Fantasy Football Today - Top 6 TEs for 2023; DFS Talk (01/26 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: January 26, 2023

Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  We'll give our picks and predictions for the weekend (2:35) as we find out if Heath is sticking with his Chiefs or if we're all picking the Bengals. Then we'll review the news and notes (8:55) as the Jets have hired Nathaniel Hackett as offensive coordinator ... Let's talk tight ends! We're ranking our Top 6 for 2023, starting with a Mark Andrews vs. T.J. Hockenson debate (11:48). The rankings get more difficult at #4-#6 (17:40). George Kittle, Darren Waller, Kyle Pitts and Dallas Goedert are all candidates here ... The rest of our show is dedicated to the weekend slate and DFS (27:50)! We'll give you our favorite stacks and contrarian stacks. We'll tell you some cheap players you can put in your lineups (31:00) and we'll reveal our favorite lineups for the weekend (36:45) ... Email us at [e-mail] Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Gosh, I hate Jamie. Welcome to the show. Jamie's laughing at me. We haven't even started. Jamie, I hate Jamie. Welcome to the show. Jamie's laughing at me. We haven't even started. Jamie's laughing at me. Welcome, everybody. It's Fantasy Football today.

It's Thursday. We got two games to talk about. We got some DFS lineups of the top six tight ends in 2023. I found that to be a pretty difficult task to rank the top six. I don't know if anybody feels the same way. Wide receiver was a piece of cake. Quarterback was fun. Running back was kind of fun and sort of easy.

Tight end was tough. Tight end was tough. Anyone feeling that? Well, one was easy. One and two were easy. Two easy? Yeah, two's easy. Is it? Everybody has Andrews, right? Who else would it be? Everybody has Andrews.

I don't know if it's easy. Who else would it be? I mean, Hawkinson was pretty amazing with the Vikings. Against the Giants, sure. Dallas Goddard was great when he was healthy. That's going to be Andrews. Kittle was pretty amazing with Purdy. See, this is tough.

This is tough stuff right here. So I had the top, yeah. I think six is hard. I think if you were doing a top four, it would be easy. But determining which of the next three or four guys get to be six is difficult. I hate my number three tight end. Hate it. Who's your number three for you?

Hawkinson. Hawkinson. Yeah, I went with Goddard. Why do you hate it? Because it breaks the rule. You gotta be top two on your team in targets to be a top five tight end,

except for two of the tight ends who did it this year. But he's not gonna be that. But he's just so good. He's not gonna be that. He's not gonna be second? No. He's not gonna out-target Brown or Smith. He's just so good. He's not going to be that. He's not going to be second? No. He's not going to out-target Brown or Smith.

It's not going to happen. Oh, I was thinking Hogginson. Sorry. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, he's second. But there were two tight ends who finished in the top six in PPR this year that were not one or two on their team in targets. That was George Kittle and Evan Ingram.

They were both top six tight ends. Kittle was number three. Ingram was number five overall. And they were both third on their team in targets. That was George Kittle and Evan Ingram. They were both top six tight ends. Kittle was number three. Ingram was number five overall. They were both third on their team in targets. Rules are meant to be broken. Let's talk about tight ends in just a little bit. Let's start with our picks and predictions for the weekend. Heath, what do you think? Are the Chiefs going to win? Let's predict the games. Let's start with the AFC.

Yeah, I think the Chiefs are going to win. I don't want to bet against Patrick Mahomes, especially when everyone's doubting him and talking about how Joe Burrows beat him three times in a row and someone called it Burrowhead. I think the Chiefs, it's an outstanding, I don't know which Bengals player that was, but that's an outstanding turn of phrase. But yeah, I think the

Chiefs win 31-27. Okay. They are now one point favorites. They were one point underdogs. Jamie, who do you like in that game? I like the Bengals. I do think that Mahomes not at 100% is a little concerning. So this is clearly not the best case scenario, but it's the best case of the scenario. The fact that he's been able to get through some semblance of practice and doesn't appear to be severely limited by this ankle, at least as of now. But I think if he's not 100%, he's the difference maker. And if he's not going to be the difference maker,

the Bengals, I think, have, aside from Kelsey, almost an advantage everywhere else. Not offensive line. Not offensive line, but if for whatever reason Jonah Williams and Karras play, it's closer. It's closer. That's a huge strength for the Chiefs, though. But you would have said that last year, too, right?

I mean, I'm picking the Bengals, so you don't have to convince me too much. Yeah, I'm concerned about Mahomes. He did not throw a single pass outside the pocket after his ankle injury last week, and he led the NFL in pass attempts outside the pocket during the regular season. So, obviously, last week he was not himself. They keep saying, you know, very optimistic things, but a high ankle sprain to come back that quickly and be yourself, I don't think he's going to have the mobility. I was shocked he was jogging at practice yesterday.

