Fantasy Football Today - Week 15 Tough Calls, 49ers-Seahawks, Fields vs. Lawrence in Dynasty (12/14 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: December 14, 2022

Fantasy managers might be stressed out about roster decisions this week, and we are here to help! Dave and Heath discuss their toughest rankings decisions (2:15) including Alvin Kamara, Nick Chubb and Saquon Barkley. Then we go through the news and notes (10:50) and discuss the Cardinals outlook for 2023 after Kyler Murray's torn ACL ... Week 15 tough calls! Quarterback tough calls (18:45) include Justin Fields and Dak Prescott. At running back (24:55), we're debating Zonovan Knight and David Montgomery. At wide receiver (32:30), should start Amari Cooper? Christian Watson? Michael Pittman? ... Previewing 49ers-Seahawks (39:15) with several tricky Start or Sit decisions in this game. Then we talk about dynasty QBs (50:30) and debate Trevor Lawrence vs. Justin Fields ... Your emails at [e-mail] Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Get 20% off Fantasy Football Today merch: https://store.cbssports.com/collections/fantasy-football-today%20?utm_source=podcast-apple-com&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=buy-our-merch&utm_content=fantasy-football-collection Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Now, here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. What's up, everybody? You got some tough decisions to make in your week 15 lineup we are here to help we're also talking about the thursday night game oh man i remember i said i got the heebie-jeebies about a lot of running backs last week i got the heebie-jeebies about the thursday night game i know how you guys are feeling about that where are you on the heebie-jeebie-oh-meter? I don't like this spot for the 49ers. For the Niners? It's a little tough.

A little weird for them. Why is that tough? It's a back-against-the-wall game for Seattle. They're starting, obviously, a guy who's played like eight quarters of football. Yeah. And they don't have one of their best offensive players. Those are good reasons to not like the spot, yeah. And then, you know, on the other side of the ball,

how can you, you don't want to start Ken Walker if he plays, right? I mean, I hope you have, I was said, I don't remember, I think I said it to Dan last night, I was like, I hope I'm playing against Ken Walker this week. I hope he plays and someone starts him. Because I just... He be jeebies. Yeah, the only team I have Ken Walker on is a team that has a bye. So I'm not too concerned about that.

But I do have an enormous amount of Tyler Lockett. Which gives me a little... Like a four and a half on the he be jeebie-opper. Okay. Can I just say, I don't want to get this show off to an awkward start, but it does hurt my feelings a little bit that you have forgotten that you have Ken Walker

on the team that we share. That team has been eliminated. Not officially. If we win... We would have to outscore the four seed by 200 points this week. Yeah, so they could have an illegal lineup. I have not forgotten about that team. I've made multiple moves.

I've sent you suggestions to make other moves. I've been an active participant. I just gave up on it like you should have seven weeks ago. Good morning, Dave Richard. What do you think, when you were doing your rankings, one of your toughest calls for Week 15? In the Thursday game or just overall?

No, just overall. I have Alvin Kamara ranked where do I have him ranked I've got him fifth in full PPR whoa wow thinking that the matchup against Atlanta is going to be favorable thinking that he goes right back to being in a good spot coming off of a buy and I don't know if that is just way too aggressive or if that's, it's probably way too aggressive for Alvin Camara, but I've got, I've got some concerns about him. I've got more concerns about Saquon. I think I might like JK Dobbins a little bit too much, but then again,

the Browns just lost their second starting linebacker in as many weeks. And their run defense has been stinky all year. Anyway, do I have Travis ETN ranked too high? Do I have the bucks running backs ranked too high? I haven't even gotten other positions, but here's the, here's the real,

here's one that I think I feel the best about Nick Chubb and my PPR rankings. It's currently 25th. Well, Oh my God. Wait a second. What did you say? Nick Chubb is my ppr rankings is currently 25th well oh my god wait a second what did you say 25th yeah wow okay go ahead heath like i've got i feel like i've got camara 12th or something and i feel like that's too high um but like him and barkley are so interesting because i know that washington's supposed to be a terrible matchup and atlanta is supposed to be a fantastic matchup and Atlanta is supposed to be a fantastic matchup. Barkley was like seven times as many fantasy points in his last game against Washington as Camara was against Atlanta. Barkley's been a top eight fantasy running back virtually all season long and

top three at one point. Camara has been complete garbage over the last month of the season. Camara left the Falcons game. That was week one. He left that game with an injury. He did. Only played 62 on the snaps. He didn't play a lot of the game. I forgot that because it looks very similar to many other games on his game log.

That was week one. Barkley keeps scoring. I mean, not last week. Last week was a disaster. Barkley's really tough. I don't want to start. I will also say that Kamara left that game early. He had 12 touches and played

62% of the snaps. His most recent game, he had 14 touches and played 59% of the snaps. So I'm not giving the injury that much credit. Give it some more credit. He got hurt. And Ed Ingram was in that game too. I mean, no Ingram should be more snaps for him.

Have you actually looked at the game logs when Mark Ingram's not played? I think the game that Mark Ingram got hurt was the game where Alvin Kamara scored all of his touchdowns for the entire season. But the rest of the games without Ingram were awful. So those are the most recent games, right? So that's when they're running about 50 plays a game

and they're absolutely pathetic offensively. And look at what they've faced. They've faced Baltimore, Pittsburgh, the Rams, the Niners, and the Bucs. Not an easy matchup in the bunch. That doesn't explain everything. I mean, I understand he is definitely a tough call. But Atlanta, on paper, looks like by far the easiest matchup that they've had in the last six weeks.

I would agree with that. Yeah. I also want to know if that offensive line is healthy and, you know, Eric McCoy, we've talked about him every time we've talked about Alvin Camara. Will he be ready to go? He might not be. Anyway,

I've already started the process of moving Camara down and all my rankings five is too aggressive. No, he's definitely over both Alvin moving Kamara down in all my rankings. Five is too aggressive. Zonovan Knight over both Alvin Kamara and Saquon Barkley? Who's that? Zonovan Knight over both of them? No. I've got... Where is he?

I think I'd be able to find him in my rankings because his name starts with a Z. He's behind them, but it's close. No, because he's one of the guys I was going to talk about today. It's a tough call. It's seven straight games. The Lions have not allowed double. You know this. You were the one who brought it up first a couple weeks ago.

Seven straight games. The Lions have not allowed double-digit PPR fantasy points to a running back. It's amazing. It's amazing. Yeah. Tough calls this week. All right, so what's your answer, Heath? Son of a Knight, Kamara Barkley.

How do you rank him? Coming into the podcast, I had, Camara, Barkley. How do you rank them? Coming into the podcast, I had a Camara, Knight, Barkley. I think I've talked myself in the last 30 seconds into Barkley, Knight, Camara. But they're all going to be right around RB12. I've got Chubb one spot behind them at 13.

There's not more than nine running backs that I like this week. It's kind of true. Dave, let me get you a little more optimistic on Nick Chubb. I talked about this on the Monday Beyond the Box score. Do it. Yeah, so basically they're getting blown out, and

his carries are way down. He averaged 18.6 carries per game in his first eight games, Nick Chubb, and he was one of the best running backs. He probably was top three in that stretch. He's averaging 16.4 carries per game in his last five games, but he had 11 carries at Miami. They got crushed.

