Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Championship Week Prep + Hungry For More, Underdog Tips - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/27

Episode Date: December 27, 2023

Championship Week is upon us! On today’s fantasy football podcast, tips for title game underdogs, and tough Week 17 start/sit decisions to make! Plus, Hungry For More players, NFL News, and a preview of Thursday Night Football! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for December 27th, 2023. 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 Hungry for More presented by Uber Eats. Visit https://www.ubereats.com/ 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, Jason Moore, Mike Wright, Andy Holloway, back with you. Al Borland, Papa Josh, Inducers Alley this morning. Wednesday episode of the show. Happy to have you with us. Championship week. It's in the air. You can feel it. It's electric. The tension. Yeah. The anticipation. Yeah. The fear.

The stress. We have... This is for fun, right? Right? How much stress do you have right now, Jay? I'm pretty carefree because the two that I'm in, I don't give two farts. You're sleeping like a baby. It really does show.

You've probably extended your lifespan. Yeah, at least a week. Wow. So we did get news this morning, just breaking news, that Tyrod Taylor's going to start for the Giants. Just seeing that live. And Jacoby Brissett's going to start for the Manders. Ooh, that's new information for me.

It was humorous because yesterday when the news feed from various resources, we got one on our site. It was just a bunch of coaches that didn't know which quarterback they're going to play. Minnesota didn't know. The commanders don't know. We don't know about Stroud. We don't know about Lawrence. We don't know about Tyrod and DeVito. Well, yeah.

We know about DeVito. Now we do. That was a great run. Oh, for Tommy D? Yeah. Good work, Cutlets. I hope you got your cash anywhere you possibly could. Yeah, I mean. He looked like he was having a good time, and that's what you got to do.

Because at any moment, at any particular halftime, it could be gone. It is funny how quickly those things evaporate. I posted a tweet yesterday, a poll over on X. Now, don't go look because I'm going to quiz you. I want to see what you think the answer was. I missed the poll. I was talking about those of you out there that were on their way to the title game. And what do you think helped you the most along the way?

And there are four choices. Oh, picking the right players uh well one option was having a great draft okay one option was great waiver wire pickups okay one option was great trades and then one option was great start sit decisions i know what order it should be in all right let's hear what you believe the order should be. I think it would be draft waivers for sure as the first and second, and then start, sit, third, and trades fourth. Okay, Mike, do you have any theories?

I will go waivers at the top because we had some monsters this year. if you went in on Puka. Remember when I got Kyron and you had wanted to draft him, but Kyle wouldn't let you do it? Yeah, Kyle's like, why would we draft Kyron Williams? I'm like, because, man, his camp maker's really the guy. I don't know. Yeah. You hold that against him even today?

No, no. Okay. No. You've let it go. No, I've not let it go. All right. So, Mike, you think No, I've not let it go. Oh, okay. All right. So, Mike, you think waivers first?

Yeah. All right. Well, the answers, as of right now, 13,000 votes, 40% voted having a great draft. Oh, okay. That's good. So, the foundation of your team, we talk about it every year. I mean, hopefully, some of those 40% picked up the UDK, got them off to a good start. 37%.

So very close. Great waiver wire pickups. So that is the majority of the vote. The 14% was great trades. For me, it was great trades that didn't happen. Oh, my goodness. Great trade rejections. Oh, my goodness. Great trade rejections. Oh, my goodness.

I mean, yesterday I spent the day taunting people with trades that I had offered that they rejected. That's a pro move. Which is just a good old time. I mean, Mike's been doing that with Pittman. I'll give you one. This was, I mean, it's so crazy. This is a perfect example of don't veto trades because you don't know what's going to happen andy offered me and at the moment that this was offered it wasn't even that close no no you got it was a quick rejection but to think back only a few weeks ago and think of how insanely

lopsided in my favor it would have been that you offered me you were coming after austin eckler who has since that exact moment collapsed and in return for basically nothing that i gave away i would have received kyron williams a second round pick which is our golden goose in our keeper league and amari cooper who at that time was a worthless he had like hadn't scored five points in like three straight weeks they had no quarterback yeah i mean it just seemed and kyron was injured and whatever yeah had i accepted that i would be in the championship right now and you oh my goodness easy rejection i also went back and looked at the famous betrayal trade with Papa Josh. He's in studio today.

And didn't realize in that trade, he would have also received Amari Cooper. Hmm. But a lot of the trades that, you know, sometimes it's the ones that don't. That's why we say don't veto. Because you don't really know what the next few weeks are going to hold. I could see trade. There are leagues that would have, had you taken that deal, the Kyron deal with Eckler,

there are leagues that would have vetoed that because they wouldn't have wanted Eckler going to a playoff contender or something. Right. And that trade was lopsided in the opposite direction. So please, commissioners out there, it starts with you. Be wise. Do not veto trades for any reason other than collusion open collusion veto and boot those managers but otherwise let it fly we're all grown-ups so and situations change every single

week yeah every week i mean it it's it's actually really upsetting how bad our memories are and when you think about like amari cooper i mean he's just dominated with joe flacco but you you almost can't remember how bad it was right before you had flacco and you had the the quarterback quarterback roulette of yeah you know, is it DTR? He was good with Watson. He was better with Watson. But then the second Watson went out for the year, it was like I tried to trade him to everybody. Nobody wanted to touch him.

