Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Championship Studs, #FootClanTitles (+ Week 18 Waivers) - Fantasy Football Podcast for 1/2

Episode Date: January 2, 2024

Congrats to fantasy football champions everywhere! Celebrate with us on today’s fantasy football podcast as Andy, Mike, and Jason react to Week 17! Plus, reflecting on fantasy playoff heroes, and a quick look at the Week 18 waiver wire for those that need it! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for January 2nd, 2024. Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on Twitter 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 McDonald's. Monopoly is back at McDonald's, everybody. This is an alert. It's time to get back to Mickey D's. Monopoly Double Play is back at McDonald's, and it's easy to get into the win. First, you peel on pack, and then again in the app. There are millions of prizes to be won,

including a new chance to win cash every minute in the app. Get into the game with Monopoly Double Play at McDonald's. While supplies last, one in five chances to win game piece prizes at outset, chances to win Double Play prizes based on time of code entry, and draw prizes based on number of entries in each draw. See rules in the app. Get a credit card annual fee waiver and earn C-plus points faster with the Scotiabank Ultimate Package and bank more entertainment. Learn more at scotiabank.com slash banking packages. Conditions apply. Scotiabank. You're richer than you think. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.

Welcome in! the fantasy footballers feeling good feeling great i've asked the producers we are all feeling great all three of us doing well. Happy to be with you. Oh, come on. What is this nonsense? I did ask Al Borland to just bring a little something. Here we go. I forgot this. Into the studio. Everyone here's got a trophy. That was mine last year. Let's put this right here. Yeah. Yeah. That's good. We got enough room? I think there's room over here. It's very large. Okay. Congrats, fellas.

Let's just kind of one on each side of Jason here. Proud of you. Proud of you guys. I miss you guys. So, happy new year, everybody. And what a new year it is. The rain begins. What are you?

Hey. I can touch my plaques. Jason's finding his plaques on our trophies. That's fine. No other part of my trophy, though. Okay. Happy to report that after defeating the evil one, Josh, I did finish the job, took care of business.

That is great. That is great news. Jason graciously handed me the trophy that he had won last year, which I received and then embraced. And then, well, we won't talk about anything else. Yeah, because private times. And then Mike defeated me quite handily in our Dynasty League. Your team did me a favor and a few of the guys took the week off.

I thought I could do it without CMC and Mostert and Camara and everybody else that got hurt. The first goal line opportunity for Christian McCaffrey was like. Here we go. Here we go again. Here we go. Get stuffed. And then the old trick-a-rooski to Debo.

And I was very pleased. And then two minutes later, they were back on the goal line. It's like, oh, you are going to are gonna get wrecked i knew i'm happy for mike he has a uh famous history of second place in our dynasty league this is your first title first first your first first and um well jason's here too guys yeah he's having a real special time this morning mike and i are walking by each other saying hey champs congratulating our championships i'm happy for you fellas and jason it's been so long since you haven't really got to experience glory it is my most my my most proud achievement is that since we started this show

we're in four main leagues uh a lot more but there's four main leagues i actually care about and we've been doing this nine years and in those four in those nine years I haven't this is the first time I do not have at least one championship and it sucks I mean it sucks I feel so bad this is like well congratulations it's the giant trophies making you feel inadequate it just it just maybe it needs to fuel me, make me hungry for next year. Okay, there you go. But instead, I feel dead inside. Congrats to everybody out there that managed to win a Foot Clan title this season.

We were on Twitter talking to so many of you. I jumped in the Discord this morning and thanked everybody for an awesome year. And obviously there are some of you, scoundrels I call them, that are in Week 18 championship games. And we're here all week long. This is the final week of five shows, or four shows, I guess, without New Year's, before we shift to two a week. But we're a year-round podcast, so do not go anywhere.

We'll be reflecting on the season. We'll be looking to the future. We've got some— The footies are approaching. The footie awards, the nominees show, coming up very, very soon. It's the greatest award in the history of humankind. Mike, I don't know about you, but I went over to shotballers.com this weekend. Oh, I have not yet.

And I purchased a championship shirt. Okay. Maybe two of them. Okay. Maybe two of them. Okay. Maybe a mug as well. I got them all. I wish they were here right now. And so shopballers.com, lots of you have been grabbing those shirts.

Why am I here today? Honestly, you're superfluous. I should have just let you two run the show. You're entirely unnecessary today. Andy and I, we're pretty tired. Yeah, from all the celebrating? Yeah. I mean, it was New Year's and we were champs.

Woo! 2024. Yeah, what's a great year? And then if you need actual swag, which I've also been here, fantasychamps.com, we have a special promotion. You buy a trophy for your league, which you can get engraved with your name. You get a free individual championship ring. You just put the code free ring in and you get a $59 championship ring for

free with the purchase of a championship trophy or belt at fantasy champs.com. So you can swag out and a couple other shout outs, a couple of champions to mention at the top of the show. We've got a Megaloball winner. Oh. Oh. Congratulations to, how do you pronounce that username there? What?

Oh, Caleb Ski. That is very loud celebration music. That was very loud. That feels good. Andrews Jackson, username Kalebski, won the Megalo Bowl with 216.64 points. I thought you were confused on the pronunciation of Andrews Jackson. No. I was like, what?

