Fantasy Football Today - Waiver Wire and Damar Hamlin Thoughts (01/03 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: January 3, 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 send our thoughts out to Damar Hamlin as we reflect on last night's events, and we tell you how to donate to his charity. Fantasy Football is of course secondary today, but we will look at the Week 18 waiver wire and reflect a bit on the 2022 season ... Top waiver wire priorities (6:55) including Zack Moss, Brock Purdy and Rashid Shaheed. Also, which teams will rest their starters (9:15)? This will have a big impact on your lineup decisions this week. We'll also run through the news and notes (14:30) and give you key injury updates ... What waiver wire lessons did we learn from 2022 (22:15)? Should we draft wide receivers differently given how many waiver wire options we had throughout the season? Then we get into the best options at each position: QB (29:50), RB (34:30), WR (37:35), TE (43:05), DST (47:30) and Kicker. We discuss Jarrett Stidham, backup RBs who could emerge this week, Jahan Dotson, Kadarius Toney, Treylon Burks, Tyler Higbee, Tyler Conklin and more ... 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

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. Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.

Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Fantasy Football Today. It is Tuesday morning, and obviously everybody talking about DeMar Hamlin, and we are thinking about him, of course, and wishing the best for DeMar Hamlin and his family. Adam, Dave, and Jamie here on Fantasy Football Today, and we all experienced the worst feeling we've experienced ever watching football. It was very sad and Buffalo second year safety DeMar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest. That was in the first quarter last night. The bill said in a statement that Hamlin's heartbeat was restored on the field.

He was transferred to the UC Medical Center for further testing and treatment and he's currently sedated and listed in critical condition. The team has traveled back to Buffalo. The game was postponed. It was seven to three in the first quarter. And I hope all of you have been able to see that the charity that DeMar Hamlin started, the Chasing M's Foundation Community Toy Drive has now raised over $3.4

million. So everyone is rallying around DeMar Hamlin. And we understand here that nobody cares right now about fantasy football or the NFL, and everybody is focused on DeMar Hamlin. We are going to have a normal show. We're going to talk about what we were intending to talk about today, Week 18 waiver wire, a little bit of 2023 stuff. And I don't talk about some of the lessons we learned on the waiver wire this year, but of course it is with the, you know, is with DeMar Hamlin on our mind and we're wishing him the best. And every time my phone vibrates, I'm just hoping it's a positive

update on DeMar Hamlin. And we are all in the same boat. Uh, if you guys want to say anything, um, I know we're all in the same boat in terms of what we're feeling right now, but, uh, good morning, Jamie. Yeah, just scary, very, very scary, experiencing that as it happened and having been around a lot of NFL locker rooms and NFL sidelines to see the looks on the players' faces was jarring. Clearly we didn't experience it to the same level that those guys did. And, you know, hopefully they'll be able to, you know, recover mentally and emotionally from, you know, this situation.

God willing, the outcome is, like you said, Adam, it's positive. And that we get the positive, you know, report that we're waiting to hear. Just ridiculously situation that, you know, I don't know what will change from this. You know, player safety is clearly of an utmost importance, but just jarring, absolutely jarring, you know, to see how that unfolded. And I'm glad you brought up his charity, you know,

just to, his goal when he started the charity was in 2020 to raise $2,500. And the fact that it's over almost $3.5 million just shows the good in people. And like you said, rallying around this young man. So clearly we're thinking of him, and hopefully he's going to pull through this. I know a lot of people have questions about their fantasy championships. Like you said, that's sort of irrelevant right now. I did see a lot of fantasy leagues, you know, some people posting that they just didn't even care about the outcome and they put all the winnings to the charity.

That's a pretty cool thing to do. I know a lot of people can't really afford to do that. But, you know, if you are in the – you have the security to do something like that, I think it's a pretty cool thing. Yeah. Faith in humanity restored for sure. I don't have a whole lot else to add. Jamie said it very, very well. So did you, Adam.

So thanks for that. Yeah, we're going to address the whole fantasy angle of it here. But Dave, gosh, it's a terrible way to start the show, but it's important. Dave, I know you have a heavy heart today as well. Somebody that we had on our show this offseason we lost. Want to tell us about it? Yeah, we had Ushaewon Airy to talk about offensive line play, not just during the offseason, but we did a live stream during the season.

Just an absolute wonderful person who loved football, loved talking about football, got into fantasy this year. I got into his fantasy league with him and he suffered what's believed to be a heart attack and died at the age of 38 two days before New Year's. He was a new friend and it seemed like a guy that I would know for a long time and just really sad to have learned of his passing. And so that was yesterday, too. It's been a tough day.

I'm sorry. That's so sad. He was a pleasure to interview. I only got to talk to him once, Ushe Winery, former guard for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and he came on, I mean, I said during the offseason, he came on right before the season started to talk about the best offensive lines

and gave incredible insight. He was very engaging, very funny. Off the air, we talked for a little bit before and after the show. I had a pleasure talking to him. So that is a tough one. I'm sorry, Dave. I know you developed a relationship with him.

So thoughts to the family of Ushi Winari. His family and to Justin. Justin Blaylock was his partner on his YouTube show. Life's precious, man. If there's a takeaway, to me, there's two takeaways. Number one is that life is precious. Never take it for granted. Count your blessings every day.

Number two, I've got a lot of faith in humanity watching how people reacted to DeMar Hamlin on Monday night, the charity aspect. I think I had one tweet asking about, well, what does this mean for my fantasy league? Man, be patient. Someone will be your fantasy champion. It's not important right now. So I'm grateful for all that. Yeah. As far as fantasy goes, we're waiting on the NFL to determine what's going to happen with the game.