14 carries at Buffalo. I think that was the neutral site game. They were down by 15 late in the game. Against Tampa Bay, they won, and he had 26 carries. At Houston, he had 17 carries. That was a win. He should have done a little bit more with that, 17 for 80, whatever.

At Cincinnati, they were trailing most of that game. He had 14 carries. I think this is going to be a very competitive game, if not a win for them against Baltimore, if it's Brown at quarterback, maybe even Huntley. So I think you can get back to the 17, 18 carries, if not more range from, from Nick Chubb.

The matchup is tough, but that hasn't typically mattered that much in the past for Nick Chubb. So that's my reason for optimism. The matchup versus the Ravens has mattered. Intern Sam with the, the, the history of Nick Chubb versus the Baltimore Ravens and our numbers to know this week in the running back preview,

he has one 100 yard game against the Ravens in our Numbers to Know this week in the Running Back Preview. He has won 100-yard game against the Ravens in nine tries. Nine times. That's really cool. This is a good show so far. We're learning a lot. This is great. Yeah, we're learning a lot about players

that are supposed to be must-starts in our fantasy lineup that now we're thinking about putting Zonovan Knight over. Although I was already there when it came to Chubb. Are you going to start James Conner over every running back we've talked about? Camaro, Barkley? That's wild.

We said a month ago on this podcast that James Conner was going to be a top 12 running back rest of season. There's not anything that happened in the last month that would change that. Well, one of us, you certainly said that. I cannot jump on that bandw that. Well, one of us, you certainly said that. I cannot jump on that bandwagon. Yeah, I don't think I said that either.

I'm giving you credit. That was good. I mean, I was skeptical of Connor, but he's obviously come through. Okay. Toughest call for me, I think, is which Christmas movie, if I had to just pick one, which one would I watch? I think I would go with Office Christmas Party. I love that movie. Very fun.

Very funny. I've never seen it. I haven't seen it a million times, which is a benefit. The other ones I've seen a million times. It's really funny, Heath. I think you would very much enjoy Office Christmas Party. I know we have three games on Sunday, on Christmas Day. Are they staggered to where there is not a two-hour span of time without football on Christmas Day. Are they staggered to where there is not

a two-hour span of time without football on Christmas Day? Correct. I was going to say, most of my family leaves on Christmas Day to go back home and visit family, and I'm here alone. I was going to watch my favorite Christmas movie, Die Hard. I fast on Christmas Day.

Well, I recommend Office Christmas Party if you can't make room for Die Hard. All right, I wanted to give a quick stat here because with the heebie-jeebies about the Thursday night game, I want to give a shout-out to Connor Grohl on our CBSSports.com stats crew. I asked him, is Thursday night scoring way down from Sunday?

And he said, no, not really. Sunday teams are averaging 22.1 points per game. Sunday teams are averaging 22.1 points per game. Thursdays are averaging 21.5 points per game. So that is down, but about half a point. Monday has the lowest scoring, 20.8 points per game. And those are all down from past years, right? Oh, that I don't know, but probably. So I guess that's, you know, when in doubt, Thursday's out.

They've been some really ugly games, but, you know, when in doubt, Thursday's out. They've been some really ugly games. But, you know, there are probably a lot of ugly games on Sunday that we don't talk about because they're not spotlight games. We have a DFS show. You want to play some DFS? Have your fantasy teams are eliminated? Perfect time to get over to the DFS world. Tuesdays at 6 p.m. Eastern, Thursdays at 5 p.m. Eastern,

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Let's go through the news and notes here. It is a torn ACL for Kyler Murray. Dave, what does this mean? Do you think for 2023? First of all, the cast for office Christmas party looks pretty great. So I'm going to have to check that movie out at,

Oh, you've never seen it either. Never seen it. It didn't even know it exists. I think it's honestly an instant classic. It is so freaking good. Okay. Yeah.

So, you know, it took me like six years to finally start watching stranger things. So by 2027, I should be down for watching Office Christmas Party. 2023 for Kyler Murray, I'm nervous. Nervous that he won't be ready to go. I'm not even sure who his head coach will be. Cardinals have to add another quarterback this offseason

just in case he's not ready to go for week one. It's going to be troubling, and it's going to be challenging for that offense in general. So many questions that have to be answered. If it's the same coaching staff and the same offense, then I think Kyler's going to be closer to 10 than 5 in the quarterback rankings, but he'll be drafted significantly later, obviously,

if he's going to be around 10, than where we took him this past year. Yeah, if it was a pocket quarterback, I wouldn't be as concerned. But for someone who must have rushing production to be a good fantasy quarterback because he's just not improved enough as a passer, I'm worried. I actually dropped him. I was just updating my dynasty quarterback rankings this morning. It won't be an official update, but I wanted to be able to talk about those guys,

and I knew we had a Twitter poll coming. And I had dropped Kyler Murray to QB 11, and the one that I struggle with the most, and it might change as soon as this week, is Deshaun Watson. If Deshaun Watson can look like Deshaun Watson again, then Watson I would have over Murray in dynasty two, and Murray would fall to QB 12.

What's interesting about Murray is that his averages, and I know that, Heath, you cringe when you hear about averages, but per game and per attempt on the ground, they were up from last year. And his rush attempts were about the same. So I know that kind of, I don't think about Kyler as an amazing runner because each of the last two years he really hasn't done enough of it compared to what he did in 2020. But as a runner this past year, he was fine.

He was better than he was the year before. That's a positive. The negative is that as a passer, and Heath, you talked about this, completion rate down, touchdown rate down, yards per attempt way down, yards per game way down, quarterback rating way down. Yards per game, way down. Quarterback rating, way down. But if you split it out and do it with Hopkins and without Hopkins, you might have a different story. But then again, Hopkins is going to be 30 next year. From a dynasty perspective,

you do wonder about Kyler. He just was solid this year. He was very solid. Keith, does a 30-year-old receiver set off an alarm, does a 30-year-old receiver, does that set off an alarm bell like a 30-year-old running back does? It doesn't for me. It's, well, a 30-year-old running back is like already buried dead.

Yeah, he's sleeping through the alarm. A 30-year-old wide receiver is very dependent on what he did the year before. For me, I think what we've learned with these receivers, and it gives me great pause about Mike Evans in Dynasty, is that if a guy who's 29 or 30 years old and plays wide receiver shows you that he's

not the same guy, believe him. We saw that with Allen Robinson. We saw it a few years ago with A.J. Green. I just think when those guys show you a disappointing year, believe them. Okay. Let's go to our next news item here. We'll just fly through the rest of these. So Brock Purdy was listed as limited in practice.

Right now we're expecting him to play tomorrow at Seattle. Lamar Jackson missed practice, but Tyler Huntley was limited. So Huntley's got a chance to clear the concussion protocol and play. It's a Saturday game. I'm still going to remain skeptical of anybody not missing a week with a concussion. It does happen, but with the new protocols, it's not that common. Kenny Pickett to the concussion protocol.

Houston is expected to use both quarterbacks. Again, they sprinkled in a little bit of Jeff Driscoll, although Lovie Smith did not commit to that, their game against Kansas City. We found out that Yahoo lists Driscoll as a tight end and a quarterback. So if Driscoll were to get more playing time or even become the quarterback for the Texans rest of season, that's a cheat code.

