Fantasy Football Today - Wild Card DFS, 2022 Breakouts and Bounce Backs (01/14 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: January 13, 2022

Vote for Fantasy Football Today for Best Social Media Content: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8JGJJY8 If you're setting a lineup for this weekend or you are entering some type of playoff challenge, we'll help you get ready for the games. Let's start with DFS values we love (2:30) and values to avoid (5:30). Leonard Fournette seems like an easy start, but what about his teammate Mike Evans? ... On to some 2022 questions: Who is the #3 QB behind Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen (10:00)? Who is our favorite breakout RB (14:30)? Which formerly elite WR has the best chance to bounce back (18:15)? ... News and notes (23:30) and then we talk football! If you're in a Fantasy league for the entire playoffs, which players do we expect to play 3 or 4 games (28:00)? And then we talk DFS for Wild Card weekend (41:00) and give FanDuel and DraftKings lineups ... Your emails at [e-mail] Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr, @ctowerscbs, @BenSchragg Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday 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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BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. This is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. On his way to the end zone. Tell you what, that was a spectacular play. It's time to dominate your fantasy league. What a play. Off to the races.

Touchdown. Oh, he's done it again. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, Heath, and Beck. Playoff football is here. What's up and welcome. It is time to set some DFS lineups. We're going to tell you who we love. We're going to tell you who to avoid in DFS. We're going to answer three pretty big questions for the 2022 season. And we are almost going to get through our intro without screwing up, but not today. Maybe on our next show. Welcome, everyone. I am Adam with Jamie and Dave. Jamie,

which game are you most looking forward to this weekend? 49ers and Cowboys are going to be the highest scoring game of the weekend. Okay. Well, you stole my answer. Dave, did he steal your answer too? I'm excited about them all. I'll go with the Cardinals game. Cardinals-Rams. And I know that the track record says it's going to be LA. And I know that a lot of the stats say that it's going to be LA. I'm going with the Cardinals to win. I would say I'm genuinely excited about all of them except Pittsburgh, Kansas City.

Does that game have to be played? Yes, it has to be played. Are you excited about Buffalo, New England? I am, actually. I think there's a little bit of intrigue there. I do, too. I don't know what the weather... There's intrigue with all of them. The intrigue for me is that the Bills' offense is not full speed when there's bad weather,

it seems. I don't know what the forecast is. I'm going to look that up. But it's not going to be great, right? It's Buffalo in January. And this is the third time that Belichick is facing them. So I want to see what he can cook up. And yeah, a little bit of intrigue there.

Plus, get to root against the Patriots. It's always a good thing. Well, they're probably going to lose. People like that. All right. Anyway, let's do some DFS talk. Who's a player you love this week? Listen, Patriots fans, it's nothing but respect for you.

But I want to see, you know, I want to see new teams win. Player you love in DFS. Dave, who do you love this week? I like a bunch of running backs, but I think my favorite one that's gone way under the radar is Leonard Fournette. Just the fact that he's available for under six grand looks like he's going to be taken off IR and playing for Tampa. We know what the workload is going to be like. We know that Ronald Jones isn't going to be available. I don't think Keyshawn Vaughn or

anybody else in that backfield has shown enough to take him off the field. And by the way, you want to talk about the weather being an issue in Buffalo. I'm looking at the forecast of Buffalo. Weather doesn't seem that bad. It's the weather in Tampa that you're going to have to worry about. And it seems conducive to a lot of running, which would help Leonard Fournette. He has six or more catches in five of his last six games, and that was with a healthy receiving core.

So that's going to be, I think fairly dependable. And yeah, he is a very good value on fan duel and draft Kings, Leonard Fournette, Jamie, anyone you match up, but I think he can come through in spite of it. Jamie,

anyone you love this week? Daryl Williams. I know Clyde Edwards, the layers trending in the right direction, but I still think William's going to have a significant role. We know the Steelers run defense has been bad for the majority of the season, certainly the second half. He had 14 total touches in the first game. That was with Edwards-Hilaire sideline. I think he'll probably still be somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to

15 touches. He's a little bit too pricey for what I thought he was going to be at 5,500, but I still think based on what his opportunity is, especially if Clyde does not play, because it's still not guaranteed that he is going to play, and if he is less than 100%, I think Williams is in a really good spot. So somebody should play for sure. Yeah, the price is annoying. I thought that same way about CeeDee Lamb. I thought maybe we'd get a discount on CeeDee Lamb,

but not the case, at least on FanDuel. And they're basically, Clyde and Darrell Williams are basically the same price on both sets. And they're within $100 on DraftKings. So if they both play, who would you prefer? Williams.

Okay. But they're also second follow-up. They're also basically the same price as Sony Michelle. Would you play Sony Michelle against the Cardinals over a Chiefs guy if they both play? Yeah, I think it's only going to be more obvious. You know,

I was looking for somebody a little less obvious. I think people are going to shy away from Daryl because of the price being the same as Clyde and Clyde being back okay Elijah Mitchell's at 5,500 too yeah I love Elijah Mitchell but he's going to be popular he'll be popular Devin Singletary popular 5,700 he's going to be probably the most played running back in my opinion I would imagine so it's a great matchup for him but that's why I kind of like the idea of spending up just a little bit to get Fournette. I know he'll be popular. I don't think he'll be as popular as Singletary or Mitchell,

but that's kind of part of the reason why I like Fournette. Well, on FanDuel, here are the running backs who are more expensive than Fournette. Mixon, Connor, Najee Harris, Zeke, Damian Harris, Eli Mitchell. All more expensive than Leonard

Fournette. On DraftKings, Mixon Harris, Jacobs, Damian Harris, Eli Mitchell, all more expensive than Leonard Fournette. On DraftKings, Mixon Harris, Jacobs, Damian Harris, so both Harris's, James Conner, Ezekiel Elliott, Daryl Henderson, Devin, am I, no, I'm wrong. I'm sorry, because I put him in my lineup. That's why I didn't see him. But they're right there. Fournette, Daryl Henderson. A couple hundred more than Singletary.

Yeah. Okay, so how about players to avoid? Jamie, give me someone to avoid in DFS. Someone to avoid in DFS. Let's see. I would probably try and stay away from Clyde.

Okay. That makes sense. Dave, how about you? I was looking at the projected ownership while you're talking, so sorry. What's the projected ownership

for Ezekiel Elliott? The projected ownership for Ezekiel elliott uh the projected ownership for ezekiel elliott is low understandably so yeah like that's definitely going to be an unpopular play and somebody that i wouldn't want anybody anything to do with anyone to do with that is who i put in my for my answer to how about mike and let me ask you about him because you because Darius Slay should be on him. He stunk against the Eagles in the first game, but he had a ton of targets for Godwin and a ton of targets for, maybe not Godwin, but definitely Antonio Brown in that game.

This will be the first time that we see Evans with a tough matchup without Godwin and Antonio Brown. What will it look like? I don't really want to pay up for Evans because I've seen too many times where a great cornerback has done a great job on him, but I do wonder if he's just going to get fed targets.

Should we avoid Mike Evans? He's pretty expensive as well. I would avoid him, yeah. Not only are all those reasons valid, Adam, but according to the forecast, there's a 70% chance of rain and wind southwest

at 24 miles an hour with thunderstorms likely for the day in Tampa. Thank you. Today from our weather center, Mike Evans is the third most expensive wide receiver on FanDuel and the sixth most expensive wide receiver on DraftKings. We'll get into all these games a little bit later, but last question.

