Fantasy Football Today - Start or Sit (NFC): Pollard, Dobbs, Packers WRs and More (12/08 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 8, 2023

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and wherever else you listen to podcasts Hey, not a bad game last night! We'll recap Patriots-Steelers (1:50) and praise Ezekiel Elliott before we give you the updated news and notes (8:00) including a possible downgrade for Austin Ekeler ... One Question for Each Game (18:50)! Are we considering sitting Tony Pollard and D'Andre Swift? Will Jahmyr Gibbs bounce back? Is this another Chuba Hubbard week? We also help you Beat the Waiver Wire (30:00) ... Start or Sit for Lions-Bears (32:00), Vikings-Raiders (39:55), Seahawks-49ers (48:40), Panthers-Saints (55:35), Packers-Giants (1:00:10), Bucs-Falcons (1:05:35) and Eagles-Cowboys (1:12:00) ... Email us at [e-mail] SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Happy Friday, everybody. Yay! Weekend is here. And we had a decent game last night, I think. How would you rate that game on the Fun-O-Meter? Zero to ten. Oh, it was like a solid six on the Phenometer.

Yeah, I'd give it a seven. I mean, it was, I mean, look, if we're talking about what the expectations were, it was a 15. Like, I was expecting, it was, uh, I mean, look, if we're talking about what the, uh, what the expectations were, it was a 15. Like I was expecting, you know, uh, to continue our theme, a turd game. And, um, it was, uh, it was, it was fairly solid. First half was, was entertaining for the Patriots. You know, Steelers made it close. Um, welcome back Zeke. Yeah. I'm surprised you didn't give it a 27. Yes. That is how many points Zeke scored last night. More surprised you didn't give it a 27, Jamie. Yes, that is how many points Zeke scored last night.

More than any game for Ramondre Stevenson. More than any game for most running backs this season. We'll talk about that game shortly. We have seven games to take a look at today on the docket. And it is Detroit at Chicago. Minnesota at Las Vegas. What else we got? Seattle at San Francisco. Carolina is at New Orleans.

Green Bay is at the Giants on Monday night. Tampa Bay is at Atlanta. And actually, the last game we're going to talk about is Philadelphia at Dallas. Because, you know, you probably don't have too many start-sit decisions. Although, we'll talk about the running backs in that game. But maybe we'll save the best for last

with Philadelphia at Dallas. All right, with that said, here's New England 21 and Pittsburgh 18. And Dave, you can kick it off. What were your big fantasy takeaways from this one? So I've been looking forward to this all morning. Ezekiel Elliott getting 29 touches. That was surprising.

You know how many games this year where Andre Stevenson has had 29 touches? Forget about this year. His career with 29 touches? Yeah, zero. Zero. He's never done it. So huge opportunity for Zeke. He took advantage.

The Steelers were just totally depanced. I feel like a total heel for having Zeke ranked as low as I did. I even texted Jamie as soon as the first drive was over. I was like, great call, man. You nailed that one. Heath nailed that one. Hopefully you guys started them. Two people who I'm playing against in my, in playoff league, in leagues where I need

to win to make the playoffs, they both started Zeke. So kind of frustrating unless you started Zeke and then you felt good about it. Only 40% of the people did. And I don't know if he's going to be, you know, someone that we, we trust fully next week against Kansas city, but it was, it was impressive. Let's just put it that way. The fact that he got that much work, he held up under that much work and, uh, okay, fine. It's not that impressive because his rushing average wasn't that great. Uh, his last run really helped him. The Steelers were unimpressive. They were really terrible, both sides of the ball, really hard to feel good

about anybody moving forward in that offense. And I would imagine that a lot's going to get blown up in Pittsburgh this offseason. Well, I mean, they're getting a new coordinator. That's clear. You know, this was always going to be the case once they got rid of Matt Canada, thankfully. I don't know what to make of the situation in terms of next year, because look, we saw one full game without Matt Canada.

Can you pick a look really good? And he got hurt. And so, you know, is, is, is he still the guy there based on where they're going to end up drafting?

It's probably the case. So, um, I don't know how much will necessarily dramatically change, but hopefully a better system will help everybody involved. In terms of Zeke, I never really liked Zeke for his rushing, and that was not what I was expecting to carry him. It was his role in the passing game because that's kind of been what's been saving Ramondre Stevenson, and that was definitely there. And so it was interesting to see because I, um, I have to do props for, for CBS sports HQ and the pregame show every, every Thursday and Monday. And Vegas is always

pretty good at giving you a good barometer of what they think. And the fact that Deontay Johnson's prop, just for example, at four and a half receptions was a plus number. I think it was plus one 10 and Zeke's catch number, which was two and a half receptions was minus one 40. I can't believe that number. I wish I had seen that before the game. To me, that was an easy one, but obviously the number wasn't good,

you know? So, um, they were expecting him to be involved in the passing. I was expecting to be involved in the passing. I thought maybe four catches, you know, it's kind of been where Ramondre has been living.

Um, and, uh, I don't know if I said this on the, I know I wrote it and starts it um remandre stevenson even sharing with zeke still top 10 and targets for running backs for the season and so that's something that you just figured okay this is what their offense has been is they throw to their running backs and so he was going to probably get five catches four or five catches um he just did a lot more with them than i anticipated and then he got all those carries, which was the, to me, the biggest surprise.

I thought the Steelers were going to win the game. So I think Zeke is, is got the chance. Like you say, not much interest against Kansas city. I'm most likely 100% starting Zeke against Kansas city in PPR next week. Just because of the catches. Of course.

Yeah. 29% target share last night. Right. Just two things. One, you expect fewer carries. They'll probably be playing from behind. But who cares?

Because he's not doing anything with his carries anyway. True. And two, if DeMero, Douglas, and Devontae Parker are back, maybe that reduces the catches. But still, he had seven catches. I still think you pencil in five at this point for the lead running back for the Patriots. That's just what they do. All right. And then I

don't think we're necessarily going to buy into Hunter Henry, who had three targets. Two of them were catches. And honestly, it was such a bad game for Mitchell Trubisky. It doesn't necessarily mean he'll be this bad last week. I mean, even the final number is 190 yards. It was so much worse before the last

two plays of the game. But who do they have next week? Add Indianapolis, then Cincinnati. New England's playing good defense. Let's give them credit. Here's the troubling thing, really, because I think the one must start, you thought, for the Steelers was going to be their DST.

I mean, I thought slam dunk. Arizona at home. New England at home. Indianapolis, knowing the way Gardner Minshew can turn the ball over. They're droppable. They are absolutely droppable right now. They may come out of a big game last week, okay, but who can trust them?

At home against New England and Bailey Zappi carves them up for three touchdowns? And a half. He did it in a half. And they lost Alex Highsmith very early in the game. So that's one of their best pass rushers. So rough stretch for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Still in the playoff hunts. And that will do it for Thursday night football.

All right, youtube.com slash fantasyfootball today. That's your destination this weekend. We've got all of our content. If you want to watch our podcast, someone said today is the first time he's ever watched live and he thought I would look like Daniel Tosh. That's nice. He's a nice looking man. I'll take that. He's probably not just taller than me, probably twice as tall as I am. He looks like he's about almost 12 feet tall. So yeah, I'm not Daniel Tosh. Speaking of looks, I saw one of the YouTube comments yesterday before I got on the show with you that said you and Heath look like the Seinfeld episode of when the water pressure didn't work in the shower episode.

I don't think that can't be true. I don't have enough hair for that. All right. Anyway, YouTube.com slash fantasy football today. We have a live stream at 1130 a.m. on Sundays. We'll help you set your lineup. Also, you can watch HQ on the live stream at 1130 a.m. on Sundays. We'll help you set your lineup. Also, you can watch HQ on the CBS Sports app at 10 a.m. Eastern on Sunday. Okay.

News and notes. So we know Zach Wilson and Josh Dobbs are starting. We still don't know who's starting for the Cleveland Browns against Jacksonville. But you're guessing Flacco at this point, right? Did DTR mute the media? Because I know Flacco did. I don't know. I don't know.

I'm not in the media. But I know he's been limited. He's progressing. Still in the concussion protocol. Just play Flacco. And Derek Carr, same thing. Maybe it seems like a decent chance it's going to be Carr this week. But we don't know.

But probably wouldn't change. Well, we'll talk about that game in a minute anyway. It would be amazing. Like, he gets smashed up. Seems like he could be out for a long time. And they just do everything in their power to get him back on the field. They just do not want Jameis Winston to play.

