Fantasy Football Today - Trustometer, Scoring Ideas, Bills-Patriots (11/30 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: November 30, 2022

We begin with a Twitter poll about Travis Kelce! Should he be the #1 overall pick in PPR leagues next season? Is he too old? We debate! Then we've got a quick round of news and notes (11:04) and the T...rustometer! How much do we trust guys like Christian McCaffrey (13:40), Deshaun Watson, Marquise Brown (16:00), Christian Watson (22:40) and the rookie running backs this week and rest of season? ... Taking a look at the Bills-Patriots game (37:30), Gabe Davis or Jakobi Meyers? Any interest in Devin Singletary or Dawson Knox? ... We have some fun ideas for scoring changes in Fantasy leagues (54:15). Do you want points awarded for kickoff return yards? Do you want point spreads to factor into your Fantasy outcomes? Do you want point per first down instead of PPR? Check out some of our suggestions ... Your emails at fantasyfootball@cbsi.com 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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Starting point is 00:01:16 Visit amex.ca slash business platinum. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. What a play! Can you believe this? No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races, and he stays on his feet. He's just going to go the distance.
Starting point is 00:01:37 Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. Happy Hump Day, folks. What's going on? Welcome to Fantasy Football Today. Yeah. We have got the Trust-O-Meter today. No more trade talk because trade deadlines have mostly passed, but we'll still look ahead, rest of season players.
Starting point is 00:01:57 How much do we trust Christian McCaffrey, Deshaun Watson, Damian Pierce? A good one. Marquise Brown and Rondell Moore. These are all listener suggestions. So we'll talk about those situations and how much trust we have in those players. Watson, Damian Pierce, a good one, Marquise Brown, and Rondell Moore. These are all listener suggestions. So we'll talk about those situations and how much trust we have in those players. We'll also look ahead to 2023 and give you some ideas to change the scoring in your fantasy league, some fun ideas to make fantasy a little bit more interesting.
Starting point is 00:02:20 Oh, good morning, Heath Cummings. How are we today? Fantastic, Adam. I see that we have a Twitter poll right at the start of the show. I'm always excited about your Twitter polls and what they bring out into the show. Yeah, I got to tell you, I had a little bit of a revelation this morning, and I don't like admitting this. I'm really seeing the wisdom in the see results option. And I almost put it in the poll. I almost did, but I'm not quite ready to admit defeat yet. So it wasn't there. What is that wisdom exactly?
Starting point is 00:02:52 Well, because there are some people following me that have no opinion on the poll question, and they should have the opportunity to see the results without voting for the poll, voting in the poll, which, and if they do vote in the poll just to see the results without voting for the poll, voting in the poll, which, and if they do vote in the poll just to see the results, then it skews the results. So, right, Heath, is that how you'd sum up the wisdom? That was almost, that was almost perfect, yes. Okay. Heath, how often is see results more than 10% of the final vote? I don't know that. I guess the better question is how often is see results bigger than the difference between the two options? Okay. Because I'm just wondering, like, if C results is less than 10% of the people who actually click on the damn thing, then I don't think the results are really going to change that much. But how often do I run polls and people say, thank you for the C results option, or Adam runs polls and people say, where is the C results option?
Starting point is 00:03:45 Yeah, I never really get that. Guys, some people troll me with it. All right. Anyway, let's go to the poll. This is the moderately bold statement to start the show. Tell me, agree or disagree. Travis Kelsey is the number one pick in 2023. Oh, wow.
Starting point is 00:04:00 The results are surprising to me. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he should he would be if Father Time was not undefeated. Maybe he'll be the one to defeat Father Time. I don't believe that, no. If he was 27 or 28, 100% he should be. He's not showing any signs of slowing down.
Starting point is 00:04:22 He'll be, what, 35? I don't know if that's the argument. He'll be 34. He just turned 33 a little while ago, so he'll be 33, 34. He's without a doubt the most valuable player in fantasy this season. So who is, right now, if you're looking at the screen, if you're looking at YouTube.com slash fantasy football today, how many votes?
Starting point is 00:04:43 344 votes. 75% disagree. The statement is agree or disagree. In PPR leagues, Travis Kelsey is the number one pick in 2023. And I would have hit agree. But disagree is at 75%. I also want to point out that this is Thomas Schaefer's Twitter that we're looking at. And hashtag sex is trending for him.
Starting point is 00:05:05 That's a little bit weird, but I'm just reading the screen. If not Travis Kelsey, who's number one right now? That's a great question. Justin Jefferson. Jefferson, you could make the case for Eckler.
Starting point is 00:05:25 He'll be 28. I don't think there's any way a 28-year-old running back is going to be number one. I know. I still think he can squeeze out at least one more very good year. One of these other younger running backs we might be able to make the case for. Are we sure we're definitely not going to take Taylor
Starting point is 00:05:41 at number one overall next year? Not ready to say that that won't happen. Let's do this. This is fun. Who are the running backs who are under 25 for this season? That means they won't turn 25 at any point during this season.
Starting point is 00:05:52 Who are in the top 12 currently? Oh, I don't know if there are that many. Josh Jacobs. Josh Jacobs is the... And we don't know what team he's even going to play on. Is Mixon? How old is Mixon? Mixon is 26.
Starting point is 00:06:08 Taylor is probably not in the top 12 right now. You're going on points per game? Just points. No, overall points? Then hell no, he won't be up there. I have no idea. I'm going to say just Josh Jacobs. Ramondre.
Starting point is 00:06:21 Okay. Oh, yeah. And Taylor wouldn't be if we were going points per game. If we were going points per game if we were going points per game as well um you would add breeze hall but nobody's gonna take him number one coming off an acl no chance um same with so yeah hollard in there pollard this is his age 25 season and we don't know what team he's going to be playing on next year it's a tough call you know eckler is 27 and he and he and derrickrick Henry are both top five running backs right now.
Starting point is 00:06:47 And they are, I mean, trying to become the first running backs at this age. Are they 27 or 28? Henry's 28. Yeah, they're trying to become the first running backs at this age to finish top five in like six years. So Eckler's already, and Henry, are already going to defy time a little bit. And Eckler's not, like, I know he's old-ish for a running back, but he doesn't get that many carries. So perhaps that preserves him a little bit.
Starting point is 00:07:12 It's not like he's getting pounded every week. And this is now his second straight year in full PPR, averaging more than 21 PPR points per game. I wish we could have one of those charts that show like they have them for the all-time NBA leading scorer and it shows who's first. And then the years this person comes up and overtakes them i'd like to have one of those charts for this year of who would be the 2023 number one pick throughout this season because it was definitely jonathan taylor at one point i would say it was absolutely saquon barkley at one point oh i never who is who was saying? Barkley number one overall?
Starting point is 00:07:47 He was 25, and he was the number one running back in fantasy. I don't know. I never really felt that momentum that he was the number one overall pick for 2023. Because he's not quite young enough either. I think you want someone going into their third year or something like that, ideally. We've not had – when was it? Taylor. You want someone like Taylor. There is not had... Taylor. You want someone like Taylor. There is not someone like Taylor.
Starting point is 00:08:08 I don't think there is. There almost was with Hall. Yeah, Hall could have been that guy. And like if one of the other rookie running backs managed to play better, like if Damian Pierce hadn't have smashed himself into a wall or if Kevin Walker wasn't struggling so badly and having a poor rushing average,
Starting point is 00:08:25 then maybe one of those guys could get into the conversation. Here are the two things that people look for. There are two trains of thought with the number one pick. Number one, somebody wants somebody who's a running back that's going to be dominant and put up 25 fantasy points per game. We've already made clear there isn't that guy. The other train of thought with the number one pick is the safest, like, bust-proof player, regardless of position. That's Justin Jefferson. guy the other train of thought with the number one pick is the safest like bust proof player
Starting point is 00:08:46 regardless of position that's justin jefferson if i did that for 2023 right now that dude would be number one all right well you know it could also be cup that was another guy he said at one point for a while it was just okay the cooper cup should have been the number one pick he'll be a first round pick he'll be right back in there. And he'll be 30 next year, right? Yeah. Yeah, but we don't... Do you ding him that much for that? He's a receiver.