Ugh. I don't want to have to deal with that. But we'll answer your questions. As a commissioner, I don't either. But that's just how it is at Yahoo. Let's see. Aaron Jones practice. Looks like he's going don't either, but that's how it is. Yahoo. Let's see. Aaron Jones practice. Looks like he's going to be good to go against the Rams on Monday.

Khalil Herbert could be back next week, week 16 against Buffalo. Great stash for everybody who's on by. Yeah, Khalil Herbert. Damian Pierce could miss up to three weeks with a high ankle sprain, guys. So now that we know this, if you were running waivers again, where would Rex Burkhead and or Daria Gumbawale be, Heath? Not in my top five running backs. Maybe six and seven.

There's so little clarity over who would do what. They're both better served as third down backs. I would project Rex to have more carries, but neither one's a top 30 running back for me this week against the Chiefs, and that tells you just about all you need to know. So McKinnon, you'd take ahead of him. Chuba Hubbard, you'd take ahead of him. Zamir White ahead of Rex Burkhead?

Well, I mean, it depends, obviously, if you need a starter this week, but if you need a starter this week, you're probably going to lose anyway because these guys are not going to be good. Yeah. Okay. But he'd rank higher if you're... I have Damian Pierce. I made the playoffs with Damian Pierce, and now I need a running back,

and I missed out on McKinnon. You're going to have Rex. Hopefully, it's great Rex. Like, mind-blowing Rex. Yeah. Both the Patriots' backs could be ahead of him right now, I think. Yeah. All right.

That's enough Rex Burkhead here. Except, you know, just he is facing a team that gives up a ton of receiving production and running backs, so you just wonder if you can get a cheap 10 to 12 PPR fantasy points. I'm afraid if they're going to have to use him in the early downs role that Ogunbowale is going to play the passing downs role. That's what's going to happen. That's my prediction on what's going to happen,

because that's how they've used N'Gubo Wale basically his entire career, but certainly since he's been in Houston. Has anybody ever used the team name Rex Burkhead Day? For Rex Manning Day? Yeah. Surprised you know that, but no, I've never seen that. What do you mean surprised that I know that?

It's a little ahead of your time. I feel like you're an 80s guy. That's a 90s movie. My wife really likes that movie, so we've watched it dozens of times. I love that movie. That and Sweet Home Alabama. Never seen that one. Never will. It's one you would really like. I don't think so.

The Family Stone is just... Alright, so I'll watch Office Christmas Party. Heath will watch Office Christmas Party, Heath will watch Office Christmas Party and Adam will watch Sweet Home Alabama. Love it. All right, guys, I got to get through this here. Cooper Cup is likely out for the season. You can drop him.

Aaron Donald could come back, though, before the season ends. Debo Samuel is likely out about three weeks. So you could drop him, but you don't have to. Jeff Wilson missed practice. They have a game on Saturday at Buffalo primetime. Dave already mentioned Cleveland linebacker Jeremiah

Owusu-Karamoa is out for the season with a foot injury, and Sean Payton is reportedly interested in the Rams and the Chargers and maybe even the Saints next year. And I did forget one Christmas movie that's right up there with Office Christmas Party. You might actually like this one better, Dave.

You might pivot to this one. The Night Before. The Night Before is outstanding. Do you really believe that Sean Payton is going to go anywhere other than The Chargers with Justin Herbert? I wouldn't. But, all right. Yeah. I think The Night Before is the movie for you.

Okay. Week 15, tough calls. Justin Fields against the Eagles. And the last two times we saw Fields, he scored 24.6 fantasy points at the Falcons and then 19.3 fantasy points against the Packers. But he had one of his better passing games against the Packers. But he's our first tough call.

Heath, where do you have Justin Fields? I think he came out at 11 or 12 at quarterback in the projections. I boosted him up to nine or 10 in the rankings. It is a tough call, but there has not been a quarterback who has scored 20 fantasy points against the Eagles this year with their passing. The one guy who has scored 20 fantasy points against the Eagles was Daniel Jones, and he did it with a rushing touchdown. Obviously, you would expect a rushing touchdown for Justin Fields, but I do think that there is significant risk that he could just be a 16-point outing. He could run for 80 yards and maybe one touchdown, not get into the end zone as a passer, and throw another interception or two. How many quarterbacks this week do not carry significant

risk? And you could be a wise ass and say, oh, every quarterback has significant risk, but being real, like everybody's starting hurts Mahomes, Herbert, Josh Allen, and Dak. I think everybody's going to start Joe Burrow too. Yeah, I think Dak against Jacksonville.

Just based on the questions and the comments I get every week, I think a lot of people have Dak anxiety. They don't trust him. Well, I would start him ahead of Justin Fields. And I would consider him one of those guys that you start and you don't look back. Because I think the game against Jacksonville will be favorable for Dak Prescott. I think every other quarterback has a question mark, and that includes Justin Fields,

but not every quarterback has the rushing upside that Justin Fields has. So I have him eighth. I think I'm going to keep him at eight. I like him better than Tua at Buffalo. Might be snowing in Buffalo, and Tua was a mess last week. It's hard to imagine he'll put it all together against a team as sharp as Buffalo.

Is the snow thing because the Tua's not experienced cold weather very much in Miami? The Dolphins play in Miami because snow without wind is good for offenses. Let's see what the forecast exactly is. Slippery fields

are good for offenses because the offense knows where they're going and the defense doesn is. Slippery fields are good for offenses because the offense knows where they're going and the defense doesn't. So Jamie said the same thing. I think that's kind of like, what happens to the Vegas total when you see there's heavy snow? It's going to go down.

Well, heavy snow is a different thing. I don't think we're expecting that. No, you're right. Any bad weather is bad for scoring, I think. I don't think that's I don't forecast Saturday night snow low near 25 winds, 10 to 15 miles an hour, 80% chance of snow one to three inches. If the wind stays at 10 to 15 miles an hour,

then this really isn't that bad of a forecast. I mean, maybe it's the two. It doesn't like cold weather. And like, that's possible. I don't like right there. I mean,

you, we've opined about that with Derek Carr before. I don't know if he's done it before, but it could be the first time that he's playing in that type of environment and it's never easy. Obviously, the Bills are not easy to match up either. They've got a hell of a pass rush that's going to come after.

Fields over Tua for you. I think you said you have an eighth. I'm sorry, Heath, where'd you have Tua? Nine. I'm sorry, not Tua. Fields. Fields. Nine. Okay. All right. Well, next up is Dak Prescott. Oh, okay.

Yeah. David's definitely the high guy on him. Looking at the rankings, Jamie and Heath would say Dak Prescott might be a tough call here. Interceptions are a bit of a problem. He's been pretty good since coming back, but last week was obviously a major disappointment. 15.7 fantasy points. The Jaguars are a good matchup. They allow the eighth most fantasy points to quarterbacks.

Dave, why are you so confident in Dak Prescott? The matchup is the biggest thing. They've given up at least 21 fantasy points to seven of the past eight quarterbacks. Matt Ryan and Daniel Jones each had 30 points against them. Goff had 25 points against them. Goff had 25 points against them.

I don't think that their pass defense is anything dominant. I think Jacksonville will put up points of their own, and that will mean that Dak will have to do things through the air. So I think that he's safe for that 22-23 fantasy point total with upside to get as high as 30. I think he could throw three touchdowns. Go ahead, Heath.