There's a chance Carr plays and Taysom Hill does not play. Right. That could be fun. And all that arguing. I don't know how much fun it would be, but it is Carolina. Could be fun for Al all that arguing. I don't know how much fun it would be, but it is Carolina. It could be fun for Alvin Kamara. All that arguing I did with Jamie about Chris

Alavi never catching touchdowns because of Taysom Hill, etc. We won't necessarily be able to see it play out. Trevor Lawrence is back on the practice field. Don't rule him out yet. We'll see. I mean, I hope

to see him play because he's clearly better for the Jaguars playing. But the last thing you want to see is him get hurt and they screw up their playoff chances. And look, you got Cleveland and Baltimore back to back. Send him against the Browns. Let him play against Baltimore if he's close to being ready to go. That's a huge game. Not that the Cleveland game is not huge, but you got to win a division at this point. Like forget about the one seed.

You got to win a division. And if he has to miss any amount of time, you know, one game you could deal with, if it's four or five, your season's over. And I just think about it from a fantasy manager's perspective of how much you want a first round buy, right? And like the perfect scenario

is you have Trevor Lawrence or Calvin Ridley or something, and you've already locked in a first round by right and like the perfect scenario is you have Trevor Lawrence or Calvin Ridley or something and you have you've already locked in a first round by you don't have to worry about the Cleveland game you don't have to worry about the Baltimore game next week you come back for Tampa Bay in week 16 that would be such a beautiful thing yep uh running back news Aaron Jones was limited in practice the first practice of the week for the Packers. So that's a good sign for him, but not necessarily a good sign for fantasy managers. I think you probably just want one of them in and not a committee. Dylan and Jones both may be ready for that Giants game on Monday. What do you guys, Jamie, what do you think about this Austin Eckler thing?

And Brandon Staley saying that they could shake things up in the backfield a little bit. It's troubling. You know, obviously they're concerned about Eckler for some reason, aside from the obvious. But, you know, maybe it's more than just the on-field production. Maybe they don't see him with the same burst. I think we can all agree that that's the case. I think he said it best yesterday. You said it best yesterday that we would just at this point, let him have the running down work in terms of Kelly.

And let's just get Eckler back in the passing game and significantly back in the passing game, because that's been the frustrating part. I still find it hard to sit Eckler. I haven't adjusted my rankings with that. I, it feels as if it could be more of a motivating tactic. You know,

we need to get him going. So let me talk up the other guy and, and see if that provides a spark. He crushes the Broncos in his career, you know? So need to get him going. Uh, so let me talk up the other guy and see if that provides a spark. He crushes the Broncos in his career, you know? So I hope that that continues, um, you know, the Western Colorado product and, um, yeah, I'm still going to start him, but you know, not a, uh, not a slam dunk, uh, top 10 guy. He's been over 3.5 yards per carry in one game since he got hurt in week one. Right. And he looked really terrible last week in, you know,

a tough matchup against the Patriots, but he should have had more opportunities. I, I almost wonder if the comments from Staley were an admission that Eckler just really isn't right, which we've been talking about. So, um,

in your rankings and look up them, then look them up now dave's got him 18th jamie 11th and where do you think he'll end up 15 around there okay so you're gonna start he might end up like 23rd for me i might get real nervous wow yeah um okay so so tony pollard Wow. Yeah. Okay. So, so Tony Pollard, tough matchup or Austin Eckler. Pollard makes sense. I'll still go Eckler. Okay. Seattle running back or Eckler? I can't do a Seattle running back, especially if they might be splitting a little more evenly than we're used to seeing. If they both play.

I was trying to think of it, but there's definitely a history of coaches saying stuff like this and not following through on it. And coaches lie constantly. Pittsburgh comes to mind. It's always going to be. It's also, we've seen Josh Kelly play,

right? It's not like last year where it's like, Hey, we got to get Tony Pollard going a little bit. Zeke's struggling. It's not one of those. When's the last time he averaged more than 3.5 yards per carry? Earlier this season. He had a seven carry game against Kansas City. He had

10.7 yards per carry. He had a 49-yard touchdown run in the game. One game since then, but he really doesn't get the ball a lot. I doubt that he becomes the lead running back. He's going to take some of the rushing work away. Maybe they split rushing work and Eckler plays on obvious passing downs. All right. Back to the news and notes here. Plus, we're trying to trust Brandon Staley. Zach Charbonnet and Ken Walker are both questionable. We really don't know who's

going to be available for that game at San Francisco. Jonathan Taylor has not been ruled out. It seems unlikely that he's going to play, but maybe a good sign for next week. Don't drop him yet. Jarek McKinnon practiced in full. Isaiah Pacheco, he's fine, right? I hope so. I mean, this is one, you know,

in leagues where I had a roster spot to play with, I picked up Clyde Edwards-Alaire just to have him in case. But yeah, today's practice day will be big for Kropachek. Has anybody been picking up Dalvin Cook? Because Brees Hall has been missing practice. Not yet. It's a good call, though. Yeah, I mean, I thought about it.

How excited would you be about starting him against Houston? Well, is he going to be worse than Brees Hall? I mean, he'd probably step in and catch back. No, but who's excited about Brees Hall? He's still a starter, you know? You could do worse. He'd probably step in and catch back. No, but who's excited about Brees Hall? He's still a starter, you know? You could do worse. Brees Hall's been such a bad running back that it makes me feel like I haven't thought about

even picking up Dalvin Cook, which is weird. Whenever you see a starting running back missing practice and being legitimately questionable to play, people race to the waiver wire. I haven't seen Cook get picked up. He might be rostered in leagues for all I know. I haven't seen one Cook transaction. But then I thought about like,

Brees Hall has been arguably the worst rusher in football for the last like seven weeks or something. As long as Dalvin Cook can catch three or four passes. Zeke last night, you know? So I think we got to pay attention to it. Even against a great running face. You asked us last week maybe how we're going to view the ACL running backs.

Yeah. Probably poorly. Probably. Yeah, it's just weird week, maybe, how we're going to view the ACL running backs. Yeah. Probably poorly. Probably. Yeah, it's just weird. But how much of Brees' year is because of the ACL and how much of it is because of the ACL? Yeah, when Adam brought this up, I'll say the same thing. If we went back and looked at all the guys who struggled, how much was it bad offensive line? How much was it bad quarterback?

How much was it is everything that Brees Halls had to deal with? I'm sure there's a few. Of course. But still, the raw numbers will be the raw numbers and he's going to have a down season by what his career number, what his numbers were last year, clearly, points per game

and what hopefully will be next year. He's going to be a monster next year if they get the offensive line right. Okay, and that's it for running back. Wide receiver, still not expecting Amari Cooper at this point. Still, I would say, not expecting Christian Watson. He missed the first practice of the week, but they haven't ruled him out.

Josh Palmer was limited. You know, no idea there, but not a bad idea to pick up Josh Palmer. Tight end, Dallas Goddard expects to play. Dalton Schultz was limited on Wednesday, so we talked about him yesterday as if he were going to play, but he missed practice on Thursday,

so that's one we really have to keep an eye on. Taysom Hill, still missing practice with hand-foot issues. Has this kind of been the norm for him, though? For Taysom? Yeah, missing practice. All right, we'll keep our fingers crossed there. And Dawson Knox still has a chance to play this week. Do you guys feel like he will play, Dawson Knox?

I think it's the same as Palmer. You just got to wait it out and see how close to being active they are. We've gotten plenty of these scenarios before where the window gets open and they don't rush the guy back on the field. Right. And if he does play, I'm not sure how badly it's going to hurt Kincaid. I think they might play a lot with both tight ends to try and keep the Chiefs defense off balance a little bit. Certainly, they could use Knox as a better blocker or an extra blocker, I should say, whereas Kincaid is clearly more of a receiver. We also haven't seen these guys healthy in Joe Brady's offense. And really, if it's going to impact somebody significantly, not that he's been a significant contributor,

but Khalil Shakir is probably droppable. It's the one. Yeah. Okay. And just a couple of defensive notes for you in IDP leagues. Zach Cunningham for the Eagles. He was limited in practice.

He's been a pretty reliable player. And their run defense has suffered without some of their linebackers. So it would be nice for them to get him back. I know they signed Shaq Leonard. Let's see. What else here? Who's Leonard taking off the field, though?

Maybe Leonard. I don't know that he's necessarily going to jump. I have no idea. No idea how that's going to play out. Nick Bolton practiced in full for the Chiefs. Linebacker Nick Bolton. He's been out for a while. Drew Tranquil is in the concussion protocol. So he probably won't play. But they could get Nick Bolton practiced in full for the Chiefs. Linebacker Nick Bolton, he's been out for a while. Drew Tranquil is in the concussion protocol,

so he probably won't play, but they could get Nick Bolton back. But safety Brian Cook is not practicing. And I told you a lot about injuries on defense yesterday, so I won't bore you with it today. We'll do one question for each game when we come back from this quick break on Fantasy Football today. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference. Securian Canada gives you that coverage. on Fantasy truly matters. Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations, or visit SecurianCanada.ca.

