Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Crucial Start/Sit Decisions + Hungry For More - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/6

Episode Date: December 6, 2023

Get ready for Week 14 and the fantasy playoffs! On today’s fantasy football podcast, tough 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 6th, 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. Wednesday episode of the Fantasy Footballers. Jason Moore is here. Mike, the Fantasy Hitman. I am Andy Holloway. We welcome you in. We're thrilled to have you with us today. Not usually, but today, thrilled.

Thrilled about it. Making an exception for today? Yeah. You're talking about the fourth largest sports podcast on Spotify for the entire year, Jason. I think we're thrilled every day. I think we're thrilled every darn day. Sounds like the people are thrilled. The people are

thrilled. We people are thrilled. We've got... Those dumb Kelsies beat us out? The Kelsies beat us out. Thanks to Taylor Swift. Am I right? They didn't do anything themselves. Honestly, why couldn't any of these deuces land a couple dates with Taylor? Yeah, Brooks, hit up Michelle Pfeiffer.

That'll do it. That's going to move the needle. Where did Michelle Pfeiffer come from? She's in a movie right now. Is she? I think so. I thought maybe she was in a Paul Giamatti movie, and that was the correlation. That would have been a really good cut.

Deucer's Alley, they're very festive right now, or at least Brooksie has his December Christmas cap on. You can see it there. All looking ready for Christmas, all black. That's right. I was going to say, we spent as much as we could, and we got Taylor on the one episode this year. Oh, we did. We did our best.

We got budget Taylor Swift. Yeah, so the judge is looking good, and Al's our lump of coal back there. And are you guys in the, is the Christmas spirit present? Do you feel it yet? It is not there for me. Oh, no. See, it's an organic. It just happens.

It happens. I mean, my tree's been up. My house is decorated. My lights are on. Just wait. I'm waiting for it to come upon upon me it didn't help that it was hot yesterday like actually hot no that doesn't help the christmas spirit i'm sorry snow land of america nobody hangs their lights when it's hot outside do you think that the

christmas spirit it's a little bit more like you have to opt into the music now because you know when we were growing up you you just put the radio on and people were playing the Christmas music. Now, you'd have to get in your car and say Christmas music. Yeah, which I do almost every day. Oh, do you? Oh, yeah. But that's not getting it done. It's just not. My heart needs to grow three

sizes. Oh, okay. We'll work on it. Thanks. Today, we've got quite a bit going on. We're going to preview the Thursday night game. We've got NFL news to talk about. Waivers for your leagues are going to go through or have gone through. I'm in a real predicament in our league. Because they decided to move Mr. Omari Cooper into a questionable tag.

Okay. He has a full-on concussion. Yeah. But he's questionable, which I get. Yeah. But now my roster is too jammed, too jammed up to make the moves I want. Well, too bad for you. I could sacrifice.

I would just drop Dak. Drop Dak? Yeah. I need a spot. We had a new Dynasty podcast drop today as well. So when you're done with this one, you can head over there. Listen to the Dynasty pod. And Brooks, anything I'm forgetting here at the top?

Nah. Okay. Let's move on. Welcome to Hungry for More, presented by Uber Eats. All right. Let's kick it off with Mike here. Who is your Hungry for More candidate this week? I'm going to go with rookie Dontavian Wicks of the Green Bay Packers. He was a fifth round pick. So this is a player who is mostly

off the radar for redraft purposes, really low on just your priority list, even in dynasty leagues. But over the course of the year like the guy can actually play the snaps have been low but some of the metrics that we look for uh for a player who if they receive an upgraded opportunity you're hoping that that translates then into far more production we've had four targets in five straight games and the targets per route run in those five games have been sensational. We're talking about averaging high 20% in target per route run. That's a fantastic number. And with the injury to Christian Watson, Dontavian Wicks seems to be the next man up. I tried to quickly look at just the barometer of rookie versus Quinton Johnston. Dontavian Wicks has more yards than Quinton.

He has a higher single game. We had three for 91 against the Chargers. He's a big play guy waiting to happen. And I think that with this opportunity here, he's going to be an interesting decision for deep leagues and DFS. Jason, who's your hungry for more candidate? Well, I think maybe for the first time this year, I am not going with a quarterback, running back, wide receiver, or tight end. I'm hungry for more of the Miami Dolphins defense.