That's pretty easy. It's Andrews. It's really close to your name. Congratulations. And if you didn't hear us tease it earlier, we're going to be making some big improvements to the Megaloball for next season as well. But how many entries? I mean, Andrews Jackson ended up a top 20.

20,000 people, 20,000-plus people. So you are the champ. I went back. I looked at his draft. It was excellent, solid top to bottom. Had some of those surprise draft picks late and um i believe he had the lamar jackson mark andrews stack thus the name andrews jackson uh and then the listener league champion was crowned and it was not any of us which means uh mg phil who whose M.G. Phil, whose name is Maddie. Congratulations. Took it home.

And also, I believe she had the best record in the regular season too, right? Yeah, she was very good. Pure domination. Great job. Great job, Maddie. We'll see you back next year. Yeah. So that's what we have here at the top.

We're going to get into studs today. We're not going to focus a lot on the duds today. It's going to be the studs, the league winners. Tomorrow we'll have a chat about some disappointing players and what you view them as going forward. Follow the show all offseason long at the FFBallers on Twitter. And let's talk some quick news before we get into the studs. News and notes from around the league presented by USAA insurance.

Well, this didn't help my attempt against Mike Christian McCaffrey left early with a calf strain. You weren't here in the studio, Mike. Jason i were here what did i say jason right before the injury with christian mccaffrey oh this was unbelievable it was unbelievable he he literally turns to me and says i just love that christian mccaffrey never leaves the field i don't think christian mccaffrey played anymore after that it was like he had like a snap and a half yeah it was almost like the next snap, he was gone. Elijah Mitchell was in there. He's not going to play in week 18.

Devontae Smith, right ankle injury into the game, was on crutches in a boot. It's considered a minor ankle sprain. Unlikely to play in week 18. Jaden Reed, two touchdowns and then left with a chest injury. Going to have more x-rays or more tests.

He is fantastic at two things. Really good at both. Being hurt and scoring touchdowns. Do you believe my prophecy about him at this point? That he will be the best player? That he's their best wide receiver. Yeah, I think it's fair to say going into next year jayden reed will be the player that you want but it's to me it's christian it's like a lost season for christian

watson watson is much more to me the pickings of the situation where where i think i think jayden reed will be the dionte the the finer more involved player or watson can still be an explosive player but that's just how I think that's a really good comp uh Jaden Reed showed a lot of skill this year he looked great every time we watched it was like this this is a very good wide receiver and he's got enough speed where even though he's the slot guy and you don't usually get the the top like for instance Deontay Johnson doesn't usually have high-end finishes but Deontay Johnson doesn't usually have high-end finishes, but Deontay Johnson doesn't quite have that same trick that Jaden Reed does with his speed. Ten touchdowns.

Yeah, I mean, he was awesome this year. All right, more injury news. Trevor Lawrence, hopeful to play in Week 18, dealing with the shoulder. Arthur Smith said Taylor Heineke is dealing with an injury. They don't know whether he's going to play. Mike Tomlin said Mason Rudolph will start again. Mike Tomlin, you old dog, you keep doing it. Now, their odds of making the playoffs are very low, very low, like 17%.

Yeah, but with this roster, which is not that good, to still have a non-losing season is incredible. Which he's already accomplished right yeah that's a done deal so um but with regards to mason rudolph this is not like can he pick it is okay this is he's he's made the move to mason rudolph to keep things chugging along where they're going well and then alvin camara left early with a sprained ankle. Another one of my dynasty running backs. And disappointing. I know a lot of people were counting on him in the big week 17 title games,

but we don't have any more information on that injury. But, you know, we got one week left. Any other news you want to talk about, Brooksie? No, sir. That was today's News and Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. One other thing I want to mention is we are going to get into all of the playoff scenario discussion tomorrow. So all the Week 18 playoff motivation, player incentives,

all of those thoughts. We'll dig into that tomorrow. It should be an exciting final week. I mean, the headline there is like, Buffalo wins their game. They are the division winner. Buffalo loses their game. The potential is that they're out of the playoffs.

That is very all or nothing. Oh, man. That's amazing. All right, let's talk some studs. This week's Fantasy Stud Muffins. Well, I thought I would read you the top ten performers for week 17 to begin this segment number one was lamar jackson big time unbelievable performance number two jordan love jordan love cd lamb was three he was awesome oh man can't who's got him in dynasty devon, Jason can't speak on this show.

It's really hard. He has nothing to say. Well, because it's just anger. It's all bad. It's all bad. You say Lamar Jackson. Well, I was in two championships this last week. I played against Lamar in both.

I'm not happy about that. You say, oh, Jordan Love was number two. Oh, one of those was a super flex. Guess what? Two quarterbacks he had You say, oh, Jordan Love was number two. Oh, one of those was a super flex. Guess what? Two quarterbacks he had. Lamar Jackson and Jordan Love. I'm just here to. But we got that Seedy Lamb, and there's nothing bad you can say about.

Yeah. He's great. I had him on my dynasty league. Double champs. Until you two fools convinced me to trade him away. How about this? Number four. 21 targets.

Yeah. Devontae Adams. The pendulum came back yes yes so um that if you want to know how my championship game went i had lamb and adams as my starting two wide receivers uh kyler murray big game beat philly ruined our draft pick way to go kyler kyron williams boy what a season for kyron delivered all season long when he was healthy he is going to be very fun to discuss in the offseason oh top 10 pick yeah 100 that's what i mean like immediately you go that and then we're gonna be rolling in that nfl draft every time the rams are on the board, you go, uh, uh. They got their guy.