Securian Canada, insurance designed for life. We're back. Okay. Detroit at Chicago. One question for each game. Here we go. Bounce back game for Jameer Gibbs. To what level?

15 or more PPR fantasy points. That's a nice game. He's got the upside for it. I don't know. I'll take slightly under. Slightly under. That's the safe play. If you want to put an expectation in,

sure, 13, 14 PPR points, I think he can get you there. I think the Bears... Did he have, what, six catches last game against them? Yeah, he had a huge game. They both scored over 17 points, he and Montgomery, against the Bears. And the Bears are really bad against pass-catching running backs, so that's my hope for Jameer Gibbs. You just never know. Minnesota's at Las Vegas. Any concerns about Josh Jacobs in this game? Only four running backs have scored more than 11 points against the Vikings this year in PPR. Slight concern, but I had some slight concerns with him

against the Chiefs, and he was great. So back involved in the passing game, too. That's a fact, and I see him getting a lot of work. He's been getting a lot of work lately. Another running back that should be able to get the job done with 20 plus touches. So I've got him 13th. I think that's pretty conservative.

Gibbs or Jacobs. Gibbs and PPR. Yeah. I've got them back to back Gibbs in front of Jacobs. Seattle's at San Francisco. How much do you factor in the Week 12 matchup with these two teams when you rank these players? We had terrible games from DK Metcalf, Brock Purdy,

and George Kittle in particular. How much did – and all of those guys are coming off big performances in Week 13, right? But how much do you – Not Kittle. I think he had like 80 yards, didn't he? Kittle was four for 68. He had 10.8.

All right. That's pretty – I mean, look, you'll take 68 yards from a tight was four for 68. He had 10.8. All right. That's pretty, I mean, look, you'll take 68 yards from a tight end. Yeah, it's serviceable. Not a big game, though. Sure. But he was awful against the Seahawks, and Purdy had his worst game in a while,

and Metcalf was completely shut down by Shriverius Ward. How much do you factor that in, Jamie, when you look at this matchup? I mean, you definitely have to factor in it because there's history between these two teams across the board. You know, they play each other twice a year, and they've seen each other multiple times in big spots. I think for Metcalf, it's more, at least my approach to it, is you saw him against a tough defense last week, and you saw Geno play well.

And I think one thing to take into account, that was, if you recall, the short week for both these teams. Geno, we didn't think was going to play. He had the elbow injury the week before. And there was that, uh, I think it was the CBS game, if I'm not mistaken. Right. Or that was a night game. Um, there was the, they showed the production meeting where he's in the

production meeting with the, uh, the, the, the broadcast crew getting work on his elbow on a table, like, like at a conference table. And, you know, he was obviously not right. So you got to factor in a little bit, but I don't think you sit DK Metcalf unless you have a loaded receiving core. You're certainly not sitting Brock Purdy. He's the one I feel the safest about, you know, just his track record at home. This Seattle defense we saw last week, you know, can easily be beat by a team

that knows how to attack it, and I think the 49ers do. So I chalk up his bad game to just a bad game on the road. Kittle is, at this point, you just know what you're getting. If he has a bad game, you just have to take it at this point unless you have a Sam Laporta, you drafted those two guys, or the other weeks when he's playing Trey McBride. I'm starting Kittle. And I think everybody else for these two teams, you kind of know what to do.

You don't start any of the other Seattle wide receivers. You start Ayuk, you start Debo, you start McCaffrey, and that's kind of how you approach it. Seattle running backs, Dave said it best, if they both play, you probably try to avoid them. I think you try to avoid them even if one plays and one doesn't play because the matchup is so tough. I would probably feel,

I'd feel a little bit better about Walker than I would, uh, Charbonnet because of the nature of their injuries. Walker's had some time to get healthy. Charbonnet coming off of a knee contusion, knee bruise like that makes me a little bit more concerned. So if Walker plays still should get a decent amount of work, but he might not get a ton of catches. Right. And that, that, should get a decent amount of work, but he might not get

a ton of catches. Right. And that, that, you know, I'm just trying everything in my mind right now is all about Ezekiel Elliott. So if he's, if he's playing and getting a lot of work, it might, it might look like 15 carries, but it also might only look like two catches and he could have a really inefficient game. He would make me nervous. He would be no better than a low-end RB2 if Charbonnet is out. And if Walker's out and Charbonnet plays, well, we know that he can catch the ball a little bit. Probably a safer bet to get around 12, 13 PPR points if it's Charbonnet.

But there's risk that he could get hurt. There's risk that he would be just totally inefficient. And if they're both playing, they're going to take away from each other. That makes it easier to get away from them. All right. Carolina's at New Orleans. Who's a better flex in this game?

Adam Thielen or Chuba Hubbard? I'll take Chuba. Yeah, I agree. I like the workload that he's been getting when Thomas Brown has been calling the plays. It's been four games

and Chuba has at least 17 touches in three of the four. The Saints run defense has been taken down a notch, if not two notches over the past several weeks. And I think that there's going to be some opportunities for Chuba Hubbard to get a lot of work and to maybe come through for fantasy managers. I like him as an RB too. I just have this feeling about Adam Phelan. I watched, I watched his routes. He's still getting open. Bryce Young is not playing well. You know, that's, that's a huge problem. That's not going away, but I love slot receivers against

the saints and maybe it doesn't matter anymore because Lattimore is out. Marcus may is out and you can just probably, maybe you could just throw on the Saints regardless. But this is usually who does well. It's usually slot receivers. I think now they gave up the fifth most receiving yards to slot receivers. Dillon's in the slot most of the time. So I don't know. It's weird.

It's almost like a DFS play for me. I can't in good conscience recommend him to anyone with how bad he's been. I think part of the problem is for Bryce Young is, and this is going to be a problem forever, he has a hard time seeing over the middle of the field. It's just difficult. Alright, Green Bay at the Giants.

How do you approach the Packers wide receivers this game? I think you treat all of them as number three receivers if Watson plays, and they're borderline number two receivers, the top two guys if Watson's out. You mean if Watson plays, even he would be a number three receiver. Well, I think they just take away from each other a little bit, you know, and the fact that he's not a hundred percent, you know, so I know how I would rank it. I'd probably have him like in the 26, 27, 28 range in terms of Watson. Um, and the other guys would just get a little bit of a bump down right now.

I think both guys are in the top 30, you know, so without Watson. So it's a boost for them. It's a boost for Wicks. You know, maybe it's a boost for Kraft as well. The wild card to all this, honestly, is if Aaron Jones plays, he's a much better pass catcher than A.J. Dillon. It's true. So how much does he take away from those guys also? But I think you've seen it.

I mean, you know, there's been how, you know, who are you talking about? Oh, you're talking about Jerome Ford yesterday. Like they, he just gets it done in different ways. Like Romeo Dobbs has gotten it done in different ways, right? You know, four for 70 last week,

I think it was, uh, most of the time has been touchdown dependent. Reed has been, you know, a little bit more productive in terms of his catches and yards. But I think you just kind of look at the, the target boost for both of them at Watson's not there.

You buy into it. Okay. Dobbs has double digit PPR points in three of his past four games. The past four games, Jordan love has been rolling. So that's probably a good call that Dobbs should be in consideration as a wide receiver. Three,

uh, Tampa Bay is at Atlanta. Could this be a good game for Drake London against the bucks who give up the fifth most points to wide receivers? Could this be a good game for Drake London against the Bucks who give up the fifth most points to wide receivers. Could this be a good game for Drake London? So he's gotten a good target share over his past, well, really over the course of the season, but certainly in the last two games from Desmond Ritter, they're just not passing a lot. It's a low volume passing offense.

You know, London got hurt a few games ago. He came back. He looks fine. Last week, I think it was the matchup. He couldn't separate from the Jets' corners. We know how bad the Bucs' corners are. I have London ranked pretty low. I think I've got to move him up a little bit.

I think he's got a shot to get close to like 13, 14 PPR points. Let me ask you this. Would you take 18 PPR points from him? Of course, yeah. 13? Yes, I would take 13 from London. 21 I would take from London. 14?