Their offense has been great, but they have been outstanding over the last three weeks. They're the number one defense in fantasy points scored, averaging 15 points a game. And, you know, they've got Jalen Ramsey back. Too much is being focused on their offense. Their defense has been scoring. They've been sacking teams like crazy the last three weeks. They've got 12 combined sacks. They've got two touchdowns. And you go, okay, well, they played Aiden O'Connell and the Jets and Sam Howell this last week. But I'm hungry for more of it because they get to eat a banana this week. Banana Rama, Will Levis. Oh, no. Your potassium. Your potassium is going to be really, really high. And then they get the Jets again.

Oh, my goodness. They're going to take you. How will they stop Zach Wilson, though? I know you're kind of. TBD on who it is. Yeah, is it Wilson by that week? Well, they signed Brett Rippin, right? Uh-oh.

Brett Rippin farts. Brett Rippin farts. Please play and start against these Miami Dolphins. But they've been scoring a lot of points. I think it keeps up this week and next week to get you to the semifinals in your fantasy championship. It is actually really hard to stay water with the defenses sometimes. Because we talk about being prepared.

So a lot of the time you sign defenses early, and then you've kind of like mentally – like you signed the Chiefs, right? Oh, my gosh, the Chiefs are killing me. And so you see the schedule and you say, this is going to work out. Like they played Aiden O'Connell. It didn't go so well for them. It did not, and it did not go well for me. Yeah, and so you kind of hope that you have it lined up you need to stay

water you need to be willing to adjust to those type of situations that the browns have been bad the last couple weeks because there's no denzel ward and then miles garrett's been banged up like you have to be willing to make those pivots and not just lock in when you get new information i like to look at a three-week window this time of year when I'm looking at my schedule adjusted stats and and looking at streamers starters whoever I especially with defenses I like looking at the last three weeks and that that was kind of what illuminated the Dolphins to me because they're literally number one over that span and I know this one will make Mike happy but my hungry for a candidate yeah at tight end is Evan Ingram. Because we just saw his best game of the season,

his first top five performance at tight end on the year, which is shocking. He was in the midst of a six-game run where he was outside the top 12 at the position. And he was a fantasy hero last year. Like there was a lot of championships celebrated on the back of Evan Ingram. Christian Kirk is out. He needs surgery. It's a core muscle issue.

He's not going to be a part of this offense. So when you look at Evan Ingram, you're talking about eight, nine, ten targets a game and a ton of potential, especially in the end of the playoff schedule, Tampa Bay, Carolina, those those two weeks I am kind of excited about what he can do in this offense how do you feel about the the potential quarterback change here if Trevor Lawrence isn't able to suit up which I think right now we're very skeptical that he will play this week I will say if he does it could work out really well for Evan Ingram because then if his mobility is limited

the time in the pocket getting deep shots down to Calvin Ridley and Zay Jones might be a little bit more difficult than just grabbing Evan Ingram on a short little crosser that favors Beathard as well if you're the friend of the quarterback

you're in the shallow area you can come off tight end screens Beathard taking well. If you're the friend of the quarterback, you're in the shallow area, you can come off tight end screens. Beathard taking more of the check down route when needed. I think Evan Ingram is very much in play and I'm hungry for more performances like this where he can actually Mike's been the Trey McBride truther of the century. And then he made the comment that he played Trey McBride. McBride had a great game he lost points playing trey mcbride over evan ingram this past week no the other way oh what

it was it was evan ingram uh was 0.2 points behind trey mcbride and you played mcbride i know i i had to play i got backed into playing ingram because of the injury oh okay so i had it was it was a weird lineup decision where I got forced into it. I wanted T-McBee in that lineup. And after the morning, it was, my guy just had himself a monster game. And I'm like, Jay, I think I'm going to regret, because I had laid it out for him. And I'm like, I think I'm going to regret playing Evan Engram.

He's like, of course you will. He's got like 90 yards of touchdown. and then Evan Ingram was basically that. It was great. Maybe you guys can help me on this. I think maybe Mike just loves tight ends, like the position. I like – Troutman and Jarwin and McBride and Ingram. Like the list is pretty extensive on –

It's not necessarily the position on the field. It's so hard to find a functional diamond in the rough at the tight end position, and I like that challenge. Well, yeah, it feels great when you get one. Yes. That works. So that was Hungry for More presented by Uber Eats. Get almost anything delivered with Uber Eats.