I didn't expect him to practice yesterday. I didn't expect him to practice today. I thought maybe he'd get a limited practice on Friday. I always thought he would play. And this could be wrong, but I would just think if you had a concern about how good his ankle is going to be on Sunday, you would not let him jog at practice on Wednesday. Maybe. So that's, yeah, I mean, I think I would probably pick the Bengals anyway.

I just feel like they are, they've been underrated. They are underrated. But, you know but I felt really confident in them last week. I don't feel quite as confident this week in Boroughhead. I don't think they're underrated anymore. Probably not, but I think they were up until Sunday. They were underrated. It's interesting.

What is it about them that makes them so much better in the playoffs than the regular season? Well, they've been really good, right? So they got off to a slow start and they lost three games or something on a last second field goal. I'm doing this off the top of my head. I don't know.

But I feel like they've been, they got off to a bad start record wise, but they had some bad luck and they've probably been just pretty awesome since then. But what is it? Burrow never turns the ball over. That's huge. I don't know. I don't know, man. Their defense two years in a row just has

gotten better. But the Chiefs, too. Look at how good the Chiefs' defense was last week. I kind of poo-pooed it last week, but they did it again, and they're doing that same thing where they get better as the season goes on. Might be a lower-scoring game. What's the total here? That would be 47. Might be a

low-scoring game. I hope Mahomes is close to 100%. Clearly, he's not going to be 100%, but it would be a shame to be robbed of these two teams at their best, going head-to-head. Obviously, the Bengals' offensive line is not going to be 100%,

so they have that issue to deal with. You knew you were going to get two titanic matchups because of Cincinnati, Buffalo facing in the divisional round, and then Kansas City, if they got by, getting one of those two teams. And so last week's game was disappointing because the Bills played the way they did, and we'll see if this game can hopefully live up to that. All right, let's talk about the NFC game.

It's actually the earlier game, 3 o'clock on Sunday, 49ers at Eagles. Eagles are 2.5-point favorites. The total is 46. Heath, you took the Chiefs. Who are you taking in the NFC? I will take the Eagles. I'm just going to keep betting against Brock Purdy until he wins the Super Bowl. I will say that one's going to be 27-17 Eagles.

Okay, so they're winning and covering. Jamie, how about you? I'll take the Eagles as well. I think just being at home is a big advantage for them. I agree with Heath. It just feels like at some point, the party's going to lose. But you made the case.

You weren't on the show, Heath, yesterday. Adam said the Eagles are the greatest team of all time. He actually said that on Tuesday as well, sir, Monday, whatever. I didn't say that ever. But I do think they're a tremendous team, and they win in cover. I do think that they win in cover as well. Yeah, the Hurts thing is interesting because, again, like I said, I don't think he looked 100% running

the ball. He seemed very hesitant when he was running the ball, shying away from contact. Just didn't seem like himself in that regard. Obviously, he was good enough throwing the ball last week. This is going to be a different beast for sure. Then you got the injuries to McCaffrey and Mitchell and Debo Samuel. They'll probably all play, but they're not 100%

healthy. So we're all taking the Eagles to win in cover. Two Bengals picks. Heath is sticking with his Chiefs. And we'll give you some DFS stuff a little bit later. We also have a DFS podcast. The episode's in this feed. It drops on Thursdays. So I actually listened to last week's episode.

They do a great job. And one thing they said was, if you want to do some DFS, don't be afraid to do some cash games. So, you know, we talk about tournaments all the time, but cash games can be very profitable as well. And you can use your cash games to bankroll your tournaments. We have a Facebook group if you want to join the discussion and talk with other fantasy football players. Just go to Facebook, search for Fantasy Football Today.

The link is in the episode description. And it's really a lot of fun. Throughout the season, you'll get some start-sit advice, some trade advice, those types of things, and just be in the community with other listeners and viewers and people who just love fantasy football. Here are your news and notes. We have a new offensive coordinator to tell you about. That is in a moment. But as I mentioned, Christian McCaffrey, Elijah Mitchell, and Deebo Samuel

all dealing with injuries, and we hope that they are healthy. For McCaffrey, it's a calf injury injury and he could not finish the game last week. Cincinnati offensive lineman Jonah Williams and Alex Capa mispractice. Seattle wants to re-sign Geno Smith. And the big news, Jamie, the Jets are hiring Nathaniel Hackett as their offensive coordinator. I did like that Adam Schefter, when he tweeted it out,

he said fodder for New York Sports Radio for the next several weeks. Yeah, it's going to be debated. I have one of my cousins is a big Jets fan, and I was with him this weekend in Houston. And the one thing he would say is like, don't hire Hackett. Please don't hire Hackett. I don't want to see Hackett on the coaching staff. And that's what they did.