Jamar Chase on DraftKings, 7,400. T. Higgins, 6,300. Pretty big difference. On FanDuel, Jamar Chase, 8,200. Higgins, 6,900. Should there be that big of a difference, Dave, between Higgins 6900 should there be should there be that big of a difference Dave between Higgins and Chase I think it's baking

in what Chase did in that monster game couple weeks ago and if you want to overpay for Chase hoping that he has another monster game like that against Las Vegas be my guest I would rather use Higgins but I think I'm going to stay away from both of them I think Joe Mixon to stay away from both of them. I think

Joe Mixon is the play from that game. Even though he's the most expensive running back on DraftKings, I think he's the one. The Raiders allow the fourth fewest fantasy points to wide receivers. It is weird. Unless it's fourth down.

Then Mike Williams left. What did you say, Jamie? I don't buy it. I know, but it's a full season. No, I don't either, but I do buy how bad their run defense is. Touchdown to a running back in 15 games this year. Yeah.

Well, you got to pay up for Mixon. I think he's the most expensive back, right? He's number one on FanDuel and DraftKings. He is number one on DraftKings. Okay. All right, guys. Let's talk a little bit about 2022. Got to promote a few things.

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but we will have a Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday show. We'll have rankings debates. We'll review a mock draft. We're going to reveal the winners of the awards that we came up with the nominees for on Monday's show. And Thursday, we're going to do some quarterback reflections and, of course, talk about the playoff games for the next round. Okay. 2022 questions.

I should have asked you this before the show, so I apologize, but are Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes your top two quarterbacks in your rankings? Yes. Yes, and just so, you know, I know we've talked about this a little bit. So I wrote up all of our rankings on the site, so people want to actually see, like, what are the consensus of the six of us that are typically on the show. So three of us, Heath, Dan, and Chris. I think it's only Dan, if I'm not mistaken,

does not have one of those two guys in his top two. It's Alan, isn't it? I'm sorry, what? No, he has Mahomes third. Oh, it's Mahomes third. Okay. Yes, he has Kyler too. Oh, he has Kyler too. Okay. I thought I was a freak for having Kyler three so my question is who is qb3 jamie uh for me it's herbert i think for the majority it's herbert i can tell you that in a second uh if you want to ask dave but um i believe uh only three people did not have herbert third um so maybe it's four you have ky how many? You have Kyler third, Keith has Herbert third, Dave has Herbert third, Dan has, obviously, Mahomes third,

up behind Kyler, and Chris has Lamar Jackson third. Okay, so you both have Herbert third. Okay, I mean, that makes a lot of sense. He's very good. He's averaged at least 25 fantasy points each of the last two years. And he's awesome.

That's pretty good. Anything else you want to add? You wanted to, who are you, who else were you considering? And was it a tough call for you? I mean, if you want to know who's fourth,

so for Heath is Lamar Jackson. For me, it's Aaron Rogers. You had Aaron Rogers, Adam, obviously, if you didn't know that. And Dave had Brady.

I had Rodgers, but I did not have Herbert for a third. Where do I have Herbert? Fifth? In your incorrect rankings, they are fifth. I'll just give you a 10-second reason why I have Kyler Murray. One, because I'm not sure I'm going to keep it that way. But two, his points per game with DeAndre Hopkins, you gave him those points per game for a full season, number one quarterback in fantasy.

So it's a huge deal. Take Keenan Allen away from Justin Herbert, take Stefan Diggs away from Josh Allen, it's a game changer. With DeAndre Hopkins, he was, per game, better than anyone else. So that's why I made it Kyler. Who'd you struggle with?

I struggle with Lamar Jackson. It's hard to ignore two disappointing years in a row, but it feels unlucky. I struggle with him. Who'd you guys struggle with? I struggled with how high to put Burrow because I think he's going to be amazing. Yeah. Every time Burrow because I think he's going to be amazing. Yeah.

Every time Burrow or Herbert throws a pass, I'm going Herbert or Burrow next year? Herbert or Burrow next year? Keep evaluating. Yeah, I mean, it's like we talked about the other day. I wouldn't be surprised if Bengals had the best offense in football. And obviously that's going to be, you know,

he's going to be a big reason why. So it's kind of like, well, first off, you know, a lot's going to change depending on what happens with Watson, depending on what happens with Rogers, depending on what happens with Russell Wilson, you know? So if those guys all, you know, leave their respective teams, we expect one, two for sure in Watson if he plays,

but that'll change the landscape. I think of what our quarterback rankings look like for sure. You know, so, and does Brady even play again? I think we're all expecting that, but if they win another Super Bowl, does he say, I'm done, I'm not going to play at 45? Dave, who'd you struggle with? I'd struggle with Lamar Jackson, understanding that he did take some steps forward as a passer this year,

and then he took some steps backward as a passer this year, and then he took some steps backward as a passer this year. And I wonder if defenses are going to finally have a pretty decent, not a blueprint, but maybe a couple of different ways to slow him down. I wonder what the Ravens are going to do this offseason. I'm not optimistic about him coming back and being better than what he was in 2020, which was almost 25 fantasy points per game. Lamar Jackson had the third highest off-target percentage in the NFL. I'm starting to learn that that doesn't mean anything.

Well, I think it does if you use it with air yards. And he threw the ball downfield a lot. So you kind of give him a pass. But the only two quarterbacks who were off target more frequently than Lamar Jackson were Zach Wilson and Justin Fields. Is that specifically on throws of 11-plus air yards? All throws. We can find out

who was off target on those deep throws. That might be what we're looking for. But he threw the ball farther than almost every quarterback per attempt. Let's go to our next question here. Who is your favorite breakout running back for 2022? Jamie.

I'll take the low-hanging fruit and take Javante Williams. There's just so much to love about what his scenario could be. Obviously, with the quarterback 22. Jamie? I'll take the low-hanging fruit and take Javante Williams. I mean, there's just so much to love about what his scenario could be, obviously with the quarterback upgrade, but more importantly, if Melvin Gordon leaves, he's got the chance to be, I think as we saw in that Chiefs game,

a top five running back. If he can certainly get that type of workload, be involved in the passing game, obviously goal line opportunities. So if things break right the way that they should, Javante Williams has superstar potential. Dave. I'll go with a higher hanging fruit, I guess,

and that's Travis Etienne, a name we haven't talked about in many months because he hasn't been available to play. We know what his potential is as a pass catcher on top of being a running back. And with James Robinson tearing his Achilles, we don't know if he can make the same type of recovery that Cam Akers did.

So there's a definite chance that Travis Etienne becomes a big spark in this Jacksonville offense. I expect this offense to be so much better next year. New coaching staff in place, an offense that should be much, much better aligned to what Trevor Lawrence can do, and a playmaker in ETN who might be able to rack up north of 70 receptions.

Yeah, the two names I was going to say, if Dave went first, because I figured he would say Javante, were Travis ETN and J.K. Dobbins. Just getting Dobbins back, I think, is going to be awesome and should make a full recovery, is going to be awesome. He should make a full recovery. He should be ready to go. Those will be three breakouts for sure. There's other obvious names

too. Michael Carter is going to be an obvious breakout candidate. I wonder if Tony Pollard is a big-time breakout candidate even if Zeke stays. If Zeke doesn't stay, then I think he'll be super obvious as a breakout. I almost think that he could be outstanding next year if Zeke just continues this downturn

as far as what the eye test says. I think Romandre Stevenson's another breakout candidate. You haven't said Antonio Gibson yet. JD McKissick is an unrestricted free agent. It's a big deal for Gibson's value if there's a pass-catching running back or not. We've've seen that, but also he needs to become a better running back. And he feels like he made some strides late in the year. Uh, the numbers kind of, I don't know if they really back that up. I, you know, there, uh, there's a good ESPN article about Antonio

Gibson in his first eight games from ESPN, his first eight games, he averaged 4.3 yards per carry with seven runs of 10 or more yards. In his last six games, he averaged five yards per carry with 14 runs of 10 or more yards. Man, that is so heavily weighted by Week 18 against the crappy Giants where he went off

and averaged almost seven yards per carry. I'm waiting for him to figure it out as a running back. And he talked about, you know, being patient, knowing when to hit the hole. His coach is telling him, if you see a cornerback in the hole, that doesn't mean avoid it. Run the guy over. You know, so it's kind of interesting, this preconceived notion that,

oh, it's just running back, anybody can play it. Maybe there's some truth to that, but it's not entirely true. There are nuances to the position that Antonio Gibson is still learning. Now it's been two years. He's got to do better. Well, I mean, Cordero Patterson in eight years finally got it. Yeah, right. Deebo Samuel, hey, now you're a running back.