They got their guy, man. They, yeah, I mean, I think so. And then Joe Flacco. This guy. The number seven. I mean, well, it was a really easy matchup, an obvious play against the Jets without your number one wide receiver. Justin Fields and DJ Moore at 8-9.

Oh, that stack that, oh man, that stack you created would have won Josh the championship this week if he beat you. Oh man, but he wasn't there. And then number 10, Isaiah Pacheco back from injury and just running like a cartoon on every single play. My takeaway from Pacheco is apparently the time off rejuvenated his leg speed. This guy is a dinosaur out there. He's just stomping.

He's destroying the ground. Yeah, he hates grass. He's also, on that one play where he goes to the right sideline and he, like, really gives it his all to just sprint. It's almost like he's doing high knees. It's just like, I'm pumping these legs so hard. Some guys glide. Like, Arian Foster, when he ran, it was smooth.

Like, I don't know how he's moving that fast. Pacheco, you understand how he's at the speed because he is giving everything he has into every single step. Stop. Stop. Every single stop. Every time he takes the ball, it's like he's trying to run faster than he ever has before. And I give him credit. He's like a jagged piece of glass out there. I mean, incredible. All right, so those were your top ten performers for the week, but let's dig into each position and give credit where credit is due. Starting with, before I get into the week 17 performances, I just want to mention the top five quarterbacks for the playoff weeks.

That was Lamar Jackson at 31 points a game, Jordan Love at 28 a game, Baker Mayfield at 27 a game? Joe Flacco just under 27 a game? And Derek Carr. He did it. That's your top five from weeks 15 through 17. Well, at least Lamar Jackson is there. Wasn't Dak.

Wasn't Josh Allen. Wasn't Patrick Mahomes. Jalen Hurts. Wasn't Jalen Hurts. So, you know, we have a streaming quarterback segment all year long, and four-fifths of the top five quarterback performers were streamers in that category. We had some of those, Baker and Derek Carr this last week, both.

And I'm sorry, Joe. Sorry, I didn't believe. So Justin Fields had a big week 17 as well. In fact, he finished three of the last four weeks in the top four at the position. If they keep him, which... Did you see the crowd? No. The Chicago crowd chanting, we want Fields.

Really? I mean, he played a heck of a game. So, the mob is going to be on your side. But they were very vocal in letting Chicago know what they wanted. Chicago's made a vast improvement over the second half of the year. They have. Defensively, they've taken a step forward. And, you know, if you're Chicago, it's tough.

Because half of me is just like, you just got to take the shot at a new quarterback. The question that I would ask myself if I'm Chicago is, is Justin Fields legendary? the shot at a new quarterback is the question that i would ask myself if i'm chicago is justin feels legendary and do you take the chance of hitching your wagon to maybe a middle of the middle of the nfl quarterback versus going for the legendary ceiling that's thought one but then thought two is like well justin fields became much better when you added DJ Moore. And if you added Marvin Harrison in the draft, Marvin Harrison Jr. and DJ Moore. Yeah.

Which they could, I mean, they have the number one pick. So they can do the move that we were all, as Cardinals fans, hoping for. You look down the draft board, you go, oh, hey, Patriots. Hey, Washington. You sure need a quarterback, right? Well, give us a bunch of stuff. and then we're going to take Marvin Harrison, which would be absurd. Think about this scenario for a dynasty manager of Justin Fields right now.

Oh, man. Two outcomes. Outcome one, you don't know where he's quarterback if he's a starter. Option two, they add Marvin Harrison Jr. Those are the two outcomes. And if they do, then he is a great fantasy asset going forward long term because that means they've committed to him. They're going to be too good to have another one of these top five picks,

and his fantasy production will be off the chains. That's exactly right. So you have the possibility. If they add a Marvin Harrison Jr. to Justin Fields' team, to the Bears, be off the chains that's exactly right so you have the possibility if they added marvin harrison jr to justin field's team to the bears is he a top three pick at quarterback i mean i think he should be it will be worth discussing for sure yeah i mean he's ahead of my homes yeah you would have alan hurts first yeah there's my second i with. Right. And then number three is up for grabs. Yeah.

He would be in that tier of what comes after those two guys. Kyler went for 232-3 in this game. In fact, he looked really good. The Cardinals dropped a couple spots in the draft because of beating the Eagles. Being the playoff-bound Eagles. You realize the Cardinals with four wins this year, they beat Dallas and Philly. Those are two of their wins.

Well, I mean, if coaching matters, you do have a coach who has some history with that division. I don't know if you heard me on Sunday Live, but I – I did. I basically said that I agreed that Arizona was going to be close in this game because Jonathan Gannon – I didn't think they would win. I did. I basically said that I agreed that Arizona was going to be close in this game because Jonathan Gannon – I didn't think they would win. I know.

At one point, Andy's like, oh, they're going to win. And I go, they're making it close. They're not going to win. And then 10 minutes later, I was like, we're going to win this game. Yeah, we just knew. We knew where it was going. Did you see Josh Allen finished the season? He is now the number one quarterback.