Because the Cleveland Browns, it was either PJ Walker and then they're like, no, it's not him. And then it was DTR who they said, even when they picked up Joe Flacco and Joe Flacco got in on a game, like, no, no, DTR is still going to be our starter. So teams change. Fantasy outputs change. It's a wild world this year. It is. And we've got hungry for more on today's show,

some news to catch you up on. We'll preview a very – honestly find it to be a um a difficult matchup to break down for thursday night football in terms of fantasy decisions to be made yes some mailbag on the show today and uh we want to get you ready to rumble give yourself the best odds of winning on sunday which uh i last i checked there are 10 games in the early window. That's stupid. So we don't have enough TVs here, Mike. Now you're speaking my language.

Because Jason and I have been pushing for TV number 10 for a while. Honestly, I think this is like, what, the second week it would have mattered? On the whole year? There's usually one or two weeks per year. But why? it would have mattered on the whole year there's usually one or two weeks per year but it why what are the nfl your entire existence like all you want is to dominate everything like you 10 morning three afternoon one evening you took over christmas weekend yeah with an insane, insane barrage of games, just nonstop football, because it's all about the NFL.

And then you're like, no, we'll do 10 games. We'll just get it over with real quick. What are you doing? 10 and 3. Maybe like 8 and 5. You can still lopsided it. Just at least four. There should always be four afternoon games minimum.

We've got a big Thursday game with players that people have been playing. We have a big Saturday night game with the highest over-under of the week by a lot. That is the Dallas-Detroit Saturday night matchup. That's going to be great. 53.5 point over-under last I had looked. And then we have the Sunday barrage. No Monday night football, though. No Monday night football.

So your fantasy championship will be over. Monday Night Football is on Saturday night. Yeah, so New Year's Day, you can bask in it. We don't have a show that day, right? Monday, no. And then Tuesday we'll come in and we'll reflect on how it went. And we'll be, you know, this is a year-round show. So we'll be getting into the 10 things to remember.

We'll be breaking down all the lessons from the past year. And the NFL playoffs will be upon us. All right, couple reminders here at the top before we get into Hungry for More. I've got three reminders for the folks out there. The first one, brand-new Dynasty Pod episode this morning. Jason was on that one with Kyle and Matthew Betts, and it is a Dynasty sink or swim. Yeah, we talk about a lot of those questionable players,

and are they going to sink or swim? You want to know about Stephon Diggs? Yeah, sorry. I hear that name now, and I just tripped. Footclangiveaway..com still going on a sign travis etn jersey a bunch of fantasy footballers swag it's really fun seeing a handful of videos over on x of people that uh they were celebrating with some footballers swag on christmas morning uh some of the that's a Some of the significant others out there picking up some significant gear. Yeah, thank you.

And then fantasychamps.com right now, it's a good time to mention it. This is where you go and get your swag. Get your league trophy. They have belts. They have rings. And if you use the code FRE ring through this show you get a 59 championship ring for free when you buy a trophy so in our leagues the winner they get a ring for themselves and then they get the trophy but that gets passed around check that out at fantasychamps.com

code free ring put them both in your cart use that code and you'll get a free ring. You guys ready to move on? Let's go. Mm-hmm. Welcome to Hungry for More, presented by Uber Eats. All right. Getting towards the end of the season. These names, I think, you know, you can't bring up a name in Hungry for More right now

without having significant championship week implications. So, Mike, are our picks just us trying to will something into existence? Correct. A little bit. It's also both of ours have a bit of a mirror situation where they're good players. Everything should be fine when you play them. But there's a sandwich. There's a little blip that rightfully should give you a little bit of concern,

but I'm hungry for more Zay Flowers. Have loved this guy. I mean, was very, very high on Zay Flowers coming into the NFL season. Looked immediately like the number one wide receiver for the Baltimore Ravens, which he was, but then it was a pretty bumpy ride with Mark Andrews there, and then Mark Andrews goes out. Zay Flowers is right back to a target hog. You know, last week against San Francisco, tough defense.

He saw three targets in the red zone. He scored. He's had 17 or more fantasy points in three of four games. Three of four. Because in the middle of that was an absolute one disaster a one catch just out of nowhere seemingly out of nowhere in a very easy uh on a very easy defense to pass on and now he gets the miami dolphins who the miami dolphins are 23rd and scheduled just to wide receivers 47 point over under a Baltimore

favored by about three and a half right now big game that's it and yeah also you can go the narratives of this is huge for the basically whoever wins this game is likely to get the bye week like if you know what I mean so teams are playing, but there was that blip. Yeah. And Miami has been getting better. Like, the Miami defense has been very legit the last couple weeks. So it's, what do you do with Zay Flowers? So we're just, I'm hungry for more of,

let's make sure we actually get those targets and we don't have. How does Zay Flowers have a one-catch day? How is that possible? And it just happened two weeks ago. Baltimore is an incredible NFL team, but they don't win the same way every week. Correct. And Miami, with Jalen Ramsey, Zavian Howard,

like I know C.D. Lamb had a good game last week because he had the long touchdown. He went like two quarters or two and a half quarters after that without a target in that game. So sometimes Baltimore wins on defense. Sometimes it's Lamar running. Sometimes it's Gus Buss. Sometimes it's, you know, Beckham.