I mean, I think he's a low-end number one quarterback. I was looking up to his performance in cold-weather games. This is not his first. He played at Buffalo on January 3rd when the high was 35 degrees that day back in his rookie year. Threw for 361 yards. Oh, that was against their backups.

Was that a Week 18 game? 17. They played their starters for half the game. Okay, but obviously a game where the starters sat for a while. Yeah, I remember that because Allen and Diggs went... Was it Diggs that year? Yeah, right? And they went crazy in one half in that game.

But it's good to know. It's good to know. It's better than it being his first. It's a very informative show today. All right, low-end number one quarterback for Heath. Would you guys start Dak or Lawrence? Lawrence. I have Dak higher.

You know, I think one of the things that's interesting about that game is the pass attempts. Because Dak's not doing a lot of that. But Dave, you just said you think that the Jaguars are going to score points. You know, I don't know if we're not giving a Cowboys defense enough credit or if we just think it's not as good right now, but they are basically the second best defense in football, depending on the measure. I think they've given up like the second fewest points, the fewest yards per game.

They have the second most sacks in the NFL. I think they're one behind the Eagles. We don't view them maybe as a really tough defense. I'm not sure, but really, we think the Jaguars are just going to go up and down the field and get a shootout here? I don't think it'll be like that. I don't see it being a shootout, but I see them getting in the neighborhood of like 20 to 24 points. I think Trevor will be okay. He's going to have some turnovers along the way. That's why I don't have him right to higher than Dak.

You know, when I started doing, when I put together this segment, I put David Montgomery in as a tough call going up against the Eagles. And I said, I bet Heath has David Montgomery ranked a lot higher than Dave and Jamie. And bam, bam night. He does have David Montgomery in a lot higher than Dave and Jamie. And bam! Bam night. He does have David Montgomery in his top 10. Maybe those are just the projections and not updated rankings, or maybe you just really like David Montgomery. I think he's a tough call.

Actually, I think he's a sit. But what do you... Well, I don't think he's a sit. I think he's a guy I'd like to sit. But what do you think about David Montgomery, Heath? I think he's not that far from James Conner, a workhorse running back who's going to get 20 touches and catch three or four passes.

He's been remarkably efficient in the passing game this year. The running game, he's been good enough at four yards per carry. When you're comparing him to Saquon Barkley or Alvin Kamara, I would rather start Montgomery. How do you compare him to Saquon Barkley or Derek Henry? Not Derek Henry. Saquon Barkley or Alvin Kamara. No, I'm asking a fresh question.

How do you compare Montgomery to Saquon Barkley or Derek Henry? I think Derek Henry might be the best running back this week. I think he's definitely ahead. Yeah, sure. But talent-wise, opportunity-wise... He's not as good as Derrick Henry, obviously. No. He's probably as good as what Saquon Barkley is right now,

which is the shell of himself. Okay. So those are the two running backs that the Eagles have played in the last two weeks. Jordan Davis has been back helping out on running downs. Philadelphia, in those past two games, have allowed three yards per carry to those teams. No touchdowns, 6.9 yards per catch.

This is a tough matchup for David Montgomery. I fully expect him to get the workload that you're talking about. You're going to need him to score, and you're going to need him to do a lot in the passing game in order for him to be very good for fantasy. I'm on board with him as a number two. I think he's a must start as a number two fantasy running back, given how many other running backs that there are major question marks about.

I'll start him over Nick Chubb, for example. To me, that's a no-brainer. Well, I do have to push back on the touches thing because the Eagles do not see a lot of running back carries. When they have had Jordan Davis in their lineup, there has been one running back who's had more than 15 carries, I believe, or more than 14 carries.

One running back all year when Jordan Davis has played, and that was week one, DeAndre Swift. Obviously, they score a bunch of points, they take you out of your game script, and you can't really run on them. They allow 3.46 yards per carry with Jordan Davis on the field. So if you get only 13 or so carries from David Montgomery, I think it's going to be a pretty miserable fantasy game. I think there's significant downside here, guys.

Well, I mean, he's had 14 carries in each of his last two games. I can't rely on the three to four catches necessarily. That's nice. It's happened, but it's been about half his games. Half his games he's had zero to one catch, I think. We generally lean

a little bit more heavily on what's happened recently, and it's happened in each of his last three games. When you look at the games that they've lost by 10 or more points, you're usually talking about two to three catches. So if we give them three catches, if we give them three catches and 14 carries, I mean, those 14 carries could go for 35 yards. It wouldn't

shock me, based on how well he runs the ball and how well the Eagles defend the run. I don't know, man. You got him in your top 10. That's a lot of confidence. There's absolutely zero surprise to anyone who's listened to the last three years of this podcast that you think David Montgomery is going to be awful

and I think he's going to be great. But how is he going to be good against the Eagles? How is he going to be efficient against the Eagles? I feel pretty good about the YPC. It's going to be bad. I feel confident in that. I did not make the playoffs in any of my YPC leagues. Maybe I just wasn't It's still important. You're not going to get a good rushing performance. If you figure three and a half yards per carry,

then you're what, at 50 yards? I'm going to go under that because that's what they allow with Jordan Davis on the field, and he's not a good running back. I totally disagree that he's not a good running back. He's not an efficient running back. He never has been. He's been an efficient running back for five I'm going to go under. I totally disagree that he's not a good running back. He's not an efficient running back. He never has been. He's been an efficient running back for five games in his career.

All right. He's going to average 3.1 yards per carry or less. Book it. It is a guarantee. And if he's 3.3, I'm taking credit for being close. Yeah. I fully expect that that sounds exactly right. All right.

Let's skip around here. I have two buddy names. Do you want to talk about Bam Knight? Because, Dave, you're lower on him than Heath is. It's the same situation here. This is a really tough matchup. I know you guys talked about him earlier, but Dave Bam Knight or David Montgomery?

In PPR, I will go with... I will go with... I think I've got Knight higher in PPR but it's close but you have them both as low end guys right they're middle of the pack number two running backs I've got them 17th

I can't help but think about what we've gotten out of Bam Knight over his past three games is it now where it's been 100 total yards it's not 100 total yards in every game, but double-digit fantasy points with a couple of catches on top. Definitely has an opportunity to score.

Detroit's run defense is great. You mentioned it. 3.4 yards per carry in their past six. Two rushing touchdowns to running backs in their past six. No running back is more than nine PPR points against them. Wild stuff. Can Bam Knight be the one to break that? I think this is another game that'll be fairly high scoring. I like Mike White this week. And I just think the Jets are kind of smart about their offense and

maybe they use Zonovan a little bit more in the passing game. So I'm, I'm good with Knight as a start. It's certainly in the same vein as David Montgomery. He's in the same vein as Montgomery for Heath too, but that's a higher vein. I think this probably connects to Saquon Barkley and Alvin Kamara. Those are two guys who Dave has ahead of these two guys and I have behind these two guys. But they're all... We were talking about how many running backs don't have any risk

or how many quarterbacks. Well, there's like eight running backs that don't have any risk. Like, Saquon Barkley played 30% of the snaps last week. I don't even know if he's okay. Yeah, the score had something to do with that,

but so did the injury, for sure. Yeah, he's also a tough call. You said name the eight running backs that have no risk? No, I was just being goofy. But, no, I mean mean there probably are like nine. Is Miles Sanders one? Is he one of the nine?