Yes. He has scored all those in each of his last home games. He has had one bad home game this season, which was week one. Who did he play against in those games? Good thing that you asked that. He played against Green Bay in week two. That was the 18 points yeah 13 against houston uh 21 against washington we know it's an easy one and then 14

against new orleans that was two weeks ago yeah and that was that i mean obviously that was a pretty good game favorable less than favorable matchup actually well no was latimore playing he didn't play so i believe he did not play in that game. But all these are very similar matchups in my opinion. Agreed. So, yeah, London to me is a starter. I don't have him in my top 24, but that might change by the time we get to Sunday.

All right. Last game. Philadelphia-Dallas. We can spend more time on this one since it is our last game scheduled for to discuss. Are we actually avoiding the running backs in this game, Tony Pollard and DeAndre Swift? Not avoiding Pollard. You just have to have a stacked team

to bench him. But yes, I would avoid Swift. Both outside of my top 15, I'd start mixing over them. I'd start either Lions or Dolphins running back ahead of them. Zach Moss mixing over them. I'd start either lions or dolphins running back ahead of them. Zach Moss ahead of them. That's that's the range.

Interesting. Mixing, huh? Yep. Oh, all right. So Dallas has held Barkley twice, the jets running backs,

the Rams running backs, Eckler, Swift, the Carolina running backs, the Washington running backs, all of them to, the Carolina running backs, the Washington running backs, all of them to 10.2 or fewer PPR fantasy points. Even McCaffrey had a bad game running the ball. 16 points for McCaffrey.

I mean, that's a terrible game for him. Dave, who are you more nervous about, Pollard or Swift? Swift, for sure. Because at least we've seen Pollard get some work done. That's the game of the week, yeah. The Eagles and the Cowboys. It's a Sunday night game of the week. And the Eagles and the Cowboys. Hey, why you so mad, Dave? Why you mad, bro? Dave's so mad, bro? Dave's so mad. What?

You're mad. I'm sorry I had you muted. You're mad. Why are you mad? Because I'm just not feeling it. Oh, come on. All right, fine. Let's beat the waiver wire. I did not prepare for this segment.

We started 10 minutes early today, and I lost my 10 minutes for beat the waiver wire. No teams on by. i keep saying this but i i am looking at uh zay jones and parker washington because people don't think lawrence is going to play this week so they're not that interested but that's fine we'll beat the waiver wire we'll get them for next week or the week after that uh which might be you know something worth doing um anything else that jumps out at you? Obviously you want to get your handcuff at this point. Uh, let's, I'll look for some DSTs. I mean, look, it's not a bad idea to take a flyer on any of the Cardinals wide receivers

who are available to different degrees. You know, Marquise Brown, uh, might've been dropped. Hopefully he can get healthy and finish the season strong, scheduled favorable. Um, Michael Wilson, if he comes back, you know you know in deeper leagues he might have something to offer and then if he's out we've seen greg dorch certainly pick up his play of late so deeper formats i think you could take a chance marquis brown a little bit shallower formats um curtis samuel may still be out there in some leagues you know with washington the way he's played he's certainly had two good games back to back and sam howell is going to throw a lot. Um, Antonio Gibson for sure.

Did you say him? No, no. Brian Robinson might be out. Who knows what the hamstring injury. So Gibson was 66% rostered going into Tuesday. That might have dropped because people needing to make some roster moves. Okay.

And a couple of DSTs that are actually widely rostered, but just take a look. The saints are 77% rostered. Not only do they get Carolina this week, they have the Giants next week. The Chiefs are 88% rostered, but they're playing the Bills, so they might get dropped.

Their next three games are Patriots, Raiders, Bengals. If the Chiefs can just get going again, they've been struggling lately. I thought their DST would be kind of a league winner after they got through this kind of tough stretch, but they got the Patriots next week, those Chiefs. Did you say Curtis Samuel? Yes.

Okay. Okay. I think I'm good there. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know. Let's go to the games. Detroit's at Chicago. Cross your fingers. Stat of the else, I'll let you know. Let's go to the games. Detroit's at Chicago. Cross your fingers. Stat of the game. I already mentioned this one. Both Lions running back scored more than 17 fantasy points against the Bears in week 11. So we'll hope for a repeat.

Jared Goff. It's funny. He scored 20 points at New Orleans the week before he scored 22.2 against the Packers, but it just doesn't feel like he's playing so well right now. Really struggled against the Packers in real life. Turnovers. Yeah, and I know you guys are feeling the Bears' defense a little bit here. So who are some streamers that you would start over Jared Goff, Jamie? I'd start Gardner Minshew over him. That's probably the only one.

I'm not there with Baker, even though Baker, I think, has a good matchup, especially if AJ Terrell's out. That's really the only one for me is Gardner. What about Dobbs? If you want to consider Dobbs a streamer, then yes. I guess technically he was dropped in some leagues. He was still like 75% rostered going into Tuesday.

More if that was a decision that you've got between Dobbs and Goff. And I agree, I'd take Dobbs over Goff. I don't like that Frank Ragnow might not play. The book on Jared Goff is that whenever he's pressured, whenever that pressure comes, he struggles. And so if the offensive line, which has not been playing great the last couple of weeks, if that line is a problem, his stat line is going to be a problem. It's also his outdoor road games have been bad.

Sure. You know, this could be a problem too. Who's your favorite? Oh, I guess I should stick with the Lions. I was going to ask you about the Bears running back. So we'll get to that. Sorry. All right.

Well, who's your favorite Lions running back? Gibbs and PPR, Montgomery and 9.5. Okay. And are you starting any of them over Devon Achan, either of them, over Devon Achan or Raheem Mostert? I think you asked this yesterday. For me, it goes Gibbs, Achan, Gibbs, Mostert, Montgomery, and PPR. And in non-PPR, it is Montgomery,

no, A-chan, Montgomery, Mostert, Gibbs. I've got A-chan, Gibbs, Mostert, Montgomery, and non-PPR. And I've got the same order as Jamie has it in PPR. You start Gibbs over Montgomery,

non-PPR? Yeah, that's how I have it ranked. A-chan PPR. You start Gibbs over Montgomery, not PPR. Yeah, that's how I have it ranked. HN Gibbs, Mostert Montgomery and PPR. In their last eight games, only three running backs have scored more than 11.2 PPR points against the Bears.

That would be Austin Eckler and both Detroit running backs. So it has been, I mean, they give up 3.4 yards per carry to running backs, but the most receiving yards per game to the position. As far as the wide receivers go, Amandra St. Brown and DJ Moore are must starts. And that's it, right?

No one's going for Jamison Williams or anything like that? No. Okay. Remind me to tell you a funny Dan Schneier story on the mailbag about Jamison Williams. Who are you starting over Sam Laporta at the tight end position? Taylor Swift's man. That's it. Taylor Swift is loving football.

She's really into it. Good for her. Yeah, what did she say? The dads, chads, and brads? Oh, I don't know. I'm not that into that. She was saying something about the people watching her on the game. She's like, I'm not aware of that. That's for all the dads, chads, and brads, and chads. Okay, so just Kelsey, so Laporta's two.

Okay, let's talk about the start of the week, Jamie. Justin Fields, he's about eighth for everybody right around there. Your thoughts? I mean, just great situation. If he continues to do what he does against them, three straight games with over a hundred yards rushing. He had 23 fantasy points against them in the earlier meeting and threw for under 200 yards in that game. But it's four of the last five quarterbacks have been 23 or more fantasy points against them. In those three games, he averages 28 fantasy points per game against Detroit.

So he just beats up on this defense and they're beatable in the backend, which is why I think we all love DJ more. Uh, but if he continues to just use his legs, like he has been, he should have another big day. So hard to expect a hundred yards rushing, but if he makes it four in a row, he's going to have a monster fantasy performance. And so, um, you know, I have an eighth. I know Dave has him seventh cause we've done 17 shows about this in the last two days. Um, you know, so I may move them up a spot as

well. The one that, that, that I'm considering moving him ahead of is Lamar Jackson, just because I don't know where Jackson's ceiling is based on how he's performed lately. Uh, but I would start the only other like random guy, I think if you want to put it that way that I would start over him as Brock Purdy. The stat that put me over the top on both fields and DJ Moore is that over the past four games, offenses have thrown five touchdowns of 15 plus air yards on the Lions. The Saints did not, but they had three completions of 15 plus air yards that set up three other touchdowns for them last week. So absolutely beatable on the deep ball pass rush

pressures and getting there aleem mcneil is out that's a big chunk of their defensive line missing this should be a huge game for the bears passing game yeah fields versus love fields right for you okay yeah now what do you want to do with the bears running backs just stash and see what happens or do you want to do with the Bears running backs? Just stash and see what happens? Or do you want to actually start someone today, Dave? So the last time these guys actually played together, we're talking about Deontay Foreman, Roshan Johnson, and Khalil Herbert. It was against Detroit, and it was for basically a half.