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Product availability may vary by region. See the app for details. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. And Al Borland, no, I am not hungry for Evan Ingram to whoop me in League of Record this week no also I don't care what happens this week in League this is a throwaway week I mean I'm gonna whoop your butt for no reason yeah you're not it's funny Josh and I were talking it doesn't matter to me and I don't think it matters to you, but Josh was like, I really want Andy to lose

because I don't want him to have confidence going into the next round. Like this is a real sport, and your psyche is going to affect your play. Yeah, he was doing some big trash talking to me yesterday, and we're on opposite ends of the bracket. So, I mean, the Foot Clan, we could get. Oh, Papa Josh. Papa Josh, the betrayer, we could get. Oh, Papa Josh. Papa Josh the Betrayer versus me for the title if things play out the right way. But, you know, without me having confidence,

I don't know how I could possibly get there. Your players will not perform if you, in Arizona, watching them on television are emotionally damaged. Look, I wish there were some momentum points. I would get like a five-point boost next week for momentum. I wish there were some momentum points that I would get like a five point boost next week for momentum. I mentioned it earlier. Here's some news for you. Doug Peterson said Christian

Kirk's going to need surgery on his core muscle injury. We're not going to see Christian Kirk this year again. Najee Harris injury report. DMP on Tuesday. Thursday night game. Yeah, this is one to really watch. I could see him missing.

I mean, this is a late. Full did not participate. So Jalen Warren could become a little bit more exciting in a game that you don't expect a ton of points. But if there's only one guy there, then it could be all right. And Najee Harris, super stoked to be playing with Mitch Trubisky. Oh, yeah, the quotes. Yeah, what did he say?

He said, how's his leadership? He said, it's fine? It's fine, I guess. It's fine, I guess. I mean, Najee, come on, man. How would you describe his leadership style? Vocal, I guess. That's when you start talking about something else.

If you don't want to answer that question, you just say, you know, Mitch, style vocal, I guess. That's when you start talking about something else. If you don't want to answer that question, you just say, you know, Mitch, he sure fights hard out there. It's super Najee. If you haven't experienced Najee interviews, the guy is a delight. I love him. Yeah. Well, he might not be on the field this week. It's tough because if he does have an injury,

they wouldn't practice him because they'd try to get him ready for Thursday. So we'll keep – Brooks is going to keep watching for news. The Chargers are officially opening Joshua Palmer's 21-day practice window. Okay. That is great. Herbert needs him desperately. Yeah, that's bigger news for Herbert. I thought I had found a diamond in the rough with Palmer before the injury.

There is opportunity there. We don't know when in that 21-day window he'll come back. It took him a little while. Week 8 was the last we saw him, so we'll see. Joshua Palmer could be back sooner than later, and they need somebody to catch the ball, not just kind of juggle it. Brian Dable said Tommy DeVito will start in week 14 against the Packers. Okay.

The Jets are releasing Tim Boyle, and they signed Brett Rippin. Oh, you know you wanted to say it. No, no, no. I have to be the tempered, measured, give the guy his regular name without the word farts attached guy. Brett Rippin farts. Isn't that the perfect signing though? After what we saw in the field for that team?

They're like, yes. It's incredibly lateral. The NFL Network, Tom Pellicero reporting the Packers have signed Kenyon Drake for their practice squad. I don't know if that's a sign of Aaron Jones' health. Yeah, you should put at least one eyebrow up for this one. Well, I mean, maybe that makes Patrick Taylor a slightly interesting,

desperation, deep league, close your eyes, click the button because no one else is left kind of guy. Maybe. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, we talked about it on yesterday's show, but Aaron Jones missed this last week and Taylor was irrelevant. Yeah. I mean, there are players, though, that were irrelevant, that become relevant, that when

a team is ready to make a change, Keaton Mitchell, anybody, McLaughlin, players you don't see coming. I'm just trying to get deep, Jason. Trying to get nasty. Go ahead. That was today's News and Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Thursday Night Breakdown.

All right, guys. I have decided to take a different approach to the words I say after announcing this matchup. Okay. The New England Patriots at 2-10 are taking on the 7-5 Pittsburgh Steelers. The DraftKings Sportsbook line is Pittsburgh minus 6, and the over-under is 60. Oh, wait, 30. Divided by 2. Sorry, 30. Okay. Okay. six and the over under is 60 oh wait 30 divided by sorry 30 okay um okay all right i believe by kickoff this line can get in the 20s this was at 31 and a half and i was gonna bet the under on it i mean this is um look here here's here's the uh glass full number one. My hungry for more candidate before Evan Ingram was going to be Ezekiel Elliott.