I don't think Miles Sanders is ever safe. Okay, is Ezekiel Elliott safe? I have Jacobs, McCaffrey, Henry, Eckler James Conner, Jonathan Taylor Aaron Jones, Tony Pollard Tony Pollard's safe that's awesome Pollard's got 10 fewer carries than Zika in his last two games

he's amazing I think I'd start Miles Sanders over every running back we've talked about I don't know about Kamara but I'd start him over Montgomery I'd start Miles Sanders over every running back we've talked about. I don't know about Camara, but I'd start him over Montgomery. I'd start him overnight. I'd start him over Barkley. I don't know about Swift, about Chubb, I mean. I like Chubb, but Sanders, I mean, Sanders is going to crush the,

he does pretty well against these bad run defenses. Look what he did against Texans, the Giants. Now he's facing the Bears. They can't stop the run. And they give him opportunities in those games, too, which is important, obviously. Ooh, this is going to be a fun week. We're going to have a lot of good questions this week. All right, let's do some wide receivers here.

Amari Cooper, he's back at home. Hooray! But he's facing the Ravens. How do we feel about Amari Cooper? Heath, start or sit? I know the home road thing we've talked a lot about this year, but mostly I feel about Amari Cooper like I have for almost his entire career. He's a number two wide receiver that has the upside every week

to finish as a top five guy and has the floor every week of Marquez Valdez-Scantling. He is like, he's just been that kind of guy. Those are the guys I'm just going to start this week because I want the upside. He's a number two wide receiver. Dave, you agree? Or is Cooper a tough call?

No, he's a tough call, but I agree with where Heath's coming out on him. You know, one of the problems is his quarterback, and it's Deshaun Watson. How much better was he last week than the week before? What I can tell you is that he was on target much more in week 14 than he was in week 13. That's a positive.

And he looked like a junior varsity quarterback. The whole thing is completely mystifying to me. Like the fact that it's, it's, it's actually happening. Like maybe we should just ignore all other elements of analysis and just say okay he's playing at home

so he must be great and so it's a tough matchup I think Baltimore's defense is going to be tough on Cleveland overall but I think you still got to start him because you know that he can go off for 700 and a touch would you start Zay Jones over Amari Cooper I think you still got to start him because you know that he can go off for 700 and a touch.

Would you start Zay Jones over Amari Cooper? No. Full PPR, I would. Oh, wow. Wow. You're all the way back in on Zay Jones. Double-digit targets in three of his last four games, right? Yep.

And, I mean, just one drop pass away from double-digit PPR points in each of his past four games. Would you start Mari Cooper or Gabe Davis? Cooper. Agreed. I think they're kind of the same guy. They're just on the opposite sides of 24. Cooper's right

around 20, and Gabe's right around 26. I think scoring system matters here because full PPR is going to give it very obviously to Cooper because he gets way more targets generally than Gabe Davis. One guy I think I'm going to be telling people to start, I hope you guys agree with me, is Michael Pittman. Minnesota is just the absolute best matchup.

Would you start Pittman over Cooper? Not in non-PPR. In full PPR, I think it's really close, but I think I'm going to take Cooper. I've got Cooper over Pittman, but I could see it. It's close enough. They're both top 20 for me. How come Pittman doesn't get more work in the red zone?

Do they get to the red zone? How many passes have they thrown in the red zone? As of a couple of weeks ago, they were top 10 in red zone pass attempts. I can look it up. I don't know. Don't have an answer for that. Last tough call.

Let's just do this one quickly here. Christian Watson against the Rams. He has had six to eight targets in four straight games. How about all of the wide receivers who have had six to eight targets against the Rams? There have been nine of them. Five of those nine had pretty games, 8.6 to 12.3 fantasy points in PPR.

Four of those nine had over 20 fantasy points so all over the place in terms of the receivers who have had six to eight targets against the Rams Watson's on fire four straight games with a touchdown you know do you view him the same way you view Cooper or Gabe Davis yeah he's right in the middle of them

not for me he's ahead I think he is Gabe Davis without the bad stretch yet, but that doesn't mean it's not coming. If you live in that six to eight target range and have an ADOT profile like he does, and he's had a couple of shorter things. The rushing has certainly helped,

but I still think he has huge bust potential on a weekly basis. Just the boom potential is huge too. That's why you have to start him. Yeah. bust potential on a weekly basis. The boom potential is huge too. That's why you have to start him. Rodgers also said this week that his thumb is feeling way better. Maybe he'll be even better as a passer and this has become the guy that he loves connecting with for big plays.

Does he have more targets than Alan Lazard over the last three or four games? I think it's pretty close because Lazard had, I think, four against the Cowboys. Then he had 11 against the Titans. I don't quite remember the other two games. Philadelphia and, I guess, Chicago. So, his last five,

that was five weeks ago that Watson really emerged, right? No, four. Oh, it was four? Yeah, definitely. Okay. Colts have 51 red zone pass attempts this year. That's a little worse than league average. If we go inside the 10,

they're 15th, 26 inside the 10 snaps. So they're basically league average in both of those stats, and still seven red zone targets on the year for Michael Pitt, man. That's bad. All right. We're going to take a break here. And when we come back, we'll talk about San Francisco and Seattle. We'll talk a little Dynasty.

Who would you rather have in Dynasty, Justin Fields or Trevor Lawrence? We have an interesting Twitter poll. I have not even looked. I don't even know what the results are. We'll be right back. Oh, I'm going to read your emails at the end of the show. Fantasyfootball at CBSi.com. All right. Stick around. We'll be right back. Oh, I'm going to read your emails at the end of the show. Fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. All right, stick around. We'll be right back. Whether in the game or in life, the right coverage can make all the difference.

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and we're back and it's time for thursday night football san francisco is at seattle stat of the game geno smith has 33 to 39 pass attempts in six straight games 23.1 or more fantasy points in six straight games. That is awesome. There have been nine quarterbacks with 33 or more pass attempts against the 49ers, and Patrick Mahomes is the only one that scored more than 17 fantasy points.

The other good ones, respectable ones, would be Stafford twice, whatever. Herbert, Tua, Brady, those guys sucked against the Niners, even with that pass volume. Start or sit Gino Smith this week? I'm as a set. I'm very, very nervous about the matchup.

Nervous about the upside. He's been awesome. I think if you can't get your hands on Mike White or Aaron Rodgers or even Trevor Lawrence if he miraculously is out there in your league, I think you just roll with Geno and you hope that he puts it all together. He's also, on top of all the stats that you said about his past six games, he's seen more pressure in those past six games. I want to say the pressure rate is right around 33%. And he's been fine, obviously. The numbers

have been good, but this is a great defense. They're going to get after him very quickly, and I am nervous that he will be able to keep it up. Yeah, I've moved him down to ninth, but he's still probably going to be a start for me. There's just not, like we said, I would start Justin Fields and Trevor Lawrence and those guys over him and he's been mostly better than those guys recently but

the matchup does scare me enough that a low end starter Gino Smith has finished top 12 in 9 of 13 weeks top 8 in I think 6 of 13 weeks 1, 2,, I think, six of 13 weeks. One, two, three, four, five, six.

Yeah. And we're going to start Mike White over him? I can't. I am not. Oh, boy. Dave, you would really do that? That's where I have it right now because the Lions pass defense is so bad. It is.