Foreman got hurt, came back, got hurt again. Foreman and Herbert alternated series, and Roshan played third downs. So the only guy that had a specific role was Roshan and Foreman was the guy who started. I would guess that this coaching staff won't take the starting job away from Foreman just because he got hurt a couple of weeks ago. I've got him at the top of my rankings among the three of them, but Roshan's right behind him.

I don't want to start any of them. Yeah. I'll take Roshan just because I think how this game can go or can get back and forth. Um, and I still buy into this Detroit run defense. The thing that was interesting, at least the first report that I saw from Wednesday, I forget who it was. So I apologize. Uh, one of the bears beat writers that Foreman and Johnson were taking handoffs from fields and Herbert was taking handoffs from Beijing. So, you know, the fact that he's gotten relegated potentially to the third spot just from

injury. Well, I hate that for him. Um, it could just be, they wanted to get Herbert reps any way that they could. Well, I mean,

you know, I, I don't, it, it, it's, it's tough for me to say that he's worse than Deontay Foreman at this point. Like,

you know, so Foreman did a great job when everybody was, was missing. Yeah. I think Herbert has more upside. So, you know, for what my opinion doesn't matter to them,

but I like in, in terms of how you should approach it, fantasy managers approach it. The only one that I would play at this point would be Roshan. And the, if I had to make a choice on like, which bears running back to roster said both these guys i needed to cut one of them or all three of these guys or two of the three i would rank it roshan and i think i'd go foreman over herbert still but it's it's a grab bag between those bottom two but roshan's the one

that i want to have on my roster right roshan's the one you want to have khalil herbert would be probably the first one to cut. And there's a chance none of them are all that good for fantasy. Let's see how this plays out. Right. See how it plays out. They have the Lions this week. They're at Cleveland next week. And then, wow. Arizona in week 16. Atlanta in week 17. Both at home. We talked about

that. One of those running backs should have good games then. All right. DJ Moore or Justin Jefferson this week? Moore. I'll take Jefferson. Both close. All right, DJ Moore or Justin Jefferson this week? Moore. I'll take Jefferson. Both close. Okay. All right, then the Detroit DST.

No, don't start him. Let's go to Minnesota at Las Vegas. Here is a repeat stat of the game. I don't know. I think I already told you this. Rashad White. Oh, no, I didn't. Okay, here are some running backs

recently against Minnesota. Rashad White, 6.9 points. Deontay Fore no, I didn't. Okay, here are some running backs recently against Minnesota. Rashad White, 6.9 points. Deontay Foreman, 7.7. Not all of these are so recent. Aaron Jones, 8.6. Bijan, 7.9. Javante, 7.3. That's Rashad White, Foreman, Aaron Jones, Bijan, and Javante,

all fewer than nine PPR fantasy points against Minnesota. But I already asked the guys about Josh Jacobs, and they are starting him. So you can too. I mean, again, unless you have A-chan, Kyron Williams, Pacheco, like there are ways to get away from Jacobs, but you got to be in kind of a great spot. PPR, Jacobs, or Mixon?

Jacobs. I'll say Mixon. Okay. I mean, just keep in mind, what Mixon did was against the team that has the worst defense against pass-catching running backs. Yeah.

But he still gets targets, and he's going to continue to get targets. But it's been spotty, though. I'm with you, Dave, but it's been spotty. Like, you know, the week before against Pittsburgh, it was terrible. He had two catches. You know, so just keep...

And Zeke just had seven. So just put everything in perspective here about how these teams use their backfield. Jake Brown, he did not throw the ball to mix in two games ago. And then against the team that allows every running back to catch passes, he had a huge game. All right. It's almost like the Ironwood thing that we talked about against the Bengals.

Right, exactly. Josh Dobbs, it's funny, you know, to think about where Josh Dobbs was in the rankings a few weeks ago, going into that Denver game. And then even the week after that against Chicago, and now he gets Justin Jefferson back, and he's a low-end starter. Heath, I think, is the lowest. I think Heath has him 15th.

I have one fear, and it's he has a bad turnover, and Kevin O'Connell's like, can't do it. Done. Yeah. Well, I said this to Dave last night. Here are the only three quarterbacks that are averaging more yards per attempt. No, fewer. Fewer yards per attempt than Josh Dobbs this year are Bryce Young, Zach Wilson, and Mac Jones. Okay.

Pause on that. I will look up what his yards per attempt is with the Vikings. Okay. Because I don't want to count things that he did in what his yards per attempt is with the Vikings. Okay. Because I don't want to count things that he did in Arizona against them. And even with the Vikings, he now has Justin Jefferson, so he should be better. That, to me, is as meaningless as anything we've ever said. I don't know if it's meaningless.

I don't know. I've said a lot of meaningless stuff. It puts things in perspective a little bit. And, yeah, don't give me a little credit. I say more meaningless. I roll out of bed and say meaningless things. All right. Anyway, we know he has a lot of big game

potential. He's had huge games against the 49ers and the Ravens this year and the Saints. Okay, so Josh Dobbs or Jordan Love? Love. I think I have Dobbs higher. No, I don't. I have Love higher. Love. Jamie's a little

optimistic about Madison. He's got him just inside the top 24. He talked about that yesterday. Dave, you're not as optimistic about Alexander Madison. No, I don't. The matchup's fine. I just don't know if I can trust him to get a lot of fantasy points because he hasn't really done that a ton this year.

Is he going to score first rushing touchdown of the year? Yes. Oh. You were right, Adam. 6.5 yards per attempt with the Vikings. Which is not as bad as his season average, but it's not good.

Not great. Minnesota wide receivers, Justin Jefferson. Completing two-thirds of his pass. I'm sorry to cut you off, but completing two-thirds of his passes. Not a huge A-dot. He takes a throw.

He throws to his tight ends. We've already seen it with Hawkinson and with Oliver. He's not going to necessarily be the most aggressive quarterback, but then again, now he's playing with arguably the best receiver in football. Let's see how he does. And he runs. That's a nice floor to have. I'm not talking about that. I'm just talking about his passing.

Where are you guys ranking Justin Jefferson? Top 10. I don't know. 7-8, somewhere talking about that. I'm just talking about his passing. Where are you guys ranking Justin Jefferson? Top 10. I don't know, 7, 8, somewhere in that range. I've got him 7. Okay. Where are you ranking Jordan Addison? Because for me, he's bleh.

Yeah, I've got him 32nd, and there's some players behind him that I think I'm going to move in front of him. Where is that gross bleh? It's just he hasn't really been that good with Dobbs. Dobbs is throwing a Hawkinson so much. And now you got Jefferson in there. I think, you know,

the argument is that maybe he could get better with Jefferson. Like he was earlier in the year, but I think that was more of a cousin's thing. It could be certainly the quality of target. Isn't going to be as good with Dobbs, but he'll be in single coverage way more often. It forces, it's going to force the Raiders to play

just like tons of zone, hope to not give up the big play. Cousins averaged 83, 83 more yards per game and one more touchdown per game than Dobbs. I will be curious to see if they go back to throwing the ball like a million times a game now that they have Jefferson back, but we are trying to avoid Addison.

We are going to sit Hawkinson. We are going to start Hawkinson. We're going to start Hawkinson. Wait a second. So you're going Laporta over Hawkinson? Yes. Okay, but we're still going to start Hawkinson. Hawkinson or Kittle?

Hawkinson. Hawkinson's three. We're going to sit Aiden O'Connell. Josh Jacobs, we've already talked about. He's a high- end number two running back. We'll see. I mean, I hope he gets that. I hope he keeps that passing game role. If he doesn't, because

it was the first two games, he had like no targets from O'Connell. Then actually the first, yeah, the first two games after they benched Garoppolo. If he doesn't get that passing role back, then there's going to be a little bit of a panic. Oh, no, it was the first three games. It was the first three games. So he doesn't get that passing rollback, then there's going to be a little bit of a panic. Oh no, it was the first three games. It was the first three games.

So he had a good game against the Giants and a good game against the Jets, but he had two catches in those games. And then he was horrible at Miami when they were trailing, and he only had one catch. We were a little nervous about him against Kansas City, but he had 100 yards and a touchdown, and he had four catches in that game. All right.

Devontae Adams. Is he a must start this week, guys? He's a safe number two receiver. I think we've seen enough in the last two games against some tough opponents that you can trust him. He did well against the Chiefs for what that matchup is. He did well against the Dolphins for what that matchup is, scored against Miami.