Like, it doesn't repeat, and so there's that fear. But Flowers, 17- plus points in three or four games should give you some confidence look i'm eight targets 10 targets two against the jacksonville jaguars 13 targets yeah like so the the blip sends fear oh yeah but you're hungry for more of the not yeah blip because as long as longafiris is going to get targets, if he gets eight or more targets, he'll be a very solid floor play with upside. You're hungry for more targets. Yeah.

And I am as well with my player. I think the targets are the key for a guy who's been on fire. I'm hungry for more James Conner. Please. I'm hungry for more James Conner getting passing work. This last week was a tough matchup, and we were worried about it. It was the Chicago Bears whose defense has been great. Their run defense has been outstanding.

And so they targeted him five times, and he had five receptions. I mean, if you get five receptions as a baseline for a player as good as James Connor, the fantasy output's going to be great. He plays against Philly. Philly is the number two ranked defense on the course of the season of not giving up fantasy points to running backs. So it's like a really scary matchup. But you look at the last two weeks and James Conner, I mean, he played against San Francisco. Scary defense. Bad matchup for running backs. Well, he was the running back 11. Last week, scary defense. Bad for running backs against, you know, the running back five, the running back 11, the running back five on 27, 17, and 17 opportunities keep feeding this man. What's crazy is I mentioned this last week with my somewhat optimism

about Saquon Barkley. The Philadelphia Eagles run defense on the year has been dominant, but over the last five weeks, they're the ninth best matchup for running backs. Kenneth Walker torched them. Yep. You saw Dallas go seven points above expectation. You saw the Giants last week three and a half points above expectation

with Saquon. So there is a little bit of optimism there for Connor. Look, the matchups have been bad for Connor for a while, and he just keeps getting it done. And then the running back I just mentioned is my hungry for more. It's Saquon Barkley. I'm thrilled they just announced Tyrod Taylor as the starter. What you need is some, like, I just want, like, bottom third,

not dead last in moving the football. If you move the football down the field at all, Saquon's going to have an opportunity. He went 23 for 80 in a touchdown against that Philly defense. He had six targets in that game. The Rams, it's another tough matchup for Saquon Barkley, and he has been, much like Zay Flowers, he has been the red light, green light. He plays great.

He has a bad game. Great, bad game. But the fact that Tyrod Taylor is coming back. These trends continue. You just want to see opportunity inside the 20. It will be the Saquon show. 23 rushing opportunities against Philly is awesome. So I am hungry for more Saquon heading into championship week.

And that's my name that I wanted to mention. Yep. That was Hungry for More presented by Uber Eats. Get almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. An O-line? No. No. Carton of OJ?

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News and notes from around the league presented by USAA insurance. Speaking of OJ real quick, you know, I have a 15 year old son and when you're young, like things like heartburn, that's not like part of your world, right? You just eat like a pig. It's just a trash compactor. Yeah. And it don't matter, right? You don't deal with heartburn. That's not like part of your world, right? Right. You just eat like a pig. It's just a trash compactor. Yeah. And it don't matter, right? You don't deal with heartburn. So he gets some heartburn from all the Christmas, you know, vacuuming up of the treats, right? And so like he's never had heartburn, really.

And so I give him some Tums. And he takes the Tums and he starts to feel better. And then about 10 minutes later, he goes, I'm still feeling it a little bit. And I go, well, did you drink some water? And he goes, I just had a tall glass of orange juice. So he didn't know that maybe that would cause a bit of a... Let me douse this fire with some gasoline. It's liquid.

I didn't know whether to be mad, disappointed. I didn't. I was just like. That's a tough lesson. I was like, buddy, you drank some acid. You just got to tell them, like, maybe just have some more. Yeah. I was like, you got to be kidding me.

So, wow. Also going back to where we were beforehand, you were talking about the Rams as a tough defense against Saquon. You're hungry for more Saquon. I just looked it up because I know the Rams have been a tough matchup. They are the absolute

most difficult matchup for all running backs over the last six weeks. Over the last three weeks. Yeah, they ruined Camara weeks they yeah they ruined Camara last week they ruined Camara we're talking not like three points below expectation 10 points below expectation two weeks ago 10 points below expectation three weeks ago 12 points below expectation they are shutting down the running backs my narrative for why Camara could do well was because they played you know Washington without Bryan Robinson and the Cardinals without Conner

and Cleveland without a running back. Well, it didn't matter. They shut down Camara. The nice thing is, if it counts for anything, Giants are at home. That's fair. Most of the three of those five matches were in L.A. But, yeah, it's not great. No.

Good luck to you, laddie. All right. CJ Stroud's concussion symptoms getting into the news here, uh, have subsided. He is set to resume activities this week. I had somebody message me on Twitter. They said, Oh, your rankings. They have CJ Stroud and Justin Fields really close. I said, look, if it's me, I'm just going to play Justin Fields. Uh, I know CJ Stroud's at home. I know that they have an opportunity against Tennessee. And you guys might have a completely different opinion. It just makes me fearful.

