Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Championship Studs & Duds + Lucky Breaks, Owl Wins! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/30

Episode Date: December 30, 2024

Championship Week recap on today’s fantasy football podcast! Andy, Mike, and Jason react to the weekend action and celebrate the league winning studs! Plus, the biggest Week 17 surprises, injury news, and Monday Punday! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for December 30th, 2024. (00:00) - Intro (16:35) - NFL News  (23:35) - Fantasy Football Studs (23:40) - QB Studs (29:40) - RB Studs (34:00) - WR Studs (39:55) - TE Studs (43:10) - Fantasy Football Duds (43:25) - QB Duds (48:20) - RB Duds (48:55) - WR Duds (50:15) - TE Duds Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on X Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://USAA.com/Insurance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Mitsubishi. What does ambition look like to you? Suits, awards, money, fame? These are the things that most people think of but that's an incomplete picture because actually ambition is on the inside. It's an invisible grind, a pursuit, and it's yours. No one can take it from you. So that thing you love winning championships in your league, keep doing it. Even if it doesn't look like earning millions going pro or winning a Nobel Prize, Mitsubishi Motors is there to help champion your next goal, adventure or passion. Mitsubishi, drive your ambition. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright. Welcome in. Monday, December 30th, the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Oh

Big breath everybody Welcome in there's a lot of celebrating going on right now Yeah, there's a lot of Crying going on right now. Yeah, and then there's where Mike is which I'm sure a lot of you listening You're there, which is your sweating. You're just holding your breath for about 16 hours I will lay it out for you first of all genuine actual congratulations to Al Borland he will not accept it yet he will not accept it he is oh he's up by 60 points with Jameer Gibbs left he has won the championship the trophies on his desk but he will not accept it because he

doesn't know how to feel right now. But I think- I just don't wanna Jonathan Taylor this thing and drop the ball before I get into the end zone. All right, okay. If you drop the ball before you get into the end zone, that will be really cool. I will not be repeating as champion, but I am happy that it's going to

a first time league of record champion with an extraordinary team who dodged, when you talk about what it takes to win a championship, we heard from people all week and long, there's a number of things that come into play. This weekend, I think luck was a big part of it. Sometimes you don't want to focus on the luck factor, but when weather and game day and weekend of injuries happen

and you've got motivation factors for teams, you've got guys saying they're gonna play through injuries, there is always an aspect of luck involved in fantasy football. Our job, our show, our purpose is to give you whatever percentage isn't luck, the best possible advantage in that percentage. But this weekend we saw a lot of craziness going on,

but I was thinking with your team, Al, and top to bottom, very good roster, knew that Trey McBride touchdown was coming, knew it. Oh yeah. Knew it, but almost touchdown was coming, knew it. Oh yeah. Knew it, but, almost two of them, doink. Yeah. But also you avoided catastrophic injury. I mean when you think about your roster top to bottom,

whether you got Bijon and Kyron, Jacobs, Jefferson, Sutton and Jaden Daniels and Trey McBride, those are guys that all stayed healthy for the most part this year Jaden missed a game or something in between but You've got to you got to have a little bit of depth and now Mike is going into Monday night football in her dynasty Like looking man looking for his own repeat situation is I believe he's up 47 40. It's 47 points 47.1 47.1. Thank you. Thank you facing 47.1. 47.1. Thank you. Thank you. Facing. And I am up against Gibbs, Laporta, and Debo tonight. It's all Debo. It's half point. It's all Debo. I think I agree with that. There

is some accumulation of Gibbs and Laporta points that is going to happen. Yes. So to me it's like, I think Laporta and Gibbs are good for 30. That's what I think. They're good for it tonight. Right. But they can't both score in the same place. Can's a bow cover the Dibbo covers. Does Dibbo have a big game? Which there were a lot of people asking questions before championship weekend about Dibbo I was on for like an hour answering start sits Mike had Sunday live answer start sits and You know a lot of people were saying I need upside This guy or Dibbo I picked Dibbo a lot Yeah

not because he will do it But because at least if you see the possible outcomes for the game tonight Debo has got a shot at you know being the guy for a night and what the the complete unknown tonight is if you have not followed the The trajectory of just the NFL you've've been just hyper-focused on fantasy. The Detroit Lions tonight, the game is completely and totally meaningless. If they win, it's a morale boost, you keep your momentum,

but if they lose, their seeding doesn't change. Everything for the Lions is next week's, are they the final game? Yeah, it's the final game. The final game of the season. It's going to be amazing. A battle for the North. Yeah, it's the Lions, Vikings,

winner gets the number one seed. And a bye. And a bye week. Loser goes on the road. I think to the five seed. And so it's, what will the Lions do tonight? Look, Coach Campbell is very high T, nonstop nitro espressos,

we're gonna bite your kneecaps, all that stuff. He has said we're going in, we're everything, we're going to win this game on the West Coast. Now at halftime, what happens? I don't know. I think the scary thing or the nice thing, depending on what side you're on, is that if the Lions do really, really well,

they go out there and they put a beat down on the 49ers, they're not gonna do it for as long. They will take these players, and when they know that they've probably got the game in hand, I think they'll, I mean you can't risk Jameer Gibbs to an injury in a game that isn't going to, your goal here is Super Bowl. Now again, Dan Campbell's come out and said, we are going hard after this game, we're going to win this game, we're playing our guys, but I do think there comes a point near the fourth quarter where outcomes could

make it a, you know, set these guys down. It's one thing that it's not, like the 49ers are not a push over victory. The game's in San Francisco. So it's one of those things, it could stay competitive longer, being the point. The other thing is it's just weird because you are, you have almost like a pre-sit your guys situation, right?

Like you could, if you're the Lions and it's all about next week, you could sit all your starters, right? Like that would be the extreme on that side. You could sit them all so you can win a game so you can sit them again, right? Because you want the chance to have the bye week. It's tough.