He is playing in this game. Ezekiel Elliott had a very nice performance last week. He is going to be the guy. I wish I had him to slot into lineups over the next few weeks. 69% of snaps, very nice. 17 for 52. But I'm more interested in those receptions. Those receptions are going to be part of his game moving forward.

The team doesn't have pass catchers they can trust. Even Devontae Parker didn't mention it in the news. Limited again in practice. DeMario is still dealing with the concussion, still in protocol. So, Ezekieliel it might be most of their offense i think he's a very good play you know there it's it's ironic for such a low scoring projected game that you know people are might not be excited about there are relevant fantasy assets here uh jalen warren naji har uh Dion maybe Najee maybe but I'm saying players

that are usual normal played fantasy assets and and Zeke Zeke really seems like a very important piece right now you think he's probably got like a baseline of around 10 points and and if a touchdown is scored which i know there's no guarantee you would imagine it zeke has the highest odds to be the touchdown scorer so let's stay with the running backs as your your positivity here pittsburgh is you know there's six point favorites you know the weird thing is is that i don't know if you knew this, no team has given up fewer points than the New England Patriots over the last four weeks. I did. Did you know that they have held their opponents the last three weeks

to 10 or fewer points and lost all three games? Think about that. That feels bad. That's like 1930s football. They they're calling the jets and they're like the jets defense and being like guys this sucks uh but jan the warren is worth starting especially if he has the opportunity all to himself last week it was about opportunities they were not there because they were down by a lot and it just didn't materialize, but he did look good on those opportunities. I think he was like nine for 59 or something to that extent. Um, and we've got the nausea injury. So I think both running backs,

we can say over under be darned. Let's play the running back. I think you can play three running backs in this game and you definitely can play both DSTs. Like we just mentioned, the Patriots' defense has been very, very good over the last month. This is against Mitchell Trubisky. I mean, you tell me they don't get a couple picks here and an opportunity to score a touchdown. You want to know how the over-under is hit and it hits the over?

Defensive touchdowns. Yeah, no question. I mean, this game, 6-0 last week for New England. So not a lot of excitement. Like, Pat Frymuth is out for me this week. Okay. I'm not willing to do the dance. It's a tough matchup for him.

Now, we'll say for Deontay Johnson. Yeah, what about the wideouts, Mike? It is a small sample over the last couple of seasons of games with Pickett versus games with Mitch Trubisky. But the games with Mitch, Deontay Johnson has been better. We're talking 7.8 targets versus 10.7. So if we get an extra three targets this week for Deontay Johnson, that's a pretty big deal.

Yeah, he went out hurt, came back in last week's game. You saw Pickens involved early with Pickett. But I don't think you can start. What are you doing with Pickens? I don't think it's the worst play in the world, as in I don't believe he will submarine you. It just doesn't feel like this is the type of a ceiling game where you're putting pickings in with that personal confidence

that you know translates into your player having a good game. I need to ask a more important question here. Why did Kyle decide to give us TMI on the punter situation in this game? Because this is what Kyle does. I'm looking at the breakdown of the game, and he wants to point out that Presley Harvin III for the Steelers, heaviest punter ever drafted at 255 pounds. That's a beef boy.

And he's averaging 250.2 yards per game punting if your league has punters. And if the return man happens to come at Presley Harvin. Oh, you're getting smoked. I mean, try it. Try Presley Harvin. You're going to get laid out. I can't believe we have punter stats over here. This is what people show up for, Andy.

That's the number four overall sports show i do think these might be the stars of this game i guess we need to feature the potential game mvps yeah so in that case bryce beringer yeah tell me about him longest nfl punt of 2023 he's got one 79 yards 79 yards good job bryce what a punt tied for the most punts inside the 20 and looking at this picture looking at this picture Of 2023. He's got one. 79 yards. 79 yards. Good job, Bryce. What a punt. Tied for the most punts inside the 20? And looking at this picture, I'm wondering what his prescription is. I would tell you his eyes are protected. They are.

Tied for the most punts inside the 20. Yeah. Well, when you get a lot of opportunities. Barringer v. Harvin III on Thursday night. It is going to be an old school defensive battle. Here's the final thing I'll say to the positive. There are a bunch of months during the year that football isn't played. Yeah.

And this is, this is not one of the days that football is not played. Yeah, no, we get it. We get football. We get football. I'll be watching.

