.

Our projections, just for tying it into where Sportsline has them, Taysom Hill is at 22.2. There's six points for passing touchdowns. Everything else is normal. Trey Lance, 19.2, and Tyler Huntley, 10.6, but I believe they still have numbers for lamar jackson okay and uh right jamie said earlier if eli mitchell plays he'd be somewhere around 20th he wouldn't be his usual must start because we're just concerned about the health and the role i guess and uh if he doesn't play jeff wilson would be a borderline must-start guy against this Texans DST or Texans defense

that is just awful against running backs. And Debo, you know, that second fill-in-the-blank, I think it was, it said the stud wide receiver you're nervous about, to me it's Debo. I don't know how you guys feel. If he was only catching the ball and reliant on his quarterback delivering him passes, then I would agree with you. But he is not and could be

their best running back again. And I also think, again, tying in intangibles, he just had a baby and he's actually looking to get his name changed on his jersey to Debo Samuel I'm sorry, from Samuel to Samuel Senior because he's named his son after

himself. So I'm going to guess there might be a little bit of a T.Y. Hilton touchdown celebration, rocking the baby if he scores, and he probably will. All right, cool. Brandon Iyuk, starter set? Try to sit him.

Start in a three-receiver league, avoid him in a two-receiver league. Even in a three-receiver league, I don't feel great about him because it's Lance under center. And George Kittle, you have to start. He did not play the first two games with Trey Lance, so that should certainly help Lance. I like what he said. They asked him about losing to the

Titans and having all this time to wait to play a game. He's like, I can't. I think it was. I'm paraphrasing, but I can't wait to get back out there and crack some heads. Was it Kittle who also talked about how much Trey Lance has grown over the last month in practice? Because that's the thing that we just don't know.

He might take the field, and coaches might have way more confidence in him because he had that experience earlier in the year and then a month to kind of fine-tune his game. And then he's out there throwing bullets. Yeah, well, somebody was talking about it. There's been some good conversation in the media about Trey Lance is looking better in practice.

Oh, I think everybody in San Francisco wants to see him be awesome because this is... That would be awesome. Right. I will say this, though, just since somebody might not pay attention, I can't imagine that's the case in the championship, but just in this case, if Garoppolo plays,

I'd be more nervous about the 49ers guys. Because you think he won't play well? Because he's not 100%. Oh, sure. I was very critical. I think a lot of people were of how he played last week. He was bad, but I didn't know it at the time. He was playing most of that game with a thumb injury.

Yep. Okay, Carolina at New Orleans. Your stat of the game. This is not great, but mobile quarterbacks. Neither will this game. Mobile quarterbacks against the Panthers. Only Dak Prescott. He's not even mobile.

Four carries, 35 yards. He's the only guy with more than 30 rushing guards. That includes Daniel Jones, Jalen Hurts, Taylor Heineke, and Josh Allen. So the Panthers have been great against mobile guys. This guy's different, though. This guy's different. Like I said, Dallas and the Jets, they were also good against mobile quarterbacks,

and Taysom Hill ran all over them. Plus, we already outlined, no Shaq Thompson as of right now for the Panthers. When he was missing earlier this year their run defense was awful I can't believe how good DJ Moore has been against the Saints that is just very strange it was crazy yes uh so he's a number two wide receiver in PPR and I particularly like that he averages two more yards depth of Target with Darnold than with Cam. He was so bad with Darnold at the end of the Darnold tenure. And he was mostly bad with Cam, too.

It takes a little bit of, it's a little leap of faith to go with Moore. Technically, he wasn't that bad with Cam because he had a touchdown against Washington. No, he was pretty bad, I'd say, actually. The touchdown was nice, and that happened in the first game. Yeah, big catch against the Dolphins. Right. He had so many targets.

He had 10 to 12 targets in four straight games. The first four games with Darnold were incredible. He looked like the true breakout receiver. The next five games were crap. Right, and it kind of coincided when McCaffrey got hurt the first time. Yeah. and right kind of coincided when McCaffrey got hurt the first time yeah hmm so yeah I mean look there's a lot that concerns here but the Saints they stink against wide receivers he's got

good history so I understand why he's in your top 24 Taysom Hill is close to 12th I think we've spoken enough about him right now Dave has Hill behind cousins Jamie has Hill ahead of Cousins. And same with Wilson. No. Not same.