That's how he finished the fantasy season, which means he's finished 1-1-2-1 the last four years. Josh Allen wasn't an amazing game. No passing touchdowns, two rushing. Fine. No Joe Flacco. Right. He just kept running.

Well, and he missed Diggs on a big – I mean, that's another player we're going to talk about tomorrow. Diggs, Kelsey Mahomes, they're going to be brought up tomorrow. So, quick break. Coming back with some more studs to talk about at the running back position. All right, your playoff league winners at running back, the highest scorers through weeks 15 through 17, Christian McCaffrey was number one.

That's kind of not fair. Yeah. That's how big his previous two weeks were, especially that first playoff week when Mike and I got McCaffrey'd out of the playoffs. Where was the McCaffrey version? Nice. Kyron Williams was number two, 22.5 points a game. Brees Hall, number three at 20.8 points per game.

James Conner, number four at 20.6 points per game james connor number four at 20.6 points per game and jameer gibbs was fifth which james connor in that philadelphia game he was fantastic he had he ran the gauntlet of fantasy football difficult matchups for the final four weeks of the year and finished as the running back 5-11, 5-3 in that stretch. And he was so doggone good. I'm so happy that James Conner was your start of the week this last week, encouraging people to, like, look, I know it's a tough matchup, but he's just been too good. And he was too good.

The Eagles' great D-line line they could not stop him every single play was just a huge chunk and then and then of course every third down we would take him out oh we kept making fun of it up yeah it's one-handed catch for a touchdown and it's like oh that guy should probably maybe michael carter shouldn't be out there although Michael Carter had one run where he uh dislocated the ankles of the Eagles defender James Connor people wanting to want to know he's 28 years old and I'm curious your answer to this is he a keeper option for people he is absolutely a keeper option we uh Jonathan Gannon was asked the question point blank about the age cliff, and he said that there are some players, like James Conner, that you bet on.

Well, I mean, you see it right now. The play style of James Conner, it's almost more of a Marshawn Lynch type of uh body capability it's it's it's a tough it's really hard to tackle that guy he's not some electric speedster that's gonna lose a step and all of a sudden be uh more difficult he is a big strong tough runner and so um the point is James Connor is already under contract for a lot of money he has proven himself at the end of this year to be really really good and he has the support of his coaching staff it was five a carry this year just on just uh under five a carry this year and

the the devil's advocate will say is he is a eight and a half million dollar dead or cap hit for next year if they if they did move on it's a half million dollar dead or cap hit for next year if they if they did move on it's a three million dollar dead cap so a savings of five for the team and yes he's under contract but it's zero guaranteed so there could be a situation where they go back to the the contract room and say can i just can i get something to make sure that uh i have some guaranteed money this year but it will be that'll be a storyline to watch for the offseason. What a finish for James Conner. And Isaiah Pacheco, what a finish for him this year.

You know, they just kept trusting Pacheco more and more in the offense. Clyde Edwards-Alaire didn't get his swan song. That was upsetting. And Pacheco ran wild, 18 for 130. Look, Pacheco is a better runner and a better player than Clyde Edwards-Alaire. But that matchup, watching what Pacheco's doing, yeah, Clyde would have had himself a good game. Jerome Ford finished strong on Thursday night.

Travis Etienne did what we hoped he would do. Two rushing touchdowns, including a big one in this game, and first multi-touchdown game for him since week seven. So if you survived his down couple of weeks, which I don't know how many people did. Yeah, it's tough. And then this was really the surprise of the week on the ground. Najee Harris and Jalen Warren, they ran wild against Seattle,

just eviscerated them. Looks like just under 200 total yards between the two. Three rushing touchdowns between the two. They really couldn't stop Najee. Every play, it was a very James Conner type of game. It just kept working. Every play was like, wow, he's getting an extra two yards past wherever he's touched.

Brees Hall ends the year at RB6 against all odds or against every obstacle, I should say. Doesn't have a quarterback to threaten the secondaries. Doesn't have an offensive line. But he could catch the ball all year long. And I will be very curious. Like, I was making fun of the Simeon offense. They were down two scores.

It was dump, dump, dump, dump, dump. I'm curious what a good, what a normal involvement will be. I would expect if I had to project it right now with Aaron Rodgers coming back next year, that Brees Hall is still very active in the passing game, not to this degree, and way more efficient in the running game than he was this year, and very much in play as a top five option. I would agree across the board, but the involvement in the passing game this last month

has just been comical. Take a guess, what is his 17-game pace at running back from the last month? For targets? Yeah. 17-game pace? Targets, you're going to tell me something silly, like 150. No, it's going to tell me something silly like 150. No, it's going to be higher.

No, it's 153 target pace. That's a running back. Yeah, that's not going to keep happening. That's winning football. Yeah. There's a lot of people that believe Devontae Adams will be on the New York Jets next year. A lot of people. And so that'll be another discussion that we had because... Soften up the running for him, but it'll take away a ton of those targets.

Devon Achan, 14 for 107. Five targets, got into the end zone. I'll be very curious where Devon Achan goes next year in drafts. I'm thinking second round. Sounds about right. And then Khalil Herbert finished strong the last couple of weeks. Jonathan Taylor back into the end zone. So there's your studs for week 17.