So let's just see what happens there. And then we can reassess everything on pause, everything on hold right now. And hey, man, I remember when Rashad Penny was saying that he got really down in his career because of all the negative stuff he saw on Twitter, all the fans criticizing him. I mean, can we just – everything that's happened, just like never do that, please. It's just these people are human beings, right? So it shouldn't take something like this to remind us of that, but you have no right to just be a jerk to football players or anyone. So just keep that in mind. And let's just, oh, you know, you know, Dave's talking about the good in humanity. Let's always

have the good in humanity, right? It shouldn't take something like this. Let's always be our best selves, uh, going forward. Okay. You guys ready to talk a little fantasy football here and try to put some normalcy back in everyone's life. All right, here we go. Jamie, we're looking at the waiver wire here and a a big storyline, of course, will be who's sitting players, which teams don't have anything to play for. We'll update you on that in a moment, but who are some of the waiver wire priorities?

And also, how are we approaching it this week a little bit different than in normal weeks? Not going to talk about the Dawson Knox, David Njoku kind of player. So, yeah, let's talk about the waiver wire for week 18. I think if you're still playing in your fantasy league, you, you obviously know the players who are relevant at this point,

you know, at least the way I'm, I've, I approached writing the column, giving you notes on this is, you know, the, the fringe guys by far,

you know, and there, and there's a few guys that we've talked about a lot. Brock Purdy's still mentioned. Jahan Dotson's still mentioned. Zach Moss is still mentioned. I think he's probably the prize if he's still available in your leagues. You know, so that's probably still more of a shallow league guy. But, you know, this is really more about, like you mentioned,

the teams that are resting players. So Matt Breida may be somebody that could help you this week. Maybe Keyshawn Vaughn, you know, just looking at the two teams that are kind of locked into their spots, the Bucs, the four seed and the Giants and the six seed. I know there's been some different reports on who's playing, who's not playing potentially for those respective rosters. So we'll have to just sort of wait and see. But a guy like Rasheed Shaheed could be great, you know, just looking at this Panther secondary and what he's done. I think Tyler Conklin, if he's still available, clearly

he saw what he was able to do last week in his relationship with Mike White, rapport with Mike White. Corey Clement, potentially if James Conner's out. You know, it's not, there's not a lot of like, oh my God, this guy's going to help you if you're still playing. But, you know, there are still some guys

that could, you know, be plug in plays for those 14 team leagues, 16 team leagues, you know, deeper 12 team leagues that could be flex plays for you. How good do you think Zach Moss could be? Cause you know, he's done a respectable job. It just hasn't had a ton of work not getting any catches last two weeks against the chargers and the giants. And you thought, Oh wow.

Zach Moss had some great matchups. Can't get any better than that. Well, you're playing a week 18. Zach Moss has the Houston Texans. Dave, how good do you think Zach Moss could be this week? It can be okay. I wouldn't use him expecting 100 yards and a touchdown or anything like that, but he seems to be the Colts' featured running back, has a shot to get you in the neighborhood of 80 total yards. So I think let's talk about who could be resting their starters,

and I think it seems like maybe the worst case scenario is what the Bucs might end up doing is starting their guys, but we just don't know for how long. So, you know, Jamie, what's your pulse on who's going to be resting this week? Who fantasy owners probably should, can't sit here right now on Tuesday thinking

if I'm playing in week 18, I'm starting Saquon Barkley or Leonard Fournette. Well, let's talk about the teams you think could be either partially or fully resting players. I think it's the Giants and the Bucs. I know Todd Bowles saying his quote was, we have to keep our foot on the gas. Brian Dable sort of saying the same thing Sunday afternoon after the Giants win, and then sort of backtracking back that a little bit on Monday when he said we have to do what's best for the team. I'd be shocked for the Giants if they played Barkley at all.

Why would you risk that in any way, shape, or form? Daniel Jones, maybe you play him for a quarter, but to me it's the same thing. Why would you risk those guys? I saw a lot of the Bucs beat writers saying that Brady's going to want to play, so that probably plays a factor in this. But by playing Brady, you have to play the offensive line, and the line has been so beat up. So maybe they want to get a series or two to get Ryan Jensen some comfort factor in there just with the group if he's able to go.

But for me, I would look at it as I'm not – for fantasy, I'm not playing Barkley. I'm not playing Fournette. I'm not playing White. I'm not looking at Godwin and Evans and even the Giants receivers as priorities because I don't expect them to be out there very long, especially the quarterbacks being out there very long. So I think for those two teams, respectively, you look at backups. The trickier ones for me, though, to be honest with you, it's more about like the Vikings playing the Bears if they're going to certainly rest Justin Fields.

The Chargers against the Broncos, you know, because those are winnable games for the Vikings and Chargers, respectively. So mostly with the running backs. You know, Thomas Schaefer brought up a great point yesterday with how bad the field is in Chicago. You know, and knowing that they just lost another offensive lineman for who knows how long in O'Neal. Are they going to want to risk playing on that field for, you know, the extent of time that they need to be out there?

The Vikings, you're saying. I'm sorry? The Vikings. The Vikings. I'm sorry. The Vikings. The Vikings. Yeah. Yeah. There, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there, there,

Did I say something wrong? I know. I don't know if you say, I don't know if you were talking about the Vikings or the bears, but you're talking about the Vikings. The Vikings playing at the bears. Um, there's obvious, you know, playoff implications if they want to get the two or the three seat,

they're now out of the running for the one seat, you know? So those things factor in for the chargers. They clearly want to be the five seat because they want to play the four. That's seed they're now out of the running for the one seed you know so those things factor in for the chargers they clearly want to be the five seed because they want to play the four that's the easiest matchup for the afc so those things you have to take into account so they're going to play their guys but you know just to to how long are those guys going to be out there you know so eckler you know if they have a lead he's probably coming off the field so joshua kelly could be somebody you're looking at alexander madison you know if they decide they want to rest Dalvin Cook. Those things come into play for this week on top

of just Team X resting guys. It's also teams that may start to pull guys back. You have to factor that in. It's interesting for Minnesota. In order for them to get the two seed, they would need the Niners to lose to the Cardinals, and they'd

have to beat the Bears. And it's so unrealistic for the, you know, relatively speaking in the NFL, everything's in play, but for the Niners to lose. Well, the Raiders just pushed the 49ers to OT. I know, but that game, I mean, that game is, the Niners game is a 425 game and the Vikings play at one. So I don't know, you just do wonder

how they're going to approach this. It's such a bad game last week against the Packers. And so, and so many injuries on that offensive line. So that is certainly one that's in question. And this is why people don't really like playing into week 18. Understandable.