He's the best running back in football now. But I think Gibson has such a great role, and if he is more involved in the passing game than he was before the McKissick injury, he could really make a big jump. Especially if there's a quarterback upgrade, too. Oh, yeah. Which there will be. All right, most likely to bounce back,

and I have a Twitter poll on this one, most likely to bounce back in 2022, Calvin Ridley, Michael Thomas, and DeAndre Hopkins. I put a little context there. I know Ridley obviously dealt with a personal injury, but even before that, he was having a very down year. Shockingly bad. Michael Thomas, you know. And then Hopkins, he scored a lot of touchdowns, but his yards, his targets, everything was way down.

So most likely to bounce back in 2022, Ridley, Michael Thomas or Hopkins, Dave first word. The one that I'm going to gravitate toward and draft first is Ridley, who is entering a contract year next year to begin with. My hunch is that he won't be on the Falcons. There just seems to be some smoke around him, not wanting to be back in Atlanta. And if he gets traded, the team that acquires him probably signs him to a new deal. Hopefully it's with a quarterback who can push the ball downfield. And hopefully Calvin will be in a better place mentally. We know physically he's a supreme talent at wide receiver. I think he can absolutely, in the right spot, the right team,

he can flirt with huge numbers and finish as a top five fantasy receiver. Jamie, for Ridley, Thomas Hopkins, who's most likely to bounce back? I would agree with Ridley. I'll make the case for Thomas, just to give you another argument. I think obviously if Thomas is right, you know what the potential is,

and he's sort of proven that even without Drew Brees. I mean, you go back to the 2019 season with Teddy Bridgewater and what he was able to accomplish then. You go to the limited sample size in 2020 with Taysom Hill and what he was able to accomplish then wasn't obviously as good. Clearly 2019 was better. But I think that kind of shows you that he can still be great

despite not having the Hall of Fame quarterback. So will he be record-breaking? No. Will he be top 20 to maybe top 15 to maybe even top 10 if they upgrade the quarterback position with Taysom now dealing with the Liz Frank injury? Yeah, I think he still has so much potential, and he's going to fall farther than probably both of these guys, just given the circumstances. He'll certainly go after Ridley, depending on what happens.

He may go ahead of Hopkins. But, you know, I mean, I've seen six different top 12 rank lists now in front of me and um Heath for example has Hopkins over Thomas I think Adam you're the only other person that's Thomas in their top 12 so it'll be interesting to see what happens once we get past you know 13 and beyond um and we're doing a mock draft today so it'll be fun to see where some of these guys go. But I think Thomas is the wide receiver comparison to Christian McCaffrey, as we talked about the other day, of he's burned people two years in a row and they're just going to completely stay away, especially if Taysom's probably still the quarterback.

So he might fall further than both these guys. Hopkins is the one I probably won't touch. Are we assuming that Thomas is going to be back in New Orleans? Because he could be another guy. He may be on a different team. I was telling Adam about this before the show. The list of wide receivers who are going to be free agents this year, it's not that great, but the next year's list is crazy.

There are so many receivers that are set to be a free agent in 2023 that the movement that we'll see this offseason will be a lot of fun, a lot of speculation. You can also get some contract extensions for those guys, too. Sure. It's possible. I don't think the Titans are going to let go of A.J. Brown, for example. Calvin Ridley, by the way, did run away with the Twitter poll. 49% of the vote. Michael Thomas, 24%.

DeAndre Hopkins, 27%. And real quick, why do you think people don't really believe in DeAndre Hopkins? Because he's old. My fears for him last year were what would happen with his target share. And it came to fruition this year, not last year. And so they bring in A.J. Green. Christian Kirk got better. what would happen with his target chair. And it came to fruition this year, not last year. And so they bring in A.J. Green. Christian Kirk got better based on where he was.

He's really coming to his own. Rondell Moore spurts the Zacherts trade. And I think he might be getting to that point where maybe he's just going from elite to good or elite to above average. And so the steady decline and sometimes the steep decline for some of these receivers when they get, you know, close to 30, it's scary at times, you know? And so I hope that's not the case for Hopkins.

If he falls to the right spot, you know, if we're talking about a late round four, round five type of player, then I'll buy in all day. But I still think he's going to be in that round three range, and that's something I'm not buying for him anymore. The one other thing to look at is that in Arizona, Kirk and A.J. Green are both free agents this offseason. So maybe they bring

one of them back. I think Green would be cheaper. Who is that? Ertz as well. Ertz is a free agent as well. That's really true. So there's going to be some potential changes in that passing game. To me, it just comes down to is hopkins now a touchdown or bust wide receiver because the volume jamie nailed it the targets weren't there for him

this year like they were last year and so if that's going to be the case then i'm not going to be so excited about him but if they don't go about filling the receiver cupboard again they're relying on deandre hop Hopkins to stay healthy for 17 games. And he could just be ultra-targeted again. I guess there's a way to buy back into him on that premise, even though he's two years older than where he was the last time

he was in that premise, which was in 2020. Let's do some news and notes real quick here. Well, it happened. The Giants fired Joe Judge. You were upset about this. I wouldn't say that. I wouldn't say that.

I don't care. I texted you, congratulations, and you wrote back, I liked Judge. I did. Is that so wrong? Is that so wrong? Yes, yes. What did you like about him?

I don't know. There was nothing to dislike about him. He's very conservative. Very conservative. A lot of quarterback sneaks at the five-yard line. Yeah, so you're listing all kinds of great reasons for why you like him. He's a little too conservative, but I think that he recognizes offense sucked. Whatever.

I don't think he got a fair shake because of all the injuries and not really seeing what Daniel Jones could become. But when it starts to unravel and you start to act the way he acted in press conferences, it's unfortunate. It's time to go. I guess so. It just shows the lack of leadership.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, maybe. But whatever. It's more of this endless cycle of head coaches. It was the right move. I know that you're upset about the cycle of coaches, but that's a bad reason to keep somebody around because you fired other coaches after two years.

Also, you should give a new GM the opportunity to have his own coach. If you don't, you're just delaying the inevitable. T. Higgins was limited with a foot injury. Chase Edmonds is expected to practice today. This is a big one to keep an eye on, obviously. Greatly affects the value of Connor. What about Connor? Connor is expected to practice today, too.

He's also hurt. He's hurt from last game, or it's a continuation? Yeah, he hurt his ribs. So he's got the ribs and the heel, and Edmonds has the ribs, and I believe it's a toe injury or back injury. So they're both expected to practice on Thursday. It sounded more optimistic, honestly, for Edmonds than it did for Connor. Rams secondaries beat up right now.

They lost their starting safety, Jordan Fuller, for the season and they signed Eric Weddle. They signed Eric Weddle. He hasn't played in two years. I'll tell you what. He's ready. He finished in second place in the Waterbury Open, baby. He's been paying attention all year. He's been

ready to rock. First time ever I played with somebody who finished in second in a fantasy league and then went on to play in the National Football League. I can't imagine that as a rarity. But listen, there are two other injuries in their secondary. So they're starting. Two starting safeties are injured. One's out for the season. One's in the con Football League. I can imagine that as a rarity. But listen, there are two other injuries in their secondary. So two starting safeties are injured.