And so, while, yes, the Vikings secondary has played much better of late, I still think that he can have some success. So slam dunk top 10 guy, no way. Uh, top 20 guy. Yes.

12, 21 and 14 PPR points in his last three. And I would guess he'll be right around that 14 PPR PPR point mark against the Vikings. Nico Collins or Devante Adams. Nico slightly, but if the weather's that bad for New York, then I might go Adams. I think I'm going to move Collins and Adams down in my rankings, and I think I'm going to end up with Collins a shade above Adams just because of target volume. All right. Okay. Minnesota's 23rd against receivers,

but they've certainly gotten better. And sit Michael Mayer. Oh, Jacoby Myers or Jordan Addison. If you were desperate, who's better? Another blarg. Addison. I'm sorry. Dave said Addison.

Jamie, you said? Addison. All right. And Minnesota's... And guess what? Jamie has to go. Out of here. So got to go. Bye. All right. Jamie's out. And guess what? Oh, Jamie has to go? Out of here. So, got to go.

Bye. All right. Jamie's out. That's why we started a little earlier today because we knew Jamie had to hop off early. We'll take a break and we'll try to regroup. See if we can make it through. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today.

Got five games left, Dave Richard. And I have a regret. I should have finished... You have a regret. Go ahead. I should have finished this banana before the show started. I'm trying so hard to sneak bites in, but I'm on camera. Let's see it. Let's go.

Don't sneak it. Show off your... It's not that much, right? Like, I've mostly... I got about a third left. Look, I got one, too. Oh, okay. Cheers. Should we have a banana break? Everybody grab your banana. Okay. Amazing. Seattle's at san francisco i can't

believe you're doing this all right only four running backs have scored more than 11 points against the niners 11.1 so is there any scenario that you're going to have a seattle running back in the top 24 i i really don't think so i'd be be very, very cautious with either of them. I totally buy into this 49ers run defense. Totally buy into Seattle's run game not being as good as they look. I don't think Seattle's offense is as good as they looked against the Cowboys. I think they were helped along on Cowboys penalties on three of their touchdown drives. I don't know. And the 49ers aren't a team that gets penalized like crazy.

They've only been called for four defensive penalties in their last four games against Seattle. Now, listen, they could have a bad game and they helped Gino Smith get closer and closer to the end zone. DK would have had a big game either way. He had a couple of drives where certainly the 70 plus yard touchdown

catch, there were no penalties. Then he did great, but it was busted coverage or bad coverage. I guess I should say. It wasn't busted. They were near him. Anyway, the upside with DK is good.

I don't like the upside with the running backs for Seattle. So I don't see a path for them to be anything more than desperation starters. Is this almost start them all, sit them all? Sure, because you're going to start DK hoping that he can have another big game. He had a big game against the 49ers in the playoffs last year. He did. But JSN, low ceiling in PPR, maybe he gets you 11 or 12. Maybe he's got a little bit more upside to do better than that

because we've seen him come close to having a big game. Lockett's the one that I just, it's hard to have confidence in him given how the targets are being distributed and how his numbers have been. And Gino's going to be under some crazy pressure and it's really hard to trust him. given how the targets are being distributed and how his numbers have been. And Gino's going to be under some crazy pressure, and it's really hard to trust him. He did. He played so well last week.

And one of the things he did last week was he got the ball out of his hands quickly. And they feel like they found a little bit of a rhythm on offense. But I'll say this. There are two quarterbacks this week, Dave, that I can't start because they have terrible matchups, but I'm encouraged by what they've done super recently. Dave's back for the banana.

I'll filibuster a little. No, I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm curious to see what they do to see if we'll have confidence in them going forward if the matchups are better, and they certainly will be for Geno. Geno is one of them. Matthew Stafford is another. I know we've just totally, like, yeah,

Sinem is facing the Ravens. But seeing some encouraging things from Stafford, if they are willing to throw the ball enough, more than 32 times a game or so, when he's had Cup and Puka, he's been actually pretty damn unstoppable, even if it hasn't been Cup and Puka getting him there. So that's just a random thought in the back of my brain.

See the nonsense I spew. And then Geno, obviously, I mean, if he goes out and has a good game against, a great game against Dallas and then a good game against the 49ers, then you might be pretty confident in him. You'll be confident enough to start him home against Philadelphia

in week 15 and then week 16, he's at Tennessee. Oh, that's what I thought. Right. The matchups are great. Well, I mean, that's the whole thing with,

especially with Stafford. He's got the commanders in Week 15. That's a license to print fantasy points. He'll be a top 12 quarterback that week. So, DK Metcalf or Rasheed Rice? I believe I've Metcalf higher.

DK Metcalf or DeAndre Swift? Metcalf. DK Metcalf or Tony Pollard? Also Metcalf. DK Metcalf or Tony Pollard? Also Metcalf, uh, DK Metcalf or Kyron Williams against the Ravens. Probably Kyron Williams. All right.

I mean, I say it all the time with DK. He just struggles with good corners and word did a great job against him last time. So you, you know, you're a little, it's obviously understandable.

Be nervous. Start Purdy. He is, uh, seventh for Jamie and fourth for Dave and seventh for Heath. So you're even higher on Purdy. You'd start him over Mahomes. And Tua. All right. I hope you're right.

I'm over Tua? Yeah, that's what I'm seeing. I don't know if I can say. I would start Tua. I think I'm seeing. I don't know if I can stick with that one. I would start Tua. I think I would too. And yeah, before the Dallas game, this was a really tough matchup, the Seahawks. In fact, since week four,

they allow the fewest passing yards per attempt, the fifth fewest passing yards per attempt in the NFL. And only two quarterbacks in that stretch have scored more than 17 points, Stack and Howell. Start McCaffrey. Ayuk or Debo, who do you like better? Debo. Do do you like better? Debo. Do you like them both?

I like them both a lot. I like that Debo's healthy and he's starting to look a lot like the guy that we saw a couple years back. Okay. Seattle, by the way, sees the sixth most pass attempts per game in the NFL, so that's good. I don't think you'll... You won't see that from the Niners, but maybe you'll see like 32.

That'd be good. And George Kittle... That'd be great for Birdie. Who are you starting over George Kittle? We got Kelsey, Laporta, Hawkinson. Kade and Jake Ferguson. Oh, wow. You're going to stick with Kade

if Knox plays over Kittle? Yes. Yeah, but I'll move Kade down a peg and Ferguson will be ahead of Kade? Yes. Yeah, but I'll move Kincaid down a peg and Ferguson will be ahead of Kincaid. Okay. But I got a tough time with Evan Ingram, Cole Komet, Goddard, and

there's a lot of tight ends that have kind of looked grosser lately. Or they've got a tough matchup this week in the case of Evan Ingram. Time out. Time out. I forgot Cole Komet when we talked about that bears game can you talk about him real quick as you discuss this tight end thing you have to say time in time in all right uh cole commit i i just it really comes down to can the bears run the ball

if they can't then commit's got a chance to have some good numbers, maybe some great numbers. You're taking a chance with him no matter what you do. The last time he took on Detroit, it was three catches for 20 yards. Two games prior to that, he had two touchdowns against New Orleans. It was with a different quarterback. Last week in PPR, or his last game in PPR, this is against Minnesota, 11.3 PPR points because he had a lot of catches. I still feel like he's touchdown dependent. And I think the only way you really see him get a lot of work is if the run game

just cannot get going. Their running back group is healthy right now in Chicago. Komet or Goddard from the chat? I have Komet one spot ahead of Goddard, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that Goddard's just now coming back. Andrew wants to know, Devontae Adams, DK Metcalf, Nico Collins, pick two.

DK and... Nico, right? Nico. Oh, wait, you're going DK over Adams? Yeah, I think he's just got the higher upside play. Okay. All right, I'm going to move past this game here, and let's go to Carolina at New Orleans.

Stat of the game. According to NOLAactivities.com, poker and craps originated in New Orleans. Dave, if you had to play one of them, what would it be? I have to play only one. Probably poker. Yeah, you're a poker guy. I always get excited to play only one, probably poker. Yeah, you're a poker guy.

I always get excited to play craps, and then 10 minutes into playing craps, I want to leave and do something else. Well, that's because you lost all your money. Craps will do that to you. No, honestly, I'll lose a little bit, but I'm just done. I get a roll in, and I'm like,

all right, I've had enough. I'm going to go do something else. All right. Sip Bryce young. Chuba Hubbard is a number two, number three. You feel about Chuba Hubbard kind of the way Jamie feels about Alexander Madison inside the top 24, barely.