Jamie, can I give you a start of the week recommendation or just insisting? I'm going to, I'm going to help you. I'm going to take that burden off your plate. Okay. You ready? Okay. Start of the week is Boston Scott against the Giants.

He has scored eight touchdowns in seven career games against the Giants. You can see the Giants is not playing, really, and the Eagles crushing them. We're expecting Jalen Hurts to play, right? Are you guys going to rank Jalen Hurts? Have you ranked Jalen Hurts? We've ranked Jalen Hurts. We are expecting him to play right are you guys going to rank Jalen Hurts have you ranked Jalen Hurts yeah we've ranked Jalen Hurts we are expecting him to play he's not going to be at 100% he might not

be asked to do a whole heck of a lot but he should be out there okay you want to take a little break from fantasy and talk NFL draft check out a new podcast of ours with Ryan Wilson and former general manager Rick Spielman it is called With the First Pick. It is a brand

new podcast. It is awesome. With the First Pick, they're going to dive deep into mock drafts, prospect profiles, stock watch, and more. This is really a perfect time too because you've got the college football, the best bowl games have been going on, and you've got the championship coming up, and you've got players to know about. We didn't have... Well, we had a wide receiver drafted in the top 10. Was Garrett Wilson top 10? Drake London was. Wilson was 11, maybe?

But it's going to be different this year. There's going to be quarterbacks. Bijan Robinson could end up there. It's going to be more fantasy relevant in the NFL draft this year. So start scouting these players right now, and if you want to learn about them, check out that podcast with the first pick anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Your news and notes. All right, the Dolphins quarterback situation, we don't know what it's going to be right now. It could be Skyler Thompson against the Jets. Teddy Bridgewater has a dislocated finger. Tuatunga Bailoa is not in play this week as he remains in the concussion protocol. The Dolphins need a win against the Jets and the Bills to beat the Patriots. The Patriots to lose,

basically. I don't know when that game would be played, but that's what the Dolphins need to get into the playoffs. The Steelers, by the way, need the Bills, Dolphins to lose, and the Steelers themselves to beat the Browns. They have a pretty good chance, a pretty decent chance, even though they need a lot to happen, to get into the playoffs. So we don't know who it's going to be for the Dolphins. Could be Bridgewater, could be Skylar Thompson. So if you have Tyreek Hill, Dave, if you have Jalen Waddell,

you've got to be making waiver wire plans, right? You're in trouble. Where do you think you'll rank? I don't know if you're necessarily making waiver wire plans, right? You're in trouble. Where do you think you'll rank? I don't know if you're necessarily making waiver wire plans. No? Like, aren't you just, you're probably just going to start them and accept your lumps. Can you hear me okay? Yeah, I can hear you. I don't know about

Waddle. I mean, I can't imagine sitting Hill, but I don't know about Waddle. What about you? What do you think? I'm not sitting Tyreek Hill. Waddle is somebody that you could potentially get away from, but not for any waiver wire guys. Okay. So you wouldn't start like a Jahan Dotson over a Jalen Waddle if Skylar Thompson were a quarterback?

Because it's also the Jets. I mean, not until we know the Washington quarterback situation as well. Yeah. Right. I mean, is it possible that they go to their rookie out of UNC? Sam Howell.

It's possible, right? It's possible. I'm almost expecting that to happen. Lamar Jackson's status is unclear for this week. Josh Dobbs is going to start for Tennessee at the Jaguars. Sam Ellinger is going to start for the Colts against Houston, and we're expecting Jalen Hurts to start for the Eagles as they need a win to wrap up the one seed and a first-round bye.

James Conner is day-to-day. How crazy would it be, though, if they fall to the five? That's just so nuts. Wouldn't it be? Oh, yeah, crazy. James Conner, day-to-day with a shin injury. Are you guys thinking any reason to think Josh Jacobs wouldn't play this week? He's been, he got banged up and he's been banged up. I wouldn't play if I were him. I mean, you know,

it's the equivalent of like these college kids opting out of bowl games. Like what, what does he have to gain? You know, yes, I'm sure he wants to be the rushing yards leader. And that's a, uh, an unbelievable, you know, goal for any running back, but he's also looking at, you know, the biggest payday of his life potentially and why would you risk that yeah i know he did last week you know last week we could have said the same thing he played and i did i know right what's his lead right now for the rushing title how many yards i mean it's got to be like 200 yards i'll tell you in a second i got it i got it. I got it. I'll look for it. Oh, it's a race. And yeah, Las Vegas eliminated from the playoffs.

He's up 160 yards on Nick Chubb. So they play Saturday so he won't know. Well, they both play Saturday. So 160 yards. I think Jacobs could say. Cleveland plays Sunday.

Derek Henry against the Jaguars. We know how that goes from time to time. Well, you said Nick Chubb or Derek Henry. Who's in the rate? Chubb is currently ahead of Henry. Okay. It's Josh Jacobs with 1,608 yards. Yeah, so it's...

Nick Chubb's got 1,480. Derek Henry has 1,429. Okay. So Chubb plays on Sunday and Henry on Saturday. The two Saturday games, by the way, are the Kansas City Chiefs at the Raiders at 430 and Titans Jaguars to decide the AFC South at 815. The Sunday night game, excited for this one.

Detroit at Green Bay. Playoff spot. Well, it's interesting because if that game could be that game. Go ahead. I would say Seattle got screwed with that one. Absolutely screwed. Yep, they sure did. Well, OK, so go ahead now.

They well, who got screwed more? Could it be the Lions that got, they... Well, who got screwed more? Could it be the Lions that got screwed more? No, Seattle got screwed more because Seattle needs the Packers to lose. And so if the Seahawks win, the Lions know they're eliminated. Right. But I think the Lions are going to play tough.