Like you said, Dan Campbell's a certain type of guy. You know, I doubt that they want to potentially lose this game, potentially lose next week, then have to go play on a two game losing streak too. So you can unravel it any way that you want. I think to me, Gibbs is the biggest question mark. Because if like he. He could do enough and a half.

Well, he could do enough and a half. But I'm saying like, if I'm the Detroit Lions, Jameer Gibbs is the guy that cannot. Yeah, you can't lose him. He cannot get hurt. Because if Gibbs goes down, your Super Bowl odds plummet. Even Amon Ras's superstar wide receiver, I think that Gibbs is more important to the way that this offense functions. It's the fact that you already lost Montgomery too.

You can't lose both of your starting running backs when that's like the foundation and identity. The game is in Detroit next week for the division. And it's going to be very, very fun. It will be also fun for you out there if you're not playing fantasy that week. Yeah. Now we will be here for you because we are a year-round show,

and unfortunately, week 18 is part of the year, the calendar year. Now we joke about it, but we will be here for those of you that have week 18 title games. For those that don't know or are new to the show this season, we shift to two main shows a week after week 18. We still have our footcast at jointhefoot.com. It's our community. We are here all off season.

In fact, we started this show, believe it or not, we basically started this show when the off season began because we knew that there were other people very thirsty and hungry for fantasy football talk in the off season. And it's a good time to reflect. We have a lot of fun. And- Rookies, free agency.

And it happens quick. It does. Those footy awards. Oh yeah, the footies. You know what they say is stress lowers your immune system, Al, did you know that? I figured that out. Did you know that when you, it's the cortisol,

it suppresses your immune system, are you, how are you doing? I'll try not to talk too much. Okay, all right. By the way, if you are deceased, you do not receive the title. Yeah. It posthumously returns to its former owner.

I don't know if you knew that. Don't die. Don't die. I will also try not to die. Hashtag don't die. If you have already won a title, congratulations. A couple of headlines for you today and tomorrow. We have brand new Foot Clan title t-shirts,

a couple different designs up. Oh yeah. At shopballers.com. One is a more, I believe it was inspired by a, one of the mid-90s Buffalo Bills title sweaters. Our designer Andrew Schneider got that taken care of. And then we have another design as well. Shopballers.com, if you want Foot Clan title swag,

you win, you wanna pimp it out. I'm sure Al Borland will be wearing. The hoodies, the mugs. Yeah, he'll be spending money over there. And then if you need a trophy or a ring or a belt for your league, we do this every year, partnering with fantasychamps.com. There's a very special free ring code,

exclusive to this show that you can use. It gives you a free championship ring if you buy a trophy or belt from the website. So if you go to fantasychamps.com, put a trophy in your cart, add a ring of your choice, put in the code free ring, you get the ring for free, and you can take lots of pictures with the ring and send them to your league mates. I mean you gotta swag it up. If you won, you've got to make sure everyone knows. I got a picture yesterday on Twitter It was from long time fan of the show Dustin and he's got three

Footclan rings on his fingers or three title rings nice. He's smoking a cigar and he's got he's got three and six years Let him know. Wow That's quite a run, but he's doing it and six years. Let him know. Wow. That's quite a run. But he's doing it the right way. Which, look, it's hard to let it go. I really wanted the repeat. I did, but no can do. And also, bad news for the Foot Clan as well.

You were going after it in the listener league? Oh yeah, I got whooped. You got laid over a lap. I got burrowed, chased, and higginsed. Yeah. So it is what it is, man. There's not going to be an extra spot open in the listener league. But I tried.

I tried. I got there. At this point, it was kind of our three major leagues. I got to semi-final title title. I'm going to walk away with nothing, which is how it goes sometimes. Would you rather that or would you rather be the champion of the family league like me? I think I'm happy. I think I'm content. I'm gonna go to shop ballers real quick. Swag out. Yeah, yeah. You did defeat my wife. Yep, after getting Mike's kid. Yeah,

that's right. After beating Mike's kid. Family. Just beating on kids, beating on women, Jason. This is inappropriate. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah. You still want that shirt? Yes. You darn right I do. Yeah.

All right. Well, it's Monday, Monday. Let's go to jail. It's Monday, Monday. We got your reactions from the weekend, and here you go. Starting with the good, why don't we let Mike? I needed three chase for a shot. How about T winnings and Bo Nicks has gotten it done or tray big bow time or hurray McBride tray Mcwife

Yeah, it's about time. He's your wife? Weeeeee, John Robinson! Jalen McMillions, baby! You have Elite Neighbors Indeed. Or there goes Joe Burr- Oh my gosh! He's really good at football.

We did have some bad this week, and this wasn't the only bad, but... Like Jerome Borde? That one hurt, Mike. Come on, A-chan! Or Nay Flowers. We did have some bad this week and this wasn't the only bad but like Jerome bored No, I want her Mike come on each hand or nay flowers or Terry McSnoring Oh brutal Jayden can't read He's illiterate James Connor are James con artists yeah and breeze hell. Oh, yeah, that's a simple one. That's a life you're living Con artists is right. I mean I that it it you know, we said it feels so bad. He said the joke Not the joke, but we brought up the storyline like James Connors never played a full season

We wish he never had Like we wish he didn't try to do that because he was so elite and then hurt, but still elite in that game, but this is the one that killed you. And I went down to the wire on the Conor McMillan start-sit decision. I was Conor McMillan and worthy.

I end up going McMillan that night. It ends up being the right call and yet irrelevant. Yeah, McMillan was great. James Connor, it was really tough because it was right off the bat. He had four carries, got a little banged up, and then wasn't allowed to return to the game. Stayed on the sideline with the helmet on.

Every time they'd show him on the sideline, you're like, oh, he's ready to come back in. But it was kind of like a con artist type of situation where you got hoodwinked and you thought you were good to start him. Hopefully, like Andy did, you did pivot to someone else. But I know a lot of people that, Connor was in, they were gonna play him.