One's out for the season. One's in the concussion protocol. And cornerback Darius Williams has a shoulder injury as well. So very interesting development there. Yeah. Emmanuel Sanders practiced in full. Leonard Fournette and Giovanni Bernard are practicing. Ronald Jones is doubtful.

San Francisco left tackle Trent Williams is questionable. Tony Pollard practiced in full. Baker Mayfield will be Cleveland's starting quarterback in 2022. He played basically the entire season injured and very injured for much of it. Okay, we will take a break. When we come back, we'll start talking a little DFS.

And also, if you have a playoff challenge, that kind of stuff, you want to figure out which guys that could make a long run. We'll talk about all those different formats right after this quick break on Fantasy Football today. set spending limit. More cash on hand to grow your business with up to 55 interest-free days and the ability to reach further with access to over 1400 airport lounges worldwide. Redefine possible with Business Platinum. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms and conditions apply. Visit amex.ca slash business platinum. So, Jamie, if we start with kind of a broader look at the playoffs for the more, you know, playoff-long challenges or leagues, what are you recommending right now? It's kind of a wide-open field, I think, in a lot of people's minds.

Which players are you latching on to that you think could play a lot of games, make deep runs? Yeah, I mean, the first thing you want to do is for whatever, you know, format you play in, which players are you latching onto that you think could play a lot of games, make deep runs? Yeah. I mean, the first thing you want to do is for whatever format you play in, you know, if it's a one and done, like I play in, in,

in one playoff challenge where it's you can only use the guys once, you know, so, you know, how long do you want to save them until, you know, the super bowl or whatever. So that's,

that's one type of format. But I think the biggest thing is you want to map out the playoffs and just how far you think these teams are going to go because sometimes it's – most of the ones I played in historically are cumulative points. So you want to have guys that are going to play at this stage now four games, wild card through Super Bowl. And so map that out however you think it's going to go.

So three games would be the scenario I think you kind of want to shoot for because four is obviously difficult. Two would be the minimum. Obviously you want to avoid to shoot for because four is obviously difficult. Two would be the minimum. Obviously, you want to avoid the one-game, one-and-done type of guys. So I wrote on the site, so if anybody wants to read it, rankings that will be updated each week. But I have the Chiefs making it to the AFC. I'm sorry, I have the Chiefs making it to the Super Bowl.

I have the Packers making it to the Super Bowl. So that's four games for Kansas City's guys, three games for the Packers guys. I know it's very chalky with those two teams, but still. I have the Bucs playing three games. I have the Titans playing three games. I'm sorry, two games. The Bills playing two games. So take it through however you want whenever you map out your postseason tournament but again you want to shoot for at least three games hopefully four

no worse than two yeah man the Chiefs you got to be a little nervous because they're beat up and they got the potentially the Bills in the second round so that's annoying that's when your two favorite teams in a regional

in college basketball are meeting in the Sweet 16 or something. You'd rather see those two meet in the AFC Championship game. Unfortunately, we didn't get that. You can certainly say, and I'm sure I'm guilty of this, people overlooking the Titans with Eric Henry back and what they might be able

to do, teams going into their building. I don't know. I mean, it's I think it's, it's top heavy in the AFC. NFC I think is a little bit more wide open from who can maybe challenge the Packers. I think the Packers are going to be in the NFC championship game, but getting to their, getting to green Bay, you know, I think it's a wide open field. But yeah, I think you see the potential of a Bills Chiefs winner

clearly going to the AFC Championship game. If you like the Bills side of things, I certainly won't fight you on it. Dave, which teams do you realistically think could win the Super Bowl? Or for these purposes, just make it to the Super Bowl? Just make it to the Super Bowl? Well, I think it's important, like what we've been saying,

find the four teams that you make it to the Super Bowl? Well, I think it's important, like what we've been saying, find the four teams that you like to make the final four. So which four teams do you think have the best chance to make the title game? Buffalo's my favorite team in the AFC, followed by Kansas City. So one of those two teams I would expect to play in the Super Bowl for the AFC.

Tennessee would be third, so... I'm not trying to shock the world here and say, oh, I think the Steelers are going to make it. No, but Buffalo and Kansas City are not going to play in the championship game. They're going to play in the divisional game, in theory, if they both win. So you can't really ride both of those teams. Well, actually, wait a second. Is there a scenario where they don't play in the second round?

If one of them loses? Yeah, where they don't play in the second round? If one of them loses? Yeah, because they're the two and the three, so they play each other if they win no matter what. Okay, so that's good to know. So you can't like both of those teams. Right. I don't know if Jamie brought that up.

If he did, I'm sorry. Well, I brought that up, that it's tough to love. It's a little bit tougher to love the Chiefs. That's the decision you've got to make. I think the toughest decisions going into this, obviously not knowing how it's going to unfold, but you can see the paths to how everybody gets to where they're hoping to go. The two on the NFC are tough in terms of 49ers, Cowboys,

because I think that can go either way. Cardinal Rams can go either way. I think every other game you kind of have a strong feeling, whether it's trusting that the Bucs are going to beat the Eagles just because they're better and they're good at home. In the AFC, trusting the Bengals and trusting the Bills. I'm sorry, trusting the Bengals and then seeing how those other two games unfold. But the second-round game between the Bills and the Chiefs

is so difficult to predict. Any struggles at all with that Bucs-Eagles game, or do you think it's an easy call? I mean, I think Tampa wins, but I don't think it's a pushover. No, I mean, obviously Tampa's really beat up, clearly, the receiver position. We started the show talking about Dave saying how much he likes Fournette. Fournette may not be 100%.

We just don't know. You know, he's expected to be fine. But, you know, coming off IR, three-week layoff from a hamstring injury, you know, who knows in tough weather if he's able to, you know, still be that effective, you know, if it's, you know, raining and sloppy potentially. So there's certainly a scenario where the Eagles, obviously dealing with some injury concerns of their own, can win that game.

And it really comes down to, I think, if they can run on Tampa's run defense. I mean, that's the game. They run on everyone lately. Since they went with that run-heavy approach. As long as they have Miles Sanders, they've been running on everyone. It is going to be, I think, going to be a pretty interesting game.

So who's the best kind of long shot to make a Super Bowl run? Anyone that's a four-seater lower, I guess. I mean, again, I'll go back to that Dallas-San Francisco game. I wouldn't be surprised if either one of those two teams did because Dallas' offense certainly can play with anyone. They haven't traveled well, and clearly we've seen some flaws. But, you know, if they click, you know their defense is turnover prone, so they'll have, you know, the ability to force a team into a mistake or two.

And San Fran's defense and run game, you know, that should travel anywhere. And I'll say Cincinnati and the AFC. Yep. Yeah, right. I wanted to talk about them pretty explosive offense defense that's very underrated there no one gives them credit for what they've been able to do defensively and they have had some games where they've just been absolutely terrible on defense but they've had some other ones where they've been incredible they swept the Ravens and the Steelers this year and maybe you say all right we'll sweep in the Steelers this year. Maybe you say, all right, well, sweeping the Steelers, that's not a big deal.

I thought earlier in the year that was a big deal. And I think sweeping the Ravens, even though I think one of the games they didn't have Lamar Jackson, I still think it's a big deal. I think that defense is good. I think it can travel to a degree. I know the offense can travel to a degree. And if we end up seeing all the top seeds win in the AFC, that means we're getting Cincinnati at Tennessee

in the second week of the playoffs. And I can't just check that one off for the Titans. I think the Titans are going to have a real tough time with Cincinnati in that game. That seems like the type of game where Tennessee builds a lead early and Burrow just leads a charge back and it's settled in the last session between the two teams. So I think Cincinnati would be a dark horse.