Starting point is 00:09:13 Let's see what his health is like throughout the offseason. If he's coming back from a high ankle sprain, then I'll be okay with it. It's not an ACL. Look at this. You guys agree with this? How about this comment from Zach? Adam is by far the worst Giants fan ever.
Starting point is 00:09:28 He shows no love. I think that's especially with what they've done this season against all. Come on. Well, you know why? Why? Because I've even stopped with my teasing you about being a homer because Dan Schneier came on board and showed us what a homer really is like he he is out shining you as a Giants fan in so many different ways and now you do look like someone
Starting point is 00:09:53 who just doesn't really care that much I'm not like Dave you're like Dave now but no I love them I just they're not that good I I've known they're not that good for it I just you know people don't want to accept it they've lost lost three of their last four. This is a good thing to talk about because I'm updating my Dynasty quarterback rankings today. And I made a comment last week about how Dan seems really certain that Daniel Jones should be their quarterback next year.
Starting point is 00:10:19 But all Giants fans... I made a comment that Saquon Barkley could get franchise tagged. And they said well so does that mean they're giving daniel jones a contract extension yeah so first of all why does daniel jones have to be the quarterback for the team next year he schneier does not like daniel jones he just thinks that the best solution they're not going to have a high draft pick the best solution giants fans in general i made the schneier joke i'm not talking about him now i'm
Starting point is 00:10:42 just talking about like it seems like the assumption the assumption is Daniel Jones gets to be a starting quarterback again next year. I can't imagine why. I think we all thought that they would have a very high pick. And it's not happening. Dave's losing interest, so we can get back on track here. Well, no, there's been plenty of times when Dave's been talking, and I just sat here and listened. It's true, Dave. You know what? I'm gonna
Starting point is 00:11:00 take Dave out of the, like, I think I might remove him. No, I won't do that. No, I just, from that. No, just from a Dynasty standpoint, I actually think there's a little bit of potential if they get a good receiver and stick with him. But anyway, let's go. Let me tell you about the last day for you to get a 30% discount
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Starting point is 00:12:02 I said a lot of stuff there the point is go to store dot CBS sports dot com and use the code cyber for a 30% sale site wide off your charitable items. So basically, I said a lot of stuff there. The point is, go to store.cbssports.com and use the code cyber for a 30% sale site-wide off your entire purchase. It's awesome. This is the time to do it. Let's go. All right. And injuries news. Where the hell is Dave? Dave, come back. What happened? I think he had to actually step off for a second. All right. News and notes. Any running back updates, Heath? Trying to find, you know, Najee Harris, Michael Carter.
Starting point is 00:12:29 I see the Jets signed Jonathan Ward to the practice squad, so maybe they're anticipating Carter being out, but any updates on the waiver wire situation? I have seen none. Okay. Those two in particular, and I wrote about this yesterday. Like, It has the potential to be the biggest disaster of a running back waiver wire week that I can ever remember.
Starting point is 00:12:53 Because it's not even just that Zonovan Knight or Benny Snell could get supplanted by the guy who was the starter. It's that there are other guys who we don't even know if the starter is out if we know for sure who the starter will be so i'm not putting much fab on those guys but if you have to have a running back you have to take a shot because they do have top 24 upside if the situation falls in their lap i saw some crazy fab bids for zonovan knight create like 35 to 45% of original fab. Is that really that crazy? I think that's a lot for a guy that's not guaranteed to be what would you say? A multi-week starter in fantasy?
Starting point is 00:13:39 The only argument is at this point in the season if you don't spend your fab you may never use it. Let's see. In our podcast league Benny Snell went for $16. We started with a $100 budget. Zonovan Knight went for $5.
Starting point is 00:13:54 That's a good get there. In our 10-team podcast league we got Njoku for $1. We got Zonovan Knight for $1. This is a 10-team league. Benny Snelloku for $1, Heath. Oh, we got Zonovan Knight for $1. People were... This is a 10-team league, so... Benny Snell went for $0.
Starting point is 00:14:10 It's amazing. Wow. All right, so that's the difference between the 14... Are people still paying attention in that league? Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's pretty competitive right now. Do you only start with 10 fab dollars?
Starting point is 00:14:21 You know, people were very aggressive with fab in that league. Fab, you know, just year to year. It's a 10-team league also. Right. Like, there's a chance that Benny Snell starts and is not start-worthy in that league. Yeah. Oh, great.
Starting point is 00:14:33 I got Kenny Pickett in a league. How exciting. I'm going to have to start Kenny Pickett this week. Just looking at my... It's going to happen. It's going to happen. I hope so. I'm very optimistic about Kenny Pickett.
Starting point is 00:14:44 All right. One more injury update. Two more All right. One more injury update. Two more injury updates. Three more injury updates. Aaron Rodgers expects to play this week. The Chiefs signed defensive tackle Brandon Williams. They need a little beef up front. And Christian Pulisic expects to play on Saturday.
Starting point is 00:14:57 USA! Oh, man, that was awesome. Let's go to the Trust-O-Meter. Christian McCaffrey is first up on the trust-o-meter obviously next with the knee i'm starting christian mcafree 100 no doubt okay 10 it's more of a nine nine's fine to sean watson uh he has houston cincinnati baltimore the saints and the commanders Deshaun Watson. He has Houston, Cincinnati, Baltimore, the Saints, and the Commanders in his next five games before Pittsburgh in Week 18.
Starting point is 00:15:30 Not the best schedule on paper, not the worst. What's our Trust-O-Meter level on Deshaun Watson? For this week, I feel like it's like a five. You shouldn't want to start Deshaun Watson. The excitement of going with Deshaun Watson, knowing what he's done in the past, should be muted because it's Houston, they should be able to run, and he hasn't played in a long time.
Starting point is 00:15:56 So you've got to figure that there will be at least a quarter to a half of Russ that he has to knock off before he really gets moving. I think he'll be okay, and I think he'll have some very good games as the season moves on. But I'm not starting him as a top-ten guy immediately. I'm not ready to do that. Yeah, four. I would start him over Rodgers and Brady.
Starting point is 00:16:20 I'd start Rodgers over. Rodgers, huh? So Rodgers with the Bears, you'd start Watson? I would. All right. I agree with you on Brady. Yeah, the Browns, you know, it was interesting because the Browns are usually bottom five in pass attempts.
Starting point is 00:16:35 They're 18th in pass attempts per game this year and still fifth in rush attempts per game, but they give up the third most points in football. They don't this week. No, right, right right but they are uh you know that's a better situation for watson i suppose is that they do run the ball a lot but they're also throwing it a decent amount and deshaun watson has been on a per game basis in four point per passing touchdown leagues he has been number four number four and number six
Starting point is 00:17:00 in his past three seasons and number six number six and number six in his past three seasons, and number six, number six, and number six in six-point per game, six-point touchdown pass. Anyway, top six. And then in his rookie year, I think he was number one, but that was kind of a crazy season. He didn't play the whole year, right? No, he played seven games, six starts, and he threw for 1,700 yards, 19 touchdowns in seven games.
Starting point is 00:17:21 It was crazy. All right, next up on the Trust-O-Meter is Marquise Brown slash Rondale Moore. Zero. They're not playing this week. This is the rest of season one. Marquise Brown, Rondale Moore, Trust-O-Meter. It's hard to put Rondale Moore on the Trust-O-Meter until we know that he's back. But that's assuming 100% health for him,
Starting point is 00:17:47 I would say a 7, 6 or 7 for Marquise Brown and one number lower for Rondale Moore. I think it's scoring specific. I think they're probably the same number in PPR leagues, and Brown would be one number higher in non-PPR, and I'm in the same range as Heath on these guys. What was it again? What was it?