I agree 1,000%, but the motivation is gone of getting into the playoffs if they know the Seahawks win. Like, the whole purpose of not planning around the times until like the, the Sunday or Monday morning of, uh, before week 18,

the whole point of that is so that you can get teams playing at the same time without knowing whether or not they've got that motivation. So many scenarios though, for this week that it was, it was almost, they could have, they could have easily put, they, they could have put both those games at 425.

Yeah. They could have, but they also have to think about their TV audience. Right. So Aaron Rodgers at Lambeau Field going for a playoff berth is what's going to draw the biggest rating, not Titans-Jaguars going for the AFC South crown. Now, they may have put the Bengals

Ravens game, had the Bengals lost last night and Lamar Jackson playing. That would have been must-see TV, too. Right, but they had already decided what the Sunday night game was going to be. Yes, probably because Lamar Jackson's not playing. Probably.

Other news, Christian McCaffrey has an ankle injury. Should we be, or I'll call it an issue. Jamie, should we be preparing for a different 49ers running back?

I mean, you certainly could have that on your mind. You know, I would anticipate, again, the fact that they can get the one seed that they're going to play and also want to lock up probably the two seed too, you know,

just knowing how the NFC is looking right now that every team feels somewhat vulnerable. So, you know, the Eagles lose their, their home field throughout playoffs, as opposed to, you know, maybe having to go to Minnesota, not that they probably care about that, but still I'm going to guess McCaffrey is fine. Okay. And let's see. Jake, Jacoby myers shoulder injury that's one we'll keep an eye on and there's some defensive injuries jc horn out for the season so so uh that's why jamie might like some some saints guys on the waiver wire this week all right let's uh let's take a little break here we'll

come back and i think the first thing we'll do is i'm going to ask you a few questions about waiver wire lessons from 2022, and then we'll just go through all the players on the waiver wire at each position. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today. Welcome back to the show, everybody. All right, so let's talk. I've got some questions here about just your waiver wiring from the season. So first question is, were you able to successfully stream quarterbacks this season was this a good

year for streaming quarterbacks jamie you can start what do you think no uh you know at points it was but for the most part no you know i i think this year um i i i said this a couple weeks ago we were talking about playoff options for quarterbacks it felt like there were much more much more people in most of my leagues rostering two quarterbacks as opposed to previous years. So it was, it was a little bit more challenging. Now, as the injuries unfolded,

you know, with Brock Purdy and Mike White and some of these other guys, you know, a little bit later in the season, you found some options, Gardner Minshew. But for the most part, you know,

I think once people got their hands on Justin Fields, they weren't dropping the other guy that they picked up or were starting. Even people were holding on to Brady through his struggles and Rodgers through his struggles, and Derek Carr was hoarded in a lot of leagues. So it was those type of guys that you usually find that you weren't finding as successfully as in years past. But I thought that there were still plenty of times where

there were instances where you got some hits off the waiver wire. There's Gino. You mentioned Justin Fields. People drafted Justin Fields, and after the first three weeks of the season, they were cutting Justin Fields, and he ended up coming back and being a rock star. In the leagues where Tua wasn't drafted, he became a guy that people cemented as their starter.

Jared Goff had a lot of really good moments. Same thing with Trevor Lawrence. And even Daniel Jones, even Daniel Jones, Adam, he was able to go and put up some good, some good games. So I'd like to think that it was a, it wasn't the best year for streaming quarterbacks, but I think you made it through. Okay. Yeah. But I don't think like to Adam's question though, you could go week to week. Like once you picked up these guys,

they weren't being dropped. so you're right there were guys to find off waivers and most of it was earlier in the season but it wasn't like okay i'm gonna go from this guy to this guy because the matchup's good and that guy to that guy because the matchup's good it was once people had these guys they weren't dropping well but isn't that what you're supposed to do when you're streaming is once you get somebody who's good you but but even if they weren't producing you know that's what i was getting at with rogers and Brady. You know, people were still holding on to those guys and still, you know...

I mean, I could go through a lot of my leagues where I see people have three quarterbacks. It was just a little ridiculous with just how people were holding their quarters. I had a conversation with somebody yesterday who were asking me, why aren't we going to push quarterbacks up more next year because of how great Mahomes was

and how great Allen was't just the security of those guys and Jalen Hurts and those quarterbacks and you know I said we just finished talking about our our top 12 guys when I look at the list and and you're seeing you know of of our consensus top 12 the five of us who gave rankings you know that Daniel Jones isn't ranked and Kirk Cousins was only for two of us and Jared Goffff is not ranked. And these other guys that are still going to be factors. For me, I'm not going to go that route yet. But I certainly understand how people would say, okay, I'm just going to take Mahomes around and just forget it

and just know that I have that locked up almost like tight end. Yeah. I was a guy who hoarded quarterbacks because I couldn't afford to drop them because I just didn't – in some of my leagues, I just didn't feel like I had a guy who hoarded quarterbacks because I couldn't afford to drop them. In some of my leagues, I just didn't feel like I had a reliable guy. So I just would play the matchups week to week. I think that hurt the streaming. It was a bad year for quarterbacks.

There were a lot of Brady, Russell Wilson, Dak Prescott got hurt. A lot of quarterbacks let us down. If you found someone on waiver Wire, that was good. Right, right. All right, next question for you guys. You were basically streaming within your own team. Yeah, yeah. I was the Waiver Wire. Our next question for you guys was holding on to handcuffed running backs worth it?