He was so hot. He was the running back seven, the running back one, the running back six. Very hard to just bench someone like that because they might re aggravate an injury, which unfortunately did happen. Yep. Yep. Yep. And there were lots of those situations this weekend that were tough and you know, you can overcome it. I've seen the, uh, I've seen the tweets. You know what? You know who you can't overcome? Like I think the one player through the playoffs

that you could only overcome so much, which Andy, you did. In three leagues, you overcame Cooper Cup. He was devastating. You did it in the playoffs, but it was every single week in the playoffs. And it came to bear in the listener league title game, obviously.

And I think you just watched the retirement ceremony. I mean, it's- I think you watched the final moments. It's crazy. The last three weeks, the playoff weeks, zero for zero, three for 24, one for 29. And there was a five for 92 right before that. Oh, his pace on the- With a touchdown, his pace on the season before those three games.

You talking about the division winning LA Rams? Oh, that's right. Your bold prediction. It took quite the path to get there. The insanity of the tiebreaker that had to go down to what, strength of victory? And then depending on which teams won this week It's it's settled everything the Rams won the division. Wait. Oh, they did

When I didn't I missed that it's like they're playing next week and we all thought all this is gonna be great another divisional match For the spot, but it's done Wild yeah, but yeah Cooper Cup as Kyle, a sputtering Oldsmobile on his final mile is the way it went down 15, 16, 17. And by the way, Matthew Stafford had one passing touchdown over the final three games. Did you know that? I did not know that. That'll hurt your Cooper Cup. Yeah, they they're winning games with 12 points, 19 and 13. Puka was fine all three of those games. Yeah, volume, man. He is just, he's automatic.

All right, news. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. Part of the crazy morning was beyond the weather and other news. Chuba Hubbard, surprising, goes on IR with the calf injury, out of lineups, despite during the week Dave Cannell saying he's gonna play. So you lose Chuba Hubbard, you lose to Atanga Wailoa, downgraded to out, didn't play. They're actually the team, they're the next closest to the playoffs because

Denver, here's the thing, Kansas City is going to bench their players. They're playing Denver. By benching their players and playing Denver, they keep Cincinnati out of the playoffs. Because I would want Cincinnati out of the playoffs if I was Kansas City. Now wins They're in Denver loses and Miami wins They're in Denver loses Miami loses Bengals win they're in so the odds are extremely low for the Bengals to get into the playoffs to could play But was downgraded was out for this game, you know, you looked at the situation that was a lot of questions

We got on Sunday morning Mike. I'm sure you fielded them You know, you looked at the situation. That was a lot of questions we got on Sunday morning, Mike. I'm sure you fielded them. It was A-chan, Johnny Smith, and Tyreek Hill. My advice that morning was basically, if you had multiples, I would hedge. I would not play all of them. I'd play whatever guy you're most convicted about.

I thought A-chan would be okay. He was the dud. Johnny was good, and Tyreek was good. Yeah, that's so wild. So that's a real kick in the... Yeah, the one guy who felt like was, oh, he's the safe one. Yeah, with the dinks and the dunks and the like.

We saw this though, when Tua was gone, with the head injury earlier from whatever it was, like week three through seven, those were his worst games, those were A-chan's worst games because when you could stack the box against a lighter back like him, it just doesn't work. He needs that that room and and also the targets from from two of that have really been lifting him up.

He is the the one most hurt by this offense I think. And then we also had other injuries we had Chase Brown lead with a mild high ankle sprain. He's gonna his was now he went down right? Like in the game? In the, no, no, okay, Kyle, do you remember the play? Does anyone else remember the play? No, he broke free. He could have scored a touchdown and he looked like he was pulling up to end the game.

Like of the, no, I'm supposed to go down here. And then he ended up getting hurt on the tackle. On the one. Yeah. Yeah. It was so, the end of the Bengals game was. That was insane. Was absolutely outrageous.

Cause Chase Brown, like and Chase Brown intentionally goes down there. He ends up getting hurt. It turns into a Joe Burl, like quarterback sneak. You were facing Chase Brown, right? No, no, no. I just, I had burrow I Brooks has oh, that's right, but it's like

Those points should those points were done the game was over chase Brown just runs this thing in and the game is over But he goes down they end up getting a quarterback sneak with burrow and then the madness of overtime That's what I was thinking with you got the burrow points out of it Yeah, is what happened including a missed easy shot where they kicked on third down. You would be dead. Oh yeah. If Chase Brown runs into the end zone, you lose two burrow touchdowns. Two. Yes. Absolutely. Plus yards.

Yes. And then it took up a miracle Mims touchdown to send the game to overtime. It was, if you missed the end of that game, you missed a classic. I want Joe Burrow in the playoffs. I don't want Tyler Huntley and Tua in the playoffs. I guess Bo Nix in the playoffs is fine, but you know that they're gonna lose. Joe Burrow could run the team to the title. That's what I'd like to see, because that can happen.

Deshaun Watson, there was a restructured contract. He'll be back. They're gonna bring in competition. That's okay. It's essentially an acceptance that we have to give Watson the 92 million that he's guaranteed, we're gonna give it to him, and he'll probably be on the roster for the next two years.

Genuine question for you. If you are, and I know this is not gonna be the greatest thought experiment you've ever had. If you were to Sean Watson, and you took that contract with that amount, would you, this restructure, I thought for a split second that maybe, just maybe he was giving some money back. I know that nobody, no agent, no person's gonna advise that.

Are you saying would we have given money back? I'm just saying, like, would you work it over, like, a longer period of time for less money, or, like, is there anything that you would do to, like, No, I would stretch it out over the course of several years for a lot more money. Give me an extension, and we could push that, we could push that down the road, baby,

just add 10 more million. If you're making, let's just call it $100 million, and you could make 60 million, but you get to be the starter, or you make 100 million and you're never starting again the rest of your life. Because that could be the situation for Deshaun Watson. Right.