Starting point is 00:18:08 Six or seven. For both of them? Or five or six. Let's call them both sixes in non-PPR. And seven for Rondell in full PPR. Boy, it's so interesting because Marquise Brown was basically their slot receiver last week. He was. That was interesting.
Starting point is 00:18:27 And I don't think that's going to happen. I think he's going to be outside. They've played 12 games. The most yards for the third best receiver on the team has been 55. Can we count Zach Ertz as the third best receiver? Yeah. Okay. I looked at the top three receivers just by yards, not by fantasy points,
Starting point is 00:18:45 because there are touchdowns obviously involved. But top three receivers in every game and the most by the number three guy was, what did I say, 55? You said 55. Usually in the 35 range. But as soon as Marquise Brown got hurt, DeAndre Hopkins came back. As soon as Rondale Moore got hurt, Marquise Brown came back. We just have not seen a single
Starting point is 00:19:05 game with Hopkins, Brown, and Moore, or even Hopkins, Brown, and Dortch. It will be interesting. Also, Kyler Murray, did you guys realize he is second to last in the NFL? Third to last in the NFL in yards per attempt this year. Yikes.
Starting point is 00:19:22 6.1 yards per attempt. I expect he's going to be better if he has DeAndre Hopkins, Mark Eastbrown, and Rondale Morrill healthy. Are you concerned about James Conner taking more work away or do you think that volume will still not be an issue?
Starting point is 00:19:38 Conner had 25 carries against the Chargers, 14 against San Francisco, 21 against the Rams. That was a win. If he's going to be in the neighborhood of taking 15 to 20 carries away, that's a lot of work.
Starting point is 00:19:53 15 to 20 carries for sure, yeah. But if they run 65, 70 plays a game, like they usually do. You think, alright, 50 pass attempts per game for Kyler? No, 40 pass attempts, 25 rush attempts. Is that where they've been all year?
Starting point is 00:20:11 Is that what they're averaging? They throw a ton. They've thrown the fourth most pass attempts per game in the NFL. Kyler's averaging 39 per game. I don't know what their total rush attempts is. I can get it right here. 39 per game is going to be pretty good. And last question here.
Starting point is 00:20:25 Any concerns about Hopkins? How many targets did he have last week? Six. And only had four catches. Six. Brown had eight. Yeah. Weird.
Starting point is 00:20:36 Four of the season, 39 and a half pass attempts, 26 and a half rush attempts. That's pretty good. Wait, running back rush attempts or rush attempts? Just total rush attempts. Total rush attempts. You know that Kyler has some of those, right? Yeah, no. I mean, obviously, Hopkins is a must-start.
Starting point is 00:20:50 I'm not saying sit him or anything, but I think he's wide receiver six per game, something like that. What do you expect him to be going forward? Schedule is Patriots, Broncos, Bucs, Falcons, Niners. He just blurts out 12. I was just answering the question. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:21:07 You're starting Hopkins, and I think Brown's going to be a number three receiver. I think Rondale will be a number three receiver in PPR. How often will multiple receivers have double-digit targets? That's what I would be worried about. And I'd give the lean toward Hopkins, but he's coming off a game where he was second on the team and targets I mean if you lower that standard to eight or more targets for two receivers then
Starting point is 00:21:31 you're talking probably more like most games I think nine out of 12 or something like that right and so here's the thing you'll think all right someone will get squeezed and you won't think it's Hopkins and that's why there's going to be trust issues with the other receivers there. Would you rather have Marquise Brown or Michael Pittman? I think I feel better with Pittman. Yeah. Garrett Wilson or Marquise Brown?
Starting point is 00:21:58 Oh, Wilson. Yeah, Wilson. As long as Zach Wilson stays far, far away. Go away. Play baseball. Play tennis. All right, so we'll see what kind of fit Marquise Brown, Rondo Moore, DeAndre Hopkins are
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Starting point is 00:23:57 These are all from our listeners, by the way. How about Christian Watson? In his last three games, he has 265 yards on 10 catches. He has the sixth most receiving yards in the NFL in that span. He's second in yards per catch behind Darius Slayton, I believe. What is your trust level? You're burying the lead. What?
Starting point is 00:24:17 He has six touchdowns. Yeah, and six touchdowns. And four end zone targets. Yeah, by the way. What is your... Maybe I was going to get there, you know. Your trust-o-meter on Christian Watson. I think I'm going to give him a seven. And the reason why I'm going to give him a seven on the trust-o-meter
Starting point is 00:24:35 is because he's got some of the highest upside of anybody in football right now because of his ability to catch a deep ball for a touchdown or take a short play uh to the end zone he he's also seen targets inside the 10 he's playing a ton of snaps he's in an offense that for the most part maybe not necessarily this week but for the most part will be in competitive games or playing from behind so the ball will be in the air for now he's got a great quarterback good enough quarterback i guess he's not quite the same guy aaron rogers isn't quite the same guy but i think when you look at him and you can use him as a flex i think it's a slam dunk as a number two receiver might take a little bit more guts but you think about a lot of the other receivers that are on the low end, number two, high end, number three range that are getting you 12,
Starting point is 00:25:25 13 PPR points per week. You can make the case that Sutton's got, or that Wilson rather, Watson rather. I was thinking of Sutton. Sutton is that 12 to 13 PPR receiver. There's a case that Watson has more upside and that he should be started. I'm going to do the thing that I do and say that I don't think receivers like
Starting point is 00:25:48 Christian Watson have anything to do with trust. It's the Gabe Davis scenario. You can't sit him right now. The upside's too high. You should recognize the floor is tiny. He's getting six targets a game
Starting point is 00:26:03 when they're throwing 30 passes. They're playing this week. They might throw 25 passes against the Bears or against the Rams next week. And there's a chance that he gives you five fantasy points, like Gabe Davis has done multiple times this season. The ceiling's too high. I think if we further examine, though, the targets, I guess I didn't quite realize. his target share in his last three games christian watson it's 42 16 which is bad and 24 so that's two good target share games and one bad one and in two of the three games i didn't realize just how few pass attempts they had attempted it was 20 in one game and 25 in the other that's a little unusual rogers is usually throwing more
Starting point is 00:26:44 than 30 times per game. The concerning one would have been the Titans game, right? He threw 39 passes and only six of them went to Watson. But in the other two games, Dallas and Philadelphia, he actually had a very good target share. So I am hoping that if the pass attempts are above
Starting point is 00:27:00 30, you could be looking at consistently about eight targets from Watson. And he's got so much potential to break a big play. He's done it yards after the catch. He's done it by just beating guys deep downfield. He's got the four end zone targets in the three games. I just want to bring that up.
Starting point is 00:27:15 But you do recognize how low the floor is. Yeah. Of course. I think so. Does he get more targets than Gabe Davis? Gabe Davis, we're going to talk about soon when we preview the game, has one game all year with more than seven targets. Is that kind of where you see Watson living at, or do you think? 100%. Okay.
Starting point is 00:27:34 Okay. Next up is Alvin Kamara on the Trust-O-Meter. Zero to 10 for Kamara. Oh, by the way, funny stat, because you compared him to Cortland Sutton in that 12 to 13 PPR range. Russell Wilson has thrown eight touchdowns this year. Christian Watson has six in his last three games. Where are we on Alvin Kamara?
Starting point is 00:27:51 Alvin Kamara, 0 to 10, Dave, on the Trust-O-Meter. I think he's at the same number as Watson. I think he's at a seven. He's not a guaranteed must-start running back anymore. He's had three straight rough games. Now he's going into a matchup against Tampa Bay. And I'm noticing that he's playing worse as the offensive line for New Orleans
Starting point is 00:28:11 gets worse. And so when that offensive line gets better, I'll feel a little more confident in starting Alvin Kamara. A lot of people don't have the choice to sit Kamara because they know what his upside is. But we're seeing his floor pretty regularly here in November. Real quick, Heath.