No tank Dell. Coming back from the concussion, seeing some blips on CJ Stroud's resume of late, I just play Justin Fields and roll with that, assuming DJ Moore is there. If DJ Moore was out, maybe that changes the equation. Yeah. I mean, if you look at what he did before getting concussed, it really wasn't that great for fantasy purposes. Yes. He had the 41 point monstrous week in week nine. Um, and he had a 30 point week in week 12. Like, so he's got a ceiling, but he also had a 16 point week a 15 point week a 12 point week in that same stretch since the bye week so he's not like a locked in guaranteed

oh man I get CJ Stroud back so my opponent's got to be super scared um Stroud is a is a decent play this week at home or I'm sorry against Tennessee it is at home oh yeah at home against Tennessee that's a good it's a good matchup I'm fine playing him um big news for Nico to have him back that's I'm more happy for the other pieces no brown goose again so he would be the he'd be a dance with the devil on championship week but I would dance I would dance with Noah Brown I'll dance with that devil I'll dance with that devil Noah Brown should be a good play this week. I'm not afraid. I mean, look, you have been the courageous one.

You mentioned Noah Brown the one week of the last four that he didn't goose. Yeah. He's not goosing this week. Well, Dalton Schultz was back and had a bunch of targets. Six targets for Robert Woods, Nico Collins. I don't think I'm starting him. TJ Hawkinson out for the season. Torn MCL, ACL. The number two tight end is gone, and it's late season injury.

So you just hope he's back and healthy to start the year. He almost certainly won't be. Because of the timeline being this late. Both ACL and MCL tears. You're going to wait to have surgery until swelling goes down. So it'll be a couple weeks before he has surgery. I think there's a really solid chance that you don't have him to start the season. The Vikings still haven't decided which of their three quarterbacks to start

do you have let's say you had Justin Jefferson oh yeah you know who you want you want Mullins oh one million percent every fantasy football manager out there is praying for Mullins and right now that's where I lean I think it will be Mullins, but TBD. And, you know, there's some coaches that are very, you know, restrictive and, oh, we're not going to tell you what's going on. And there's some coaches that are just really honest and open. Kevin O'Connell is a pretty straight shooter. When he knows, he'll tell you. I really believe that he's still

figuring it out. Well, the KJ Osborne question is the one for me. I'm picking him up in a couple of leagues where I have Josh Downs or Curtis Samuel. I want to play Osborne, but I don't want to play him with Jaron Hall and I don't want to play him with Joshua Dobbs. So I am hoping for Mullins myself and that would make that decision

for me. Mike Tomlin implied Mason Rudolph will start again in week 17. How do you feel about that, Mike? How do you feel about Mason Rudolph's performance? I mean, he balled out. Well, he had some really big plays to George Pickens against the Bengals. We'll see. Doug Peterson said Trevor Lawrence's right shoulder injury is an AC joint sprain.

He's progressing. This would be the third straight week that he's progressing with an injury that we don't think he'll play. And guess what? I think he'll play. They need him to play. He played after the concussion. He played after the ankle. He's probably going to play after the shoulder.

But we'll see. Does it change how you'd start Ridley? Yeah, I mean i mean well obviously if lawrence isn't there i would be hesitant to start uh ridley i i think there's a decent chance he does not play um so we'll really have to monitor this one uh yeah he's been he's been he's been bad um yeah and hasn't been performing well. Beathard provided some fantasy value for Ridley last week. And it's Carolina. The last three weeks, he is completing 57% of his passes.

That's because he's literally screaming in pain after every play. I'm not saying I could do any better with those injuries. Took Zay Jones and Kirk away and then just broke most of his body. Yeah. Carolina is a terrible matchup for wide receivers, for quarterbacks, so I'm not really looking forward to that matchup. ETN, I mean, especially if you've got to bang up Trevor Lawrence. Ingram?

Yeah, Ingram should be okay and ETN should be great. Will Levis will try to practice on Wednesday. Will Levis would give you moderate flex hope for DeAndre Hopkins where there is none in Tannehill. Jacoby Brissett will start. Hey, where's the beef? Jacoby, where's the beef, Brissett? He's back.

It's good. Yes. It's good for McLaurin. It's good for Dotson. I mean, throw last week out. They played the Jets. But, you know, he played a limited amount of time in that game, went 10 for 13 through, you know, another touchdown.

It's good for the – I mean, his passer rating has been great the last two weeks. Yeah, I mean, it's still – 140. Still a tough defense. He's playing against San Francisco, but they're at home. the last two weeks. Yeah, I mean, it's still a tough defense. He's playing against San Francisco, but they're at home. It puts Terry McLaurin into the startable category. Tyra Taylor, I mentioned that he'll start against the Rams at home. That was today's News & Notes presented by USAA Insurance.

Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Quick break. Back with the difficult thursday night preview it'll all be fine it'll all be fine this will be a super easy breakdown lots of confidence from my friends in this one let's do it thursday night breakdown Confidence from my friends in this one. Let's do it. Thursday Night Breakdown. You think we're ever going to get to the point where, like, the medical associations, they come out and they say, we do not recommend men over 60 to play fantasy football,

men with high blood pressure, men with heart conditions. Like, is that going that gonna be is this the next smoking i don't think they will do that because they themselves play fantasy football you just true you gotta exercise and then when people are like why why do you do it why are you out there busting your butt you're like because i want to play fantasy football oh that's the reason yeah so i should i spend my heart strong? Most of Sunday on my Peloton? Is that what you're telling me? No, because if you combine not at the same time. If you exercise

while tilting your face off, you will spontaneously combust. He died as he lived. Tuesday, Wednesday, prepare your body on the Peloton. Just sleep through the games. Alright, New York, 6-9, taking on the Cleveland Browns, 10-5.