He could never start again. You're gonna take the 100. I'm gonna take the 100. Yeah, why do I walk into that? I don't think he's starting. It's your life. I don't think he's starting regardless. Okay.

I think he'll just get the money. New question, I'm gonna word it differently. Okay, all right. You got $100 million in the bank. You can pay $40 million to be a starting quarterback in the NFL for a career and still have 60 million, which is the same question asked differently, but you could do it right now.

Can I, what happens with health? Can I guarantee that I don't get? No, you can't guarantee that. Exactly. Give me that 40. No, you just. All right, I tried. Aaron Jones, quad contusion.

They're supposed to have him back next week, but we'll see. James Connor, he exited early. Amir Abdullah left early. He was good. He was dominating. Yeah. Kendra Miller left early because of course he did. Kendra Miller, goodbye. Yeah. Jerome Ford, ankle injury didn't return. Tajay Spears concussion. No, he returned for a snap. Oh, did return, sorry. Yeah, well, kind of. That was it. No, he came in and he took one third down snap and then

Never seen again. Jerome poured one out for your team. It was Brutal Taj a yeah Spears was playing good. He was great. I mean he was 20 for 95 Look great as of right now. He's the running back 11 on the week Unfortunately, he left with plenty of time left It's like you're not unhappy if you started Tajay Spears. It was a good start. But you're disappointed that you didn't get all of it because it looked awesome.

Mike was facing Spears, though, so he was quite happy. That was today's News and Ozz, presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at usaa.com slash insurance. We'll take a break. We'll hit the studs. Alright, it is time to celebrate the good. This week's fantasy stud muffins. Joe Burrow Baker Mayfield.

Who? Joe Burrow Baker Laserfield. Who? Joe Burrow Baker Lazer Mayfield. Lazer. Yeah this was um. That was weird. This was the second time in three years where I got bounced in the semis of our dynasty league and would have won the title. Yeah. Oh yeah. Because of Mike Evans Baker Mayfield. The what-if game we talked about. When Baker throws for five and he's your quarterback it does come into your mind That's uh, I don't know if you saw Mike and I's champ champ champ team and you wouldn't want oh We would have smoked both of the other people in the playoffs though was this Was this me final bounces, baby, yeah

Was this third place Tampa Bay allowing Baker to just really stick it to Carolina? Because they could have shut everyone down in the third quarter. Yeah, I mean, there was one extra touchdown that I thought there would be. That felt personal. There was one extra touchdown.

But one of the things I love about Tampa Bay is that they have made the identity Baker Mayfield. He just set career highs and everything. In fact, you can go find the picture of Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold running next to each other in Carolina. That's what I mean. Wow. Like, Baker Mayfield is a good quarterback. Sam Darnold is a good quarterback. Geno Smith is a good quarterback. In the NFL, the coaches, the surrounding cast, those are the things that make the difference. And I think it was Albert Breer that put it out there.

Someone should give Zach Wilson a shot. And I think it's true. I think it was Albert Breer that put it out there. Someone should give Zach Wilson a shot. And I think it's true. I think it's right. You know who was better for New York last year? Zach Wilson. And look at the dysfunction in New York. Look how broken that entire organization is. And he was better than Rodgers in that dysfunction. Like he might not be that bad.

There's a reason some of these other coaches, with Sean Payton, who knows a thing or two about football, that put him on the roster. Sean Payton put Drew Luck on his, or uh, Zach Wilson. Wasn't Wilson on the... That's what I just said. That's what he said. That was literally the point of what I'm saying. Right, but I'm saying he got a shot. You came in and you were, you could have taken that job.

Well, I mean he drafted a quarterback at 13. Yeah, but if you're good enough, you would have pushed the rookie out for half of the year. Yeah, I mean, I don't know about that. That's what I would've. Yeah, I mean, he also arrived later in the offseason. And my point is, I think that you're just seeing this resurgence of top tier picks that

are becoming like, Sam Darnold's coming back to Minnesota. Yeah, he has to. That's happening. It's done. He's coming back. I mean, they'll franchise tag him or they'll sign him through a contract. You don't trade a quarterback that is leading you to games like this because you think and hope that the next guy up that's coming off an injury is going to be okay. Yeah, what do you want more than to have a chance to be the number one seed? I mean, yeah.

Now what Kyle heard in all that is that it's Tray Lane's time. Nope. Any minute. Any minute now. Baker Mayfield has 42 touchdowns. Yeah, he's got 39 passes. 39 passes, three rushing touchdowns. I guess that's returning to my main point, which was just that Liam Cohen and the offense, they're never afraid to put the ball into Baker Mayfield's hands around the goal line on traditional running downs.

I just like how they play, they call plays. And Mike Evans needs 86 yards? For 1,000? 85 to hit 1,086 to break it. Oh man, I will go right now and bet 85 and a half on there. They're in the playoff driver seat now, right? Yeah, I think they still have to win. Right, but they control it now

because the Falcons controlled it. Yes, they control and they're gonna try their very best to get Mike Evans to 1,000. Jaden Daniels finishing strong for Al Borland and for Fantasy Managers. He was on fire the last month. Lamar Jackson, Pat Mahomes, Sam Darnold continues to, I mean.

Yeah, but Mahomes, Mahomes on that list, okay. Yeah, I put it every once in a while. Christmas morning Mahomes. Herbert, the most passing yards in history through five years. Just broke that record by Peyton Manning. Josh Allen got enough done this weekend. And Bo Nix, Mike, started the week.

Three touchdowns, hubba hubba. Now you did skip one very important name. Pro Bowler? No, no, no. Oh, he's gonna say Drew Locke. I'm talking about a guy who outscored Jaden Daniels. Drew Locke. Oh, I skipped him on purpose.