Starting point is 00:28:29 Dave, I never brought this up. His struggles started the second Eric McCoy got hurt. Their starting center. It was four games ago. He played 35% of the snaps, got hurt against the Ravens. This is, I want to say, Pro Bowl for sure. I'm not sure if he was an all pro at some point, but a very good center.
Starting point is 00:28:47 And Eric McCoy, the second he got hurt, the struggle started. There's more to it than that. I'll get into some of my thoughts, but Heath, your trust-o-meter level on Kamara. Yeah, I mean, it's probably a four this week at Tampa Bay. And then he has a bye.
Starting point is 00:29:03 Then he gets the Falcons, Browns, and Eagles. If they come out of the bye a little bit healthier, then I could see him being in that 7-8 range as a high-end No. 2 running back again. This week, he's ranked in my top 24 running backs, but it's him and Damian Pierce both. I'm just actively searching for running backs who are not top 24 that I could rank over them because I don't want to start those guys.
Starting point is 00:29:27 Yeah. How about this? 12, 11, 16, 13. Those are not his fantasy points in his past four games. Those are his touches in his past four games. And that seems low for Kamara. His 67% snap rate last week was his lowest since week one. And he left week one with an injury.
Starting point is 00:29:44 And what happened last week? Mark In since week one. And he left week one with an injury. And what happened last week? Mark Ingram came back. Oh, man. And he fumbled twice. He did fumble twice. But he usually plays about 72%, 73% of the snaps when Ingram plays. So it was down a little bit. Not huge.
Starting point is 00:30:00 But we have seen that. We saw that last year where his lowest snap shares were with Mark Ingram. The other thing I wanted to mention was, you look at Kamara in the last four games, 9.2, 7.5, 12.9, 7.0 PPR fantasy points. The four games before that, they were all with Andy Dalton, and he killed it. He scored 17.5 or more in every game.
Starting point is 00:30:21 He scored 23.4 in one game. He scored almost 43 points against the Raiders. So what has changed? Their offense has gone in every game. He scored 23.4 in one game. He scored almost 43 points against the Raiders. So what has changed? Their offense has gone in the tank. They're not scoring nearly enough points. And how about this? In those first four games with Dalton, they were averaging over 70 plays per game. Let me see.
Starting point is 00:30:39 Or no, 69.7 plays per game. In their last four games, 51 plays per game. Well, also, those first four games were against Seattle's defense back when they weren't very good. I think, did the Bengals have DJ Reader for that game? No. Did not have DJ Reader for that game. Against the Cardinals, who are awful. Against the Raiders, who are awful.
Starting point is 00:30:59 The last four games have been against Baltimore, Pittsburgh, the Rams, and the 49ers. Yeah, all factors. Yep. Yep. Okay. So I think you could be a lot more hopeful after the bye, which is week 14, week 15, Atlanta.
Starting point is 00:31:13 Just hope you're playing after the bye. Yeah. That's right. That's right. So if you can still trade, Kamara would be a bye low. With the eye on what would it be? Week 15. Week 15 against the Falcons.
Starting point is 00:31:25 Playoff savior, Alvin Kamara. Okay, last one here is the rookie running backs, Rashad White, Brian Robinson, Damian Pierce, Ken Walker. Who are you most confident in? Rashad White, Brian Robinson, Damian Pierce, Ken Walker. Walker. Yep. Not even a second thought.
Starting point is 00:31:44 White would be very close to him for as long as four nets out well i mean you could easily argue that he'd be number one right if if four net is out because he had nine catches yeah that's that's pretty good um yeah walker uh starting to you know he has i don't remember where I brought this up. I think on the box score. Ken Walker, every running back with 80 or more carries, he has the second highest rate of carries for zero or negative yards.
Starting point is 00:32:14 Brian Robinson. Brian Robinson's coming off this great game against the Falcons. Let's not forget two weeks ago, he faced the Texans. He had 15 carries for 57 yards and he had no targets. So what's your trust-o-meter on Brian Robinson?
Starting point is 00:32:26 His next two games are against the Giants with a bye in there as well. It's like a six. Another running back that I'd like to find somebody to start over him. But if I don't have anybody, I'm okay going with Robinson. He's gotten a good workload. You can be a little more optimistic about him after the efficiency spike last week. Giants run
Starting point is 00:32:49 defense isn't dominant. No, it isn't. Yeah, I'd start Robinson over Pierce. And let's talk about Pierce then because obviously it's only clouded, I think, by the Cleveland matchup. If he had a bad matchup this week, it'd be so easy to run away from him um the last two games he has 15 carries for 16 yards
Starting point is 00:33:10 and he has five catches for 17 yards but face two defenses that have done very well against running backs Washington and Miami now he gets the Browns so um you know Heath I think you're probably trying to stay away based on everything I've heard you're trying to stay away from him anyway damian pierce but let's talk about him this week against the browns he's a four or so he's a high-end flex still just because it's hard to discredit everything he did before the last two weeks it's just the last two weeks have been so miserable and they've talked about how opposing defenses are just daring them to pass they have decided we are not going to let Damian Pierce beat us. We bet your quarterback can't either.
Starting point is 00:33:47 And they've been proven correct. But it is a good matchup. And the Browns could, with Pierce and with the Browns, it could be one bad run fit from the Browns. And Damian Pierce houses it. And it was a good day. Dave?
Starting point is 00:34:02 I'm nervous about starting Pierce because of how he's played. But there is a scenario that could play out where he is the main back and there is no Rex Burkhead. Daria Gumbawale, who kind of stole a short yardage touchdown last week from Pierce, ends up playing in the passing downs role. I don't think they want Gumbawale to take much work away from Pierce. I'm a little encouraged, and I think the Texans might view this game as their pseudo Super Bowl.
Starting point is 00:34:35 They're getting their former quarterback back. Everybody in Houston is going to be paying attention. They're buzzing about it. My dad, who doesn't pay attention to football as much as most people do first thing out of his mouth was yesterday when i talked to him on the phone how bad is the sean watson gonna kill the texans this week and so i told him what i thought was gonna happen which is like 225 and two and he goes don't be surprised if the texans step up to take him down like he just i don't know where he was his mind was at but he's hearing about it and he stays home all day in Galveston.
Starting point is 00:35:06 So I think the Texans' defense will be motivated, and I think the offense will be too. It would not surprise me if Damian Pierce was a number two running back this week. Before we take a break and talk about the Patriots and the Bills on Thursday, are there any other players that you are losing trust in, gaining trust in, that you want to talk about? Open-ended question there sorry there are yeah there's a lot for me i think that whole i think he's when he talked about garrett wilson being a number the wide receiver 20 or top 20 guy i just think there's so many wide receivers in that range that i have trouble trusting on a
Starting point is 00:35:41 week-to-week basis mostly because they're playing with bad quarterbacks. It's Wilson, it's Olave, it's Pittman, it's guys like that. I think it's hard to have enough wide receivers where you can sit them. Two guys that come to mind that have gained trust over the last couple of weeks are David Montgomery and Chris Godwin. Yeah, Godwin for sure. Those are great calls. Why Montgomery? Yeah, why Montgomery? Because he's getting the touches,
Starting point is 00:36:09 and he ran fantastically against the Jets, and now he's facing the Packers and the Eagles, who haven't been any good against the run. Last time he played the Packers, he had 136 yards on 17 touches. That was back when he was sharing with Khalil Herbert. Right. Herbert being out has been great for Montgomery. Yeah, what happens if and when Herbert comes back?
Starting point is 00:36:28 It's so easy to trust Montgomery now, but what happens if there's another guy there? Obviously, it's not going to be a good thing, but we'll jump off that bridge when we get to it. He only played 68% of the snaps last week. So, like, the way he's playing right now. Which is what he was playing. Honestly, I'm sorry to interrupt you, Heath,
Starting point is 00:36:44 but that's what he was playing with Herbert, too. Yeah, but he was getting... He gets almost every carry now. Herbert was getting, you know what, probably 8, 10 carries. Mm-hmm. All right. Okay, thank you.