Whereas Jamie is like 27th on Chuba. Heath is 28th. It's kind of like how the other guys, how you and Heath are on Madison. Anyway, um, look, he's not, he's like, let's be real. He's kind of like how the other guys, how you and Heath are on Madison. Anyway, he's not. Let's be real. He's not that good. He's got a long of 21 yards on 143 carries. He's averaging 3.9

yards per carry, which I think is better than Travis Etienne. The Saints allow... He gets work. That might be the theme. That might be the end-of-year theme for running backs. If you get work, you should be in fantasy lineups. He does get work.

It's two games in a row with 19 or more touches. Okay. I'll give you one more thing. If it's a banged-up Derek Carr starting for the Saints, or even if it's Jameis, to be honest, and there's no Taysom Hill, I feel like that Saints offense could sputter a little bit and keep Carolina in the game, which keeps Chuba's touches in the game.

Because Chuba's touches are going to go away if the Panthers are getting blown out. So you'd start him over a Seattle running back. Oh, boy. Could I really start Chuba Hubbard over Ken Walker? That'd be something. Walker coming back against San Francisco, especially if there's Zach Charbonnet there.

To me, that's an easy decision. I have him over Swift. I have him over Ford. I have him over Javante Williams. And you like him better than Adam Thielen. So you do not like Adam Thielen this week. And we'll go to the Saints. All right, so we know the thing about Carolina.

What's that? Did you just call them the Saints. All right, so we know the thing about Carolina. You called them the Saints? What's that? Did you just call them the Saints? I don't think so. I thought I heard a T in there. No, I said the Spaints. Let's go to the Spaints. Is there a scenario where you're starting Carr or Winston? We know the deal here with Carolina.

Every week they surprise us. They do well against the passing game. They do terribly against the running game. So what do you game. Weather pending, Flacco is ahead of Jameis Winston for me. And even if the weather is bad, I would still start Russ, Minshew, Goff,

Dobbs, all of them ahead of Jameis. And that's if Jameis plays. And if it's Carr, it's the same exact thing. Not a lot of confidence. Camara is what? Like two for you this week? Yeah. Yeah. Absolute must play.

Start Camara. The dream matchup. Especially if there's no, Oh my God. Oh, forget it. Any hesitation with Chris Olave against the Panthers who are sixth best against wide receivers.

I, I've got them ranked outside of the top 12. I like plenty of receivers this week. That's the position that's just super deep. And whether it's Winston, who's off target sometimes, or a banged up car, it's hard to look at Olave and say that guy can finish as a top five type of receiver. But you're not sitting Chris Olave

unless you're totally loaded at wide receiver. Give me an example. Give me an example. DJ Moore. You got DJ. I'm trying to look and find. Okay, so not a lot of people drafted Mike Evans with a top 50 pick. Right.

And maybe you've been getting by with him and you lost Justin Jefferson and now he's coming back. You could see a way to start those two guys in full PPR over Olave. Okay. Jalen Waddle or Chris Olave? Olave. I finished my banana. I beat you.

I ate mine faster. Waddle doesn't have a game with 15 PPR points when A-chan's on the field. Let's talk about the Saints tight ends. Okay. Is there any scenario? If Taysom Hill's out, are you starting Juwan Johnson? You'd have to be desperate.

He'd be at best a low-end starter. Okay. This team... I'm not even sure if I would start him over Isaiah Likely. It might come down to the weather in Baltimore. If it's pouring rain, can't see, winds are crazy,

sure, Jawan Johnson then. But Njoku, Everett, Komet, I'm starting those guys over Jawan Johnson. We've got the Saints DST. They are sixth for Jamie, ninth for Dave, sixth for Heath. Green Bay is at the Giants. Stat of the game, yeah, I don't know if this one, if the Giants have allowed more than 20 PPR fantasy points

to a running back in four of their last five games. Brees Hall, Josh Jacobs, Brian Robinson, and Ramondre Stevenson. Also in that stretch, Tony Pollard struggled, but Rico Dowdle scored 13.9 PPR fantasy points. So, I mean, they've just been such a good matchup for running backs. I'm so annoyed about this Aaron Jones thing.

I mean, I'd love to get him. You were hoping that AJ Dillon would be the man and he'd get a lot of work and he'd fall into the end zone. Yeah. Look, the way it was trending before the Jones's latest injury was Jones was really the man.

I mean, he was getting, you know, like he had two games in a row where he was getting a lot of work. I think 17 or more touches. And I would start that guy against the giants at a heartbeat, he had two games in a row where he was getting a lot of work, I think 17 or more touches. And I would start that guy against the Giants in a heartbeat, especially because he had four to six targets, I think,

in four straight games, something like that. But I don't know how it's going to play out if Jones comes back. That leaves some unpredictability in. And I think Dylan's been a little underrated. Because like I've said, he gets you 11 PPR points a game without a touchdown seven games in a row, basically. So if he scores a touchdown, you got a really good game there. So anyway,

I'm frustrated by it. I would love to start a Packers running back, Dave, but, but what do you think about this situation? I think if Aaron Jones plays, it's going to muddy everything. There's no guarantee that Aaron Jones is going to go right back to the same

type of workload that he had before. If Jones doesn't play, Dylan is a great replacement RB2 with upside to get you over 15 PPR points, but probably closer to 10. All right. Again, it's Jordan Love, start or sit. The way that he's been playing at him, I can't help myself. The only thing that the Giants can do to try and slow him down is to blitz the snot out of him. And he's beaten the blitz. He just went up against Kansas City's defense, tough defense, made him look silly. He's been making great throws and great reads. He's not late on all of his throws anymore. Like it was earlier this season. He was late on a couple last week, but I think his mobility is still a plus. His willingness to throw deep is a huge plus. If he can beat the blitz a couple of times,

it almost doesn't matter who his receivers are. He should be able to put up good numbers. Top. I've got him top 10 this week. I've got him behind fields, behind Lamar, behind Purdy, but ahead of Dobbs,

golf, Justin Herbert, and ahead of CJ Stroud. And I asked you guys this earlier, but what you said was, if Christian Watson plays, none of them are in the top 24, but Watson would be,

well, Jamie, I think said this, Watson would be top 30. The other guys would be kind of outside the top 30. They'd be number three receivers. If Watson does not play, then you're talking about two top 30-ish guys in Reed and Dobbs. Yeah, I think that's fair to say.

I would put Watson at the top of the list if he was able to get in two practices this week or maybe one full practice on Saturday. Again, we're going to have to wait and see what that injury report looks like on Saturday for the Packers because they don't have to make decisions on their players until Monday night. Tua or Love?

We have some chat questions here. Tua over Jordan Love. Dobbs or Cup? Cup over Romeo. Would you start Reed over Hopkins or Sutton? Definitely not over Sutton. Probably not over Hopkins. Okay.

Yeah, it's weird. You know, for my opinion of the Giants defenses, when they play a great offense, like the 49ers or the Cowboys, they have no chance when they play a normal team. They actually are pretty solid. They're not great, but they're solid. Have the Packers jumped into that great offense tier? Maybe, maybe. I mean, they just had a great game against the Chiefs. So I'm very curious to see how this plays out. I do think this could actually be a close game. Packers are six and a half point favorites. I agree.

But I think it's possible. And that would obviously help Love because then he doesn't have to hand off a ton in the second half. We're going to sit the tight ends in this game. We're going to sit Tommy DeVito. Saquon Barkley is a must start. I know he's had two bad games in his last three, but he's top six for Dave

and Jamie and he's ninth for Heath. Chaco just crushed this defense. Saquon can do that and catch passes too. Yeah, that's the Achilles heel of the Packers defense. They don't have a great run defense. Are you starting anyone in the Giants passing game? Nope. Okay. Jalen Hyatt

is someone you could consider stashing. He did go into the bye week with a five-catch game, had over 100 yards, I believe. You could see what he looks like coming out of it. I'll update the stat I gave last week. I have to lower it a little bit.

Last week, it was 15 points. This week, it's going to be Green Bay has allowed 14.4 or more PPR fantasy points to a wide receiver in every game that wasn't started by brett rippin or kenny pickett uh i think we're going to add tommy devito's name to that list but maybe i actually if i were going to make a bold prediction i would say most likely to get 14.4 ppr points for the giants would be darius slayton but i'm not studying anyone it's him or hyatt on a big play.

Tampa Bay is at Atlanta. Stat of the game. Atlanta allows the fewest fantasy points to running backs. They have not allowed a rushing touchdown to a running back. Do you have any concerns about the red hot, scorching hot, super awesome Rashad White? I've moved him down in my rankings all the way to six. Look, he gets the ball so much.