I hope that the Bears clarify running back for us this year. It was a pretty muddy mess over this past offseason. Yeah, Foreman ended up getting the healthy scratch. And it was, yeah, the Foreman, I mean, there is something off the field going on with Foreman or an argument between him and the team because there was some weird social posts. But anyways, the point being, you knew there would be value there, but you couldn't feel really confident, as showed by the ADP of,

like Khalil Herbert was their first running back selected, but he was a very, very late round pick. And he, I mean, he started okay. Then Foreman was great. And then Khalil Herbert has been great the last couple of weeks. So hopefully we know. Yeah. Hopefully they invest in a running back and, and, and make it clear right now.

It looks like Khalil Herbert has one year left on his rookie deal. So he's not paid much. He wasn't a high draft pick. So he was a sixth rounder we'll spend lots of time talking about perspective free agent running backs as well on the show over the next couple of months at wide receiver the league winners the best fantasy scorers from for the playoff weeks yeah we see you 15 through 17 here's the fun we see you cd lamb number one 23.7 what was that teddy was that 92 yes it was oh man i was i was pants off screaming through the home when that happened because it looked

like dac who i had the stack i mean it was gonna get safetied on the play and suddenly cd lamb you know what i love about cd lambee Lamb, Tyreek, Jefferson? There's only a handful of them. You think that the defense could play defense against them and they can't. And they were so smart with CeeDee this season. They move him around all the time. He goes into the slot. Nobody ends up shadowing him because of that. It just means that he can be targeted like crazy number two despite playing two-thirds of the games omari cooper with the highest per game average even when you average it out over three games number three amanra saint brown just i mean you should call him automatic saint brown that's really what he is and then george pickens at number four. That's a funny one.

It is. It's interesting his involvement since they got rid of Matt Canada and then the Mason Rudolph switch. I really thought it would, you know, the two weeks ago, the huge game was like, yeah, Pickens is an elite athlete. This can happen, but it's a blip. And then

he basically did it again and then number five another fantasy football darling from the rams in fact the two most valuable free agent pickups by far during the year yeah include kyron williams who we talked about and number five here at wide receiver puka nakua and talk about an off-season discussion that we're going to have. Puka Nakua versus Cooper Cup in next year's draft. Oh, my gosh. With the age and the injuries that Cooper Cup has suffered. You saw another good game from Demarcus Robinson. The targets and the yardage was there.

You know, Puka, tough to bring down, great after the catch, physical, go-to receiver. We did also. Breaking rookie records. Just a small little news blurb here that McVay confirmed he will be back next year. So that's nice to get that right now because we. As in McVay will be back. Yes.

Puka as well. But Sean McVay, if they make some kind of playoff run or Super Bowl run, then it was going to be, oh, here we go again. Is Amazon going to get Sean McVay away? Is ESPN going to get McVay away? He's saying, nope, he'll be back. And I don't blame him. Puka finished the season, if you want to look at the 17 weeks as the season,

as the wide receiver six from a fifth round. From a run draft. I mean, you drafted him in our league, but you were in the minority. Yeah. He was one of the bigger free agent pickups. In fact, when we look at things to remember, if you invest it, you're fab early on Kyron and Puka. You just get more bang for your buck in the beginning of the year.

Yeah, and you got to get it right because there were people that invested 100% of fab on Zach Evans and there were people that invested a lot of fab on other players. But your potential output is the highest when you hit it early in the year. So week 17 specifically CD Adams, they had the monster games. I did not stand a chance against Mike and dynasty when my two receivers were this week,

Tyler Lockett and Mike Evans is about nine points. And Mike's two receivers were CD lamb and Zay flowers, Zay flowers, three for one Oh six and a touchdown. Just three. It was just one long, three for 106 and a touchdown. Just three. It was just one long bomb. But that's all you needed. Yeah.

I mean, it's nice to know that that's at least a possibility for Zay Flowers. The play was hilarious. It was a completely broken defense of Zay Flowers just running a go route on the outside. And I don't know who rolled incorrectly the corner of the safety, but Sae Flowers threw the hand up. And then, I mean, the talent had to win there at the end where he definitely could have got tackled, but he broke, I think, two defenders.

Brandon Ayuk finishes as a wide receiver 12 on the year. Brandon Ayuk is very good. He's also about to get money. Sure. Due to get paid and then Amon Ra finished a wide receiver three I'm going to mention a player I tried to I jackknifed into my lineup to try to save me against injury

and save me against Mike Darius Slayton I mean it was the best you could possibly do four for 106 and a touchdown another deep bomb touchdown from Tyrod you know it seemed like Darius Slayton was a thing a couple years ago and then he was completely worthless and then all of a sudden the team they just don't team turned on it yeah they they don't want him to be good they don't want him to have the opportunity it's like dorks he's like he's actually he's just he's

pretty good he's pretty good he's going to end the year uh as their leading receiver i mean he he is he's uh sitting at 45 for 708 and three only plays against philly next if you're in week 18 so yeah yeah he had 740 and eight as a rookie so he's got long speed and the ability to be a top tier receiver just teams don't like it i don't know. Wandale looked alright in the final game of the year. Bo Melton. Yeah. What? From anonymity. What? From the practice squad to 6-4-1-0-5 in a touchdown.

Oh, Bo. Bo Melton plays for the Packers, in case you're curious. I'm sure many people don't realize. And was the seventh round pick. I mean, think about all the names. Malik Heath and Dontavian Wicks and now Bo Melton. And Toure. And Toure.