You know, you want to connect the dots. You know, Aaron Rodgers is being rumored to an AFC team, and this probably is only going to make that rumor more pressing. So we'll see if that's the next domino that falls if they make the move to go get Rodgers, which I guess can make sense given the Jets' roster and their potential to be a competitive

team right away. I don't think you should judge Hackett based on his Broncos experience for what he did for the Packers or how he helped the Packers offense and what he was doing for Rodgers as a quarterback guy. He wasn't the full-time play caller clearly in Green Bay, so that's something to take into account. I don't think you can, at least I hope,

you can mess up Breesaw and Garrett Wilson when they're healthy. So it's just a matter of if they get the right quarterback in place, I think things will be okay. Well, can you mess up Russell Wilson and Cortland Sutton and Jerry Judy and Javante Williams? Yeah, I don't think you messed up Jerry Judy. As the head coach, you probably can. As the play caller, I hope not.

There's a lot of guys who have been not very good head coaches who were very good coordinators and went back to being good coordinators after they were not very good head coaches. But he never called plays. That's the difference. As soon as he started calling plays in Denver, it didn't go well.

Then when he left, they changed things up. He called plays before. Not in Green Bay, but he called plays in Jacksonville. Okay, I'm sorry. He didn't call plays in Green Bay. Was he good in Jacksonville? Did they have a good offense? He was the offensive coordinator when they had, I think,

the number five offense in the NFL and went to the AFC championship game. Okay, so the Bortles year. Anyway, yeah, I mean, they changed things up after he was fired, and they unlocked some things on their offense in Denver. That was not a good look for Hackett. They did a lot more play action, I believe, maybe got him out of the pocket a little bit more. Rilson, that is.

Okay, so what do you think, Heath, for the Jets with Hackett? I think he'll probably be average-ish. I think it's probably going to have a lot more to do with who the quarterback is than who the offensive coordinator is. Yeah. Okay. Well, then, let's talk about tight ends. Top six tight ends.

First question we got is from Scott. Are you guys moving T.J. Hawkinson ahead of Mark Andrews? So we did not do that, but you both have T.J. Hawkinson third. So what's the gap between Andrews and Hawkinson? I would think just in terms of rounds, to me, Andrews is at best the third round pick.

And I would say Hawkinson is probably a fifth round pick. Yeah, we've got a lot to find out about Mark Andrews, maybe. Let's see what kind of offense they're running and who his quarterback is. But assuming everything's the same, I found it real interesting. I wrote about Andrews this morning for my Dynasty Tied In Tiers column that should be out later today. And he averaged more fantasy points with Lamar Jackson last year than he did with Lamar Jackson the year before. He was 14.9 fantasy points per game in his fantastic 2021 year with Lamar Jackson, the games they both played at least 20% of the snaps. Last year, the games they both played at least 20% of the snaps. Last year, the games they both played at least 20% of the snaps,

he was 15.4 fantasy points per game with Lamar Jackson. And I put some Twitter polls out, like, what's 15? Because I didn't want to use the name, because I know some people are kind of down on him. But I do think if he can get back to that 15 fantasy points per game and the tight end landscape stays what it was last year, then he's a borderline round two pick. Hawkinson was at 12.6 points per game and so was mark andrews i i think you could make an adjustment to hawkinson's as well

just because i don't think he played the entire game in week 18 and had like four points um but yeah he hawkinson has not shown us the upside that Mark Andrews has over more than one game at a time. Right. And really, if you take away that Giants game, his tenure with the Vikings wasn't really special or anything like that. But let's take his 17-game pace. That's not fair.

In nine games. His first game against Washington was good. Yeah, nine catches for 70 yards. Is that a guy that's moving ahead of Mark Andrews? No. I mean, he had a lot of catches. He had 16 fantasy points per game. Yeah. Of course he did.

If you're getting that consistently, of course. Yeah, give him that consistently. Okay, but you just made it out to be some incredible game. It was a good game. And the thing, he had a lot of catches. Nine for 70 for a tight end is a pretty incredible game. Yes, he had a lot of catches with the Vikings. They threw the ball a ton. He had a ton of targets.

His pace in the first nine games he played with Minnesota, so not including Week 18 when he played 46% of the snaps, his pace was 111 catches, 950 yards, and six touchdowns on 161 targets. That is a ton of volume and a ton of catches, but not really a lot of production to go with the targets and catches. I would take him second if he's doing that again. I would take him second if he's getting 161 targets. I mean, do you think he's going to do that?

Well, I mean, I think Adam Thielen might be gone. And if no one of significance is brought in in return, you know, they draft somebody day two. Yes. So put him second. So what are you waiting for? Put him second. No, but I think we got to see.

Like he said, I mean, if the Ravens have a new quarterback and it's not, you know, anybody good, then it's easy to take Hawkinson second. I mean, like, put this for Mark Andrews, right? He's just been such a victim of being on this low pass volume team. He has had, in his last two years, 32%. If you look at his yards per game, Mark Andrews' yards per game, compare that to the team's passing yards per game.

He's been at 32% and 30% of his team's yards per game. Travis Kelsey the last two years, 24.2% and 25.5%. I mean, put Mark Andrews on an offense that's going to throw the ball more, and it wouldn't even be a question, right? I mean, but... And I think they probably will be an offense that's going to throw the ball more.