And the darkest one of them all, the super dark horse, would be the Patriots. Just that Belichick finds a way defensively to scheme up against each opponent. And Mac Jones plays a little bit better than he has. He hasn't been consistent this year, but we've seen some really good games from Mac Jones over the course of the season.

Yeah, so if you look at the futures odds to win the Super Bowl, the four teams that I don't think people really think have a Super Bowl chance. Dave just made a dark, dark, dark horse case for the Patriots, but the four teams with the longest odds are the Pats, the Raiders, the Eagles, and the Steelers.

And I mean, I really feel like every other team could make this run. Yep. Am I nuts for saying this? I think I believe the least in the Titans. I'm sorry. I just don't believe.

The thing about the Titans is that, you know, look, they obviously had to adjust on the fly when they lose their best player. Their defense, I thought, really stepped up in the second half of the season, and that I think is going to be key. They're very resilient, as we've seen in a few games this season, where they've fallen behind, and knowing what their offense was,

not expecting them to come back. I remember the Colts game in the middle of the season when they were – I think Henry was still playing at that point, when they were down two scores early. There was a game in the second half after Henry was out playing at that point, when they were down two scores early. There was a game in the second half after Henry was out. I don't remember

which one it was. Well, when they came down from a deficit, you're saying? Yeah. San Francisco. But they were lucky, I think, because Garoppolo

was horrible after he hurt his finger. Oh, you're right. San Francisco was going to run away with that game. They were so much better than them. But, I mean, teams have struggled in Tennessee.

Buffalo has really struggled in Tennessee the last two years. The Titans, the Chiefs, I don't think a team that they want to see is the Titans. They were horrible there. They got crushed there. I don't think a lot of people think of that as a tough place to play, but it clearly has been. And then I think the other thing that you look at is, um, you know, the, the Raiders, I don't think they win in the first round. Um,

but their pass rush has been so tough. You know, this is where I struggle. Cause I think Burrow could have a great game. We've won, but his offensive line is, you know, giving up a lot of sacks clearly. And if he's on his back and, and not able to, you know, step into throws and get those plays down the field, thankfully to against practice on Thursday, you know, the Raiders have kind of got this little magic going with them right now that it'd be, you know, given for the guys in the locker room, you know, you don't obviously condone what happened with, with Gruden and the things

that he went through and rugs, but I don't think that's fair to the guys that are still playing and what they've had to overcome with the nitrum head coach getting them into the playoffs, how the final game unfolded, what Derek Carr has done. He's certainly played really well. And now they have Waller back, and Josh Jacobs is playing great. So it'd be interesting to see if they pull off an upset what they can do.

Are we talking enough about the rams and cardinals and if you had to pick one of those teams to make it to the super bowl which one would it be because i feel like like going to the 49ers yes i totally think that they're an under the radar dark horse team no one wants to play them etc etc but i i still think about what this rams defense has even with the injuries that you talked about adam and they're good and that rams offensive matthew stafford can just cut down on turnovers i think they're dangerous in arizona same thing when kyler's on man he's on jj wach could be back for that defense in arizona he could add a little something he'll at least give them some depth on the D-line.

I don't want to overlook those teams, even though I have a little bit of a hard time saying, all right, they've got a great shot to make it to the Final Four. I wouldn't be surprised if the Cardinals won, but they feel so broken right now just in terms of how they've looked. And the Rams obviously have as well, but I think you give the edge to the coach who's been there before. You give the edge to the quarterback who's been tested before. You know, Kyler's just been struggling.

You know, Adam, like you said, it could be because of DeAndre Hopkins not being there for him. I wish they had a healthy, and they might be by the time we get to Monday, but a healthy either Connor or Edmonds, certainly both, you know, because that would make their team better. Obviously, for our DFS purposes, because that would make their team better. Obviously, for our DFS purposes, we'd like to have one guy. But they just feel like so lost offensively.

I know they played well in the Dallas game, but aside from that, they just feel like they're just struggling so much. And, you know, the idea of even with the secondary being banged up for the Rams, Aaron Donald and Von Miller is finally starting to make plays for them. That pass rush, I think, is going to be such a problem for Kyler Murray. So I think one of these teams is probably two and done. I don't see them advancing much further than week one. Excuse me, than week two, the divisional round.

Because if things do hold, then they're going to Green Bay, and that's probably a loss. Well, they might go to Green Bay, but... I guess San Francisco wins. Right. If San Francisco wins. Right. If San Francisco... Or if Philadelphia wins. Right. If the six or seven wins,

those are the teams that are going to. Right, right, right. If the chalk holds, then they're going to Green Bay. They're either going to Green Bay or they're going to Dallas. Yeah, I should have said... When I said Tennessee was that third team

that I... No, they'd be going to Tampa, not Dallas. Right. Right. Right, right, right. Sorry, when I said Tennessee was the other team, I didn't really... I should have said Arizona. I just don't think they're a Super Bowl-caliber team.

But they could get Hopkins back, maybe in the conference championship game. That's the word. Okay, good stuff, fun. I really think it's been an amazing season. They said on Red Zone in Week 18 something like, we've had the most walk-off wins this year in 50 years. Something crazy like that.

And then that was before the Steelers crazy game and the Sunday night game. So it's been an amazing season, and I think it could be a really fun playoff. Now, let's talk a little DFS. And I was going to go game by game, but I think it's probably going to just take a lot of time. Let's go position by position. And who don't you like?

The quarterbacks, right? Who don't you like at quarterback this week? Well, I'm always interested in trying to go cheaper at quarterback, and seeing Jalen Hurts at 6100 is interesting to me. Who don't you like? Who don't you like? Who don't you like?

I don't want any part of it. I wouldn't play Stafford knowing that I can get Hurts for 200 less or Dak for 100 more. I do think Dak is a wild card. I really think he could be just as amazing as he was playing against the Eagles backups or as terrible as he was earlier in the

year. I think the Cowboys game will fall directly on him. I'm worried about Burrow. I don't want to play him at 6,800 because I think it's going to be a mix in game and kind of a low scoring game. Jamie brought up the pass rush for the Raiders. I think that that's a legit issue. I wouldn't want to play Brady if it's going to be a major thunderstorm. And I'm,

I think I'm okay with Mahomes against Pittsburgh. And I know that he'll be popular. I think he and Allen will probably be the chalk. But we saw him do well against the Steelers just a couple weeks ago. I could see him doing just as well again. You're really talking about the best fantasy quarterbacks for the most part in the playoffs this week. It's awesome.

It's awesome. And it's a tough decision when you look at, how do you separate Matthew Stafford, who has had eight games this year with 28 or more points? And he's been... Well, then at home. Yeah, he's been eight touchdowns to eight interceptions in his last four games, and it's killing him.

But he has this huge potential versus Dak Prescott, versus Joe Burrow. He's coming off two mega games. I mean, I don't even know. I don't want to do... I don't envy you if you have to do quarterback rankings this week because that group is so similar. And I don't think they should be priced much lower

than Tom Brady, for example. I don't know, Jamie. That's the trap, is that you're hoping people fall for name over... I don't want to say game, but name over scenario. Yeah, Brady's a lot more expensive, and so are Allen and Mahomes and Allen's facing the Patriots. So yeah, Hertz,

Hertz had a three touchdown game against the Bucs earlier this season, you know, so there's a lot to like about what he could do. He scored two on the ground, you know, so if the, if the running game in terms of the running backs are struggling, he'll take that into his own hands.

And we've seen at times, you know, Josh Allen, for example, had a hundred yard game against the Bucs. You know, you can run on them at the quarterback position. You know, there's been multiple guys that have had 40 or more yards. Cam was the most recent one.

So they'll give up yards, and he's not afraid to take them. Okay, so between Kyler Murray, Matthew Stafford, Dak Prescott, Jalen Hurts, and Joe Burrow, who are your two favorites? For me, it's Hurts, and Joe Burrow, who are your two favorites? For me, it's Hurts and Burrow. That's based on price, or that's based on just your favorites if you were ranking them? It's based on price.