Not for the purpose of Drew Locke, but for the purpose of the apology for the Indianapolis Colts from the entire world and the organization. What in the world was that? The Monday Punday submissions, I didn't use any of them, but I felt like- Indianopolis? Yeah, I mean, it was the Indianapolis Colts-tastrophe.

Yeah, it was. I mean, this is a team who was on the playoff hunt. Yeah. And they just gave up 40 plus points to the lowest scoring team in the league. Yeah, I mean, this was, you know, we heard a lot of feedback because the Colts were a high rate of defense this week in our rankings.

You just heard what Jason said, like nobody saw this coming. This was the worst scoring offense. Go ahead, Mike. Three games prior, Drew Locke, as the starter, was averaging 205 passing yards and 0.3 passing touchdowns. 0.3. 0.3. 0.3. Yeah, 0.3.

That was his average in his three starts. It was an embarrassment for the organization. Of riches. I mean, just unbelievably gross. Jonathan Taylor touchdowns, got it done at running back. Henry Bijon last night, Bucky Irving, start of the week. Bucky Irving is... He's that guy. He is Irving. He's that guy.

He is. Dude. He's so good. There is just, there are some players that you don't need, you just need to see a little bit to know. And Bucky Irving was that by about week seven. You knew it. And down the stretch, seven, three, one, 14, 16, three.

And his six starts. I mean, that is, and he will be in the future. He is this weird, perfect combination of, like, for his size, he's really strong, but his size is just perfect of like, People can't find him. Yeah, like he can get small, he can get skinny and find creases that are smaller,

like, Derecanry can't fit through some of these things. Right. But Bucky Irving, number one, he can fit and number two, his acceleration and breaking speed of which he can go to 100 to zero back to 100 is kind of shady. Yeah, yeah, sure. I've never seen an arm tackle. Anybody wrap him up with a single arm going out? Like he breaks every – he's leading the league. Which is crazy for a guy who's sub 200 pounds. You just don't see that. He doesn't play small. He does not play small. I will say, not at all. He plays like they're big back and Rashad White plays small. You

know, I'm usually against the breakout fourth round running back picks. So like last year Damian Pierce, it seemed like, or you know, this season prior, it seemed like he was gonna be their future at running back and it was like they're not invested. Tyrone Tracy has been really, really good. But I'm not like sold that he's their future. Bucky Irving, that's a done deal. Bucky Irving is good enough to where he's he's got a career and and I'm and I'm confident

Yeah, he's more on the What camera was a third but he's more of the less passing the camera I test Take one another hundred and sixty seven on the ground. Although to pick it tush pushes Imagine sake one season without a tush push Can you comprehend what that would be like be one of of the best, if not the best, season of all time. I mean, 2,005 yards on 345 attempts. And he's scored 13 times already. So next week needs 101 rushing yards to break the record.

We'll have to see what they choose to do. That's a tough choice. Earlier this season, Sequon could have broken his own career high, and he's like, nah, give the other guys a chance, which is two-sided. One side says he cares more about like... He's gonna be out there and he's gonna break it, and it's against the Giants.

Yeah. He's gonna break it against the Giants? Oh my gosh. And then the building will catch on fire. Yes. It's against the Giants. You let the guy go and then he's gonna break the all time NFL record that has stood for what,

like 40 years? You let the guy go and you filmed it. Yeah. You filmed the whole catastrophe. Hold on. And then they released it. Yeah. You could have held onto that. If I'm the Giants, I'm like, I know we agreed then they released it. Yeah. You could have held on to that.

If I'm the giant, I'm like, I know we agreed to this, but no, we're shutting that down. It's Daniel's time. Yeah. It's Daniel's time now, guys. It was. I could do that job, man. We could do that job. The general manager job? Yes.

That job is more don't drive your car into a brick wall than it is anything else. Don't try to out think everybody else in the world. You're not that guy, man. You're not that guy. Amir Abdullah, 20 for 115 on the ground. It was not Madison. I didn't see this coming.

JK Dobbins, comeback player of the year I think 19 for 76 and in touchdown he has been markedly better than every running back they have on the roster all year long which is saying something considering Harbaugh Roman they generally make things happen in the running game hasn't really worked with anybody but JK Dobbins no and it's nice to see that him coming back. He looked fresh and good. He's got the Raiders next week. So if you're in the Week 18 championship,

hopefully you got Dobbins. All right, T Higgins, start of the week. Number one wide receiver on the week. Pretty amazing. And with Sir Tan on Chase. That was part of the start. It was part of it. Yeah, and then a lot of people asked tons of neighbors

questions this weekend. I think most of those, I said I didn't want to be caught with neighbors on the bench. But this was a monster week for neighbors in the embarrassment. I didn't know the Colts were only going to send four guys out there. I didn't realize that was going to be part of it. Here's blow your playoff shot against the Giants, who are on the cusp of the number one pick.

Devontae Smith, oh, who's number four, Jason? Number four is Marvin Minst Jr. Give me the $100 right now. Take your wallet out and give me the money. You have $100? He always has got money on him. I do not, I've got $40 on me. What are you, 74 years old?

He normally has bills, he does. I do, I usually got $40. What are you, 74 years old? He normally has bills. He does. I do. I usually got some. You got a coin purse over there too? I'll pay you in the other room. I got you. He never knows when a blackjack game is going to break out.

That's 100% what it is. I know that's why. It's 100% because I don't know when we're going to sit at the tables. Yes, I know. But I ain't going to be found unprepared. You know those ATM fees? They're outrageous. They are outrageous at the casino. I mean it's better to hold $2,000 cash on you at all time

No, the Marvin man's just in case Troy Franklin blackjack oh Man yeah, you're gonna owe me a hundred bucks You can you can save it till the end if you get a Troy Franklin legacy game like it's about 60 points in the final Week it could happen, but Marvin Mims 26.2 Mike Evans 25.7 end if you get a Troy Franklin legacy game. Like he needs about 60 points in the final week. It could happen. But Marvin Mimms 26.2, Mike Evans 25.7. There you go.