I would hope so. Anyway, all right, so you guys have Hawkins in third what did i have him i had him fifth why why did i have him fifth i hate my rankings all right well here's why because i don't think he's a special player and i think dallas goddard has uh has really shown a lot of ability i mean two straight years where he's been number one amongst tight ends and top six overall amongst all receivers in yards per target. And Darren Waller is four for me and then Hawkinson. That's a bad one. Why, though?

I mean, look what he did when he came back from the injury. He was playing half the snaps, and he was having good games. He's such a talented player. You don't like him on New England? No, I'm not going to like him on New England. But, you know, his per game, PPR per game, last four seasons, sixth, second, sixth, and seventh. So it's a high floor for Waller.

And we know what he can do. I'm not as impressed with what he did when he came back, I don't think, as you are. Well, when you look at the snap counts, though. 3 for 48, 4 for 58, 3 for 72, 2 for 35. Yeah, that's really good when he's playing 60% of his usual snap share. And two of those games of it did him? He's a guy who could play 90%.

He was playing like 50%. Yeah, in the four weeks. He was 70% to 80%. And then he was 50% to 70%. Well, in the past, whatever. For a guy who was playing 50% of the snaps

toward the end of the season, I thought it was impressive but okay um there's there's so much uncertainty with him especially even age yeah he's not that old uh all right so why don't you guys break down your rankings kelsey one andrews two hockinson three heath what's 4, 5, 6 for you? That's the part that is the most difficult. I think those first three for me. Well, Kittle. I've got Kittle up there at number 4.

I don't know what I had at the end of the season, but that's where I had Kittle. You had Kittle 3, Hawkinson 4. Okay, so yeah. And then trying to decide between Goddard, Pitts, and Waller for 5, 6, 7. I'll go Goddard 5, and then I'm going to go Pitts at 6. Okay, Jamie, how about you? I have it right now.

Kelsey, Andrews, Hawkinson, Goddard 4, Kittle 5, Waller 6. Kittle. And I had one more argument for dallas goddard um he aj brown and and uh devante smith did not miss a game imagine how much better goddard would be if one of those guys got hurt he's got that upside you know where he could get that value. If he got the same type of target volume that Hawkinson got, you know, I think he'd be so much better. So, obviously, I can't rank him based on, oh, these guys are going to get hurt.

But if it did happen, he's got that upside. I don't really know that there's a scenario where Hawkinson... I mean, if that's the game you want to play, what would Hawkinson be if Justin Jackson got hurt? I don't think he'd be on pace for more than 161 targets. I don't think he'd get more targets. Well, I mean, you can't say he might not get better i'm that's how i feel about it i feel like goddard would get a target boost if one of those guys got hurt what you also can't do is say that goddard will get a target boost and remain the most efficient tight end fantasy

because it's much easier to be efficient when you're getting the type of target volume that he has and the target volume that Hawkinson has. Well, fine. But he still would get more targets and it would still be good and he'd still be more efficient than Hawkinson, I think. I think he probably would. I think he's very good.

It's just, I mean, we've been kind of waiting for Dallas Goddard to be an elite tight end for five years now. I'm not calling him an elite tight end. I'm just not calling Hawkinson that. No. There's only one, maybe two, right? Yeah.

That's kind of how it is. He's getting 160 targets. He's elite. He wasn't. I would agree with that. But he wasn't elite. He just got 161 targets, and he wasn't elite. No, he was on pace for that. He wasn't. I would agree with that. But he wasn't elite. He just got 161 targets, and he wasn't elite. He was on pace for that.

He didn't get that. Yeah, but what he did in those games was not elite. It was close. Only because of the catches. From weeks 10 through 17, he was 13.9 PPR fantasy points per game. I think 15 is probably elite, so it was very close. And he did that without an offseason to learn everything that he's going to learn.

Okay. Alright. You guys go Hawkinson, three, and then Heath goes Kittle, Goddard, Pitts. Jamie goes Goddard, Kittle, Waller, with I guess Pitts, seven. Where did I have Pitts?

I might have had him lower than that. I have Pitts at seven uh where did i pits um i might have had him lower than that i have pits at seven yes what do you make of of kittle because he did finish uh number two per game um five points behind kelsey but one point ahead of andrews and hockinson 11 touchdowns, which is insane for him. For any 49er, but it happened. I think eight of those came with Purdy, right? Oh, maybe. But obviously a lot of it came without Debo. And he looked like pretty much a bust when Debo and Ayuk were... It's the same story, right? So what do you make of Kittle? Does he need an injury to one of those guys? Or maybe Ayuk could not be there to be worth, you know,

probably going to go in the sixth round or something like that? So he said something in the post-game interview after beating the Cowboys about Purdy when he was asked about him by Aaron Andrews. And he said he does a great job of getting his playmakers the ball. And I think that's kind of a little telling because, you know, you see his targets, and I haven't exactly spiked, but he's kind of been living in that six-day target range with Brock Purdy. And I think if he's getting consistently that, at least,

based on what he does when he has the ball in his hands, as long as he doesn't slow down by any stretch, I don't know if that's going to happen next year. You know, he's so good. This team is so good at creating yards after catch. So four for 95 is what he gave you against Dallas. You know, he's capable of obviously This team is so good at creating yards after catch. So four for 95 is what he gave you against Dallas. You know, he's capable of obviously being a red zone threat and scoring now, at least based on what we saw this season.