The DraftKings Sportsbook line, Cleveland, minus 7.5 at home. The over-under is 35. That gives the Jets 13 points. So let's start with the easy decisions. The Cleveland defense. Oh, yeah, they're in. We know that Trevor Simeon is going to be back. Yeah, Zach Wilson has been

ruled out. This is so the Cleveland defense. Man, this game is going to be wild. The Cleveland defense is a lock. The Browns can't run the ball. They have really struggled running,

and they're throwing it like crazy with Flacco, obviously mostly to Amari Cooper. 40-plus every time. But you cannot throw on the Jets. You just can't do it. They give up 168 a week passing yards. A statuesque pocket passer in Joe Flacco trying to just air it out on the Jets.

It ain't going to work. It's just not going to work. I can't imagine him picking apart this Jets secondary. I can imagine this Jets secondary picking him off and maybe – Short field situation for Brees? Yeah. I mean, genuinely, I think Brees is okay because of that. I mean, you're going to start Brees no matter what.

You just have to have the upside play. It's not a great – I mean, these are two good defenses. I would start the Jets defense as well. I think that they're okay. Now, the Browns being favored by 7.5, being implied for over 20 points, maybe I'm more scared than I should be of the Jets defense. There were people on Twitter, and maybe they're just angry Jets fans. They said, please stop hyping up the Jets defense.

They're like, it's awful. They just, you know, they gave up 28 points in the second half to Washington. And while I understand the emotion behind that, the math says they're the very best against quarterbacks and wide receivers, and not by a little bit, by a lot. And so it is a really tough situation. And when they give up those points, I mean, they gave it all up really quickly like when they stopped playing football.

They literally took their players out of the game. they gave it all up really quickly. Like when they stopped playing football, they, they literally, they literally took their players out of the game. And then because there was like 27 to seven towards the end of the game and they're benching their guys. And then there were whoops. We did that too early. Here's one other guaranteed start is David Njoku. David Njoku.

I just looked this up. This is not a small sample guys. This is from week seven through 16, so 10 full games. He's on pace for 160 targets, 95 receptions, 1,000 yards, and 10.5 touchdowns in that span. He has not had – he's had one week outside the top 12 at the position. I can see a ton of tight end screens short area no joku targets throw right right in front of you in the middle of the field and let no joku take a big hit yeah I mean this is he's

on 175 target pace uh over the last six weeks so he's going to be targeted and he is comfortable and fine and what about the about the revenge game stack? With Joe Flacco? Joe Flacco and Elijah Moore. Well, Elijah Moore's challenge is he can't catch the football? But he's going to be extra angry. Yeah, I mean, he will run around. I couldn't stand watching last week and watching Elijah Moore because the few targets that he received were disgusting because of him.

Yeah. And so, yeah, he is, you know, the Joe Flacco against the Jets? Narrative, 21 points. I mean, they can't run the football. Do you think they get to 21 points? That's the question. The Browns? Yeah.

I think they do. I think this game could hit the over but not based on the offenses right um I think that both of these defenses score a touchdown in this game um and then and then you will have some you know Amari Cooper is the biggest question because people who have Amari Cooper how do you possibly sit him off of the biggest performance of the entire year where he balled out and was amazing how could you sit him right now I've got him as my wide receiver 24 so if you're in the championship game and you've got Amari Cooper you probably have I mean you're in the championship game you've got a good roster you might have other you might have three other top 24 wide receivers this week where

there's the potential to look at saying, man, I could see how this game goes very poorly and sit him down. But I think the majority of people, you're not going to be able to sit Amari Cooper. You're going to hope that he's hyper-targeted. Mike, you brought up he could get a big play. He's getting targeted down the field. It just takes one 60-yard catch to make you happy enough in this game. And obviously around the end zone, he's getting targeted down the field it just takes one 60 yard catch to make you happy enough in this game and obviously around the end zone he's been looked at a lot do you go what

about Garrett Wilson on the other side versus Amari Cooper oh there's no way I would not play Cooper without a doubt Cooper over Garrett Wilson Garrett Wilson to me is someone that I would prefer to bench this week you've got's averaging 10 targets a game. Mm-hmm. But on the road against Cleveland without Zach Wilson, Garrett Wilson is, I mean. His last two road games he finished with negative points and with four points against Miami. And it's tough because it's just not a lot of points available to Trevor Simeon.

I was wrong. I mean, last week he was good. But I play Amari Cooper. I play the favorite. I play the guy that's leading the league in reception yards over the last six weeks. So, like, as of right now, you know, just for some personal anecdotes, I am currently leaning on I will be playing Zay Flowers over Garrett Wilson. I haven't locked that decision in.