Hurts is probably my favorite of them all. All right. Price having a big reason for it. Are you fading Josh Allen in the matchup? He crushed them a few weeks ago. No, no, but he's the most expensive quarterback. I'm going to build a lot of lineups,

and I'll probably have multiple quarterbacks in different ones. Okay, so let's go to running back here. We love Fournette on both sites. Who else, Dave? Fournette, Singletary eli mitchell uh daryl williams if there's no ceh i think you can make the case for sony michelle at 5400 and i don't know if there's really a cheaper running back that like romandre stevenson at 4700 just feels a little too rich and i don't know if there's another one that i really like other than the ones i just said so if you want obviously yeah mixin is the one if you want to spend because he's the most expensive

on draft kings the thing about the they didn't really do us any favors uh as we talked about with the daryl williams pricing for example um michelle is probably the closest to it but he didn't play well against the Cardinals in the first meeting, you know, in terms of what his, he got work, but what his numbers are. Now, if you really want to be, go out there and see what happens, is Cam Akers, because he's cheap, you know. So is he really back? Did he get the ability to show you that he's fine?

I don't think so, but at least he knocked the rust off. You know, there's probably still a lot of rust, but at least he knocked the rust off. The one guy that's the most intriguing to me based on his price, especially if Conor doesn't go, is obviously Chase Edmonds, but then everybody's going to play him. So you've got to be in a situation where, and I'm saying this, I'm looking at the Saturday-Monday lineup so you can play everybody. I would encourage you to do that if you want to get the most opportunity

to have everybody at your disposal. But that's probably more of a conversation when you get to monday and do the showdowns but in any event if you're able to do the saturday monday lineup um edmunds at 5000 could be fantastic yeah and then he had a good game in the first meeting when connor was still there connor scored a touchdown edmunds had 12 carries for 100 yards and and in the second game connor had nine catches. So you figure a lot of that goes to Edmonds. Look at this group of four running backs on FanDuel. Fournette, 7,300. Jacobs, 7,200.

Singletary, 6,900. And Sonny Michel, 6,700. Who stands out there as the best value? You got Fournette, Jacobs, Singletary, and Sonny Michel. Jacobs. Jacobs is a best value. You got Fournette, Jacobs, Singletary, and Sonny Michel. Jacobs. Jacobs is a good value. You like him better than Fournette? I think Singletary isn't a bad value either.

I can't get away from Fournette and Singletary, but I feel like everyone's going to do that. Yeah, again, you just got to hope that Fournette is right. Jacobs is a good value. Yeah. Because you know the thing with him has been, if he's not running the ball well, he's still involved in the passing game.

So they've really turned to him in a big, big way. And any interest in Miles Sanders? He's pretty cheap. Not cheap enough. I think if we knew he was 100%, and I'm glad he's practicing on a limited basis,

and I know it's just a hand injury, so it's not that they have to worry about recurrence of soft tissue, but it's still such a good run defense. And is he going to get all the work? And you said it, when they've been at their best, it's been because Sanders has been carrying the load for them. But Howard's still there. Scott, I'm sure, will have some work.

Gainwell showed them something, I'm sure, in Week 17 that they can use him a little bit. Or excuse me, Week 18. So it feels a little messy, but that's the type of contrarian move you make. All right, Jamie, let's go to wide receiver. What are we doing at wide receiver? This is a tough spot because it's so top-heavy with the guys,

at least when I'm looking at draft games. I haven't really gone too in-depth on Fandle yet. My favorite play, I don't care what he costs, he's the second most expensive receiver, is Debo Samuel because you know what you're getting. You're getting the ball is going to be in his hands as much as possible. And, you know, we've seen this Cowboys defense. They give up big plays.

You know, I think Debo's going to have a chance to, you know, as we saw, maybe he has another throw. He'll certainly have some carries. He'll have the opportunity to catch the ball. And so he's the one guy that I'll pay up for. I think T. Higgins is in a good spot because people are going to remember the Jamar Chase game in Week 17, and Higgins did not have a good game. Didn't play Week 18.

Shows up on the injury report, so he's still got the injury tag next to him. $6,300. I think he's well worth it. The three guys I think if you're the three guys i think if you're looking for the cheap options that have a ton of upside obviously said wilson you see what he's done since michael gallup has been out so 4 400 he's great tyler johnson's in a great spot because you know that right now um uh cyril grayson probably not going to play and so where's brady going to go you You know, so you said it, Darius Slade probably on Mike Evans that could open up some targets.

So it could be Perryman could be Mitchell, excuse me, Miller, but Tyler Johnson, I think you kind of seen what he's been. Not a lot of huge plays yet, but the targets have been there to the last three without, without Antonio Brown. And then the third guy would be Ray, Ray McLeod. You know, just the targets have been up for him the last several weeks. And he is as dirt cheap as you will find. So I like the setup for all three of those guys

if you're talking about just building your lineup with some stars and finding a third receiver flex to put in with a lesser-priced option. What about Zay Jones? He had eight targets last week. Not bad. Yeah, same. Same type guy. Right. He's right in that cheap range anybody that you can get for under like 5 000 you've got to give a second look to you figure the raiders are going to trail in the game zay jones has been a popular target for derrick carr maybe that shifts now that

waller's had a week to get his legs under him and be more immersed in the office of eight or nine targets yeah he did he just didn't come through with them. So it's, it's encouraging almost all the way around. Maybe that means a Waller gets up to double digits, like 12, 13 targets, something like that in the game. And you also have a one Wesley too,

if you're looking for just a touchdown. I was going to mention him. My favorite expensive receivers, Deontay Johnson at 6,700, just knowing that Roethlisberger is going to throw 46 times for 185 yards, but Johnson will pick up a lot of those targets as he has throughout his entire career playing

with Big Ben. One last game together, Seelers chasing points. I think he can get you north of 20 PPR points, which is what you're looking for from somebody priced at 6,700. I'm not losing sight of Gabriel Davis. I still think that he's a popular target of Josh Allen's.

Jacoby Myers, if there's any potential of the Patriots struggling to run the football, he's the plan B. And if they're chasing points, he's the plan A. So I don't mind going after him and hoping that he gets in the neighborhood of eight or nine targets.

He needs 13.5 PPR points to return three times value. That'd be a season high. He just had a targets, he needs 13.5 PPR points to return three times value. That'd be a season high. He just had a season high on the road with 11 PPR points. So he has not been good on the road. Averaging prior to week 18, seven PPR points per game on the road. That does include a game with zero targets against Buffalo. Yeah, I throw that one out, obviously.

But still. You factored in. I don't think he averaged over 10. Yeah. All right. So. His two best games on averaged over 10. Yeah. All right. His two best games on the road were 10 PPR points at the Colts and 11 PPR points at the Dolphins.

And the Colts was a game that they lost. That's the only word the game script was one that we thought was against them, right? Both those games, they were chasing points. Right. So, maybe a good point. My read on the wide receivers on FanDuel is that Cup and Debo are probably worth the price. And Debo is $1,300 less than Cup.

I did get Cup in my lineup, but I could reconsider it because I do have Tyler Johnson in there. And I'd like to have someone a little bit better than that. Because I don't like I said, I'm avoiding Mike Evans. He's third. I'm not starting Jamar Chase because I think Higgins is a much better value. Tyreek Hill's third. I'm not starting Jamar Chase because I think Higgins is a much better value. Tyreek Hill's injured. And Stefan Diggs is facing the Patriots, and he was very good against them a few weeks ago, but he's got a tough matchup.