So I think, you know, he's not in the conversation like he was a few years ago when he came off that huge season where it was, you know, is he the second best tight end? And that's clearly, you know, not something that he's been able to produce at consistently. But to be a top five guy, top six, whatever you want to say, I think that's kind of where he should be ranked. And you should hope that he stays healthy,

because that's been a problem for him as well. If he stays healthy and Purdy is the quarterback, you're probably looking at pretty good production. I don't know if elite production, but good production. What do you think heath yeah i just think he is maybe the best of those guys who we don't think are going to be elite but are good must start no doubt about it tight ends okay and then waller versus pits so he's going with with Pitts and Jamie's going with Waller at number six. Heath, give me the Waller, give me the Pitts side.

Well, I think there are enormous question marks about both of these guys going into next year. We don't know who their quarterback's going to be. We don't know exactly what the offense around them is going to look like, but they're both talented. One of them is going to be 22 years old. One of them is going to be 31 years old. I'm going to go with the 22-year-old for now. Jamie, give me the Waller

argument. I mean, just you've seen it from him. Like you said, Adam, he came back from the hamstring injury, and I think it was hamstring, and played fairly well on limited snaps. He did that with Stidham for two games. And so we'll see what the quarterback situation is. I would hope it's somebody better than Stidham. If it's Tom Brady, then I think that's a great asset for him to have in this offense, as long as there's no Gronk coming along with him. But I think if the quarterback upgrade is significant enough that Darren Waller can bounce back

and if he stays healthy, he has a chance to be a top five tight end again. So you've got to build age into it. You've got to build in the fact that Devontae Adams is now the alpha on that team in terms of the passing game, and we'll see if Renfro stays or somebody else is brought in to compete with that. Plus you have what Josh Jacobs did as the leading rusher, so keep that in mind if he's back as well. But I think Waller to me is very similar to Kittle where exactly what he said.

He's not going to be elite anymore, At least I don't expect him to be. But still good enough that you'll start him and good enough that he can be a top five guy. If you gave... Okay, ready? If you gave Mark Andrews, Darren Waller, Dallas Goddard, TJ Hawkinson, Kyle Pitts, and George Kittle, basically every tight end we've talked about today except for Kelsey.

If you gave them all... Nope. I said Andrews. I said Andrews, yeah. I thought I did. Yeah, so two through seven, right? So those six tight ends, Andrews, Goddard, Kittle, Pitts, Waller, and Hawkinson. Gave them all the same amount of targets.

Should we do it from the same quarterback? No, the same amount of targets. Who would be first the same quarterback? No, the same amount of targets. Who would be first and who would be last? Who are their quarterbacks? The same ones they had this year. Lamar Jackson, not Mariota. Let's say Desmond Ritter. Hurts, Purdy.

I can't say Derek Carr. I don't know. Jared Stidham. I don't know Jared Stidham I don't know why aren't you giving him Carr because it's not going to be Carr next year oh I see what you're saying your best guess for next year I guess

Brady fine Brady so I would say it would be Andrews Kittle Goddard, Hawkinson, Pitts-Waller. Andrews, Hawkinson, Goddard, Kittle, Waller. Hawkinson second? I thought he'd be last.

That's kind of my argument is he's the least dynamic of this group and needs a target advantage to be really good in fantasy. Whereas the other guys, I think... I just want the same way I had it ranked. That's not fair. Wow, not even playing the game. All right, well, thank you, Heath, for participating. I do appreciate that.

Let's take a break. When we come back, we'll talk about the weekend slate. We'll do some DFS. And, boy, it's a lot of fun when you get a notification from draft Kings that, uh, your winnings have been deposited. And then you remembered you did a $2 head to head or $2, uh, 50, 50. You're like, Oh, that doesn't really do anything for me, but okay. Glad I played. Um, we'll be right back on fantasy football today. Let's talk DFS. And who's your favorite stack for the weekend, Jamie? My favorite stack for the weekend is the Bengals.

I think it's going to be very popular. But Joe Burrow, based on his price, he's the third highest quarterback. And given his history against the Chiefs, he's averaging over 320 yards per game in his three games against them. He's got eight touchdowns, one interception. Had a 33-point game against them in Week 13.