You'll be watching. No matter what we say, people listening to the show, they'll be watching you'll be watching yes no matter what we say people listening to this show they'll be watching i'm not missing out on presley harvin the third no chance um all right quick break back with some mailbag questions i think we pumped the people up i think that's what we just did. Yeah. Yeah. I thought I punted the people up.

Yeah. All right. Let's jump in. Mailbag. Mailbag. Oh, no, that sucked. I didn't do a flourish. I know that sucked.

I feel it like the flourish is part of it. Oh. The flourish. Yeah. Okay. I know. That sucked. I feel like the flourish is part of it. Yeah, okay. Mailbag. Bag, oh, bag. Oh, yeah. Much better.

Yeah, I do feel like you didn't give the first one your all. You cut it off quick. Just showing you what you wanted. Yeah. I apologize. Asked for and received. Careful what you wish for for if you have a question for the show go to the website uh click the submit a question button that is the fantasy footballers.com you can dial the voicemail hotline 302-464-TFFB kick it off with a voicemail hey ballers 10 man pPR, need an RB2 start this week. Brees Hall or Keaton Mitchell, must win to get into the playoffs.

Thanks. Oh, no. Oh, my goodness gracious. Oh, no. Oh, my goodness gracious. Brees Hall or Keaton Mitchell. We've got this example last week, Jason, where on the show we said, look, you're star of the week, Brock Purdy.

Maybe that's a better play than Jalen Hurts. would have been by about 15 20 fantasy points here's Debris Hall Keaton Mitchell like well thankfully thankfully um last time everything was set up for Brock Purdy it was the greatest matchup imaginable um this is not the same for Keaton Mitchell the the Los Angeles Rams are pretty decent against the run he's splitting time this doesn't seem like a smash play now Keaton Mitchell can outscore Brees Hall he did this last week but he still did not hit 10 fantasy points I think you want yeah Mike what are you saying about the rankings so I pulled up my rankings. I wanted to see, you know, where was I before the show started? And Brees Hall is one spot ahead of Keaton Mitchell right now. Like, I have Mitchell cranked up a good bit here for over, under, and just game script and the way that he's trending.

So this is a hilariously terrible question to have to ask yourself in this week. Last four weeks, last four weeks, points per game, Keaton Mitchell, 11.9, Bryce Hall, Brees Hall, 10.2. Four games spent. I couldn't,

I'll just tell you what I would do. That's the best situation we could do. If I had those two players players I'm playing Brees Hall yeah I think everyone is you've got big play potential from either guy but I would much rather prefer the matchup of the

Houston Texans as well as the volume that Brees Hall gets versus Keaton Mitchell on a usual basis now I know he's been extremely disappointing, inefficient, ineffective, but I would definitely play Brees Hall. Has any of what has transpired for Brees Hall over the last handful of days affected how you would look at him in a dynasty league?

Yeah, when it comes to fear, I certainly have worries. He is one of my dynasty running backs in our main dynasty league. Jameer Gibbs, Brees Hall in a fresh dynasty startup draft. I would take Gibbs. I think at this point you have to – I'm not confident in the future of the offense of the Jets, even with Aaron Rodgers hopefully being the quarterback of next year, but you just don't know. Whereas the Detroit Lions seem like they are set up for

future offensive success. Their offensive line is intact and under contract. Their situation is just really healthy right now. So I would lean towards the Gibbs side. I do think there are much brighter days ahead for Brees Hall. I'm not anti-Brees Hall. You know that's against who I am. Yeah. But you worry, man. You worry because the offensive line does not get enough credit for how bad the quarterback play has been, how bad the running back has been.

The Jets offensive line is is non-existent. Yeah, and Mike, would you start Brees Hall? Yes, I would. I have Brees one spot ahead of Keaton Mitchell, and the matchup with Houston is fine. Well, let's look at another tough decision, Instagram question. What level of underpants do I need

to sit Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs oh man so he gets to play buffalo the patriots the raiders in cincinnati that's that's the remainder of his fantasy schedule he has not been the the patrick mahomes that you drafted he has not been the Patrick Mahomes that you drafted. He has not been the Patrick Mahomes of his entire career. It's points per game we're at. I'm showing in a 4.18 and a half points per game. And that's not even close to what you're hoping for with Mahomes. But it's what are your options? If somehow your other option like realistically you could have you know could have Brock Purdy is there a chance that

on you're looking at weak matchups okay so week 15 yeah week 15 you've got Brock Purdy plays the Cardinals ha easy easy start of Brock Purdy Yeah. Over Patrick Mahomes playing the Patriots. Not even a second thought. Yeah. But I think Brock Purdy. Is that week 15? That's the first week of the fantasy playoffs. Better hope you have the buy, Mahomes manager.