I mean, the clock is obviously ticking here with the Thursday night matchup. So that's my headspace of where I am with Garrett Wilson. But I'm playing Cooper. I'm putting him in. It's a good discussion. I know Brooks is chiming in saying, look, it's how you play fantasy. I could never live with benching Cooper. I'm getting it. I'm putting him in. It's a good discussion. I know Brooks is chiming in saying, look, it's how you play fantasy. I could never live with benching Cooper.

I get it. I think the discussion's important, though, because if you just stay stuck in the mud on these matchups, there have been Saquon weeks where it was probably worth benching him, but I didn't have the courage to do it because you stick with that player. I think you probably are staying in the flames here, but then that has I, you know, I didn't have the courage to do it because you stick with that player. I, I think you probably are staying in the flames here,

but that, then that has to, you know, if, if no joke is good, if Cooper's good, everybody that I've talked to is benching Joe Flacco. That's where I was going to go.

The conversation of, do you play one quarterback from last? Do you play Joe Flacco or do you go with, you know, we brought up some, what I think are the process. Anyway, it says some good

streamers of like derrick carr gets to play the tampa bay buccaneers i would play derrick carr baker mayfield gets to play the saints i would play baker and probably again without latimore so if you have a if you have mike evans congratulations you don't probably don't have to deal with that um play kyler i play russell wilson i i play Russell Wilson. If there's a good enough option, I would play those over Flacco this week. Geno Smith against Pittsburgh. I'd play Geno. Gardner Minshew against Las Vegas. I've got them back-to-back in my rankings.

I'm okay going Flacco. I think I would go Flacco there. They have been on fire. That is fair. And the Jets, their defense has had to fight tooth and nail all year long, I think I would go Flacco there. They have been on fire. That is fair. And the Jets, their defense has had to fight tooth and nail all year long, and they're not playing for anything anymore. So it would be interesting if the game got away from them what happens to their defense.

It's a tough one. It's going to be a game with a 35-point over-under to start your championship week with players that you've been playing every week. Like, here's what I'll say. I don't think you get through this game where Brees Hall, Garrett Wilson, Amari Cooper, David Njoku, all those guys have good weeks. I don't think that happens. Or

all of them having bad weeks. I don't think that happens either. You're going to have a handful of guys you're happy with and mostly sad. The tight end one in fantasy since week seven david nijoku dude titan number one it's about freaking time right cleveland i don't know what you've been doing i mean how long i mean the ingram nijoku stories of their career are comical yeah this was five years ago you were drafted and these guys were first round picks. They were supposed to be superstars. This is year seven.

The three of those guys, Njoku, Evan Ingram, and OJ Howard. They were... Number one since week seven, number five on the year. Already at 115 targets in this offense. And career high in touchdowns.

Did you say this is year seven? Yeah. Wait, what? Yeah. I said five years. Wow, year seven. Yeah. Just wait for the year seven breakout, everyone.

Dynasty players out there, pull your hair out. Because not only was Njoku drafted, Ingram drafted in Dynasty Leagues to be great, and then you went through the mire and your soul died, and then you traded them away. But then now you're watching across the league, and somebody else has them, and they're delivering for them. Yeah, it's ridiculous it took them this long. But, hey, we're here now.

It's great. It's great. I'm very, very happy that I snuck him into trades at the deadline. And Mike, we talked about the schedule. It just lined up for Njoku as well. He's 27 still. Yeah. He was too young. He came into the league as a baby monster.

I mean, he was the biggest manned young. I mean, he was just too young. He was too young for the NFL. Kyle Pitts just 23. Are we waiting for his young for the NFL. Kyle Pitts, just 23. Are we waiting for his year seven? Yeah. We're in year three. Yeah, we got a ways to go with Pitts.

Four more years. Oh, my goodness. All right. Anything else from this game you want to discuss? I think a lot of people have been asking on the website. Number four, in terms of start-sit questions in the Week 17 rankings, has been whether you play the Jets defense on the road Thursday night against the Browns who have been cruising,

or you pivot to somebody else like Chicago against Atlanta, the Rams against the Giants, the Las Vegas Raiders who's been on fire against Indianapolis. Me personally, I play those three defenses. I play them all over the Jets. Really? I would. Hmm.

That's tough. I mean, you've got seven and a half point favorites here. Flacco's thrown five interceptions in the last two weeks. I know he's been great for fantasy and he's been winning ballgames, but how you score in fantasy, the interception is the highest. Yeah score in fantasy you know the interception is the the highest rush and the interception it's the highest odds to a touchdown right and so is is the is the pick and i think flacco throws at least two picks in this game so i still lean the jets okay over all those over the rams against the giants yeah i don't tie rod just

play the better defense i think so i mean that's that's where i lean these are all good options um but i'm gonna you know especially since it's that close let me let me know how my defense does on thursday get a head start on the week if i need to make pivot options with more knowledge getting ahead on championship week. Yeah, that's a good point. It'll be an interesting game. Let's do some championship week mailbag. Mailbag.

Mailbag. All right. Here we go. If you have a question for the show, you can go to the website, thefantasyfootballers.com, click the Submit a Question button, or dial the voicemail hotline, 302-464-TFFB. Jumping into a voicemail question. Here we go, and it is a funny one.

Hey, ballers. Do I dare start David Njoku over Stephon Diggs this week? Somehow made the championship. Thanks. Let me know. Oh my gosh. Yes. Do you dare? Yes. Yes you do. I would.