And so just looking at him and Chase and Higgins and Boyd, some combination of two of those guys, I think it's easy to do. And so we've seen the Chiefs during the regular season, third in fantasy points allowed to opposing quarterbacks in passing games. So I think that's the easiest stack to look at and hopefully comes through. Again, will be very popular, though. Yeah, go ahead. quarterbacks and passing games. So I think that's the easiest stack to look at and hopefully comes through again. We'll be very popular though. Yeah,

go ahead. It's definitely the best. Yeah, it's definitely the most popular stack. It's definitely the top stack of the weekend. I wonder if my homes is contrarian. I think if, if,

if, if I could play my homes slash Kelsey slash McKinnon or Mahomes slash Kelsey slash Tony at half the roster rate of the Borough Bengals stack, then I think the Chiefs stack would be my favorite. I don't really want to stack the Eagles or the 49ers. I get the 49ers. Why not the Eagles? The 49ers have a really good defense.

And it's tougher to stack the Eagles because there's three pass catchers, and one of those guys is probably going to lose out bigly. Devontae Smith makes me the most nervous. Why? Because he's probably going to see the most of Ward. We're both lined up. Yeah. I don't know.

Sometimes they shadow with Ward. Sometimes they don't. They probably they shadow with words sometimes they don't they probably won't you would think um and aj brown just kind of complained a little bit right tony is the guy that makes the the stack possible for the chiefs you know he's 3700 on draft kings he's just so much and look he hasn't really been that good but he's got that potential and And he's much cheaper than most of the wide receivers that you want to play. What the hell are we going to do at running back this week? So I have just kind of what we're talking about here. One lineup that I built already was Burrow, Chase, and Higgins.

And then bringing it back with McKinnon and Toney on the other side. And then playing A.J. Brown and Dallas Goddard. So that's kind of how I round it out. So I think McKinnon and Tony are easy to balance the Bengals stack if that's the route you want to go because they are cheap. And I do think McKinnon bounces back. He was terrible last week for where he's been. First game without a target all season.

His touchdown streak ended. He had a six-game receiving streak that started in Week 13 against the Chiefs. Excuse me, against the Bengals. So he had eight carries for 51 yards in that game as well. So I think, you know, people will look at Pacheco's stat line and say, okay, maybe he's the guy you want to look at. For me, I'd go the other way. I think he took out his 39-yard run.

It's a miserable stat line that he had last week against the Jaguars. And he did that with Henny on his center. So I think, you know, you said this, Adam, about Mahomes with his ankle injury, you know, wasn't really escaping the pocket. To me, that's how Andy Reid sort of counters us with a lot of design plays for Jarrett McKinnon because I think those are easy routes. And I think the same thing with Tony. Who are some, you know, bargain basement guys to help you fill out your lineup?

Tyler Boyd's one of my favorites all right i'll get him in there i'm gonna have to take jamar chase out though um you know making a draft kings lineup i'll put aj brown in that's fine yeah i think cadarious tony's gonna be very popular tyler cadarious tony's cheaper than tyler Boyd on draft games. Heath, how about you? Any deep sleepers? I mean, I would probably say that it's like one of the Chiefs' non-Kelsey tight ends. They've thrown quite a few passing touchdowns this year to tight ends not named Travis Kelsey.

And so maybe you could get a Noah Gray or a Blake Bell, and he's their quarterback sneak guy. So maybe one of those guys. Jamie, did you do rankings for this week? I did, yes. So how do you rank the quarterbacks? I rank the quarterbacks. I do it based on who I think is going to get the Super Bowl.

So I had Hertz 1, Burrow 2, Mahomes 3, and Purdy 4. But that's more playoff challenges. Can you guys rank them? Why don't you rank the quarterbacks just based on this week? This week would be Hertz 1, Burrow 2, Mahomes 3, and Purdy 4. It's the fact that Mahomes is not 100%. If you told me right now he's 100%, I would probably put him ahead of Burrow just because of the upside.

I think what we got from him in the AFC Championship game a year ago is probably something that's replicable because they're going to throw a ball a lot. He was 275-3-2. I think that's something that you can look at and say is probably something that could happen again. Remember, he didn't have a good game against them in Week 13. Now, they didn't

have the ball very much and he was limited. It's one of his worst games. Bengals have not yet to allow a quarterback to go over 22 points, and they did a great job against Josh Allen last week. He had a rushing touchdown to save him a little bit. That got him to 16 points. Give this defense credit.

They've been fantastic all season long. Yeah. They've had such an easy schedule, but last week kind of debunked that um they finally played a you know a good quarterback uh heath any thoughts on how would you rank them this week i don't think i see an enormous game for any of the four quarterbacks and so for dfs purposes i might just put a couple of Purdy lineups out there. Okay.

I feel like I have a pretty decent feel for what to expect or who to play in the Bengals-Chiefs. I don't know how you guys feel. Obviously, you want the Bengals passing game. We already talked about McKinnon. It's not really a Pacheco game. Kelsey's Kelsey, and then Mahomes is a gamble because of the ankle, and Tony is their emerging wide receiver. He's cheaper than Juju, whatever.