He does a lot in the passing game. He actually looks good running the football. Everything's kind of clicking for him right now, and I don't think the Bucs are going to get away from Rashad White. I think they need Rashad White. Yeah. Let me tell you who I Baker's not playing great. Godwin's beat up. Like, if they lose White or Evans,

that offense gets really ugly really fast. By the way, I beat the waiver wire guy that our producer Zach Brooke just brought up. Going back to the last game is Darren Waller. Last I checked, he's about 51% rostered, hoping to play next week. So take a look at Darren Waller. Baker Mayfield, I think think is a little underrated.

Well, actually, is this a good matchup? How about this? The Atlanta Falcons are seventh in points per game allowed. Their defense is actually better than you might think. They're ninth in yards per play allowed. So I don't know that they're such a bad defense. They have been struggling a little bit lately, but kind of got back on track the last two weeks. But Mayfield's had a nice year. He's solid. I am starting him over.

If Trevor Lawrence plays, I will make this decision in a league where I need a win to have a chance to make the playoffs. I will start Baker Mayfield over Lawrence. I don't really see why he's any different than Gardner Minshew. Minshew has been horrible for fantasy this year. He had about 15 points in regulation last week, and then he scored about 10 points in overtime against Tennessee. Mayfield's got a good matchup.

The Falcons give up the 10th most fantasy points. I don't know if it's a great matchup, but it's a good one. What did he do the first game against the Falcons? 275 yards and a touchdown. He only scored 18 points, but that's not so bad. That's actually better than he's done in any of his past three games. I know, but two of those games were San Francisco

and Carolina. Those are very tough. And the other one was at the Colts. He had an okay game. Oh, you know what happened against the Colts? He got them down to the goal line, and then he had to come out of the game for an injury, so he lost a touchdown opportunity there. Not to say he definitely would have scored one, but I think he's a little underrated.

I'm not saying he's a must-start or anything. I think he's a little underrated. I got him 16th, so he's in that mix of guys that you could start if you're in a pinch this week. And as for the Falcons, 19 or fewer fantasy points in four of their last six games against quarterbacks, but no A.J. Terrell. It looks like he's in the concussion protocol.

Looks like he's going to miss the game. I think that that's big. Great point. So a lot of things to kind of go back and forth about with Baker Mayfield, but I'd still be nervous simply because Godwin is playing through something and he only had three targets last week anyway. So it's a combination of maybe they know he's hurt and they're not giving him a lot of work. Godwin isn't somebody that I would trust this week.

So he's got to get it all done with Mike Evans and maybe Rashad White. It's that second touchdown. We talk about that a lot with quarterbacks who aren't slam dunk guys. And there's a reason why these guys aren't slam dunk guys. It's because they don't consistently get that second touchdown. And I don't know if you've got it in front of you. If not, I'll look it up. How many games recently has he been throwing 35 plus pass attempts that was one of the things that we really liked about baker was that he was throwing it yeah only once in his last once only once in his last five and it was against san francisco all right so so listen who better to score your second passing touchdown against than the team that hasn't allowed a running a running back rushing touchdown

all season long, Dave Richard. Sure, so a touchdown catch for Rashad White? There you go. I'll take it. All right, anyway, look, I'm not saying to start Baker Mayfield. Hopefully you don't have to, but don't completely turn your back to him. Start Mike Evans, sit Chris Godwin. Would you start Chris Godwin or a Packers wide receiver? I'd go with almost anybody over Chris Godwin.

Cade Otten, zero targets last week, but before that he was okay. Any interest in Cade Otten? No, because I don't want to have another donut in my lineup. I should be able to find another tight end. We talked a lot this week about Kylan Granson as a sleeper because he's taking on Cincinnati. Yeah.

That seems to be a good matchup. So I would take the chance on Granson over Otten, who just doesn't have high upside. I believe Jamie and I have a Chig Okonkwo versus Kylan Granson bet. So I'm on the Chig side of that. Sit Ritter, start Bijan. By the way, Dave's a huge liar.

He would absolutely love to have another donut in his lineup. I don't know why he even said that. Go right back to Bijan. Drake London, we talked about earlier. He's a number two receiver. Dave has him as a number three receiver, but he's got a chance here. And Kyle Pitts, starter set?

I've got him ranked pretty high this week. I've got him 13th in PPR. Jawan Johnson, if Taysom Hill is out, or Kyle Pitts? I think I might lean toward Pitts versus Jawan Johnson because I think he'll get toward pits versus Jawan Johnson. Cause I think he'll get more targets and catches, but this is an argument against everybody in the Atlanta passing game. The bucks pass defense has actually been playing better the last few weeks.

They've stopped being so predictable. Yeah. They played more man coverage. And again, this is a low volume passing offense for the Falcons. It's hard to really be in love with any of their pass catchers. London makes question Kyle pits or Dallas Goddard. Goddard Philadelphia is at Dallas.

Here we go. Stat of the game. AJ Brown was the number 28 wide receiver per game before Dallas Goddard's injury, but no one's sitting. Did I say AJ.J. Brown? You said A.J. Brown was the number 28 wide receiver. Devontae Smith was the number 28 wide receiver

before Dallas Goddard's injury, but nobody's sitting him, right? Just stardom. Yeah. I've got him ranked too high. I've got him... I have him ahead of A.J. Brown, but that was on the assumption

that Goddard wasn't going to play. It looks like Goddard's going to play. He will move down. He'll be a high-end number two receiver. And I want to remind everybody what happened last year. Dallas Goddard missed five or six games last year, and Devontae Smith went off. Before that, he was, I don't think, a top 30 wide receiver per game. He went up, and it didn't stop when Goddard came back.

Right, so that's the other thing to think about. Right, let's hopefully get to that point again. All right, let's make this game simple. Start Hertz, start Dak, start Lamb, start Brown, start Smith. Goddard is a low-end starter. Ferguson, you love. Take Ferguson better than Goddard. Yeah, he had a huge game against the Eagles,

and we're hoping that this is the kind of game where he just gets a lot of targets. Brandon Cooks, I mean, he's been great at home. Sleeper. I saw a funny stat been great at home. Sleeper. I saw a funny stat. I think the Eagles give up. The Eagles see the most end zone targets in the NFL. Passes thrown in the end zone.

I feel like he could have one of those. He has been getting a lot of those. And so even though the volume isn't great for him, just the opportunities to score is something that the Cowboys coaching staff has talked about. And I think that that opportunity could be there again, but also imagine a world where Dallas can't run the ball and they're in a high scoring game going back and forth.

Cooks. This is what happened in the last game against Philadelphia and cooks did nothing. I would take the chance on him again. I've got them ranked as the tippy of the top wide receiver three all right pollard or oh man pollard or puka puka pollard or Garrett Wilson? PPR, it's Garrett Wilson. Non-PPR, I think I'd go Pollard.

All right, just to give people a little bit of hope on Tony Pollard, five of the last six running backs to face the Eagles have averaged, I want to say, 4.3 or more yards per carry, and a number of them have averaged 5 or more yards per carry. They've given up some production lately. They haven't been quite as good. I'm not even going to count McCaffrey.

McCaffrey crushes everyone. But James Cook had a nice game. He had 110 total yards. He had 100 total yards. Yeah. I don't know. They haven't been quite as good as being a game where the Cowboys give Pollard eight carries in the first half he doesn't do anything with it and they go you know what this is just not going to be a week where we can run the ball in Dak we trust very possible I'm

hoping we get four or more catches from Pollard I think he's probably going to need that to come he would need that and he did have a touchdown taken away the last time he played Philly. Oh, that's right. That's right. You know, they've only played three games this year that have been competitive, three games that have been decided by single digit points. And he's been very involved in two of those three games. And I think, you know, he's been game scripted so many times this year. So I'm hoping that he at least is involved. The one game he wasn't really that involved was that Eagles game, the one close game.

What did he have in that game? He had 15 touches, but that's not great. 12 carries and three catches. All right. Swift is even lower than Pollard. I am curious. They said they want to get back to running the ball, but the Cowboys run defense is also really, really good.

And that's it for this game. And have a great weekend, everybody. Good luck. Don't enjoy a banana. Big week. Oh, yeah. I'm going to have a bagel for lunch. I'm going to eat well this weekend. Brisket last night. Ton of brisket left over. I had brisket last night. Of course you did.

All right, everybody. Hope you enjoy your weekend. We'll talk to you at 11.30 a.m. at youtube.com slash fantasy football today. Oh, and the mailbag first. That's on Sunday. We'll see you at the mailbag later. Bye.