And so you've had like tons of these youngsters coming through. They have like no veteran wide receiver, and they've got a really nice wide receiver. I mean, and Jaden Reed's a rookie too. Yeah. All right, tight ends. Your playoff league winners at the tight end position, weeks 15 through 17. You ready?

Let's go. David Njoku, number one, 16.4 a game. Someone reminded me on Twitter this past week that Travis Kelsey did not have his first number one overall season until he was 27 years old. That is David Njoku's age. What? Are you calling David Njoku the next

Travis Kelsey? Maybe. Because I believe you said Trey McBride wrong. I like David Njoku's future. I do. Is that – he was 27? That's – you can vet it.

You can vet it. I believe Travis Kelsey was 27 when he had his first tight end one season. Possibly. I mean, it was – because he had lost his rookie year. I believe that was in ACL. And then he was just really solid for three years, 805, 805, 1104. The touchdown jump did happen in his fifth year. Kelsey's fourth year, I believe, is when he was –

oh, because he had the entire missed season. Yeah, I mean, it's just one of those things where, like, look, if you break the season down from weeks, what, six on? Yeah, six on David Njoku is the number one tight end. That's a long time ago. And it wasn't by a little bit. It wasn't like he was, you know, okay or, you know, he had one big blowup game that just the truth, you know, we'll have our truth series coming up here in a couple weeks, taking a look at not just how these players finished,

but how did they perform for fantasy? Are they reliable or not? He was an every-week-must-start stud. And the most targets in that span. He wasn't just like some touchdown scorer that lucked his way there. He had six touchdowns. I mean, that's not crazy for a tight end 105 targets from week six on so we'll see what i mean there's a lot of question marks

in the offense in cleveland yeah there will be so and michael michael eat it up the problem is i realized like they have no choice i wanted i wanted Flacco to make this thing hard win a Super Bowl and then be like how do you move on but they literally can't afford Flacco's played his way into a contract like if he wants to play football next year someone will pay him to play football and not the veteran minimum and you know what team can't afford to do that the team that has all their money tied up into Deshaun Watson. The target leaders that tied in this year, Evan Ingram is number one on the season at 130.

Hawkinson at 127. Njoku at 123. Kelsey is fourth. Kelsey will be another big discussion. Yeah, it happens. It happens to everyone. Number two behind Njoku over the final three weeks. Mike started the week of the last week.

Yeah, baby. Jawan Johnson. Woo! Boy, it was not the start or the middle that you wanted for Jawan Johnson. We saw this potential early in the offseason, and it wasn't his time yet, Mike. I guess. He needed to sit in the cocoon a little longer. It was a strange ride for Juwan after

the breakout of last year. The excitement of the beat reporters for Juwan through training camp. And then nothingness for three weeks. Then he gets hurt for a month or so. So the takeaway here...

I'm sorry. I just saw DeSean Watson's dead cap for next year. What would it So the takeaway here, I don't know what you're cackling at. I'm sorry. I just saw DeSean Watson's dead cap for next year. What would it be if they were to cut him? $200 million. Sorry. So they are not. But Juwan, big playoffs.

The nice thing for Juwan Johnson is that if he's been sitting at the back of your dynasty bench, there's at least some renewed optimism where it felt like in the middle of the season it was, why am I even holding onto Jawan Johnson right now? Sam Laporta was three, Isaiah Likely four, Tucker Kraft was five. I did not read Travis Kelsey's name. Or the tight end one, McBride. The tight end one.

Yeah. Your tight end one. Yeah. No, the. In your heart. Yeah, the tight end one. Yeah, McBride. The tight end one. Yeah. Your tight end one. Yeah. No, the. In your heart. Yeah, the tight end one. Yeah, McBride was a little disappointing over the last three weeks. Especially in the game against the Eagles.

It was like, throw the ball to McBride. What are we doing? Yeah, I mean. But Kyler had a good game. Yeah, he was the tight end 26-14 the last two weeks after his little run of success. That'll be an interesting one too if arizona ends up with um i think they're going to end up with neighbors uh so another big wide receiver added to the mix and i don't know if you saw this video of hollywood brown did you see him

say he traded himself in fantasy early early in the year oh for real yeah he was he was on like a internet chat i don't know if it's twitch or something. But he's like, early in the year, he's like, I'm not going to get the ball in this offense, and he traded himself. Wow. Inside information. I know. Maybe be a little public next time, Hollywood. So, yeah, Kelsey was on the losing side of both of our main league title games,

if you think about that. Right. Wasn't able to be the kind of powerhouse that we came to expect, have come to expect, and he definitely lost a step this year. That's interesting. Sorry, to go back to the Hollywood Brown. Yeah. I mean, if he felt that way, I mean, he wasn't necessarily incorrect,

but if you have that feeling and that's now what you think about that coaching staff, you're going to – yes, they about that coaching staff but you're gonna yes they could franchise him but you're gonna you won't you're gonna think pretty strong about do i re-sign here or do i go to someone where maybe i make even a little bit less money the the opinion all through the year was the cardinals are going to bring hollywood brown back and it doesn't make sense in this offense this offense is built around physical, large, wide receivers, not the kind of skill set that Hollywood Brown brings. It was obvious that he wasn't getting targeted in the way that they drew up

the game plan, the way that these offensive sets were built. It's just I don't think it's a fit. If the Cardinals spend that money there, it's a waste of money in my opinion because you've got a lot of needs on that offense. So personally, I hope he doesn't come back. Before we move on from Travis Kelsey, I'm just looking at the fantasy playoffs and where he ranked through those three weeks. Oh, no.