I like Hill ahead of Wilson. You both do. You both have Hill just ahead of Wilson. I think Cousins has a little bit more upside. Okay. And a lot more downside. I don't know about that. We've seen the downside with Taysom now.

Once. Well, but think about how bad he was until the final possession, basically, against both Dallas and the Jets. It's true. So lucky to get those points. But he got them. He got them, yeah.

Kamara, you guys love, right? Yes. And nobody else in this game? Callaway? Callaway's interesting, because without Gilmore there, the last time we did see Taysom start, that was a 100- this game? Callaway? Callaway's interesting because without Gilmore there, the last time we did see Taysom start, that was a 100-yard game for Callaway. And I thought he played well last week despite Ian Book being bad.

I mean, the targets that he got I thought were, he made plays on the targets that he got. And so I don't think Callaway is horrible. He's not a bad DFS player. Troutman's back. He's a really good DFS player because he's at the minimum at tight end. He's giving you at least eight PPR in three of his last four.

Jamie, which defensive back is out for the Panthers? Gilmore. Jackass. All right, Giants. Thank you, Dave. Thank you. Giants and Bears. It's that of the game.

Oh, the Giants. They have scored. Kevin's going to love that one. They have scored. the giants they have scored gavin's gonna love that one they have scored the giants have scored four touchdowns in their last four games without daniel jones and three of them were in the last five minutes of a game trailing by at least 24 points four touchdowns in four games and three of them were complete garbage time so that's what the that's the uphill battle for saquon Barkley, who is right around 24th. Daryl Williams is ahead of him.

Boston Scott is ahead of him as of now. Zeke, Damian Harris, Penny. It's easy to get away from Barkley. How about Agumbo Wally or Barkley? Barkley. Come on. No, I'm not. No. I refuse. You're going to take Agumbo Wally? No, I'm going to take Barkley. But about Agumbo Wally or Barkley? Barkley. Come on. No, I'm not. No.

I refuse. You're going to take Agumbo Wally? No, I'm going to take Barkley, but I'm not getting out of town. I was getting ready to pounce on that for a bet. Let's bet on that. I'm so low on Saquon Barkley. This is where he's finished in PPR in his last six games

since coming back from injury. RB 19, RB 30, RB20, RB11, RB22, and RB35. One finish higher than 19th, but usually around 19 or 20. I think it's the five games that Mike Lennon has played, he's averaging just over 10 PPR points per game.

Lennon throws him the ball a lot. Yeah, that's definitely helping his floor in PPR and makes him usable as a number two running back do you have any hesitation of putting david montgomery in your top 10 you've got him there dave you got him top five yeah no question he is david montgomery he's not really running the ball very well that's the only thing right you know he's. He's going to get north of 15 touches. If Dalton's playing, that could lead to some targets for

him. I'm totally fine starting David Montgomery. Starting, yeah, but you have him in the top five. Yeah, he's going to be great. Jamie top 10 and Heath top 5 also. Okay, and Darnell Mooney is a sit, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Glimmer of hope with Andy Dalton starting, if Dalton is starting. We think Dalton is starting, but more of a DFS or deep league flex type of play. Yeah. Cole Komet or Foster Moreau?

Moreau. Moreau. Cole Komet or, I know you like Gerald Everett better. Tyler Higby. I think I have Komet over Higby. I like Higby this week, so I'll go Higby. All right, Komet is just outside the top 12 in full PPR.

He does not score, ever. Zero touchdowns this season. And the Giants are tied in the score to the last three, so maybe Jimmy Graham finds the end zone. There you go. Chicago DST is top 10. And that's it and the Giants are tied in to score two of the last three so maybe Jimmy Graham finds the end zone there you go Chicago DST is top ten and that's it

that's it for the show woo we still have a full week next week but I know for a lot of you this is the last Starter Set episode that you'll really need

I hope you continue to listen and we've got the mailbag you should continue to listen listen we have so many emails

in the inbox at some point I'm going to try to go through them you know and respond but please listen to the mailbag and uh hopefully we get your question answered have a great friday everybody have a happy happy new year for david jimmy guys i'm adam see you later for a limited time switch to to Shopify Point of Sale, and you could save up to 20% and improve your bottom line.

We're so serious about savings, we've made this ad 20% shorter. That means you get six seconds back. Just enough time to visit Shopify.com slash POS20. Now that's an efficient ad. Eligibility requirements apply. See Shopify.com slash POS20 for details.