I would do that. So Stefan Diggs gets the Patriots. I would do it too. What an insane question. David Njoku. what an insane yeah question David Njoku six year bust tight end

versus superstar we need to shut this year down man this year is drunk can I make a secondary decision for you how about David Njoku or Austin Eckler this week I would go Eckckler there i think eckler is actually a good play he i know it i know it's crazy but he worked his way into double digit points he had double digit points last week 19

opportunities and he plays against denver and denver's defense has been better, but against the run, that's where they get beat. So Diggs or Njoku, Mike? I – oh, my gosh. His last four games against the Patriots, seven for 85 and a touchdown, seven for 92 and a touchdown, seven for 104 and a touchdown, six for 58 and a touchdown. But that was – I know you're not reading Diggs.

I mean, that's... Yeah, so... Because Diggs' last couple games is 5 for 29 and no touchdown. That was Diggs against New England. The last four matches against New England. He's dominated them, but this is not the same Stephon Diggs right now.

No, it's not. And it has coincided with the change of offensive coordinator, too. And the change in the running philosophy. Amari Cooper or Stefan Diggs? Cooper. Jason just plunging his head into his microphone. You got to do your fantasy algebra here. If you're going to start Najoku over Stefan Diggs,

you would certainly start Amari Cooper. Yeah. There's no way I'm going to live in the betting on Diggs revival after the amount of weeks that it's happened. I'm not going to do that. It's a good point, Mike.

Are you playing Cooper over Diggs? Yes. Yeah, I got to move Diggs down in the rankings. I was just thinking the same thing. Oh, my gosh. All right. Yeah, and I think you do. I think you flex the tight end, which is redonkulous.

Do you guys want to quit the show? A little bit. Yeah, just for this season. Where is Diggs in the rankings right now? I'm moving them down i have them around 16 to 20 yeah i just bumped into 20 yeah he's at uh yeah i'm looking at guys that you know this question is zay flowers nico collins loyalty pays no dividends. Points are what win championships. There's a handful of these guys that I would rather play over Stefan Diggs at this point. I mean, he's not someone that, you know, is incapable.

He still looked all right to me on the field. They've been missing on some stuff. Well, there's a couple of things. We talked about this on the Dynasty show, but they're not targeting him deep as much. They're not connecting deep as much. And the way that he is being used since the coordinator change and the way that the team is operating since the coordinator change puts him in a less valuable situation. He had a deep target that should have been about a 75-yard touchdown last week

that Josh Allen underthrew it. It was a pick. They did take the shot. And what's crazy is they've won games. Four of the last five games they've won, 32 points, 20 points, 31 points, 24 points, all four of those games to fund Diggs, 57, 58, 46, 66, and fantasy finish. So it is.

And yet a 22% target share, 31, 38, 38. The last two weeks he has seen 38% of the target. This is what I'm talking about. You don't bench him over everybody. Right. You can still find value there. It's just a matter of whether or not the Buffalo Bills are going to need to throw the ball a lot.

You know, 38% of a team that has decided against the Cowboys to just run the ball every single play and succeed and win the game that way, you know, you could have 60% of a bad pie and not be happy. I'm very happy that they're at home this week against New England. But, like, I mean, you start to make decisions about Stephon Diggs or Rashi Rice. Stephon Diggs or Mike Evans. I would go Mike Evans. Stephon Diggs or Brandon Ayuk. I don't. That's a fair question.

I would go Ayuk against Washington. Yeah, I mean, Devontae Adams or Stephon Diggs. Devontae Adams plays Indy. I mean, that's a good matchup. Yeah, his mean, Devontae Adams or Stephon Diggs. Devontae Adams plays Indy. I mean, that's a good matchup. Yeah, his quarterback. Isn't it a good matchup for wide receivers? It's average. I think it's a much better matchup for running backs.

I'm going to play Diggs over Adams. I mean, outside wideouts dominate Indianapolis. That's what Kyle is reminding us. Yeah, I will remind you. The Raiders had no passing yards in three quarters. I understand that. I'll take 38% of Josh Allen's targets. But we can't be so biased to one week that they scored 63 points

where Trey Tucker, Jacoby Myers, Devontae Adams, and Michael Mayer all dominated a week prior. I'm not saying one way or the other. I'm just laying it out. All right, another voicemail. Hey, footballers. Steve from Phoenix here. Got a tough one.

I'm in the finals in my league, and I can't decide between Joe Mixon or Ty Chandler. Really hard one. Hope you guys are having a good day. Bye. I don't feel great about Ty Chandler this week. I'm just going to throw that out there. Really? No, I don't. Obviously, Madison's going to get worked in more than he was last week coming off of the injury. Ty Chandler really inefficient.

I know it's the Packers matchup. There's opportunity there. I'm not saying Chandler can't deliver. I am curious where you both are with Ty Chandler. Mike, you have a start-sit decision with him. Yeah, so the Packers right now over the last five weeks have been the sixth best matchup over expectation. And who's – oh, the Chiefs. Let me find them real quick. The Chiefs over the last five weeks have been right behind the Packers. So not a tough matchup in terms of giving up points above your expected points.