Brock Purdy is very easy. Let's make it more difficult. The literal best matchup for quarterbacks is right now the Philadelphia Eagles because they score a lot of points and their secondary is trash. That's what we just saw Brock Purdy do. Week 15, you've got Patrick Mahomes against the Patriots or the matchup that the Eagles have is a playing at home Geno Smith. Mahomes.

I'll go Mahomes. Geno Smith. Wow. I couldn't do it. I could not bench Patrick Mahomes. Geno Smith. Wow. I couldn't do it. I could not bench Patrick Mahomes for Geno. Geno's been too... Maybe Geno comes out and has another game this week and we're like, okay, we're more confident.

But it's been such a brutal year for Geno. Yeah, some of his games he ends up with the amount of points Mahomes has. And that's disappointing. Yeah. You would, man, you could have the Stones to play Geno. The Stones are in New England

and New England's number one against quarterbacks. I get it. So, you know, Mahomes is not necessarily taking advantage of good matchups right now. Didn't he just play, you know, he just played Philly, right? So the matchup where you said that the number one quarterback matchup is philly he's 15th he had 177 passing yards yeah i mean i know he

and maybe maybe i'm crazy maybe it's stupid and and yes the pain of getting that wrong would be tremendously worse with mahomes on your bench if he threw for 424 and 4, something that Geno can't do. But, you know, he's going to play Buffalo the week before. If it's another dud and Geno has another good game this week, that's when I would pull the trigger. Put Rice on the field. They gave him the ball more. No, he's not talking about the player. He's saying, like, throw Rice on the field. They gave him the ball more. No, he's not talking about the player.

He's saying, like, throw Rice on the field. Just really saturate. Get the birds down there? Yeah, get the birds all over the field. I know they're giving him the ball more, but he's still not a full-time player. I have a, I mean, Rashi Rice can't solve this problem. Solve? No, but I think he can help. He is their Zay Flowers.

That's his part of the offense, and that hasn't been enough for Lamar either. He's not like a Jefferson, Tank Dell. No, no. He's not a downfield threat. He is being used like rookie year michael pitman or like this year's a flowers and it's not enough in the yardage department for patrick mahomes like it just isn't i i do think that it would help the offense and it would help get part of this patrick

mahomes not having the huge fantasy fantasy success that we're used to. Also, Travis Kelsey is not having the fantasy success that we are used to Kelsey having. He's not bad. He's not centerpiece. He is not. Yeah, he's not. Lock it in. Travis Kelsey is the number one tight end that you can play this week.

That's a worthy thing to mention. It's a wild world that we are here. Over the last eight weeks, Travis Kelsey has two touchdowns. That's strange. Do you have the points per game? Do you have those guys ranked? Or are you just looking at Kelsey? Yeah. I mean, he's still performing.

Yeah, he's not bad. But he's not winning your week. He is not Zeus right now. Look, last year he had how many touchdowns? Twelve? And he's got five so far this year yeah wow actually that's wild last year travis kelsey didn't score a touchdown in the final six weeks of the season um he was not a helpful fantasy championship guy last year right now travis kelsey is not even the tight end one on the season. Is it a Hawk? It is Hawkinson. In terms of total points?

In terms of total points, but they, yeah, I guess points per game. How high is Laporta in points per game? I'm curious. In points per game, Laporta looks like he is like three-third. Yeah. Would you rather have him? I guess you'd rather have Kelsey still and just hope that it works out. Yeah, you would.

I would rather have Kelsey over any other tight end, obviously, but it's not the dominant performances that he had last year. Yeah, he's still number one in points per game than Hawkinson, Laporta, Andrews, and Kittle. Crazy. Also, maybe like the writings on the wall. It does feel that way it feels that way

Kelsey's time if they were to win a championship this year I feel like he could just walk yeah go on tour with his girlfriend take his number one podcast yeah get out of here get out of our way get out of our way

alright another voicemail follow up here so you can make it quick. Hey, Ballers. It's playoff eve. Would you start Mahomes with his recent struggles against Buffalo this week or Justin Fields against Detroit, keeping in mind that Justin Fields coming off of that injury earlier this season had himself a decent game at Detroit at home?