Starting point is 00:36:58 Thank you, Heath. Chris Godwin? Derrington Evans had nine carries last week. Oh, did he? I wonder if they were garbage time. No, they were not. No? No.
Starting point is 00:37:09 But two weeks ago, I don't know. I feel like I'm right about this, but not super confident in that. Two weeks ago, Treston Edner had six carries. Yeah, see? Told you. All right, we can take a break now.
Starting point is 00:37:26 Let's get into the Thursday game. We'll come back and take a look at the Bills and the Patriots. Do we have a good defense in this game? It's kind of a week-to-week proposition there. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. Ontario utility damage happens 19 times a day. That's over 4,222 incidents a year. Don't let your next dig be one that causes costly delays or safety risks. Before you break ground, make it a point to request a locate. It's not just the law.
Starting point is 00:37:56 It's a step to keep your team and community safe. Visit OntarioOneCall.ca and avoid unnecessary damages to get the job done right. Data sourced from the ORCGA 2023 Dirt Report. Okay, David, it's time for Thursday Night Football. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Nah. Buffalo is at New England. Stat of the game.
Starting point is 00:38:20 Gabe Davis has more than seven targets only once this season. There have been two wide receivers all year who have scored 12 or more PPR fantasy points with seven or fewer targets against the Patriots. And that is an excellent number compared to some other teams that I looked at, including Buffalo. So very hard to do well with seven or fewer targets against the Patriots. Maybe Gabe Davis will have more than that, but that's only happened once.
Starting point is 00:38:46 So that's something to keep in mind. We'll get to him as we go along. First question is, Josh Allen is coming off a 34-point game, but he did have a season low in yards per attempt. I think it's fair to say he did not look right. Tony Romo was talking about it throughout the game. He was not right. He has not been right since the elbow injury.
Starting point is 00:39:07 He's practicing in full, so maybe getting better. Any hesitation at all on Josh Allen? Nope. Not even a little. He's my number one quarterback. Okay. Devin Singletary, he's start or sit. I would rather not start Devin Singletary.
Starting point is 00:39:26 Same. He's a flex-ish. If he scores a touchdown, he'll be fine. But it's a great, great run defense. All right. How about Damian Pierce or Devin Singletary? As much as I dislike Damian Pierce, I've got him higher than Devin Singletary.
Starting point is 00:39:41 How about that? Dalvin Cook just ran into this defense on Thanksgiving night. He had nine PPR points. They've been outstanding against running backs all year long. The only DST that allows fewer fantasy points per game is San Francisco. Yeah, in their last four games, the Patriots are allowing 2.37 yards per carry to running backs. All right, so you can sit Singletary.
Starting point is 00:40:03 You can try to get away from him. The Bills wide receivers, I know you're going to start Diggs. Dave McKenzie versus Gabe Davis. Who do you like and how much do you like him? I have Davis ranked higher, but it's almost by pedigree more than anything else. I am going to make a case for McKenzie as a
Starting point is 00:40:20 sleeper in this week's lineup decisions column. I love what I saw from him last week he had 10 targets half of them he was the first read and so you might think to yourself oh that means that he kind of got a little you know fortunate a little bit to get c5 extra targets he found ways to get himself open and make himself available for josh allen and it really worked out his speed was great now you're playing against the lion secondary so course, you're going to look good against those guys, but he was getting open and Josh Allen was finding him. And I think back to how I think about how the Patriots defense is. They're great against the
Starting point is 00:40:55 run. That should mean that the bills are going to need to throw in this game. They're going to need somebody to take some of the pressure off of Stefan Diggs. Is it Gabe Davis who isn't getting a ton of targets from week to week? Or is it McKenzie, who can get open on crossing routes and post routes and corner routes and find ways to make himself available to Josh Allen like he did last week? I think he can do it again. And he had a season high in playing time, season high in targets.
Starting point is 00:41:22 I'm definitely rostering Isaiah in a bunch of my leagues. I'm starting him as a flex in leagues where I'm a little thin at wide receiver this week. Hashtag Isaiah is back. Okay. Where are we ranking Gabe Davis this week, guys? Yeah, I'm really concerned about the matchup and how good they've been against wide receivers. So this will be a rank him at 25th instead of 24th or 23rd week. I've got him even lower than 25th.
Starting point is 00:41:50 I think it's a real mistake to try to predict Gabe Davis. No, I think you just have to call him what he is. And Heath, you've done an amazing job of calling him that since, like, March. You've been on top of this. So following your lead is pretty easy to do. But when he goes bad, and that's the point I'm trying to make, when he has a bad game or two bad games,
Starting point is 00:42:09 I don't think that's relevant to his next game. He always has the upside to be a top 10 guy. He always has the downside to be outside the top 50 guy. And how good are the Patriots against wide receivers? They're sixth best against wide receivers. They haven't shut down good ones, really, though. I mean, they did a good job against Amari Cooper. He had four catches for 44 yards and a touchdown on 12 targets.
Starting point is 00:42:34 They did a great job against Amandre St. Brown, but he barely played. Michael Pittman, who had Sam Ellinger as his quarterback. So most of the good receivers that have faced them have done quite well. And in fact, the Patriots have now allowed 37 completions of 20-plus yards, and they allowed 38 all of last season. So they are going to eclipse their season total from last year of 20-plus yard completions allowed.
Starting point is 00:42:59 Not air yards, just completions. This week, and that's crazy. I think their defense got very much exposed and has at several times this year when they face good offenses. I'm assuming you guys think the Bills will be able to score quite a bit this game? I do. Okay. Starters at Dawson Knox.
Starting point is 00:43:22 I would try and get away from him. He's in that range of tight ends who are going to need to score a touchdown. The Patriots, oddly enough, have not been very good against tight ends this year. He's a borderline top 12 guy. I think he's probably a little bit tied to Isaiah McKenzie. There's not going to be very often that he and Isaiah McKenzie are both good in the same week, but I'm not as moved by McKenzie's game last week
Starting point is 00:43:54 as Dave is, which is probably why I'm more optimistic on Knox. Can I tell you what I saw two games ago from the Bills? Yeah. A lot of two tight end sets. They were playing against cleveland they recognized that cleveland stunk against the run they ran at cleveland this was the game where i think they had 29 carries between singletary and james cook and so knox ran a lot of chip
Starting point is 00:44:19 routes where he's blocking a guy and then he turns around and josh allen flings him a ball it's also when josh allen was first coming up with this elbow injury. I think it was his first game. Remember leading up to the game, we weren't even sure if he was going to play? I think this was the first game. It might have been the second. But last week against Detroit, it was a completely different plan. They wanted to throw on Detroit.
Starting point is 00:44:40 I think that's the plan that they're going to go with this week, and that means that Knox will still run a decent amount of routes, but he's right again. This is somebody that's going plan that they're going to go with this week. And that means that Knox will still run a decent amount of routes. But Heath's right again. This is somebody that's going to need to score a touchdown in order to be decent for fantasy. Okay, so Njoku over him? Yeah, yeah, yeah. How about...
Starting point is 00:44:57 Tyler Coughlin over him. All right. I think they're back-to-back for Heath. Gerald Everett or Dawson Knox? Knox. I would go Everett or Dawson Knox? Knox. I would go Everett. How about Cole Komet? Without knowing who the quarterback's going to be about Thursday.
Starting point is 00:45:14 I'll still go Komet. Oh, you're not really feeling Dawson Knox. Okay. Heath, I see you have Tyler Higby ranked ahead of Knox. I just want to point out, Dan made this point last night on the live stream. He barely ran any routes. He ran 11 routes last week with Perkins at quarterback. I've struggled
Starting point is 00:45:32 with that because we saw that a month ago. Tyler Higby barely ran any routes, and then a week later he had eight targets. Yeah, I'm wondering if it's a quarterback thing, though, because they just had a different type of offense with Perkins. They did. We've talked about this a lot over the last four or five years with Sean McVay.