The other thing is, Smith has been great basically all year, right out of the gate. Week one, he had a good game against the Broncos. Solid game. His only really bad game, I think, maybe he has two, but his only stinker was the Niners. It was week two, and he was horrible. But that was at San Francisco.

And they had Emmanuel Mosley. Earlier in the year when he wasn't throwing as much. That's fair. Yeah, I mean, I don't think it's going to be a great game, but I think he can get you to 20. All right. Christian McCaffrey or Travis Homer this week? I'm going to go Homer.

Tough call. What if Ken Walker plays? We're ranking him now. Okay, so where are you ranking him? 30. That's a good question. I haven't ranked him yet, but it's probably going to be low. Yeah, man.

I think you know the deal. It's arguably the best run defense in football, and they've been struggling to run the ball anyway. Metcalf and Lockett, all systems go? I don't see how you said that. Right. Okay. Lockett has the second most touchdown catches from 30 or more yards out behind only Devontae Adams. That does make me a little nervous.

I wonder how he ranks on that stat since he came into the league. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, obviously he does that. The question is, you know, do the Niners give up those types of plays? And they do now. I mean, you think about, I think,

DeAndre Carter a couple weeks ago, Trent Shurfield. I've got the stats right here. I do too, but... I mean, they are a little susceptible to the big play, more so the second half of the season than the first half. All right, so look, we've talked about guys like Cooper and Watson,

like tough calls. Just start your Seattle receivers. Sit Noah Fant. Let's go to Brock Purdy here. So how do you feel about Brock Purdy? I'll get his roster percentage. How do you feel about Brock Purdy, Dave? I think he's a number two fantasy quarterback this week.

Would be excited to use him as a second quarterback in a super flex. Would be unexcited to use him as my one QB guy. He's looked okay. He's actually done a great job of navigating the pocket, avoiding pressure. He's made some big time throws, but the majority of his throws have been very, very short throws but he's the majority of his throws have been very very short throws here's an example five of his 67 pass attempts and two of his 45 completions have been on passes of 15 or more air yards his adot is 5.3 that ranks 32nd among qualifying quarterbacks over

the past two weeks sam darnold is the only one who's lower. I think in order for him to have a great fantasy game, you need volume. He's not going to get volume. 49ers are going to be able to run the ball quite well. Maybe I even have him ranked a little too high. I've got him at 17 thinking that he could be in for

175 yards and maybe two touchdowns. Heath, one thing about that ADOT, yeah, he's throwing the ball really short. This is not a terrible matchup to do that. The Seahawks are the worst track team. They give up the second most yak per catch. When these two teams played in week two,

the 49ers averaged 7.3 yards after the catch per catch. And that was the most in the NFL that week. So you got the best yak team basically every year, the Niners. And then the Seahawks are kind of the worst in that. But you don't have Debo. And Debo is the driver behind that stat. So what do you think about him, Heath Brock Purdy? And who would you start him over?

Who's ahead of him? Where is he in the rankings? He's like 20 for me. And I feel like that's too high. I'm worried about the 49ers going into Seattle for a night game. The 12s are going to be just insane, a must-win game for the Seahawks. I think Purdy could turn into a pumpkin. He's been pretty good so far, but he's also just like used his yak Kings. He still has Christian McCaffrey.

Um, I don't want to start him. Yeah. Uh, they are the most resilient team, you know, that it's unbelievable. The injuries they sustain and the success that they have.

Uh, amazing. I am very, really excited for this game. Cause yeah, the atmosphere is going to be terrific. McCaffrey is the best. Brandon Ayuk, guys.

Where is Ayuk compared to Amari Cooper and Christian Watson and Michael Pitt, man? What do you think about Ayuk? He's in that mix for me. Why is he behind all of them, Heath? I just don't think.

He's not the yak king. And I don't expect Purdy to have a lot of success throwing the ball down the field. And his good performance last week was two catches for 57 yards. And a touchdown. Yeah. He got a touchdown.

But, I mean, we have this discussion every single week. I don't think that makes him more likely to score a touchdown this week because he scored a touchdown last week.

But are you giving him any boost without Debo Samuel? Because as soon as Debo went out, yeah, he got the targets. He'd have been closer to wide receiver 40 if Debo Samuel was playing.

So he may not be the yak king, but he actually ranks 15th among wide receivers with 5.36 yards after catch per reception this year and i know that we think about iuk as a downfield receiver uh i did the work on this 68 of his 86 targets have come from inside of 15 air yards he's caught 78 of them he's averaging about 12 yards per catch. So he can fill that role. He's done it for most of this year anyway. We just think of him more as a splashy player, especially after last week when he had the splashy touchdown.

It was an underthrown ball from Purdy, but never mind that fact. In his past two games without Debo, he's seen at least a 20% target share, and he saw a 20% target share last week after Debo left. Now, that doesn't mean that it's going to be 10 targets, because we've already talked about how Purdy won't throw that much. I

think maybe if you look at him and say, okay, six or seven targets, he'll catch most of them. He's got a chance to make a play after the catch against the Seattle defense that's allowed a lot of yak. You talked about that, Adam. I think you said that they're second to worst in the league on yards

after catch per reception. I'm okay starting them as a flex. I will just say that six or seven targets and a 20% target share means 30 to 35 passes for Brock Purdy. I don't think

that he's going to throw the ball that much. You don't think he's going to get 6 to 7 targets, though? I don't. Well, if he throws 20 pass passes... Right. Heath's right. If he's throwing 30 passes... I get the math, but you don't think... You just don't think... Are you just going to get 6 targets? 6, 7 targets? It's not asking for much here. I get the math, but you don't think you're just going to get six targets?

Six, seven targets? It's not asking for much here. I think he could get six. He has, what, three and five in the last two games? Yeah, so didn't they kind of take everybody out last week? Yeah. Yep. He had nine targets against Miami two weeks ago.

And three targets against the Bucs, unless I'm wrong about that. No, I think you're right. He had eight the week before. Let's move on. Let me ask. Let's wrap up on IUK here. Would you have IUK or Barkley, Knight, Chubb? All those running backs we talked about.

I might start him over Montgomery. Might start him over Knight, Might start him overnight, too. Okay. George Kittle. What do you think? His name's George Kittle, and he plays tight end, and you start him. Probably.

Amazing matchup here. They give up the second most points to tight ends. What was his target share last week? He had three targets. No, no, no. He had three targets against the Dolphins. He had five targets against the Dolphins. He had five targets against the Bucs.

But he has more than 40 yards in I think three games this year. Four games. He's had four good games all year. It's wild. One of them was against Arizona four weeks ago. They're the worst against tight ends. Seattle's second worst. He didn't face them. He didn't get to play against

Seattle either earlier this year. Right. He was hurt. Oh, man. So Kittle or Ingram? Kittle. I have Ingram higher in PPR. Kittle or Njoku? Kittle. Njoku.

If Waller plays, if we find out Waller's going to play, would you start Waller or Kittle? Kittle. Kittle. Kittle. All right. And that's the end of that chapter. San Francisco's DST is worth starting their top seven for everybody. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

Nah. Thursday Night Football, get excited. Okay, Dynasty Talk, get excited for that. I want a QB riser and a QB faller, Heath. And while you do that, let's look up the Twitter poll of who would you rather have in Dynasty, Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields. Give me a rising QB.