CeeDee Lamb is next on FanDuel. It's a contrarian play. He could obviously snap out of it any minute now, but he's been struggling. Hunter Renfro, he's scoring touchdowns lately, but the yards are way down. Deontay Johnson, Ben's been so bad recently. Look at Deontay Johnson's yards lately. It's like something around

probably 50 a game in the last four weeks. Amari Cooper, I just don't love wide receiver this week, even though I love the quarterbacks, which is weird. I think what you do is you pick one of the top heavy guys, and then you go cheap. That's what I did. The first lineup I built was, it's Debo Samuel said Wilson and I put Beckham in there because Beckham did have a good game against the Cardinals in the

first meeting at seven for 71. It was again, you know, I go back to what I was saying at the end of the season when they've always stayed steady with giving Sony Michelle work, but in the games where Michelle hasn't had success, this Cardinals game being one of them, he was like 20 for 70 yards in that range. Beckham was his targets were up, his catches were up, his yards were up, and he scored.

So it was, his best game was against the Cardinals, and you said it all season long, Adam, how the number two guy's always been better than the number one guy. Clearly that wasn't the case in the first meeting, the second meeting with the Rams. All three guys scored touchdowns. But I think Beckham's in a good spot

because the trust has certainly been developed now over time with Stafford, and he's leaned on him in some big spots. Okay, so I actually just changed my FanDuel lineup. I had Kup and Tyler Johnson. I changed it to Debo Samuel and Odell Beckham. What happened here? Yeah, a little bit.

But honestly, Beckham was the most expensive wide receiver that was on the board with the cash I freed up when I went from K to samuel so yeah i think i think it's it's not bad like i always try to go you know if i go expensive with one player i try to you know going back on the other side in the same game with somebody cheap so like for me it's it's the two that i looked at was was said wilson and debo you know just kind of go there my quarterback in that lineup that i already built was was hurts so you don't really have to handcuff it or stack him with anybody because he's that type of guy.

If you wanted to, you could go Goddard. But I think it's always good to have some sort of bring back on the other side. In that case, Debo and Sed Wilson make a lot of sense. I like the tight ends this week, guys. Dave, how do you feel about tight end? Who are you going with? I like Gronk, assuming that the weather isn't too bad. You just look at the matchups and how it shakes out.

I think he's in a good spot to pick up a lot of targets with Mike Evans potentially hampered by Darius Slay and the rest of the receivers for Tampa Bay not doing a whole heck of a lot. Waller, we talked about this on FFT in 5, Adam, which turned into FFT in 8. But Waller is someone that I think is a really good contrarian play. He was terrible last week, still had the targets,

still somebody that I think can bounce back a little bit, a little expensive at $5,700. If you can't afford Waller, there's always Dalton Schultz, and he's been all reliable for Dak Prescott. Wouldn't be surprised if Schultz had another big game. So there's plenty of tight ends that are toward the top that are reasonably priced and should be able to come through for good numbers the last one i'll mention is urts 4700 we've seen him get a nice target share over the last month or so and could see him pick up some good numbers

come through for 14 ppr points i think he can do that six for 80 type game jamie wanna any thoughts on tight end no it's great Gronk's my favorite. He's expensive, but he's worth it. I think you've kind of seen that. When he has somebody else on the field with him, that's been a good thing. So Evan's back last week. Targets were up.

Obviously, the incentive, you've obviously, I'm sure, seen the videos by now of Gronk telling Tom he needed the other catch to get his Millie. Otherwise, he has to get a real job. Brady yelled at him, get back in there. First play, throws it to him. They both come off the field. But they're so in sync.

They're so in sync in the playoffs. The one thing that I go back to with it is, if you remember the Chiefs game with the Eagles, they put Darius Slay on Kelsey. Clearly different scenario. But they took their chances with Tyreek Hill and Tyreek Hill destroyed them. I wonder if there's a similar type of game plan,

maybe not throughout the whole game, but if they move Slay to cover Gronk a little bit when Gronk's not in line, in lined up, you know, more as a receiver. Okay, so why don't we give some lineups here and, oh, and DSTs as well. I guess you can talk about that as you give your lineups. Dave, give me one DraftKings lineup.

I haven't built one yet. Can you come back to it? Yeah. Jamie, you got a lineup? Yep. So it is... I don't hear someone. Sorry.

Where did it go? Want me to go first? I went to the wrong spot. Sorry. Lineup is Jalen Hurts, quarterback, Singletary and Mitchell at running back, Debo, Beckham, and Sed Wilson at receiver, Gronkowski a tight end daryl williams and flex and the rams dsc okay no prices on that no that's okay just give it to me one more time a little slower jalen

hertz a quarterback devin singletary and elijah mitchell at running back debo samuel odell beckham said wilson that receiver bronca tight end daryl Darrell Williams at the flex, and the Rams DST. All right, so no stack, really? No, like I said, I don't think you have to with Hurts. Okay. I have on FanDuel, I have Burrow. I do have an extra $400, so I haven't settled on Burrow. You know what?

No, screw it. I think I'm going to go Dak. No. I don't know. It's going to be Kyler, Dak, Burrow, or Stafford. It's going to be one of them. Just to do some cross promotion, not that I've listened to the show yet,

but I did read the tees that we have on our site for Sportsline. Mike McClure likes a Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase stack. Okay, so I have a Burrow-Higgins stack. So I have Burrow, and now that McClure likes it, I'm in. Fournette and Singletary, T. Higgins, Debo Samuel, Odell Beckham. I have a two tight end set. I have Darren Waller,

and I have Zach Ertz at flex, and the 49ers DST. So, yeah, I mean, I like it. I think, I don't love the fact that I have two tight ends, but I can't seem to get, I can't seem to figure that. That would have to be, instead of Ertz, it would have to be somebody like Ayuk, and I don't think I fact that I have two tight ends, but I can't seem to get... I can't seem to figure that... That would have to be, instead of Ertz,

it would have to be somebody like Ayuk. And I don't think I want to do that. I think I want to stick with Ertz. Dave, anything or... I don't have anything for you. Not yet. All right, Dave, we'll keep it on Twitter. All right, yeah, we'll keep it put on Twitter.

All right, let me see if I can finish here with an email or two. This one's from Isaac. Subject, cup. What is Cooper Cup's floor? He kind of reminds me of Jose Bautista after 54 home runs. Okay, we're all expecting regression, but how much would he need to regress to make him a bust?

What if he doesn't hit his floor? So let me go ahead and look up what Jose Bautista did. Well, do you remember what Cup was in 2020? Yeah, not good. 13 and a half PPR points a game. Now I was with a different quarterback and other factors in play. I can't help but think that yes, he'll come down from where he was this year, which was 25.3 PPR points per game.

But it wouldn't surprise me if he was right around 20 a game. I love him next year. As long as Stafford's still there, you know that offensive line will get improved during the offseason. I don't think they need to make any improvements to their passing game. I don't know if they'll re-sign Odell. They got Robert Woods coming back off the injury. Van Jefferson will still be there. I think the situation will be pretty much the same for Cup, and I don't know if there's necessarily going to be defenses that are going to be focused on

slowing him down, especially if the run game, if Cam Akers is back to being himself, that offense is still going to be just as tough as it was this year. There was a quote from... Who was it? It was on the Rams last year, maybe on Cincinnati

this year. It's a defensive player. Yeah, yeah. It was one of the defensive backs. And he said they run their offense through Cooper Cup. And I thought that was a really cool quote. That was mid-season. Jamie, what's Cooper Cup's floor? I think, you know, Dave said 2020

numbers. You know, we got to see what this receiving core looks like because do they bring back Beckham? And where's Robert Woods coming off the ACL tear? you know, Dave said 2020 numbers. You know, we got to see what this receiving core looks like because do they bring back Beckham? And where's Robert Woods coming off the ACL tear? You know, so if everybody is there and they keep this core intact with Van Jefferson and Higby and whatever the backfield looks like because Michelle is a free agent, do they bring him back also? And, you know, there's going to be two guys.