And how did the backup running backs do when the starters got hurt? When you went and you spent all your fab on that backup running back, Dave, how did that turn out for fantasy managers? So the one example that I had, I had Zemir White in so many leagues, whether I had Josh Jacobs or not. And it clearly did not work out because Zemir White never had the opportunity. Josh Jacobs stayed healthy and was a rock star all year long. But I think about the people who drafted Dalvin Cook and Alexander Madison, almost the same exact thing. Dalvin Cook, who wasn't necessarily himself this year, still stayed healthy. And Alexander Madison only had very limited moments of putting up some good production. I don't know if there's an example outside of

the Patriots running backs. Maybe some people had Stevenson and Damian Harris on the same roster. I don't know if there's necessarily a guy who came off the waiver wire running back who you picked up as a handcuff and then became just like an amazing starter over the course of the seat tyler algier maybe so i i don't think it was a particularly good year for that jamie last question yeah every week it seemed like uh we we talk about oh good wide receivers on the waiver wire this week uh it definitely seemed like the deepest position in the waiver wire. Should that influence the way we

draft the position next season? That you want to wait for waiver wire options during the year to emerge? No, but maybe what Adam means is to not prioritize receiver because you know you can find somebody. I talked about this back last August

about how every week there's somebody who you could look at and say, okay, this guy's got a shot to get me 10 to 15 PPR points. And you pick up that receiver. So you don't prioritize receivers heavily on draft day. Is that what you meant, Adam? Yeah. I guess you could do that as, you know,

if we're talking three receiver leagues with a fourth option or fifth option, I don't want to go into my draft, come out of my draft and say, okay, I'm waiting for Richie James, I'm, I'm waiting for Richie James, you know, I'm waiting, I'm waiting for, you know, Romeo Dobbs, you know, I'm waiting for those types of guys that, you know, may or may not emerge after the first couple of weeks of the season or waiting as the season unfolds. But yeah, I think if you're talking about not necessarily prioritizing your depth, and I think this probably speaks more to maybe drafting a second quarterback or a second tight end at this point because people are still going to hoard running backs to that degree.

So if you want to maybe give up the sixth receiver or the fifth or sixth receiver that you're drafting, then you can go that route. For me, I'm still going to try and swing for the fences with those guys on draft day. And if I have to drop them for a waiver wire, I'll still do that. But I'm not going to draft with the idea of waiting for the waiver wire to save me and stream that position week to week. I get it. I'm obviously having some internet issues here again, which is very frustrating. Seemed like everything was going great for the first 15 to 16 weeks of the season.

But my internet's been a horrible lately. And I apologize for that. I'll reset it after the show and it'll fix everything. I don't really I've had some bad weather here that might be affecting it. So I'm sorry if that's affecting your listening or viewing experience here. If I could ask a follow-up question here, when do I get my formal apology for being berated for drafting two or three quarterbacks at every draft that we did at the beginning of the season. I was right. I don't know if you were right if you drafted three guys and you didn't

have one that you liked. True, true. You just drafted a headache. Yeah, that's true. I was wrong. All right, to the waiver wire then. Let's talk about the quarterbacks that we're going to be streaming this week. Jamie's priority, Brock Purdy. He is 62% rostered. He is facing the Cardinals. The last six quarterbacks against the Cardinals, Garoppolo scored 33 points. Herbert scored 33 points. And then the next four quarterbacks combined

scored 33 points. They are Mac Jones, Brett Rippon, Tom Brady, and Desmond Ritter. We still consider this a good matchup, and Purdy's getting you around 20 points, basically, weekly basis. Jared Stidham threw for 365 yards, and the 49ers had the fourth highest pressure rate last week, and he was still able to deliver 31 points against the Niners.

So he gets the Chiefs who give up the second most fantasy points. So it's Purdy one, Stidham two, and then it's Mike White, Andy Dalton, et cetera, Davis Mills, Skyler Thompson, two QB guys. So, Jamie, is it really a two-man race if you're playing in a normal 12-team league, Purdy and Stidham, and then the rest? I wouldn't even start these guys in 12-team leagues

if you don't have to, but I still think if you're desperate and you're, as we sort of alluded to here, you don't have you know, if you don't have to. But, you know, I still think if you're desperate and you're, you know, as we sort of alluded to here, you know, you don't have Lamar Jackson. You don't have maybe Justin Fields who might sit, you know, based on some of the reports. You know, Daniel Jones has been your guy, and you have to find some other option. Tom Brady as well, you know. So Purdy, Stidham, and White, you know, I hope Mike White is still the starter.

I'd like to see him for at least one more game. It's a homecoming game for him. He grew up in South Florida, you know, so that's something that can be fun. And the Dolphins, obviously, especially if Xavier Howard doesn't play again, you know, could still be a leaky matchup as they just gave up 20 fantasy points to Mac Jones. So those, those three would be the one, you know, Dalton is, you alluded to this with, with the JC Horn injury, they've been bad to the last three weeks against quarterback. So, you know, Dalton, what might be his last start ever, or at least as a regular starter ever, um, you know, is, is, is interesting. And then I cut it off after Davis Mills, Mills had 19 points against Colts in week one. It could

also be his last chance as a starter. And the Colts have obviously been leaking fantasy points, five of seven since Jeff Saturday took over 21 or more fantasy points as well. So, uh, the latter two more to quarterback leagues, as you mentioned, but really all of them are just, you know, deep league type of guys, desperation type of plays, DFS options as well. You know, so those are the four or five best that you're looking at. Okay. Dave, anything to add? Like if you were going to start Purdy or Stidham or somebody this week,

who would it be over? I mean, would any, any like typical starters other than the guys like, like Tom Brady? I mean, you can't even trust them to play a full game, but who else? Yeah. Right. Yeah. The Tom Brady, Daniel Jones.

You're going to have to wait and see on Kirk cousins. If I've got Kirk cousins on my fantasy squad and I don't have another quarterback, I'm racing to get Purdy or Dalton. Those are my top two to get as a possible replacement, just in case the Vikings announce that they're not going to play their starters because they've got so little to play for in a meaningless game at Chicago. But the one element that I like about Purdy is not only is it a great matchup against Arizona, and I know the Cardinals have been terrible against the run.

The 49ers might just run it no matter what, no matter who they have, but I'd be surprised if McCaffrey plays a full game. Now he might get in there and total two touchdowns on 10 carries for 50 yards or something like that. So you're going to start them, but it wouldn't surprise me if he ended up playing a lot less than normal. And maybe they do a little bit more with Brock Purdy to get them ready for this playoff trip that they're about to embark on. So you're not really buying Jared Stidham. I watched all of his dropbacks.

It was actually pretty impressive. I thought he played well and, like I said, under duress for a lot of the game. And that was against the Niners. This is against the Chiefs here. Only four quarterbacks all year haven't scored 20 points against the Chiefs. So Dave, over under 20 points for Stidham. I'm going to say, I will say, I want to say like 20 on the dot.