Mixon, you know, let's get to Mixon real quick, and then we'll move on to San Francisco, Philadelphia. Mixon, to me, I really felt like the Bills were very hampered by the conditions. Just couldn't tackle, couldn't seem to get their footing, and Mixon took advantage of it. But the Chiefs do not have a good run defense, and he was very good against them in the first game. Do you like Joe Mixon?

He didn't play in the first game. Oh, P. Ryan was great against them in the first game. Do you like Mixon this week? I think he has the chance to be the best running back this weekend based on his price. So you've got to factor in McCaffrey with the calf injury taking on the Eagles run defense, which we know has been spotty at times, but I think has certainly turned the corner lately,

especially with Jordan Davis back. So they've allowed three total touchdowns in their last seven games. McCaffrey is the most expensive running back. He's got an eight-game scoring streak, which coincides with every game that Brock Purdy has played, in fact, during the Dolphins game when he took over for Garoppolo. So he's got to have, I think, a huge game to justify that. Now, he had 17 PPR points last week, which is good, but it's not worth what he's costing you. And so I think that makes him a little bit risky.

So Mix is coming off, again, a game where you alluded to, Adam, maybe the conditions helped him, his first 100-yard game since that Carolina game when he went for 154. Right. I think it was 154, but he had 54 fantasy points. Maybe I'm wrong on that. But it was his first 100-yard game since week nine. And the Chiefs just gave up 80 total yards in a touchdown to ETN on only 10 carries and three catches.

So I think if you expect the Bengals to win, you're probably looking at mixing in the 15 plus carry range and probably three catches, which is what he's been essentially for the majority of the last five games. So 18, 20 total touches. I mean, that's a good buy based on his cost.

All right, Heath, let's talk about the Eagles and the 49ers. The 49ers obviously have a great run defense. They're not great against wide receivers. What do you think about the Eagles' passing game and Jalen Hurts in general? I'm probably staying away from Dallas Goddard

because they are great against tight ends. I like McCaffrey if he's healthy. If we think McCaffrey's okay, even last week, like Saquon Barkley only had nine carries against the Eagles, but he turned them into 61 yards.

Right, right. I don't think they're going to stop Christian McCaffrey if he's okay. And I think that Shanahan has to know that the path to winning this game

is having success on the ground. I would prefer, I think, A.J. Brown over Devontae Smith and Ayuk over Debo Samuel. And Kittle over Debo.

Why Ayuk over Debo? I'm just not 100% sure about Debo's health. Okay. All right. Well, let's get some lineups then. Let's do it. I'll go last. Okay.

Jamie, what do you have? FanDuel, DraftKings, both? I just gave you my DraftKings one. I'll go last. Okay. Jamie, what do you have? FanDuel, DraftKings, both? I just gave you my DraftKings one. I'll give you my FanDuel one. I'm going with Hurts at quarterback. I'm playing the same running backs in both lineups that I'm putting on the site. I'll play a few different. I'll play a McCaffrey lineup. I'll play some other

combinations as well, but Mixon and McKinnon in this lineup as well. AJ Brown, T. Higgins, and Kadarius Toney. I will play Goddard because I don't think the 49ers are particularly that great against tight ends, especially when they're getting featured. And then Tyler Boyd at flex, and I'm just going to play the Bengals defense across the board because if Mahomes is not Mahomes,

you get some turnovers, and that's always a good thing for the cost. Okay, so who is your quarterback? Jalen Hurts. Jalen Hurts, okay, okay. Mixon and McKinnon at running back. Yeah. A.J. Brown, T. Higgins,

Kadarius Toney at receiver. Goddard at tight end. Tyler Boyd at flex. And the Bengals DST. Yeah. No, we have almost the same fan duel lineup, except you go Hurts and A.J. Brown.

I go Burrow and Jamar Chase. But I also have Nixon and McKinnon. I also have Higgins and Kadarius Toney. I also have Dallas Goddard. I couldn't put any more Bengals in, unfortunately, so I went with the 49ers DST, and I wanted Tyler Boyd at flex. Instead, I have Marquez Valdez-Scantling,

which I don't like so much. But you've got to find some inexpensive player there. It's a tricky week. Yeah, certainly. Jamie and I both have Mixon mckinnon higgins and tony and goddard in our fan duel lineup differences i have burrow and chase he has hertz and aj brown he has the bangles dsd i have the niners he has tyler boyd i have mbs uh heath what do you have nothing that i like so far but um right now i've got a purdy mMcCaffrey lineup with McKinnon and Mixon as well.

Mixon's in the flex. I've got T. Higgins, Tyler Boyd, and Quez Watkins at wide receiver, Kelsey at tight end, and the 49ers defense. Yeah, it's interesting, Jamie. I wanted to get Kelsey in there. I did in my DraftKings lineup. But I don't know how you felt. You went Goddard.

I went Goddard. Heath went Kelsey. We all have Mixon and McKinnon. And that's an interesting Purdy-McCaffrey. Okay. All right. Anyway, you probably don't have a DraftKings lineup yet, right, Heath? I do not.