Dude, the Mike Evans second touchdown where Bucky has this humongous run on the field is called a touchdown, then they go back like, oh no, he stepped out at the one. And you're like, Coach, do the right thing yeah give a war Germany and they were like no Baker faith their favorite out it's if you're Bucky you're you're a little you're a little bit mad about that my my old man would have got it done for me in the final of dynasty cuz Evans Evans to touch us and then back baby feeling five for one ten and two when will you give him a young voice He's got it done for me in the final of dynasty because Evans, Evans to touch us and then I'm back baby. stealing five for one ten and two.

When will you give him a young voice again? Cause he's, he's In heaven. He's only getting older. Andy I get older every day. But he's, he's like one of those guys that's biohacking. Cause look at this performance. Yeah, because he didn't have to play half the season.

Well, that's part of the strategy. If he had played the whole season, Adam Thielow would have been irrelevant. Lad McConkey, 8 for 94 and 2. Dude, Lad McConkey. He's really good. Superstar. And every colt not named Josh Downs.

Seriously. Alec Pierce, 6 for 122. Michael Pittman, 9 for 109. I was given the news that 2a was going to miss. If you remember, on our Draft King show, I stacked Tua with Malik Washington, Tyreek Hill, and H-Hand. Yeah. Well, our rule here is if a guy's getting bounced,

you can only pivot that guy. So I pivoted into Joe Flacco. Pretty good. Ended up winning the week, but Josh Downs wasn't a part of it. Jalen McMillan, who had no targets until the final minute of the first half, ends up with two touchdowns, five for 51, he was freaking me out

because I had recommended McMillan everywhere. We had really pushed McMillan on the show that week. He was a five catch guy. Five for five for 50, but two touchdowns. Brian Thomas Jr. again, seven for 91 and one. There's only three other wide receivers in history with 1,210, Moss, Beckham, Chase, he is that guy. Yeah, it's wild.

He's the wide receiver four. He's the wide receiver four on the season? Yeah, yeah. Wow, and he's doing this. Yeah, there's a world where Al made the wrong move. Al traded Brian Thomas Thomas to get Kyra and he won a title so it's never the wrong move. But from a keeper perspective like Brian Thomas is like he could enter the chase. Yeah. He'd tear it to him. He'll be like an early second late first. It's funny to think and I know that there's been injuries to you know Krisha Kirk and Evan Ingram but also to Trevor Lawrence

like he's been better with Mac Jones than he was with Trevor Lawrence but Trevor Lawrence is a better quarterback to Mac Jones he should have a higher ceiling with the starting quarterback. You know what makes Brian Thomas great? He's never ever been covered by a defender if you watch him play. Yeah. He's always wide open. He's just and you can can, the big place, the little stuff, the little stuff that becomes the big stuff. He's a superstar. That's what I love about watching his film

is that he does it everywhere on the field. It reminds me of like, CD Lamb. You can go these deep shots, you can get a screen. The middle of the field is his domain, which is kind of crazy for a player who really only had one year of production in college. Him and Neighbors, man, apparently do whatever the LSU wide receiver training program is.

And even Lockjaw got it done this week. Speaking of LSU goats. Did he score a touchdown I I don't know if it was a touchdown. I'm talking about Terrence Marshall Yes, Terrence Marshall's Marshall was one for 28. Jay. Did he get a touchdown? No, but you should watch that Reception man, it was boss. I was like no no no I blacked out. I don't remember Combining Marshall and mingo together. I was like wait are you talking mingo? No no no Terrence Marshall go look at Who does he play go look at his box the Raiders and tell me that's not one of his best games all time Okay, then he got it on this

28 yards honestly when he caught that pass I Had no idea he was still in the NFL. I was like no It was not one of his best games. That's team Jay. 28 yards. Yeah, it was, clearly. Worthy and Nakua as well. Trey McBride got in the end zone number one on the week. Zach Ertz, two touchdowns. He's still good at football. He really is. His contested catches and important plays, he's been a key part of what makes Jayden great this year

and without him, I don't think you see that season. That's fine and well, but get out of the way next year, Mr. Ertz. It's me, Zachary. I am the Senate. Trying to get the old people out of the Senate, I get it. Zachary's has been great. Kelsey Conklin and Andrews rounding them out.

We saw Gesicki with a great game. He was an emergency pivot that was brought up if you lost Ninjoku this week. Kyle Pitts, four for 44 and a touchdown. A really good touchdown, Gitch. There you go. Brock Bowers broke all the records. Yeah, he did.

Most receiving yards by a tight end in NFL history, rookie. Rookie. Tight end. And most receptions by a rookie, Pukin Akua held that record for a year. And he's also nine receptions away from breaking the all-time record for tight ends. The Earths record.

Not just of a rookie, but the best tight end season of all time. The Earths record. If you're the Giants, because Brock Bowers, right now, he has the rookie for reception. Neighbors is not that far behind him. Right. I mean, how many screens can you call up for Neighbors?

By the way, Brock Bowers is at fifth right now in terms of all time tight end receptions in a year. Three of the top five seasons have happened since 2022. So you you talk about the haves and have-nots in fantasy. If you've got Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, who's up over a hundred receptions, right? Yeah, over a hundred and a thousand. Yeah, you have those kind of numbers. That's pretty hard to overcome in fantasy. Yeah, Brock Bowers has four touchdowns on the season, which is gross. That's not... not a McBride would be very happy train McBride has like three total so four total for Brock Bowers who

is the tight end one bro is the number one McBride has a fumble recovery that's one yeah yeah a rushing he does have a rush he has a rushing touchdown a fumble recovery touchdown and now finally caught a double the rushing rushing touchdowns than receiving but Brock Mowers and that was barely I mean Yes, it was no no his last his touchdown in that game. Yes. It's a touchdown. I thought he wasn't getting in It's a touchdown, but it's like wink. It's like we It's not it's bully ball. Yeah, it's not a route. Any guy hit in the head. It's not a route. No, but it's bigger and stronger than you.