I'll say over just to be optimistic and say that Jarrett Stidham, who's a former, I think he was at one point the top quarterback prospect in the nation. Who just awesome pedigree coming out of high school and just things didn't work when he went to college. He went to two different schools. And then in the NFL, it obviously hasn't worked out until right now. Is there a high ceiling? Sure. But with a week's worth of film on him and the Chiefs looking to cement

their status as the number one seed in the AFC, wouldn't surprise me if they had a good game against sit them and made them look like what we expect. Jared said him to look like sit them. Jamie, one last guy. I want to ask you about Russell Wilson, 51% rostered facing the chargers.

Your thoughts. Don't want to trust Russell Wilson against charge. I think charger defense has certainly turned the corner of the last few weeks. Joey Bosa is coming back. You know, Russ took advantage of the Chiefs twice. And I think that's kind of why you buy into Jared Stidham.

It's more about the Chiefs than it is about the Broncos. All right, let's go to the running backs. And Zach Moss. Zach Moss had 15 carries at the Giants last week for 74 yards. 12 carries the week before. 24 carries in that game against Minnesota, the game that Jonathan Taylor left. And

in the last four games, the Houston Texans have allowed seven rushing touchdowns to running backs and two receiving touchdowns. He is the prize this week. Zach Moss, 48% rostered. Jamie, break down the running back position. You've got Moss, you've got Matt Breida,

Giants backup running back. Also, Gary Brightwell could get in there, but you've got the Buck situation with Keyshawn Vaughn and Gio Bernard. Is there anyone that you're looking at, though, that definitely has a role other than Zach Moss? Or is he really the only one? I mean, Corey Clement could if James Conner is sitting just in terms of guys with roles, you know, that you're counting on and not Kaiser. So I think, you know, if you're just looking at potential, you know, I mean, you got to remember that if Matt Breida is playing

and Keyshawn Vaughn is playing, they're playing with backups too. So that's just something to keep in mind. So, you know, I should probably put Jordan Mason on this list also, just in case, you know, the 49ers pull back on Christian McCaffrey. But, you know, like I said, Joshua Kelly, Alexander Madison, these type of guys, there's just no certainty about when they may get into the game, what the situation is when they're in the game, who they're playing with when they're in the game. You know, so you have to factor that in. So these are more DFS plays, I think, than anything else.

So desperation type of guys in deeper leagues. But, you know, if the starters play the majority of the game for the 49ers, for the Chargers, for the Vikings, then you're going to get minimal production from those guys anyway. So it's just risky. I hope we get by the end of the week some reports that Giants will sit guys or Giants will play a series or Bucs will sit guys, Bucs will play a series. It's always tricky with that, but hopefully something leaks out. Anything to add about running backs, Dave? And I also want to get your thoughts on Chuba Hubbard.

He's 48% rostered, can get you three catches in a game. He's one of the guys that actually has a role. Not necessarily a great one, but your thoughts on running backs plus Chuba Hubbard. No, I don't think I have anything really to add about the running backs. I like Zach Moss the best of the bunch. Don't really want to trust any of the backup running backs that might end up getting a good workload

unless we know for sure that there's no Saquon Barkley. And then hopefully it's Matt Breida, but Breida's a veteran. They might go right to Brightwell. Same thing in Arizona. Corey Clement's been in this league a long time. Do they give him the mop-up duty or do they let Keontae Ingram take on the work? So a lot of questions. There's going to be some frustration. You said it before, Adam. This is why we don't want to play fantasy football the last week of the regular season.

As for Chuba Hubbard, my guess is that he'll end up being the guy on the field a little bit more for the Panthers. It's always a game script thing. Game script worked against Deontay Foreman by the time that the fourth quarter came around for Carolina. They were ahead, actually, and he still only had 13 carries,

so maybe I'm wrong on that. But I think Hubbard will be the one that ends up being just okay. Could get you to 10 PPR points. Okay, Jamie, let's take a look at the wide receivers here. And you've got Rashid Shaheed, number one, because Carolina is just maybe the best matchup right now. They're so depleted in the secondary. John Dotson is two.

Dallas has been really bad. In Dallas' last five games, there have been five receivers, I want to say, that have been in the 7-9 target range, and that's where Dotson has lived recently. And they've come through. Alec Pierce had a good game. Zay Jones had a huge game.

A.J. Brown, 100 yards. Robert Woods caught a touchdown. Traylon Burks, four catches, 66 yards. That's all with seven to nine targets, and that's what Dotson's been getting. So Dallas's secondary is kind of, we've been using the word leaking a lot. They've been one of them.

Greg Dortch had 10 targets. Maybe he gets Colt McCoy back. We'll see. Oh, how about this? He gets the Niners. The Niners allow the second most receiving yards to wide receivers this year, to slot wide receivers. So that's interesting for Dortch. Those are the Niners. The Niners allow the second most receiving yards to wide receivers this year, to slot wide receivers. So that's

interesting for Dortch. Those are your top three. Why don't you talk about them, and then we'll look at the rest of the list. Shahid, Dotson, Dortch, Jamie. Shahid's been playing really well. And again, indoor surface, Olave still fighting through the hamstring injuries, what it seems like. Matchup is great. So has a chance

to be a number three receiver. None of these guys are must start guys in two receiver leagues. Dotson, you mentioned, you know, his production tailed off a little bit last week with Wentz. Who knows what they do at quarterback? So we'll see. That's still the biggest question mark. But yes, Dallas defense has not been as good. And, you know, you always like to see young players finish strong. I think Washington would surely like to see another big game from Dotson.