Okay. My DraftKings lineup, I did it while you were talking about making a Chief stack earlier. So I went Mahomes, McKinnon and Kelsey. I have Higgins and Mixon. Oh no, I'm sorry. I have Tony to my homes, McKinnon,

Tony, Kelsey. So four chiefs, um, Mixon as my other running back, AJ Brown, T Higgins, Tyler Boyd,

Eagles, DST. So I have a lot of chiefs and bangles. I have, um, that's my favorite one I've heard yet. Okay. Mahomes, McKinnon, Mixon, Adrian Brown, Higgins,

Tony, Kelsey, Tyler Boyd, and the Eagles. But you don't have as many, like, just guys that we don't actually want to play, but we're trying to fit somebody in. I don't have any. Other than Tyler Boyd would be the one. Right. I mean, I don't really... There's going to be

somebody random. You know, Quez Watkins type of guy, Juwan Jennings type of guy. Somebody's going to have a player or two that, you know, sways this for someone

because that's just the nature of how this goes. Okay. Well, that's it. You know, you could be really creative and play a Chad Hedney lineup

and see, you know, Mahomes leaves the game. Oh. Don't even joke about that. see, you know, Mahomes leaves the game. No, don't even joke about that. Now you're right. I think we have a question from Apple podcasts. Let me just look that up real quick here, because if you are going to be nice enough to leave us a nice five star review on Apple podcasts, which you can still do,

tell everybody why you like our show. You can leave us a question and we'll answer it. Did I kill enough time yet? Come on. Load. Load. PC load letter. All right, here we go.

Keeper question from WakeUp... Excuse me. WakeUp23. Full PPR, 10-team league, two quarterbacks, three receivers, two flex,

two running back. We need to pick two keepers here. Brees Hall, Josh Allen. Remember, it's 10 teams and it two keepers here. Brees Hall, Josh Allen. Remember, it's 10 teams and it's two quarterbacks. Brees Hall, Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, Justin Jefferson, and CeeDee Lamb. Wow.

The quarterbacks. The quarterbacks. Of course. Three receivers and two flex and PPR. You're going to give up Justin Jefferson? Three quarterbacks there. Good luck to everybody else in your league and just go get everything else you need. Alright.

Heath, what do you think? It was Josh Allen and who? Jalen Hurts and there's also Justin Jefferson. Yeah, I think my first three picks would be Hurts versus Jefferson is the one I'm not sure of. But Allen for sure.

Alright. And you've got to know how your league values Jefferson is the one I'm not sure of, but Allen for sure. Okay. All right. And you've got to know how your league values quarterbacks. I'm in a two-quarterback league where maybe one quarterback gets taken in the first round still. So you've got to know how your league values quarterbacks. Yeah. Right, that's my concern with taking Hurts, because it's three receivers with two flexes and it's PPR.

I wonder how fast the wide receivers go off the board. Is it four-point per pass touchdown or six? Not sure. And do we lose the picks in the first round by keeping those guys? Yes. So he doesn't have a pick until round three? Correct.

But nobody does, right? Well, it depends. Everybody's losing their first two picks, no matter what. It seems that way. Keepers count for round one and two. Maybe you don't have to keep up. So he does have a first-round pick, basically, because everybody has to do that.

Right, so he may be picking first, for all we know. He said that going into last season, he kept Josh Allen and Justin Jefferson, and he won the championship. He's thinking about keeping lamb and Jefferson. Don't do that. Definitely take one of the quarterbacks. See his point though,

if it's four points for passing touchdowns and quarterbacks are not as valuable, even though it's to be league. No, but those guys are even better than most of the other quarterbacks. No, I would agree. But you know,

if, if, if the position is extremely devalued, then maybe you don't keep one of them. This makes me think of that time, Adam. Remember when you said that Patrick Mahomes was less valuable in two quarterback leagues? Every quarterback is less valuable

in two quarterback leagues, is what I was saying. Yes. Not just Mahomes. Because we drafted them much earlier. But they all get drafted much... All right. All right, All right.

It took 41 minutes for Heath to completely fluster me, but it happened. Have a great weekend, everybody. Enjoy the games. We will talk to you Monday with a recap. We'll get you set for the Super Bowl next time we talk. For Jamie and Heath and Thomas, I'm Adam. Do you think we'll have a new head coach hired by then?

No. None? By when? By Monday or by the Super Bowl? By Monday. I'm going to say no. Will Daniel Jones or Saquon Barkley have a new contract for them? No, definitely not. Will Derek Harvey trade him by then? There's not going to be one single

interesting thing that happens in football before Monday, other than the games. Some team will try and steal the spotlight and hire Sean Payton. He's going back to TV, right? Could they put more people in that Fox studio, by the way?

They need a bigger desk. I hear you're hired, by the way. This is your last CBS show. If you wanted to wait and see if the Chargers would give Brandon Staley more than one more year. Okay. I'll wait for that charger. All right, everybody.

We'll talk to you later.