Starting point is 00:45:55 He is a guy who changes philosophy and roles regularly throughout seasons. Guys do this in one game and then do something completely different in the next game. I just kind of feel like you have to look at it as more of an average of what they have done, knowing that the upside exists for one and the downside exists for the other. The other thing is that Tyler Higby obviously has one of the second best matchup for a tight end. What's his upside, though? That he gets eight more targets? He hasn't scored a touchdown this year.
Starting point is 00:46:26 I understand, but that does not mean that it's impossible for him to score a touchdown. Yes, that's true. But how many end zone targets? How many red zone targets? And he's already not running routes, much less getting targets. I don't think he... Just to be fair to Heath, I don't think he's making a strong case for Tyler Higby here, but... Okay. There are six good tight ends in fantasy football.
Starting point is 00:46:40 It's that I agree with completely. If you look at Colt Comet as a top 10 tight end. Cole Komet could score four points tomorrow or this week. It's an awful position. I think if the Rams go to Walford, I think there's a decent amount of upside here for Tyler Higbee specifically in PPR. Remember when they had Walford a few weeks ago
Starting point is 00:46:58 and Cup got hurt in the fourth quarter, you saw four targets after that from Tyler Higbee. I'd like to see them go back to a passing quarterback and not a rushing quarterback. Let's go to the Patriots here. You guys are sitting Mac Jones coming off of his best game. In fact, the last two games, just something to keep an eye on. Mac Jones has averaged
Starting point is 00:47:13 9.1 and 9.8 yards per attempt. That is terrific. That was against the Jets and at the Vikings. He averaged 6.8 yards per attempt in his first six games. Encouraging signs there for Mac Jones, but sitting him this week. Start with Andre Stevenson.
Starting point is 00:47:30 Is he in your top five? Yep. Yeah, he's incredible when Damian Harris doesn't play. 19.2 or more PPR fantasy points in four of six games without Damian Harris, or with Harris playing 24% or fewer of the snaps. Okay, Bill's run defense has also been a little suspect lately. Starters hit Jacoby Myers. I'd flex him in PPR.
Starting point is 00:47:53 We have seen offenses lean on their slot receivers against Buffalo over the past four weeks for sure. I don't know about the balance of the season, but over the last four weeks, they've allowed some pretty good numbers to slot receivers. And earlier this year, we talked about how Jacoby Myers was playing more out wide, and that's true.
Starting point is 00:48:14 The majority of his routes have come in out of the slot. Okay. Gabe Davis, Isaiah McKenzie, Jacoby Myers. How do you read that? Myers first. What? Gabe next. McKenzie last. uh gabe davis isaiah mckenzie jacoby myers how do you mind myers first what gabe next mckenzie last see in terms of a like a projection or a floor i do think myers over gabe davis i just i can't look at my lineup and think of the possibilities and put jacoby myers and and put gabe davis on the bench because I might be leaving 25 fantasy points.
Starting point is 00:48:48 How about Paris Campbell or Jacoby Myers? FOMO. I guess easily you're going to go with Myers over Paris Campbell. How about Mike Evans or Jacoby Myers? Evans. Even if Lattimore plays? That's the exact same thing I just said about Gabe Davis. What if Lattimore
Starting point is 00:49:03 practices in full on Thursday? Because he never does well. Pretty much never does well against Lattimore. You still going to go with Evans? I will. I will definitely go with Evans in non-PPR and half PPR. If we're guaranteed Lattimore to play, then maybe I'd go with Myers in full PPR.
Starting point is 00:49:26 Last one. Juju Smith-Schuster at the Bengals or Jacoby Myers against the Bills? Juju. Juju. Oh, boy. A lot to get to on Juju when we noticed some very interesting things last week with Juju.
Starting point is 00:49:42 He was a part-time player last week. He was, but he was also a slot receiver last week. Played 68% of his snaps from the slot, which has not been a good thing for him this year. That's a season high, by the way. Anyone else? Hunter Henry, Nelson Aguilar, anything like that? No.
Starting point is 00:49:58 I really want to react to that. We can. Let me just finish this game. We're pretty much done. Bills, DST. They really have not been great lately. The Patriots have been a good matchup lately. But do you try to get away from the Bills DST or you stick with them or what? I'm sticking with them.
Starting point is 00:50:17 I'm not making a roster move. Right. Okay. If you could roster two DSTs, would you start the Seahawks against the Rams or the Bills? I would stick with the Bills. If I have a dead roster spot and literally no one else that I'm interested in stashing is available
Starting point is 00:50:36 and I can get the Seattle defense, I'll take the Seattle defense. All right. More on them in a moment. Dave, that is it for Thursday Night Football. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Nah. You want to get into Juju real quick? Who else would they have played in the slot last week?
Starting point is 00:50:51 Tony was hurt. Hardman was hurt. They could play Sky more. They more played about 50% of his snaps from the slot, I think. Juju played 68%. But there's just a bit of a trend. In the four games where Juju has played more than 40% of his snaps from the slot, he's been terrible.
Starting point is 00:51:09 I'll take last week out because he only played 38% of the overall snaps. But he doesn't get targeted that much when he's in the slot. He gets targeted a lot more when he's on the outside. He also only has one game this season, I think, with more than eight targets. And that may have been the game where Mahomes
Starting point is 00:51:26 threw 68 passes. I think it was. So, I'm just, I'm a little nervous about Juju. He's, again, he's in that group of 20-ish, of, you know, number 20-ish wide receivers that can have bad games. He's not immune from that. But I don't know what
Starting point is 00:51:42 happened with the snap count last week. I don't know what that was about. I don't love the fact that he played mostly in the slot. I hate that. So, yeah, what would you like to say about that? I just did. That they didn't have anybody else that they felt comfortable enough with to play in the slot, and that's why he was there. As opposed to when?
Starting point is 00:51:59 It could be that he's there again this week. Well, when wouldn't he be, though? When they've got somebody like Tony or Hardman back. Hardman, okay. Alright, fair enough. Because Tony hasn't been there much, but Hardman has. Or when they gain confidence in Sky Moore and they've seen enough from him
Starting point is 00:52:15 where they say, okay, he'll play them. Look, Juju will play some snaps in the slot every week. That's just the way things are in the NFL. Every receiver does that. When Sky Moore gets the majority, that's when you'll see Juju out wide again. Let's read a quick round of emails here, and then we'll
Starting point is 00:52:31 give you some fun scoring ideas to implement next season or to just laugh at. From Austin, why is Heath so much lower on the Seahawks DST than everyone else? Bucs or Seahawks this week? I'm pretty sure I have the bucks higher right well according yeah according to Austin you're very low on the Seahawks yeah I think I've got
Starting point is 00:52:54 a Seahawks 10th um I they're not very good I don't think and I don't know like the Chiefs scored 13 points against the Rams last week but I don't think the way that Perkins played quarterback is going to lend itself towards a lot of DST fantasy points because he ran so much. But they're fine. Okay. From Jake in a city in northern Minnesota. Lake Minnetonka.
Starting point is 00:53:21 Dear Sidney, Bernard, Mike, and Greg. Those are former Vikings receivers. Sidney Rice, Bernard Berry, and Greg Lewis. I don't know the Mike. They've had a lot of Mikes. That's pretty good. I got offered a trade. DeAndre Hopkins for Olave and Njoku.
Starting point is 00:53:40 No, no, no. I got offered two trade Hopkins for Olave and Njoku. Hold Hopkins. Yeah, I'll do that. From Michael, is it worth stashing Darren Waller at all? IR spot, yes. No IR spots. You do not have to.