Dortch is obviously risky you know 10 targets and did nothing with it basically and so hopefully that changes this week with better quarterback play for him not that you know David Blau was necessarily the entire reason for it but um obviously feel more comfortable with Colt McCoy uh if you told me right now the Giants were playing their guys clearly Richie James and Isaiah Hodgins would be the the top two guys to go get based on what they've been doing and how they should be able to operate certainly Richie James and Isaiah Hodgins would be the the top two guys to go get based on what they've been doing and how they should be able to operate certainly Richie James I mean I I don't think I had him ranked high enough last week with how much I liked him and he was again great because of Kenny Moore not being there for the Colts um Kadarius Tony's in a good spot you know with what

the the Chiefs look like against the Raiders and just the fact that he's healthy Traylon Burks you know again led them in receiving yards last week. They're probably going to be throwing in this game against the Jaguars. One sneaky play, just to tie in the Colts, is Chris Moore. If he continues to play in the slot for them, for the Texans, we just have seen it now. Consistent production from that position. They've been rotating guys in the slot, Houston has, so it's not a guarantee that Chris Moore will stay there.

But if he's in that spot, then it could be a good opportunity for him. He played 51, 52% of the snaps in the slot last week for Houston. So if they, Amara Rogers played more, he just didn't play as many snaps. So that's the rotation. Rogers and Moore. It probably depends on who they've got healthy at wide receiver. If they end up somehow being healthy and they feel good about their outside receivers, you'll probably see more of Rogers in the slot than Moore.

Yeah. Well, who would be healthy for them? Well, a door set. If they want to keep giving door set work door sets, the guy who's been lining up outside a lot with Brandon cooks, but he's healthy though.

Right? Yeah. Yeah. Health may not have been the right term. Good might've been the right term. Like, do they want to give Chris more an opportunity and kind of let Philip Dorsett take,

take a rest? Well, uh, yeah, I mean, and look, if you're in shallower leagues or maybe even a 12 team league, Brandon cooks is 69% roster.

We aren't, we're not really talking about those guys much, but the Colts have allowed 76 yards or a touchdown to nine wide receivers in their last four games. They just got embarrassed by Daniel Jones and the Giants wide receivers, so this might be a week where you

stream Brandon Cooks. If Cooks were available, would you pick him up over all these guys? Shahid, Dotson, Dorich, Tony, Burks, et cetera? Yeah. I love the matchup so much for Shahid. I think I'd rather take Shahid.

What about Kadarius Tony? He didn't run a ton of routes. He didn't play all that much, but very productive. Four catches for 71 yards. A couple of really nice downfield catches on the first one. Of course, he made a man miss and broke a tackle. It's what he does. Facing the Raiders, they are a great

matchup right now. I just want to see him play a little bit more, Dave, but we've talked about it on HQ tomorrow. Is Kadarius Tony going to be the number one receiver tomorrow? Yesterday, we talked about it. Yesterday, is Kadarius Tony going to be the number one receiver for the Chiefs next season? He's certainly auditioning

for that, and he's very talented. Let's compare him to Traylon Burks. Who would you rather stream this week? Tony at the Raiders or Burks at the Jaguars, both with great matchups. Your thoughts, Dave? I've got Burks ranked higher because I know he'll play

more snaps than Kadarius Tony. And Tony is doing amazing things, but it's on limited snaps. What happens if he only gets four targets on 20 snaps and he doesn't come through with anything better than what he just gave you? I'd rather take my chances with Traylon Burks. Even with Josh

Dobbs, you could be fairly encouraged by what you saw from Dobbs last Thursday and to think that against Jacksonville's secondary, that's a winnable matchup for Burks. Any interest in T.Y. Hilton? No. Do I get points for what he did in 2016 50 yards last week

maybe bigger role coming I don't know I'd rather circuit Darius Tony yeah silly as that sounds no it's not silly all right Tony might play more staff yeah

all right tight ends here okay Jamie who are the top tight ends to get on the waiver wire I think the first two are relatively easy to trust Tyler Conklin All right, tight ends here. Okay, Jamie, who are the top tight ends to get on the waiver wire? I think the first two are relatively easy to trust. Tyler Conklin and Jawan Johnson. Conklin now another productive game with Mike White.

Dolphins are bad against tight ends. So three of the last four starts with White under center. Conklin has at least six targets, you know, six for 60 in this game against Seattle. Clearly better matchup, but not far off for Miami. And then Jawan Johnson, it's now five of his last seven games with 11 or more PPR points. He just continues to be very productive and is a go-to guy for Andy Dalton. So beat up secondary.

I know they've been much better against tight ends than they are against wide receivers of late, but still with what this guy's been able to produce and show you, it's worth buying into. So those two are easy. The next guy for me would be Trey McBride, just with the game that he just had against Atlanta without DeAndre Hopkins. Again, we'll see what the quarterback play is because that could matter

if Colt McCoy's in by comparison. But Marquise Brown has an apparent arm injury that's worth keeping an eye on. James Conner may not play. So they're just limited in what their passing options could be. And McBride is somebody I think after 10 targets, 7 catches, 78 yards, and a touchdown, hard to overlook that. So, you know, deeper league type of guy, but, you know, somebody worth keeping an eye on. And then Alberto again.

Hey, no Greg Dolchetson. Alberto had a big game. So we'll see if he can back that up again with another big performance. So Conklin, Jawan Johnson, Trey McBride, Alberto. Now, Dave, tight end's an interesting position because you look at your waiver wire in a lot of leagues, and you might see one of or two of Cole Komet, Dawson Knox,

David Njoku, Tyler Higby. I mean, Tyler Higby, horrible game last week, but now he's got Seattle. Does Conklin, even Taysom Hill, Taysom Hill could be out there. Is Conklin ahead of those guys for you? Let's talk specifically. We won't put Knox in there because I obviously don't even know the situation with the Bills, but Njoku, Hig? Let's talk specifically. We won't put Knox in there because I obviously don't even know

the situation with the Bills, but Njoku, Higby, Komet specifically. Conklin's ahead of the pack. 10 PPR points to a tight end in nine of the Dolphins' past 11 games. Jamie talked about the connection that Conklin has with Mike White. I'm buying in.