It's going to be either Akers and Henderson or maybe Akers, Michelle, and Henderson, but, you know, there's going to be two guys. It's going to be either acres and Henderson or maybe acres, Michelle and Henderson, but you know, there'll be two guys. I think of significance. You like it better from an acre standpoint, if it's Henderson, but I think, you know, you look at what, what cup is, you know, and again, I'll reference what our rankings are. There are two people on our staff, Dave and Chris, who have cup number one, everybody else has cup number two.

And clearly if Devante Adams leaves the Packers or Aaron Rodgers leaves the Packers, we're all going into the season with Cooper cup number one. So it's, it's pretty clear that we're, we're buying into whatever extent. And, you know, I think Adam, you said this, I don't remember who you were referencing the comparison, but of when things just clicked for whoever it was, Adams. Oh, Diggs, right. When Diggs left and went to Allen and Stafford,

what he's done for Cooper Cup. And so it's just been awesome. And he was very good with golf. He's just been amazing with Stafford. Sean McVay is unreal in how he gets Cooper Cup open. I don't know what he wants to say. Cooper Cup is great in how he gets Cooper Cup open. I don't know what he wants to say. Cooper Cup is great in how he gets himself open. Yes.

And so it's obviously a creative offense in how they run things. But, you know, the chance of regression to whatever degree is clearly going to happen. It's just a matter of how far he'll fall. Yeah. And Diggs regressed pretty severely, but still, what is he, wide receiver six or something like that?

Yep. And by the way, Jose Bautista followed up that 54-homer season with only 43 home runs, but a much better season. His best season of his career the following year. And then we have a Dynasty question from Kyle in a city in Ohio bordering Michigan, and it was Deontay Johnson's college. Oh, my God. Where did he go? Why am I pointing on this? Let's see.

We'll take a look. Deontay Johnson, where did you go? Where did you go? He went to Toledo. Toledo. Holy Toledo. Toledo. I was going to say Akron, but I know that's not on the border.

Our Dynasty League is expanding from 12 to 14 teams. We're allowed to keep seven players. Can be either players or 2022 picks. After that, a maximum of two players. Oh, no, we're not allowed to keep. We're allowed to protect seven players or picks. An expansion draft. Yeah. A max of two players will be taken from each existing team

by the expansion teams. It's a three-receiver league with two flexes and two running backs. So which seven should I keep? And the ones he expects to keep are Akers, Gibson, David Montgomery, Clyde Edwards-Elair, Devontae Smith, Lamar Jackson, and Chris Godwin.

The other options are Calvin Ridley, Darren Waller, pick 1.7 this year, and pick 1.8 next year, 2023. So would you replace any of Akers, Gibson, Montgomery, Clyde, Devante Smith, Lamar Jackson, Chris Godwin, with Ridley, Waller, or a first-round pick this year or a first-round pick next year? So unless there's a few very loaded rosters and the rookie class is going to be fantastic,

1-7 really doesn't help you very much. You don't think so? Well, I mean, you're talking about the potential of the 12 teams? It's going to be 14. It's going to be 14 teams. So these are going to be mid-14. 12 going to 14.

If all 12 keep five guys, you assume that's probably the case, right? At least four or five guys? No, I think they're going to keep most of their roster, except they're keeping... Okay, so they're keeping almost all of their roster. You assume the majority of the 12 are keeping close to seven players.

Five or more, right? Protecting. There's a difference between protecting and keeping. Because they're going to end up keeping almost everyone. They're going to have two players poached from their team. They're protecting seven assets, then there's the expansion draft, and then whoever doesn't get poached, they keep. So it is a true dynasty league.

So the potential of 1-7 is, if he just stays with what he has, it's going to be a group of players like Godwin, Waller, and who's the third? No, no, no. I think 1-7's a dynasty rookie pick. Yes. This is the rookie-only draft.

Alright, so I'm confused. So he's keeping the rest of his roster. He's got a list of players and picks. He's got to keep a combination of seven players or picks. The players he does not protect, he might get back if they're not picked in the expansion draft.

Yeah. So the first thing you've got to do is look through the players and figure out which ones you absolutely positively cannot lose to another team. Yeah. I mean, would you rather have pick one seven this year and one eight next year or David Montgomery, Clyde Edwards, Ziller, or, you know, or Calvin Ridley, Darren Waller? I don't know that he's got the right mix and match here. I agree. I think I would be a little concerned

about leaving both those picks open and out there when you've got some assets on the team that might not be as popular as you think. You really want to put the least popular players out for the expansion teams. You also have to assume that the fantasy managers that have those late first-round picks are going to make those available,

which might make your mid-first-round pick. And the teams that are picking early in the rookie-only draft, there's no way that they're going to make their picks available. So if you leave 1-7 and 1-8 available, I would imagine the expansion teams are going to jump on them, especially the 20-107. So the mid-first round pick in 2022 has to be

protected. I think Calvin Ridley has to be protected. I think Chris Godwin has to be protected. I think you've got to... I look at the running backs, and I can make a case for and against them. Who's the least popular? I think Edward Ziller is them who's the least popular I think

Edward Ziller is going to be the least popular so you throw him back and then from Akers Gibson Montgomery I don't think I can keep all three of them which two do I think have the best long-term outlook I don't know that that that's a tricky well are they more valuable than pick one seven though that's what you have to ask does he win now or is he looking to still you know build team i don't know i mean i'm keep i'm keeping one seven for sure for sure i can't and i really would throw clive back to one eight and 2023 as well yeah throw clive back though right like don't protect him yeah and godwin's no sore thing because we don't know where he's playing we don't know where he's playing we don't know what his health will be it sucks to throw him back i get it oh man if he's back with the with brady right if he's back

with tampa and he's going through training camp and everything's hunky-dory you're gonna wish you had him yeah so i kind of lean toward keeping him. And the lesson that I've learned with Dynasty is that having great receivers, it took me years to learn this lesson, but having great, reliable receivers is just a month. And the same thing can apply to tight end. Now, not much longer. Waller is going to be a great tight end

because he's older. He was a late breakout in his career. I think I'm leaning toward keeping both picks. Waller, Ridley, Godwin. That's five. I've got to keep two more. Give me Gibson

and give me Lamar Jackson. That way, I've got at least a skeleton of a roster. I don't know, man. You're leaving him way too thin at running back. Unless he gets these guys back. You're leaving him way too thin at running back. Unless he gets these guys back. That's the thing. They may not get claimed.

You're possibly rude. It's no guarantee that the first six picks in the rookie draft are going to be rookies. Why not? So the expansion draft is before the rookie draft?

Usually rookie drafts are rookies. The expansion draft is before the rookie draft. That's the way I... And he can't lose more than two players. So if he leaves Akers... If he leaves Akers, Montgomery, and Edwards,

he'll air out there. He's guaranteed one of them back. It'll probably be Clyde. All right. So personally, I would not protect Clyde or pick 1.8 in 2023. I don't think they're going to get claim. I'm not sure that an expansion team is going to want to,

is going to want a 2023 pick. If I'm an expansion team, that's one of the first things I'm looking for. Cause you're not winning this year. Right. I would take the 2022 pick. Yes, but there's two teams.

Why you're protecting it. Yeah. All right. This is a tough one. I don't know that we helped you much. I think throwback caught. There's an expansion draft, then the rookie draft? Yes.

The expansion draft will take some of the rookie picks. Right. It's a fun concept here. All right, Kyle, I hope this was somewhat helpful. At least we know now where Deontay Johnson went to college. Have a great day, everybody. Have a great weekend. Enjoy the games.

We will talk to you on Tuesday with another episode of Fantasy Football Today.