Four-point quarterback scoring. Thanks, guys. Love the show. All right, four-point scoring. Four-point quarterback scoring. Thanks, guys. Love the show. All right, four-point scoring. Four-point scoring. I thought I had an easy Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes versus Justin Fields. I have them back-to-back in my rankings,

but I do have Patrick Mahomes one spot ahead. I would rather rely on Mahomes in a game against Buffalo. That's where I'm going. Yeah. You hope Josh Allen can do what a lot of teams have not done against the Chiefs, which is put up a bunch of points and make Patrick Mahomes have to

do the same. Because you know he can do the same if push comes to shove. The Bears since Fields' return, he's finished Fields has been the quarterback 8 and the quarterback 24. So, the risk is too high for me on Justin Fields.

I like Justin Fields this week in general. I would love to start Justin Fields, but I love Mahomes' matchup this week as well. We are in the time of year, though, starting to look at the weather. We're still a ways off, but there are quite a handful of games that are projected for rain,

and Detroit at Chicago is one of them. Yeah, there's going to be over-under two fumbles from Justin Fields in the rain. I guess that would be one and a half. Yeah, one and a half will take the over. Yeah, there you go. All right, another question. Fellas need the win to get in.

Alexander Madison or Cortland Sutton? Love the show. Alexander Madison versus the Las Vegas Raiders. Matchup is great. His utilization has been poor. Cortland Sutton versus the Los Angeles Chargers. He has just been great. Cortland Sutton's just been great.

I don't know how you... I have finally made the transition. I was setting my lineups this week, and I finally made the mental transition to just viewing Cortland Sutton as a really good option. So I'm going to say Cortland Sutton here. He has been a reliable target. He's the number one most important read in this offense.

He gets a touchdown every week. This last week he had seven targets. Only caught two of them. But one was a touchdown because it's in his contract. Has to have a touchdown almost every week. Three games this year without a touchdown. That's it. That's amazing.

The Chargers are a fantastic matchup for wide receivers. They rank 30th in fantasy points given up on a weekly basis to wide receivers. So I lean Sutton here. I lean Cortland Sutton as well. The part of the Madison problem, there's many problems right now, is the utilization. They're splitting more time with Ty Chandler. We're talking problems for fantasy.

And we're supposed to get a press conference today. I believe. But the point is, we're having a press conference today to say who the quarterback is for the Minnesota Vikings. They don't know because Josh Dobbs has unfortunately turned into a pumpkin, and even if they go to a different option there's no good options right now so the the Minnesota offense is falling apart and it's it's going to be a situation like Brees Hall where sure you let's decide we want to we want to rely on Alexander Madison to to get us

there eventually the they're you're not gonna be able to run because they will sell out and say, okay, go ahead, Josh Dobbs. You beat us. There's no way. It's not good. We don't disagree here. There's no way we're not playing Sutton. Right.

Madison's been a single-digit scorer six of seven weeks. That's been the opposite for Sutton. And what if he catches two touchdowns? I know that's not in his contract, but what if it happened? What if it happened? All right. David writes in, my playoffs start this week. Should I start Dalton Kincaid or Cole Komet this week?

Kincaid takes Kansas City on, Komet against Detroit in that potentially rainy game. Yeah, I like Komet quite a bit, but I think Kincaid has just been so involved in targets. You look, since he came back from his injury in week six, he is, I mean, he's on pace over the last six games for 127 targets. The over-under in the Buffalo-Kansas City game is good. The weather, hopefully, is not as rainy. So I will go Kincaid. I'll go Kincaid as well.

Big question. What do you do? This has come in from a number of listeners. What do you do with the Dallas defense? Do you drop them to free up a bench spot? I was going to bring them up when we were talking about how good Miami is. When you have to readjust what you think of fantasy defenses because the Cowboys, when they play an inferior opponent, they dominate.

They are great. When they play a capable offense, it's nothing good for fantasy. But, I mean, they're a strong defense. Can you – Did you read the schedule? No, please give it to me. It's as bad as it gets, right? For the defense.

For the defense. They're playing – Philly? Yeah. No, thank you. I don't want to start them against Philly. At Buffalo, at Miami. No, thank you.