Yeah, this is a volume play to me. Which is mixing. Which is mixing, yeah. The matchups are similar enough. One isn't great and one is terrible. Where I don't know. I think Ty Chandler is a decent play this week. I'm not anti-Chandler. Without Hawkinson, without Addison, they're going to need to run the

ball more. And so I think Chandler's okay, but he could end up with seven or eight carries in the game and Madison worked in more. I mean, we just don't know how the game plan will work. We don't even know what quarterback it's going to be. Whereas at least with mix and we've seen him have a lot of success with Jake Browning, get a ton of work. So I I'm going to, I'm going to lean on the volume. All right. This is a good question from Braxton. Hold on here. Breaking news. What do you got for us? This is from Rap Sheet. So, Ian Rappaport, the Broncos are strongly considering

having quarterback Russell Wilson sit for the final two games, preserving financial flexibility for the offseason. Wilson has 37 mil in 2025 salary that vests in March of 2024 if he suffered a serious injury. It would complicate matters. Yeah, they're eliminated now. So I don't think that those two guys get along. I don't think that's the future. It's the future.

It's the right move. I'm done with this season. Mike is retiring from 2023. Wow. Don't worry. The calendar turns over, Mike. It's 2024 soon. Is that Jared Stidham? You betcha.

Yeah, baby. Ironically, Jared Stidham was who took over for Carr when they benched Carr in the Jackson situation last year. Jared Stidham. You want to know who? It is Stidham was who took over for Carr when they benched Carr in the Jackson situation last year. Jared Stidham. You want to know who? It is Stidham, right? Yeah, I believe so. Look that up.

You want to know who's alerting these general managers about the contract? Jared Stidham? Jared Stidham's agent. Jared Stidham's agent is calling these general managers. He's like, I reviewed the contract. Look, now that you're out of it, you need to be aware of what's going to happen if Russ goes out there and gets injured. That is too funny.

Stidham is mining his P's and Q's. Yeah. The contract assassin. What's great is one of my championship leagues that I'm in, it's a best ball super flex. I got Stidham on the roster, baby. Sit him down. Sit Russ down. Sit him for Stidham. Yeahflex. I got Stidham on the roster, baby.

Sit him down. Sit Russ down. Sit him for Stidham. Yeah. Nice. Also, I mean, we'll see if Courtland Sutton plays, but thank goodness. That's brutal. Well, it's brutal, but it's also, thank goodness there's real no fantasy options here. Is it the Chargers?

Yeah, Chargers at denver what's i mean if you have no courtland sutton you have no russell wilson bet the under yeah yeah i guess you would never play the charge of defense well done jared you figured out sit him for sit him that's the campaign every year he needs to find that's what he's doing he's finding that he knows at the end of the year that's the team he goes to that year genius all right this is our final question here it's a good one from braxton because a lot of you are in this situation like mike uh i'm playing against a juggernaut in the championship that'd be that'd be me mike you're playing me i'm the I'm the joker now. What are the tips you have when you're overmatched?

Do you play a player like Kyler over Stafford? Stafford's been a low-ceiling option this year. Do you play upside type of options like a Darius Slayton over a Wandale? That's a bad example, but like a, you know, somebody who would, do you sit Cooper? Cause you don't think a ceiling game exists and play someone like Devante Adams where maybe a ceiling game does exist. I think you're, you're definitely looking for more ceiling, more explosiveness, high upside. It's the type of matchup where you can get yourself to play a Gabe Davis, someone that can have a 70 yard touchdown, even though

George Pickens could really hurt you? Who has the explosiveness and the matchup? I would also try, if you can, to stack. If you've got the decision between Stafford and Kyler and you think, oh, Stafford hasn't really had upside, Kyler has the upside. Well, if you've got Puka or Cooper Cup or you've got Trey McBride, play the one that matches your quarterback because if that player gets the touchdowns, it's a powerful tool. That's good advice. The stack is powerful.

You need touchdowns. It is what you need. Focus on touchdowns with your DST. Look at who's going to throw picks and try to get, I mean, those are, you want to beat a juggernaut, you end up with 15 points from your defense. You know, that's the, put work into that. I played, I was in several playoffs, and in two of them I faced the Raiders defense on their 24-point week, and I was eliminated in both of those, and I was a favorite in both.

So it's a good point. If you get an overwhelming defensive performance, that is massive. So that'll do it for today's episode of the podcast. Tomorrow we'll dig into the matchup starts of the week and get that going for championship Sunday, pretty much. I mean, it's going to be a big week. A reminder, you can head over to jointhefoot.com if you'd like to support this podcast. If we have been bringing you entertainment, advice, anything you appreciate, check out the community of 30,000 strong, more than that, actually.

You get access to all of the Discord channels, premium tools and resources, extra episodes during the offseason when we drop down to two regular shows a week, and you get to hang out with the best people on earth. So just join the foot.com. Quick update Jeremy found. So Denver, if they win, they actually will maintain a 12% chance to get into the playoffs. So essentially eliminated, but not totally. Okay.

Is it a 12% chance to lose $37 million? Is that worth it? That's the question that Sean Payton and company will have to decide. Maybe he's made up his mind on Russell Wilson already. We'll be back tomorrow to talk more about that and all the matchups. Take care, Foot Clan. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast.

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