I have to get this guy in the end zone. Yes. So Brock Bowers is at 108, Neymar is at 104. Wow. So the record will be one of theirs at the end of this week. Potentially. Potentially. They got a long way to go.

Huh? Oh, you're talking about the rookie rep? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's already set. I'm sorry. I thought you were talking... It's like they, it's gone. They already got it. It's a long way. You guys wanna talk, duds? Uh, well just... We have to, huh? We have to highlight a couple of them, Terry McLaurin. Let's do it after the break here. Pooped in his big boy pants. Well the biggest pants you can put on are the championship pants. Mm-hmm. And that means that the if you can't get to the restroom that's a pretty big mess and

there was two I have two pretty big duds Jordan love and the Packers offense I know they they ended up losing by two I get at the end of the game but there the office looks so bad and so inept and the play calling was driving me crazy. And it's against Minnesota. Like fantasy-wise, Jordan Love, before the game starts, Jordan Love's a great player. I get it, Christian Watson's out, but he still has Jaden Reed, who was, what'd he catch, a pass?

One for six. And Romeo Dobbs ended up being, he was an okay play, but it's like, this is a pass funnel. This is where we get it done against Minnesota. And to come up with 185 yards in a touchdown is. When Darnold threw for 377. Exactly. It's devastating.

Yeah. Both Love and Stroud this year have taken some steps back, I think, in terms of obviously efficiency, some of the prolific numbers. Both of them came into the season as like potential darlings for people that wanted to draft them. It's the danger of the pocket passer.

Of you like, for every, like, and next year everyone's gonna be all about Joe Burrow, which Joe Burrow's an elite pocket passing quarterback, but Burrow's running so hot right now. It'll be Baker too. Yeah, but like those guys, like there is a chance that their touchdowns go down to low 30s, high 20s, and Jordan Love jumps back up to 35 touchdowns. We've seen that roulette before.

When you're in the draft, that's why it's so much about what is the market saying about these quarterbacks the the opportunity cost of going in on a pocket passer knowing it is a gamble of they just sometimes they just don't come through. Just to give you. Thankfully on Baker he's he's no longer a pocket passer. He has been running a lot. Yeah. 300 rushing yards this year. Yeah I'm still gonna call him. No I know. But like I mean if you look at the history of Tom Brady it's kind of an You've been running a lot in rushing yards this year. Yeah, I'm still gonna comment. No, I know. But like, I mean, if you look at the history of Tom Brady, it's kind of an example. Quarterback three, 34 touchdowns.

And these are all 16 game seasons. Quarterback 13, 25 touchdowns. Quarterback two, 36 touchdowns. Quarterback 14, 29 touchdowns. So you run the risk. And when you do draft those guys, you're obviously kind of locking yourself into them for quite a while. So it's just, it is a risk. Aaron Rodgers was the worst anybody's ever seen a quarterback play. Like, statistically, it was one of the worst games in

history. Garrett Wilson getting that touchdown from Tyrone at the end had to feel pretty, pretty good. He's the most sacked quarterback in history. And we've heard that, like, you know, Garrett Wilson doesn't want to be back of Rodgers' back. Which is, I mean, that's basically what was insinuated, is he hasn't asked for a trade, but he might, we'll see what happens with Aaron Rodgers. It's like, normally you'd be like,

oh, if Rodgers isn't back, I don't want to be there. Right. It's the opposite. And at this point, it's like Rodgers. It's like normally you'd be like, oh if Rodgers isn't back I don't want to be there. Right. It's the opposite. And at this point it's like Rodgers and Adams are chasing their own glory. That's how it feels. Yeah. It doesn't feel like they're really about this team's success. They're above the team is the way it feels. Or they think they are. Well like for both players. For Adam, so it was like the season was basically lost by the time he got there. You ever seen Larry do that? He was in a lot of lost seasons.

A lot of lost seasons. It's never been about my touches and my. I just don't respect that kind of what you put out there. And for Garrett Wilson, a 24-year superstar, to not wanna play with you? Yeah, it says a lot. You go out there and you go 12 for 18 for 112, two picks, a late hit, and look, I'm, Oh man, that was funny.

I'm willing to be the partial apologist for Aaron. I think it's always more complicated than the media narrative. Because if you go, I brought this up last week, like if you go and LaFleur and McCarthy and his high school, college coaches. Most players too. Great teammate, great leader, hyper intelligent quarterback. But when you struggle and you fail, there's an accountability that comes with the words you say that's all

sure and when he plays as you make and the faces you make and when you play well you will get credit and when you play poorly but you talk a big game you will get blame and for and millions of dollars for the love of all that is good in this world, can we get Garrett Wilson a quarterback just so we can see what happened? You need Rodgers to come back then because you want Garrett Wilson. Yes, you want, if you want Garrett Wilson to have success, I think you need to get him off the Jets. It was a sputtering end for Mixon, for Reese Hall, for Rashad White, for Devon Aitchin, for

Ramandre Stevenson who had point three fantasy points for me in my listener league title game. Oh, that didn't help. Well, he did get two carries. Which was, the Stevenson one is really bizarre because it was all week, oh he might get benched for Gibson. Who's gonna who's going to be the starter? Mayo does not know what he's doing. And then, he didn't get benched at the beginning, but then Gibson was the primary running back. McLaurin, Jaden Reed, one catch for Jaden Reed.