Starting point is 00:54:02 In general, what are your expectations for Waller when he comes back? Not high. There would be a seventh tight end that I would start every week. Yeah, there's that. But it would be based on past performance, not based on what would happen. Is there going to be a guaranteed rush of eight targets going to his mitts every game? I don't know if that's going
Starting point is 00:54:28 to happen. I don't know if he's coming back. Raiders don't have a ton to play for. From J.P. Faulkner, any chance we see a healthy serving of Jordan Mason rest of season to preserve Christian McCaffrey? I'd say like a 35% chance. I would
Starting point is 00:54:44 say a 33% chance. Just like there's a 35% chance. I would say a 33% chance. Just like there's a 33% chance for Ty Davis Price and a 33% chance for Tevin Coleman. I think TDP is more likely. Maybe. I think Mason plays over TDP when they have enough running backs because he plays special teams. Okay, let's do some fun scoring ideas.
Starting point is 00:55:06 Fun scoring ideas for next year, maybe. Dave had a crazy idea that I just smashed out immediately, but you can go ahead and give it. It inspired this segment, Dave. So what was your crazy idea? Imagine that during the football games on Sundays, when you're watching with your buddies or at work, at home, wherever you are, you can vote on who the MVP of the game is.
Starting point is 00:55:32 And whoever is the fan voted MVP of the game will earn extra fantasy points in your leagues. If you have that setting set, obviously this isn't something that we would make mandatory across you know cbs premium leagues or anything like that but you get an extra few points if your player is the mvp of the game and who's giving an example i'll give you an example who's voting who's voting yeah uh any registered cbs sports user okay but say the idea gets adopted it could be you could vote on ESPN's site and Yahoo's site,
Starting point is 00:56:07 wherever. Okay. But anybody who has a pulse and a Wi-Fi connection is a voter. Okay, so the example was? Benny Snell was the MVP, in my opinion,
Starting point is 00:56:17 of the Monday night game. So I would go on to my app and who's the MVP of the game, and there's choices, and you plunk in who you think the MVP is, and you get a thank you the game. And there's choices and you plunk in who you think the MVP is. And you got to thank you for voting. And then when the game ends,
Starting point is 00:56:29 the votes are calculated. MVP is named. Whoever started Benny Snell that week gets a few extra points. It would make my homes more interesting because he's going to be the MVP. It's so many games. He, I don't think you like the idea. You remember it's an optional one.
Starting point is 00:56:42 You can opt in. Yeah. I'm going to opt out. I get it. I understand completely um yeah i think that's all i'm going to say about that no look it was we were just having fun but it did inspire this segment here so i really support the idea of picking spreads and for every spread you get right you get a certain amount of points for every spread you get wrong every pick you get wrong you lose that same amount of points. I dislike that also. Why? It doesn't have
Starting point is 00:57:07 anything to do with my fantasy football team or the players that I selected or the choices I'm making. It's some completely other thing entirely separate from the game that we are playing. You know what you could do? You could have a contest where everybody
Starting point is 00:57:23 picks the games and the person who picks the most correct wins. You could combine everything into one. You could call it a pick-em contest. Combine everything into one. We could host on CBS Sports. Yeah, how fun would this be, Heath? Okay, you pick spreads, right? And as many as you want.
Starting point is 00:57:36 As many as you want. You want to pick five games. They're each worth three points. You have the potential to gain 15 points or lose 15 points. You're going into Monday night. You're down by two points. Nobody left to play. Well, all of a sudden, hey, this happened to be one of the games that you picked,
Starting point is 00:57:50 which you have to do earlier in the week, by the way. This happened to be one of the games that you picked. So now you've got a lot at stake. It just adds more excitement. It adds more at stake to the game, to your fantasy matchup. It's a great idea. This is a good time to say I am also in first place in my you-won't-win- Sports football pick-em contest.
Starting point is 00:58:07 Okay, see? You should be doing this then. No, I don't. I hate this. No, I mean, obviously, the spirit of fantasy football is to get points based on what happens on the field, not based on who the general public thinks the MVP is, not based on who your picks are.
Starting point is 00:58:23 It's fun to think about these things, but it's really not in on who your picks are. It's fun to think about these things, but it's really not in the spirit of the game. But there are ideas that we have that are in the spirit of the game. Okay. Well, I was going for the more offbeat stuff, but if you want to go for the ones that are in the spirit of the fantasy football game, go ahead. The first one that I would say is that first downs should count. In fact, I like first downs more than a catch. Think about a screen pass that a running back or receiver gets that goes from negative yards.
Starting point is 00:58:51 You get a point for that. That's kind of lame. But if you get a first down, well, that's something that actually helps the player's team. It's moving the chains. It keeps the drive alive, et cetera. I think that first down should replace PPR. I also think that...
Starting point is 00:59:07 Can I ask a follow-up real quick? What do you do about quarterback rushing first downs? Do you count those? You get a point for that, too. That's a huge deal. Wait, are you counting quarterback passing first downs? No. You'd give that to the receiver.
Starting point is 00:59:21 I think I'd give it to the receiver before I give it to the quarterback. What's the difference between that and a passing touchdown? What's the difference between that? A touchdown is different than a first down. But not yardage. The yardage doesn't count the same for both of them. It doesn't count the same, but they both get credit for the yardage.
Starting point is 00:59:36 Okay, so you want to give a little point to the quarterback and a big point to the receiver? Quarterback's like thousand point scores. No, I think if you do that, then you definitely have to make sure that your league is four points for a passing touchdown if you're fully replacing ppr with first downs you're creating an even bigger gap between running backs and wide receivers i agree because they're going to have a lot more first downs than wide receivers are are they yeah the good ones they have The good running backs that catch passes well. They have 250 carries and 50 catches. That's 300 opportunities.
Starting point is 01:00:09 You can generally look at it as about 5% of your touches. Hold on. As a rule, go for first downs. So it's a big difference between 90 catches at most. Right. But wide receivers average a lot more yards per catch than running backs do per carry. But running backs average more total yards than wide receivers.
Starting point is 01:00:31 That's true, too. So here's the solution. Replace PPR with points per receiving first down. Points per receiving first down? So no rushing first downs at all. What you just said about quarterbacks getting credit for rushing first downs doesn't count. Now that's out the window. You're telling me that we need to keep it weighted to make wide receivers and tight ends more valuable.
Starting point is 01:00:56 And pass catching running backs. We don't have to. They can be leagues where you just take quarterbacks in the first round and running backs in the second round and wide receivers and then tight ends. My favorite is half point per reception, half point per first down. Why? It's just a mix of both. It does balance it out a little bit for the wide receivers and pass catchers. Do I get the half point for first down for quarterbacks?
Starting point is 01:01:23 I would do half point for rushing, yes. I think for passing, I'd probably do quarter point. I also like what Scott Fish has done in the past, what John Bosch has done in the past with completion percentage. Basically, I believe, and I'm probably going to get it wrong now, but basically it's a penalty for a pass attempt, but a reward for a pass completion. So if you throw the pass attempt and it's incomplete,
Starting point is 01:01:49 then you lose points. But if you throw the pass and it's caught, then you gain a lesser amount. It's honestly too complicated. I think it's just too complicated. We've got to keep things simple for people. No. Yeah, we do.
Starting point is 01:02:01 That's why all you do is... You don't have to do the fishbowl. You're idiots. These are all off-limits. It's not idiots, but it takes some of the fun. The Scott... Scott Fish might be watching right now. I do love the Scott Fish Bowl.