Well, both of these guys are rising QBs this season. Looking back to the beginning of the season, we've seen Lawrence rise two spots since August, three spots since August, and Fields has risen four spots since August. I've got Fields now at QB6, Lawrence at QB8. That's for

six points per passing touchdown leagues. The gap would be bigger in four points per passing touchdown leagues. The poll results are interesting. Who would you rather have in Dynasty, Justin Fields or Trevor Lawrence? And you can choose either quarterback in both six-point and four-point-per-passing touchdown leagues. So Fields in both is winning with 45% of the vote. Lawrence in both has 27.4% of the vote.

And Lawrence in six-point, Fields in four-point has 27.3% of the vote, and Lawrence in six-point, Fields in four-point has 27.3% of the vote. So if I had just run a six-point-per-passing-touchdown-league poll, it would have been really close between Lawrence and Fields. Four-point-per-passing-touchdown-league poll, I think Fields would have been a runaway.

But, yeah, which makes sense. But, oh, you're seeing the poll results there, and I'm reading that they're, okay, well. Yeah, I think, and like Lawrence has been, this is a good time to ask it, because Lawrence is basically at the best three-game stretch of his career. If we'd asked this three games ago, before Fields missed a game with injury and had his bye

and had a bad game, I think Fields probably would have won 90% of the vote. The difference for this year, I think Fields has been a point and a half better than Trevor Lawrence. In the second half since week eight, Fields has been 10 points better per game than Trevor Lawrence. But in the last two games. In the last two games,

Fields has been awful and Lawrence has been much better. I think these guys both have a chance to be in the top five as early as next year. The struggle is whose situation is going to improve more. And I think it's probably Fields. Well, we know what the situation is going to be for Lawrence.

We're pretty sure about who he's going to have to throw to next year because not only will he have Kirk and whatever Zay Jones ends up being and whatever Evan Ingram ends up being, but also Calvin Ridley will be there. That's a nice group. Fields is going to have to get his group together via free agency in the draft. So I wonder if that's going to be, it'll be a little rough with free agency and the draft could take some time because I don't think the Bears are going to take a receiver with their top pick this year in the draft.

I like Lawrence as the better talent anyway. That's where I came out before they were even drafted into the league. I'm going to say Lawrence because I think he's the better talent anyway that's where i came out before they were even drafted into the league i'm going to say lawrence because he's i think he's the better passer i think he'll have the longer career and you can see what his who his targets are going to be moving forward and that's a good group but what and like if if somebody's looking at a 15-year window i would agree about lawrence's longevity mattering at this point in their careers it's like I generally tell people I don't look much past five years for anything because we're not that great at predicting this year much less five years from now um like I

don't I think it's hard to make a case that Trevor Lawrence is going to consistently score more fantasy points than Justin Fields in the next five years. Well, I mean, then you're making the case that Justin Fields is going to be better than what he's, I shouldn't say better, at least as good as what he's been this year for the next five years. So it's more likely that Trevor Lawrence improves than Justin Fields. Because Justin Fields has been better than Trevor Lawrence this year. So why is Trevor Lawrence more likely to improve than Justin Fields? He's going to have better targets, and he'll be even more comfortable. But he has better targets this year. Much better.

Yeah, he's got better targets this year, and they're going to be even better next year. I would assume the difference between who they're throwing to would be smaller next year and in future years than it is this year because look how big it is this year. It's really surprising to me that Fields is outscoring Lawrence this year. It's the rushing. Well, I understand that, but he had those huge games

because he was pretty crummy for the first, what, seven weeks or so of the season off the top of my head. Less than that. It felt like it was the first four or five weeks. He was terrible. I don't know. Then they adapted the offense to him, and he got significantly better.

He started to run a lot more. Yeah. He obviously struggled. So, you know, if you just ask me who's had a better year, my first thought would have been Trevor Lawrence. But he's been more consistent than Justin Fields. But Fields has had those weeks. They were just amazing.

30 points, 48 points, 44 points, you know, uh, and, and sandwiching those three weeks were 25 points and 25 points basically. So he's done all of that damage in a five week stretch. I mean, the first six weeks of the season, he had, you know, a couple of good games, a couple of okay games, but, uh, yeah, I would, we agree that it games, a couple of okay games. But, yeah. Would we agree that it's much more likely Justin Fields is QB1 overall next year than Trevor Lawrence? No, because this is the problem I have with this argument. It's like everyone just falls in love with rushing production. But at the end of the day, Joe Burrow is better than Lamar Jackson two straight years. You know what I mean?

Like pocket pass. And Lawrence is still a guy who rushes a little bit, but I don't love the just pure drop back passers so much, but I think we, I think we get away from the great passers. Anti-running quarterback for a long time. I am not anti-running quarterback. No, I love running quarterbacks. When you look at the guys who finish top five, they're all good passers, even when they are great runners. Jalen Hurts couldn't be doing this

if he didn't evolve as a passer, which Justin Fields certainly could do. You could even say Fields might be a better passer now than Hurts was a year ago. I would say that. And what a jump Hurts has made. So I'm certainly not eliminating that possibility, but you cannot be a great fantasy quarterback

without good passing stats. And his passing stats are putrid. But he's probably going to be a top five fantasy quarterback this year without good passing stats. Maybe, but it's extremely inconsistent. I mean, if you really think about it, he was dropped in most leagues. He was awful for six weeks, basically.

He wasn't running. We'll see how he finishes. He's also running it to a degree that we've never seen before. He's on pace for almost 1,800 yards in his last seven games or something like that. It's insane. Hold on, hold on, hold on.

You've been playing Dynasty longer than me. How often slash rare is it for a fantasy manager to have the same quarterback five or more years in Dynasty? I mean, I think it's a little bit rare for a

league to stay the same for five years. You usually lose a fantasy manager or two in that time sphere. But I think it's really rare. Okay, so my answer for Lawrence over Fields was baking in longevity and the thought that you can get Trevor Lawrence

and he'll be good longer than Justin Fields will be. But if I'm trying to win a fantasy championship in the next two years or three years, and I'm not playing the longevity game, I don't know if it's really that much of a question between these two. And I would probably say Fields in that regard. As good as that receiving core is going to be for Trevor Lawrence, and I think it's going to be great once Calvin Ridley's back

in the swing of things. The rushing upside for Fields and the fact that he is a decent passer, if not a good passer, he could become a real good passer. I'm going to flip my answer. I'm going to go with Fields simply because you can replace that position easier in Dynasty than you can,

than you might think, I guess is the best way to put it. And I think there's a little bit of prisoner of the moment here with talking about how inconsistent and bad Justin Fields was early in the year because Trevor Lawrence was not a viable fantasy quarterback for most of this season. He went from week five through week nine without a game with multiple touchdown passes.

And from week four, he threw for 174 yards. Was that the Eagles game? Yeah. No, this week is the Eagles. Oh, you're talking about Lawrence. Right. Yeah, bad weather. Tough matchup.

The excuses you will make. No, I agree. I mean, you're right. How about the turnover? It's not like Lawrence has been a model of consistency. But before this recent stretch, I mean, think about the narrative around Justin Fields, you know, halfway through the season. Before he, you know, exploded, what was the first game he went off?