These two guys were in a lot of championship lineups, especially McLaurin, because McLaurin helped get you there. So hopefully you were just able to overcome having McLaurin on your roster. He's been so great this year. Because he's been so good, you just give him a pass, say, I forgive you. Forgiveness comes in a couple months.

Yeah, I mean. You can be bitter and upset now and just say, well, I did what I was supposed to do. That's all you can do in championship week is just put the best players out there and Hope it works out and any of us benching McLaurin in that game. I don't think no I would not have I mean I the weather was a concern, but it didn't affect Jane Daniels put up 40 points Flowers and Bateman weren't needed Cooper Cup. We talked about it. Josh Downs, Zilch, Mooney. The Mooney ones disappointing too. And then the trifecta in Chicago. You know Chicago is one of those teams that the offseason is gonna be, it's gonna be crazy. We'll see what

they do to help Caleb out. And then the two Seahawks on Thursday night football. It was a disaster. That whole game, that Chicago Seahawks game was just It it deleted a game out of the week Don Kinkade did nothing Neither did Tucker Kraft or Hunter Henry who was Goose. This is Hunter Henry He can always show up on a certain week and disappear on another one but that was here on another one but that was championship Sunday it was all in all I thought it was at least it was a great weekend of football like we've had several weeks throughout this season where we show up on Monday we're like

well some guys scored some points it was a good week what's the post-mortem on the weather stress the weather seems overblown it well it was it didn't hurt her either blown because the wind didn't blow the way I get what you're saying you know what I'm saying yeah give it a five okay it was I mean it affected the Jacksonville game for sure like if you were looking I know Brian Thomas still had his humongous game but like if the conditions were it was they were losing footing I but the conditions where it was, they were losing footing, I can't remember who it was.

But I mean, the Washington game. But yeah. The Cincinnati game. That's the issue with the weather is sometimes you can have games where it's raining and these teams aren't phased by it and then there's times where the weather comes in and you're like, of course I should have benched these guys, because this is a mucky disaster.

I would say overall, the actual miles per hour on wind and rainfall that happened in these games was not at the fear level of earlier in the week. Earlier in the week it looked like some of these games were gonna be massive, torrential. Like that 49ers Bears game. Yeah, and that just didn't happen. Thankfully that didn't happen.

And we knew, if you were on Twitter Sunday morning, you could see that some of the things had calmed down. We had a lot of fears over the Bengals game being a really, really rainy, windy game. And then we knew that morning, they got that it was pretty good weather. That game was funny, because when they first, when the game was starting,

that was a Saturday afternoon game. And when they go to the stadium on the cameras, and you see the full stadium, and you see in the distance, it looked like, it looked like it was a horrible thunderstorm just waiting to come in. Like you could see how close it was to being a major problem.

It was like the clouds from Stranger Things hiding in the background. Right, but thankfully we were all right. We were all right. Tomorrow, we'll celebrate with you, commiserate with you. Yet again, Monday Night Football recap, playoff scenarios, team motivation for week 18. I'm not, I pre-warned my wife.

I was like, I never talk. I think you win. I never talk fantasy stress with my wife, but last night I was like, just letting you know, tomorrow night is going to be a very emotionally taxing event for me, no matter what. I think you win as well. 47.1. I think you'll know

you're gonna win by halftime. Well I appreciate the hope. Dan Campbell, you can't win a Super Bowl without Jameer Gibbs. Rest him up. I'm just letting you know. He certainly can't win this game without him either. It doesn't matter. It does not matter. You can't win a Super Bowl without Jameer Gibbs. Well look, half a game is fine. I have a funny feeling a lot of It doesn't matter, it does not matter. You can't win a Super Bowl without Jameer Gibbs. Well, look. Half a game is fine. I have a funny feeling a lot of our- I'm a giving man.

A lot of our listeners might be on the other side of this one, Mike. That's what I was telling Mike. I have the microphone and you will listen to everything that I have to say. Put him down. Well, not like no, no, rest him, rest him for a half. Don't put him down.

I'm saying that. Play the whole game and score fewer than forty seven point one points So that the rest of the foot clamping get their foot games the way you don't want to lose is You don't want I was telling this to Mike if you've got Jameer Gibbs and you need 20 points tonight And he goes out and puts up 18 points the first half And they don't play him benched and Craig Reynolds is on the field and you go where is he can't you can't lose you can't? You can't lose that way. That's too much.

Not for me. If there was ever a coach that would completely go all out, all four quarters, it would be Dan Campbell. And by the way, Remember when Julian Edelman tours ACL in a meaningless game? You shut up now. Yeah. It is New Year's Eve tomorrow,

and then we will have no episode on Wednesday for New Year and we'll be back with some week 18 previews, starts of the week, matchups, more matchups, Wheel of Shame. I'm on a hot streak there, boys. I don't know if you noticed. Oh yeah. No, on the Wheel of Shame he's won a bunch. As a man who once lived in the bottom of the sewers

of the Wheel of Shame, this is one thing I've won this year. Yeah. I lost this week, right? I scored like 150. So I didn't feel bad about it. But you guys just. I didn't know I won until a few minutes ago. Once I put Flacco on the lineup, I figured it was over.

All right. And then next week, just so you know, Foody Awards, the nominees, an AMA, lots going on. Lot of fun stuff, and a reminder again, Shotballers.com for title t-shirts if you wanna celebrate. If you wanna call your shot, you can buy them now. Wait, before you wait, like Jeremy can buy his now. I'll buy it tomorrow.

Yeah. Or tonight. Why don't you go to a doctor? How about you go to a doctor? I'll buy it tomorrow yeah or tonight why don't you go to a doctor how about you go to a doctor I'll do that tomorrow and then fantasy champs comm code free ring if you need a trophy that'll do it guys what a season what one night left one night left for the most for most of you and see what Jamiro Gibbs can do goodbye See what Jamiro Gibbs can do. Goodbye.

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FF Ballers.