No, thank you. And then Detroit. No, thank you. And that's you know that's a week that isn't even or is that the week 17 yeah i mean this is one of the reasons why when they hit the waiver wire like we had one we had one manager go out and they spent like 40 fab on them and then the next highest bid was like a dollar because i think some people saw this schedule at the end of the year and said i don't need them now and i'm not gonna need them later

so they're capable enough of a defensive score on any play. I mean, Bland has five of them. So that can always happen. But you run a tremendous – they were negative two last week. Yeah, it's not a locked-in guarantee. No, I would absolutely drop the Cowboys. And not only are you not going to play them, there's better streaming options every

single week over the you know the matchups that are coming up but they're a landmine yeah people will pick up the Dallas Cowboys because they're such a great defense and they will play them and and you're right Andy any of these weeks you could get a defensive touchdown but you're going to I mean their defense is not going to be holding those four upcoming opponents to 10 or 15 points. Those are going to be shootout games, back and forth affairs. Colin writes in from Twitter, what are your expectations for Justin Jefferson? Is he a league winner with the current quarterback situation or a, you know, a future bringer of disappointment? I would look towards Jamar Chase and Garrett

Wilson and these other I mean Jamar Chase is probably a more fair comp because he's already established himself as like one of the absolute best Garrett Wilson has the potential but we've never seen him be a full out and out star Justin Jefferson is the best wide receiver in the league so he's going to be just fine he'll get his 10 targets but he obviously is not going to be the league winner that Justin Jefferson is with Kirk Cousins that's just they're not going to be able to throw for 350 yards on the regular and Hawkinson's got to get some Addison's got to get some. Addison's got to get some. Let's put it this way. Maybe Jefferson's the only one that makes people happy,

but my point is all three of them can't. I think Addison is the one who's going to take the big hit. He should. Because Hawkinson, his role, I feel like, is a little bit more impervious. The times that you're looking for the tight end, he's going to keep looking there. But the first read on the offense has been Addison, and that's going to be shifting to Justin Jefferson.

And the thing for Chase is remembering how the production has come up. So we've had the three weeks here. Burrow got hurt in the Baltimore game. Am I remembering that right yeah but so earlier on he ended up two for 12 he did have a touchdown so it wasn't the worst thing that ever happened the next week he catches two tip passes that turn into the bulk of his production and then this week against jacksonville great game hyper targeted and but he the most of his production came on that 76 yard touchdown which was a a defensive blunder Jamar Chase made it happen because he's a talented wide receiver

but you in you know the range of probability where if that play just he gets tackled right there you're not ecstatic with Jamar Chase. You don't have a kind of a false sense of confidence moving into the next week. So I think that's where Jefferson is. He is such a good player that it's hard to find another option on your roster that would be a better play, but you've got to understand what the realistic outcome for Jefferson is

with whoever the quarterback is. And is there a chance he's limited? I don't think so. He's had such a long time off. Yeah, he's had a ton of time off. He has been practicing for the entirety of his window plus an extra bye week. So he's got a month since he's been active and healthy and practicing. They wanted to take it slow with him, care about his health.

I don't think he'll be limited at all. A reminder to drop it like it's hot this week as well. People are going to pick up the one-week, two-week players. Maybe they pick up the Dallas defense and drop an actually better defense for the playoffs. That's possible too, just because Dallas has that lore and the history. If you'd like to help the show out, we would appreciate it. Head over to Apple Podcasts, drop us a five-star review,

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And then also all the time after that as well. Forever. But huge shout out to everybody out there listening to the show that have made it part of their lives. We appreciate you. The fact that we could, you know, we saw the global charts. So like of all sports podcasts around the globe, including all countries,

we're the fifth largest sports podcast over the last calendar year. I thought it was four. Well, we're fourth in America. We're fifth in the world. Oh, come on, world. Come on. NFL, no international more. One international show beats us out.

Something from the UK. I wonder if it's those men in blazers. It's not. It's not? It's a good show. But thank you for listening. We appreciate you. And with your help, we can take down the Kelsies.

Yeah, maybe that should be the thing. Maybe we just, I mean, not physically in a fight, but like. Oh, we cannot take down the Kelsies. No, I think even if the 3v2. I think we could add the deuces to that. 6v2. We get the whole team. No, no, we get the Foot Clan too because this is more of like a

tush-push situation where we couldn't do it on our own, but with everyone behind us. Okay. Cross the goal. I think with hundreds of thousands of people. Yes. Pushing our tush in. Against the two of them. Against the two of them.

We have a chance. We have a chance. We do. The six of us. Oh, they have the Swifties on their side, though. The six of us in a fight against those two Kelsies, we would get annihilated. Yes.

That is it for today. Tomorrow starts of the week. Matchup previews Friday. We got the fantasy face-off, the hitman wheel of shame, and a whole lot more. Yep. Catch you then. Goodbye.

Bye. 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.