The Cowboys game or the game? What was the narrative around Trevor Lawrence? It was bust. Not for me. I thought he was making a lot of progress. I understand that because he's not a running quarterback. I think you're so wrong about the way I feel about running quarterbacks. You're focusing on the running angle of it.

What you should be focusing on, what I am focusing on, is the passing angle of it. I do not like quarterbacks who can't throw the damn football. I understand. And what I have said with Jalen Hurts in the past is a guy who runs, you are less likely to believe can improve as a passer. You see that Trevor Lawrence is going to continue to get better as a passer, and you're less likely to believe that Justin Fields is going to get better as a passer. You're framing it wrong.

It's not because he runs. It's because he's not a good passer right now. So, yes, I did not see this coming for Jalen Hurts. 100%. I will just say through week nine, through week nine, Justin Fields was averaging two and a half more fantasy points per game than Trevor Lawrence.

Lawrence was at 17.8. What about through week five? They were both awful and no one wanted to use them. No, Fields was much worse, I would say. But also, Fields was weaponless and just in a boring crappy offense with a terrible offensive line. I think

the Jaguars got off to a pretty hot start. Obviously, I bought into them. Obviously, you can make cases against both of them, but the point I'm trying to make, Heath, is that it's not that I don't like running quarterbacks. I love running quarterbacks. I just want them to be good passers because I think that's the most important thing for a fantasy quarterback. Look at the best quarterbacks in fantasy.

They're almost all like putting up good passing numbers. So again, yeah, Fields could definitely take that leap. And if he does, then he could be QB1. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I think the Jaguars are more set up for sustainable success. Also, Trevor Lawrence, let's not forget, Trevor Lawrence was an amazing quarterback prospect on the Andrew Luck level or maybe just below that. I think you look at the pedigree and you look at the progress that Joe Burrow has made, I think that's what we're talking about with Trevor Lawrence. So through week five, Justin Fields was awful, not even in the top 30. But Trevor Lawrence was at 17.4 fantasy points per game, right between Joe Flacco and Zach Wilson. Well, Joe Flacco was terrific. Joe Flacco was at 18.2 fantasy points. And did Zach Wilson play, what, two games?

Yeah. All right. All right, let's read some emails here. Fantasyfootball at cbsi.com. This is from David from the state with the fewest number of counties. I feel like that's like Wyoming. Yeah, I think so. They only have one representative in Congress.

That's so crazy. I need a second flex for Dynasty League playoffs. Half PPR. Pick one. Dobbins, Swift, Pittman, Bam Knight. Dobbins. I would go Bam. Okay.

From no name or city, Dave? Carroll from Worcester, Mass. Fields, Geno Smith, or Deshaun Watson this week? Fields. Definitely not Deshaun Watson. I agree. I think I'll go Fields. This is from Scott the Boomer Curmudgeon.

Where is he from? Over Delaware, which also happens to be the state with the fewest counties. Oh, really? Obviously. How could we forget about Delaware? That surprises me. Travis Etienne, Isaiah Pacheco, Zonovan Knight, Rashad White.

I guess we're picking one? Pick two. Etienne, Pacheco, Zonovan, Rashad. I mean, you can drive through Delaware in like 15 minutes. Zonovan. No, pick two. I'm sitting McKinnon. It's on of it.

And Pacheco McKinnon was not an option. Oh, so it's, give me your top two. Heath says it's bam night and Pacheco ETN Pacheco night. Rashad white night and ETN as of now from Joey.

Do I start Pacheco night Knight, or McKinnon? Full PPR. This is the one I was reading. Who's for number one? Knight. Okay. Do I start Lawrence or Huntley? Lawrence.

Trevor. This is Matt from 35 miles north of Tallahassee. Okay. Oh, okay. I thought you were going to say this. I don't know the city 35 miles north of Tallahassee. Zonovan Knight or Zay Jones, PPR.

I don't know if I'd ever want to be there. It could be Jacksonville. It could be Athens. It could be where? No, it wouldn't be. No, no. Do you know? Have you ever looked at a map of Florida?

I know it's way east, but there's lots of places through the United States that are 35 miles north of Tallahassee. We're talking about a place like Thomasville. Yeah, it'd be somewhere in Georgia. Or Boston, Georgia. Jacksonville, come on. Of all the things you've said about Jacksonville in the last five minutes, that's definitely the worst take.

Zonovan Knight or Zay Jones in full PPR? I mean, you might as well said Tampa, Heath. Well, Tampa's directly. I'm going Zay Jones. Would you ask me Knight or Jones? Yeah. PPR. I think I got to say Knight.

So I think Jacksonville is about 35 miles south. So that was obviously completely idiotic. It's like 70 miles off in geography. So I apologize. Uh, and who would you drop? DJ Moore or Zay Jones? If you had to make a roster move.

DJ Moore. Yeah. From Eric. Where's he from? He's from Nibhi. Uh, Oh, he's from the city of good neighbors.

Coral Springs, Florida. Need a flex in PPR. Alvin Kamara or Mike Williams? Are you saying your neighbors where you grew up were good? Oh, dude, you would not believe the things that happened in the house next to me. Example. Try me.

A double murder. Oh, yeah, that's a double murder. Oh yeah. That's bad. Yeah. Yeah. Insane. Coral Springs is not the city of good neighbor. Not my street.

Um, uh, PPR, Camara or Mike Williams? Camara. I'll, I think I'll say Camara. Yes.

12 team. Buffalo is the city of good neighbors by the way. Oh, okay. Non PPR league. Uh, start two running backs in a flex. Camara, Swift, Singlet neighbors, by the way. Oh, okay. Non-PPR league. Start two running backs and a flex. Kamara, Swift, Singletary, McKinnon. So you need three of them.

I would sit McKinnon. Yeah, non-PPR, sit McKinnon. And who would you start at wide receiver two? DJ Moore, Cortland Sutton, Jamison Williams. Oh, that's bad. Mickey Mimble. Who are they again? I'd rather give you less.

DJ Moore, Cortland Sutton, Jamison Williams. Maybe Sutton if he plays. Hold on. Would you take Elijah Moore over all of them? There are cities in Mexico that are 35 miles north of Tallahassee. Hold on. Would you take Elijah Moore over all of them? There are cities in Mexico that are 35 miles north of Tallahassee. I was wondering where you went. You're usually pretty good at responding to the emails.

They're just like off in geography world. I think, yeah, I would take, well, a non-PPR, I don't know. Elijah Moore over him in non-PPR, I don't know. Elijah Moore over him in non-PPR? Would you rather have... If you could get Chark or Zay Jones, would you take one of them? Yeah. Zay, not Chark. Would you even dabble in Ben Skoranek?

No. No. All right, then I think DJ Moore is the answer. Zay Jones. Okay, we're out of here. Of course. Thanks, Fondo. Thanks.

Oh, wait, I have one. I have... Sorry. Sorry. Derek Carr, Tom Brady, Daniel Jones, Mike White. Who do you start? Derek Carr, Tom Brady. Mike White.

Yeah. Daniel Jones, Tyler Huntley, Jared Goff. Who do you start? Goff. Goff or Jones. We're done. Take it easy, everybody. Thank you for watching and listening.

For Dave and Heath and Thomas, I'm Adam. Talk to you tomorrow with Starter Sit for the AFC Home Games on Fantasy Football.