I want to play a little game. It's called Who Had More Fantasy Points During the Fantasy Playoffs. Do we have the button? I want to play a game. All right. Who had more fantasy points during the fantasy playoffs? Disappointment Jake Ferguson or Travis Kelsey? Oh, that's Ferguson.

That is. How about TJ Hawkinson, who did not play a week. He was very injured. He was injured. Or Travis Kelsey. I'm guessing two weeks of Hawk. Two weeks of Hawk, yes, outscored Travis Kelsey through these playoffs. We knew this day would come, and it doesn't make it feel any better.

Kyle Pitts, the bust of busts, who you know he had a little he had at least a touchdown he had a little burst all right okay well let's make it a little harder so it is pitts it is pitts oh my gosh logan thomas or travis kelsey no for the fantasy playoffs no i know i know logan thomas had a touchdown no No. Yeah, it's Logan Thomas. Oh. Yeah. Okay. Wait, we got more?

Let's get a little harder. Oh, let's go. Harder than Logan? Tyler Conklin for the Jets with backup quarterbacks or Patrick Mahomes' favorite target, Travis Kelsey. Conk. Conk, conk, baby. All right. How about Lucas Kroll?

If you know who Lucas Kroll is for Denver. Oh, baby, Denver Broncos? Yeah. Isn't that a type of, like a fish? Kroll? Oh, that's krill. Go on. It is Lucas Kroll.

How about Johnny Munt? Johnny Munt. Is this just like any tight end who had a touchdown? You outscored kelsey yeah kelsey's pace over the last three weeks was 73 for 498 and zero yeah he was the wide receiver 26 through the fantasy playoffs oh man so or tight end yes tight end so that that's uh that's not he's gonna end the year at number two because of the way he started. Because the first seven weeks of the year, he was on pace for the normal Kelsey 136 for 1,511.

I feel like. But from that point on. I feel like something changed in his life. Sure. Here's what I was going to say, though, I think based off of this year, you either have Kelsey retire or he's going to be incredible next year. He recommits. That's the kind of thing I need to hear to trade him properly in Dynasty. I mean, this is just all shooting from the hip, from the gut of like,

when you have an embarrassing season like this, and the Chiefs could still win the Super Bowl like they have a roster that they could figure it out they could also get bounced in their very first game and just be thoroughly embarrassed for the Mahomes era and I feel like if that happens and Kelsey does come back he to be. You think him and Mahomes will ever, ever, ever get back together? I don't know at this point. You know. Tight end is always a good time.

But maybe we're reaching the point where we don't see. We've got a new cast of characters now. Yeah. I mean, I think Laporta is going to be the number one tight end in next year's draft. I don't disagree. I do. Yeah. And I don't think there's going to be one going one tight end in next year's draft. I don't disagree. I do. Yeah, and I don't think there's going to be one going in the first round, maybe not the second round.

I think we may be at a different stage for the tight end position. But, well, I mean, it's hard because you can believe that Kelsey's going to bounce back, maybe, but I don't believe with a first or second round pick. Right. Yeah, yeah. I don't believe with a first or second round pick. Right. Yeah, yeah. I don't believe that's strong. I mean, he could end up being a nice gamble for a dynasty team that's going for it, considering how hard it is to get a contributor every week.

That's a man trying to talk up his trade value. That's what I'm hearing. I mean, I can always tell when andy's being personal on these players he really likes because he's sneaking them in his lineup or that was you see me you know i i see you i see and i see i see this right hey if you got travis kelsey in your dynasty team you should be doing the exact same thing talk him up all right well you scale out scandals it's scoundrel time. We're going to talk some quick waiver wire, but at the top, I want to remind people,

we have the waiver wire rankings on the website for the Week 18 players. TheFantasyFootballers.com, click the waiver wire rankings, but we'll jump in right now. Put me in, coach. All right, talk about running back pickups. I think we all have the number one waiver pick up of the week as Elijah Mitchell. Yes, 100%. Right now, it looks like Christian McCaffrey not – I mean, we don't know for sure, but –

No, he's going to be out. I think they've officially said that. Oh, has it been officially? Not from the team, but we've had – Oh, he's out. The expectation is that he does not play. Yes. And so, with that truth, then you've got... The expectation is that he does not play, yes. And so with that truth,

then you've got to have Elijah Mitchell as the number one. I mean, this is... Obviously, it's the last week. There's nothing to save on to here. So when you're like, how much do I spend in Feb for anyone? It's all of it. You should not finish this week with a dollar left in Feb.

The other running backs to pay attention to, Zemir White, Khalil Herbert, Justice Hill after last week's performance. Dude, that was wild. Jamal Williams in place of Kamara. Mm-hmm. And there you go. Yeah, I mean, that's the big list.

The nastiest of nasty boys will be, like, do you think it's all Elijah Mitchell, or does Jordan Mason work into the San Francisco offense I'm fine grabbing Jordan Mason as well I mean you're gonna see how the week progresses yeah if news comes out but it will be Elijah Mitchell ahead of Jordan yes and then the the last one I'll mention it because like Baltimore is, right? Baltimore has nothing to play for. They are locked into the number one seed. I agree.