I think he's got a chance to get you over 11 PPR points. That's what I'm looking for. That would be a very good week for a fantasy tight end. So I like him best. And I'm still encouraged by Trey McBride. It was a big role. He played a lot, got a lot of targets and catches. It's a tough matchup against the 49ers, but the Cardinals, the game script is going to favor him. And David Blau just throwing to make completions, not necessarily to make

big splash plays. I think it'll help McBride. So I like him a little bit better than Juwan Johnson and PPR definitely over Jason Hill. And over Tyler Higby, I'll add that. This is going, just going back to wide receiver, you know, on a Sunday morning, we were talking about David Blau's tendencies

and who does he throw to. And this is, if you want to pick up Greg Dortch, if you want to start him again, if David Blau's tendencies and who does he throw to? And this is, if you want to pick up Greg Dorch, if you want to start him again, if David Blau is the quarterback, he threw a lot to Danny Amendola with, with the Lions a few years ago, a ton to Danny Amendola.

And then he threw 10 times to Greg Dorch. So I, you know, it wasn't good, but it seems like he's going to throw to his slot receiver. All right. I would start Higby. I'd be surprised at this point, though.

Guess who played in the slot 30% of the time for Arizona? Who? Trey McBride. Oh, McBride. Yeah. 29%. Jamie, what were you saying? McBride was in the slot 29% of the time.

I'd be very surprised if Colt McCoy doesn't start this week, though. I'm kind of rooting for that. Well, you never know. I mean, he had a setback in the concussion protocol, so we have to just play it by ear. But even... Kingsbury said Monday he's out of the protocol. Okay, good.

But that wouldn't be bad. That would still be good for Dortch. I mean, that would still be good. Yeah, totally. All right. Oh, okay. No, I was just going to say, you talk about the connection Conklin has with Mike White. It's targets.

It's not really that much of a connection. Other than this game against the best matchup against Seattle, you're not catching a lot of them, and that's kind of the problem with Mike White. Mike White's completion percentage has been awful the last three games he's played. So, I mean, personally, I'd go back to Higby over Conklin because Higby gets the

matchup that made Conklin look good. Yeah, I'd go back to Higby also. I hope Higby's healthy though. I wonder how much the elbow injury played into his lack of production last week. He missed a lot of practice time, so just something to keep an eye on there. To me, it's the exact matchup that Conklin just

stood out in. And the Baker to Mayfield connection was definitely working prior to last week. So to me, Higby's an easy start over Conklin. All right, let's talk DSTs here. Jamie's favorite DSTs are the Bengals against the Ravens. I'm assuming that is without Lamar, if Lamar Jackson does not play, if it's Huntley again. The Chargers at Denver. Chargers have been great lately.

The Saints against the Panthers. The Saints have been great lately. The Vikings at the Bears. It's really, we've got to see if Justin Fields plays and whatnot. And the Browns at Pittsburgh. But the top three, Jamie, are the Bengals, the Chargers, and the Saints.

Are these top 12 DSTs? All these are. The Browns, Jamie, are the Bengals, the Chargers, and the Saints. Are these top 12 DSTs? All these are. The Browns, it's pretty incredible how few points they've allowed the last month. Their defense is playing well. Miles Garrett's talking about playing spoiler and knocking Steelers out of the playoffs. It's not going to be easy for Pittsburgh. The one thing you like about the Steelers, which I'm sure they like about Kenny Pickett, is he doesn't turn the ball over.

We'll see if that continues. The other defenses, to me, are pretty easy if a few of those scenarios happen, if there is no Lamar Jackson, if there is no Justin Fields. But even with Justin Fields, I mean, that bears the offense has just been struggling. Fields has been turnover prone. So, yeah, the Saints are great. And I actually had a lot of DSTs that I was looking at this week. You know, the Jets if Skyler Thompson's playing you know the Dolphins with Mike White and his turnovers um the Falcons

if you tell me the Bucks are resting guys uh uh you know there there's there's several different scenarios that play here with defenses that can help you so it's a pretty good week for defense Jaguars have been great you know taking on you know I don't want to say Josh Dobbs is the end all be all and all of a sudden Titans or woes are fixed. But yeah, there's, there's a lot of good DSTs out there for this week. He makes Dobbs makes the Titans offense a little, a little more dangerous, but I don't think it's, it's to the point where they're like, it's a little more dangerous than with Malik Willis and a lot less dangerous than with Ryan Tannehill.

I'm on board with the Jaguars DST. They've given us at least 13 fantasy points each of their past four games. The Titans have allowed a DST to get at least 12 fantasy points in each of their past five and 10-plus in nine of their past 12. Yeah, you've got to throw that out, though, because most of that was either banged up Tannehill or Malik Willis. So Dobbs was better last week, and he did it without Derrick Henry against a much better

defense with the Cowboys. I think the Jaguars are good, but I don't want to judge the Titans based on the Malik Willis Titans. I want to judge the Titans with Derrick Henry and see what Dobbs does. Kickers to stream are Youngway Koo, Greg Zerline, Will Lutz, and Jason Sanders.

Final question. Would you guys start Zach Moss against Houston or Travis ETN against the Titans? Travis ETN, but yes, I, I right now would start Zach Moss over Saquon Barkley, Leonard Fournette.

Yeah. Well, the ETN had what three points or something like that last time he faced the Titans. So he'll be an interesting one to talk about this week in a must have game. Okay. For Dave and Jamie, I am Adam.

Thank you guys for watching and listening. Thank you for understanding different kinds of show today. And of course we are thinking about tomorrow Hamlin and hoping for the best. If it means anything to you, I did see an interview with a doctor on CNN this morning. It was pretty, you know, he said you may not hear anything for a little while,

but that's not a bad thing. The fact that he made it to the hospital is a great start for anyone who goes into cardiac arrest. The doctors can do a lot of great things, but it could take a while before you hear anything on Hamlin. So, you know, just stay optimistic. And again, check out his charity,

the Chasing M's Foundation Community Toy Drive. It's a GoFundMe that's got, as of now, over $3.4 million raised, much of it last night. So we're praying for DeMar Hamlin. We're thinking about him. And we will keep you updated on everything you need to know from a fantasy football aspect. I know you guys have questions about what's going to happen,

and we're just waiting for the NFL to make a determination, and we'll go from there. Okay, everybody, thanks again. We'll talk to you tomorrow with our Wednesday show.