Starting point is 01:02:10 I do play in it. I don't really get into the weeds of all the scoring because it's just like... It's just a little bit too much. And you're doing very well. Maybe you should try that more often. I have a basic understanding of it, but I think that you could paralyze yourself
Starting point is 01:02:21 by trying to guess, oh, the completion, like this and that. Jalen Hurts isn't going to be good in this category like just draft the best players i think what you want to do is just have a set a setup where you just are drafting the best players without having to game it for oh he's the best in this scoring i think i i yeah i think factoring in more things like that though helps you get to the draft the best players. I mean, I guess. Asking a casual fan. If the complicated thing is telling you more who is good and who is not,
Starting point is 01:02:51 then you don't have to get into the weeds on it and figure out what trick somebody's playing on you. You just have to draft the better players. I think if you ask the casual, yeah, I'm sorry. If you ask the casual fan to start taking into account
Starting point is 01:03:02 completion percentage, it might backfire. It might make things a little bit less fun. They just want yards and touchdowns. But I'm good with the fishbowl because I trust Scott to come up with a score. Casual fans like to gamble. Heath, make a pick against the spread. That's what casual fans like.
Starting point is 01:03:20 We've got MVP voting. We've got betting against the spread. Yeah, this is easy stuff. People just really want yards and touchdowns. This is easy stuff. We don't want to complicate it. Well, that's not complicating it. That's just easy stuff that you could do.
Starting point is 01:03:30 Oh, yeah, minus six and a half. Sure, I'll take it. I'm just trying to make things easy for people. I'm trying to project who the fans are going to think won the MVP of the game. No, no. You don't change much with the MVP thing, which I'm hoping out of here. They're going to give you like 25 points. It would give you like three or five points. It wouldn't be that huge of a deal. I've got a couple others. Okay, me too. Go ahead.
Starting point is 01:03:56 You should get points for return yards. All yards should count. You should get points for all touchdowns. Return touchdowns, fumble recovery touchdowns, any type of touchdown that someone might score. A touchdown is a touchdown, yards are yards. You should get points for tackles, whether it be on special teams or saving a touchdown on an interception. And you should get negative points
Starting point is 01:04:23 for yards lost on sacks for quarterbacks. Take a 15-yard sack. That's a minus one and a half. Then you have to do the pass interference thing. You have to give points for drawing a pass interference. Why? That was one of mine. Yeah, because you're gaining.
Starting point is 01:04:41 That is such a valuable play. If you gain 40 yards on a penalty, you should get something for that. But how is that related to anything I just said? Well, I think losing the sack yardage and gaining for pass. Like, if you're penalizing someone for losing. The quarterback's not getting the points for the pass interference yards. No, but somebody needs to get the points for that.
Starting point is 01:04:57 If the quarterback. Well, the quarterback could. The quarterback. Why not? Why not give the quarterback. You don't give them, you know, maybe a half it. If it's a 50-yard penalty,
Starting point is 01:05:10 you give the receiver two and a half points. You give the quarterback one point. When ordinarily he'd get two if it had been a completion. Dave, thumbs up? To which one? Heath gave like four things. No, the pass interference thing. I'm talking minimal points for that.
Starting point is 01:05:29 That's like a point for that. Okay, fine. Talk about Heath's things. Talk about the return yards, which I would quit the league instantly with return yards. Why? I played in a return yard league. It was the worst league
Starting point is 01:05:39 I ever played in ever. I hated that league. Why? Because then you are drafting Josh Cribs in the first round. You are taking players that should not be that fantasy relevant.
Starting point is 01:05:52 They become fantasy must-starts because they return kicks. You're only saying they should not be fantasy relevant because we've completely ignored that third of the game. That's not a third of the game. At the end of the day, it's how many plays? A tenth of the game that's not a third of the game at the end of the day it's how many plays a tenth of the game maybe special teams plays like it is not a third of the game it is weighted way
Starting point is 01:06:12 too much if you start giving points for return yards it's just not a significant enough part of the game the same in the yards it's not no the goal is to go from this point to this point certain yards don't count more except for the last one that goes into the end zone. You've got to reduce the point scoring there. Going from your own goal line to the 30 is 30 yards. What's the scoring? Yeah, it can't be one for one. It can't be one for every 10 return yards.
Starting point is 01:06:38 I think you can have a discussion about that, but I don't know why those yards are less valuable. Because I think you're going to get to the point where you are playing fantasy football and you're starting players that we would never start in fantasy, and they become more valuable than guys who are
Starting point is 01:06:55 playing 100% of the snaps. Nobody's playing 100% of the snaps. That's a gross exaggeration. 98% of the snaps. You could have a wide receiver who plays every snap, like Marquez Valdez Scantling or something. Well, That's a gross exaggeration. 98% of the snaps. You know, you could have a wide receiver who plays every snap like Marquez Valdez Scantling or something. Well, he's a bad example. You could have Gabe Davis who's on the field all the time. There are
Starting point is 01:07:11 dozens of return men I would rather start and reward for their production than Marquez Valdez Scantling. But you're going to end up starting them over Gabe Davis. And it's just silly. I don't agree with that. Can you guys even name who's leading the league right now in kick return yards? Nope. That's my point. I don't agree with that. Can you guys even name who's leading the league right now in kick return yards?
Starting point is 01:07:27 Nope. That's my point, and I don't want to. Actually, I do. I should know that. I don't know that, but I don't want those guys to be mega fantasy relevant. He's got two Ws in his last name. Warwarrow Watterson.
Starting point is 01:07:44 Very close. It's a team that Warwarrow wow rabbi used to play for now who kenny no wangu oh leads the league followed by kelsh how many yards do they have uh 620 620 yards through 11 games with the touchdown so that would be 68 fantasy points i don't like where i don't like where you're going with that, so I'm going to end the show. He would be producing approximately five fantasy points per game.
Starting point is 01:08:09 All right, we got to go. I'm winning the game of fantasy football because Adam has to draft him in the first round now. Wait a minute. Can I get in some ideas that I have? You know, there are a lot more touchbacks than there used to be
Starting point is 01:08:17 back in the Josh Cribs day. Yeah, they're going to take kicking out of the game eventually anyway. So like five years from now, this will be like an ancient discussion. Go ahead. In my day, they used to return kickoffs can't believe we have to draft ken a nguangru in the first round for his five fantasy points now and you might even get some extra points because he could be the game's mvp uh receiving touchdowns should count for five in full ppr instead of six you are giving too many points for receiving touchdown
Starting point is 01:08:43 in full ppr you get the point for the catch and the six for the touchdown. It's too much. I don't have a problem with it. Mr. Running Back, nobody's touchdown should count as much as the guy who takes the ball at the one-yard line and falls down into the end zone. Pete Prisco has been begging
Starting point is 01:08:59 me to turn that into a three-point play instead of a six-point play. He hates that. He hates that he's a running back that that he hates that those will like his conference he is a very forward-thinking guy he's not stuck in the past at all actually um uh kickers should be included with dsts that's something i've brought up to our product development team i'm continually banging the drum for that i think that would make dsts more fun. Home field advantage in the fantasy playoffs.
Starting point is 01:09:28 My son is actually in a league that does this. They award five points to the better seed in every playoff game. Ooh, five points. I give the tiebreaker to the better seed. I don't give the tiebreaker. I agree with that. That's one that we've established in our leagues. Dave, wait, Heath, great question here from the chat.
Starting point is 01:09:43 Do you get a point for catching the ball on a kickoff in PPR? That's not a reception. No. He's catching the ball. But if you did, Sky Moore would still not have very many points because he never catches the kicks. He just drops them on the ground. Oh, sure. I'd like one point per seed difference.
Starting point is 01:10:04 Hmm. So if the one plays the six, then you can have your five points. If it's a two-three matchup, then it's just one point per seed difference. Hmm. So if the one plays the six, then you can have your five points. If it's a two-three matchup, then it's just one point. All right. I'm ready to go here. Good show. Heath is ruining fantasy football with those five points per game for Kenny Nwagu. And thanks for watching and listening, everybody.
Starting point is 01:10:23 We'll talk to you tomorrow. You know who's third in kickoff return yards? Who? Isaiah Pacheco. Yeah. Right. All right. We got to go.
Starting point is 01:10:32 We got to go. We'll talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football.

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