Dude, this is what you get. That's right. If you are doing your championship in the final week of the NFL season, this is what you get. Melvin Gordon might be the starting running back for the Baltimore Ravens that is a great point wide receivers the Dorch in Arizona getting opportunity seven for 82 he's a good player can't wait for them to bench him again Demarcus Robinson just keeps getting six for 92 also had an end zone target he didn't end up within this one there he is Sl, Slayton with Tyrod Taylor. Yeah, Slayton's got to be way up there.

He gets deep shots. Trey Palmer for Tampa got back into the end zone. He's a good player to pay attention to in Dynasty Leagues at this point with Evans departing. And then, you know, Bo Melton. People want to talk about Bo Melton. Yeah, is he the – Jaden Reed could be gone next week.

Does he move into Jaden Reed could be gone next week. Does he move into Jaden Reed's opportunities? It seems like it. You'll have to see what the health is of – Wicks didn't play last week. Yeah, but is Dontavian Wicks back this week in that move, Bo Melton right back down the – Rookie roulette. Back down the depth chart.

So it's something to pay attention to, and we'll see what Christian Watson's status is as well. At the tight end position, pay attention to, well, Jawan Johnson. Yeah. With the big week. That would be a heavy fab spin for me if I needed a tight end against Atlanta in the final week of the season. What is the current – let me see.

If Bucs lose, winner of the game is NFC South champ. So, Falcons-Saints, they're playing for it. Yes. So, Buccaneers, if they lose, it'll be the winner of the Falcons-Saints game. So, Juwan's in play. Tucker Craft, the Green Bay Packers need to win as well. They're playing for something, and the Chicago matchup is pretty good for tight ends.

Tucker Kraft has been okay. If Jaden Reed isn't there, you know, rookie roulette, but I'd play the tight end. Packers win, they're in. Defenses, for the final week of the year, you want ones that are motivated. And so we'll get into more of the motivation tomorrow as well. But, you know, Tampa Bay, they're playing for something

and they're playing against Carolina. So that is very valuable. Jacksonville plays Tennessee. That would be one to pay attention to with Will Levis leaving again, Ryan Tannehill, and the remains of Derrick Henry. No amount of snow can save this decline. Henry versus Houston. The beginning of the year, we thought that that would be incredible.

But it was not. It was not. Houston has taken just incredible steps forward as a franchise. If mean they might if they win this week they're in the playoff they genuinely have a strong possibility of having the offensive rookie of the year and the defensive rookie yeah i was gonna say did i mean arizona they better hit on that houston texans pick this year. Which is now going to end up in the teens. Because bypassing Will Anderson may look really, really dumb in about two years. It already looks bad, but you could feel catastrophic. All right.

Like I said, all the waiver are. Try that again. Jason, why don't you say it? Oh, you don't want me to say it, but the waiver wire rankings are on our website. You can go and see the fab spins, the orders, more players than we mentioned today

and compare them to who's available in your league. And even though you're playing on week 18 and you should update your league, we are here for you. We're putting the research in. We want to make sure you know we got your back, and we're going to get your title this week. Full stream ahead.

The Cardinals get the Texans pick, which is currently 17th. Hmm. From projected number one or number two overall pick to 17 some good work Houston alright streaming quarterback options I'll go with Baker must win game against Carolina

he looked bad in the first half and then he turned it on yet again almost came back in that game he's been top 12 three or four weeks he's been a top five fantasy performer. So if you're in week 18, Baker is the perfect guy to get you a title. Yeah. No, I like it.

Mike, why don't you go next? All right, I'll go. I think Jason's guy, we'll talk about that, should be the guy to go to. But Tyrod Taylor gets to play Philly. Taylor coming off of a an excellent production game and philly's that team he runs the football too he runs i mean and kyler murray had looked atrocious for weeks at a time plays philadelphia comes through with i mean a big win for the team and a huge fantasy performance so i'm I'm taking Tyrod if you are in the mucky

muck and my streaming advice is pick up Joe Baker or pick up Tyrod Flacco uh your guys's streaming options alongside Joe Flacco I would put Joe Flacco on my roster first he's shockingly still available in leagues maybe dropped a lot this last week because of the matchup. He's been on fire. Now they're not playing for anything. They're locked. So we don't know for sure he's going to play this week, but with, you know, play a whole game. Yeah. Look at your, look at your waivers and who's available. I would pick them up because I think we'll have, you know, news by the end of the week, and I'm not worried about if they bench him in the fourth. He probably had a good game already.

He had the good game without Cooper, but there's no way that Cooper plays this week. That's fair. So, yeah, and you need to be prepared with everybody this week that they could sit. Absolutely. That is going to do it for today's episode. Congratulations.

Congrats to everybody out there. One final reminder, shopballers.com for your Foot Clan title swag, shirts, hoodies, mugs. I mean, I found myself wanting to buy everything that existed for champions over the weekend. Winning will do that. And including the ring I already purchased and the new plaque for this fine trophy. That's good work, champ. And that's good work champ. Yeah. Nice job champ.

So on that note, no, we got to get this in the camera. Let's go ahead and switch that camera angle. Goodbye, everybody. Hey, thanks for tuning in.

We'll see all the rest of the week too. 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 FFBallers.