Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Start/Sit Courage + Hungry For More, TNF Preview - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/18

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

Week 16 start/sit advice on today’s fantasy football podcast! Jayden Daniels matchup concerns, injury woes, and lots more! Plus, Hungry For More players and a preview of Thursday Night Football between the Chargers and Broncos! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for December 18th, 2024. (00:00) - Intro (03:30) - Hungry For More (03:35) - Tyjae Spears (06:30) - Jalen McMillen (08:15) - NFL News (24:20) - Thursday Night Breakdown: Chargers at Broncos (31:05) - Jayden Daniels in Week 16 (33:40) - Kyler Murray or Bo Nix (39:00) - Jayden Reed or Jameson Williams (40:25) - Drop Amari Cooper for Packers DST? (45:20) - Packers DST or Falcons DST? (46:00) - Bengals DST in Week 16 (46:55) - What kind of pizza to buy your opponent? (48:35) - Travis Kelce or Brenton Strange? (50:25) - Which players to start on a stacked roster? Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on X Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: Studio is brought to you by Amazon Prime Hungry For More presented by Uber Eats News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://USAA.com/Insurance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The Fantasy Footballer Studio is brought to you by Amazon Prime. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright. Ah, welcome in. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, Mr. Moore. Wednesday, December 18th, the fantasy footballer is in the building. Hello. You just hit us with a mr.. Rogers Nothing wrong with that put on your cardigan. It's the level of calm that we all need

For the fantasy semi-final oh and not all of us, but I mean like al myself, okay? That's one league. I've been plenty of semi-finals But not the one not the one I want to be that's fair. That's fair. Also. No one needs calm like You don't want peace in your decision-making. I think that's the best kind of decision you can make you don't panic I don't want to put your shoes on nice and slow. I want excitement. I want your decision making passion Yeah, well I got that. I also got Gibbs. That's not fair.

You also got gifted to Jamar Jason Lamar Jackson. We also got anxiety from Al Borland in the back. Is it starting to percolate now that you have a matchup in your platform? You can see the projections? Yeah, yeah, it's continuing, it's not starting. Oh, okay, I thought you said you were doing good a couple days ago.

He was lying. That's when I was facing Jason. Okay, we've got a great show for you today, Jason and I, we'll catch you up on the latest news. We got Hungry for More, we've got a Thursday night preview, we got Saturday games this week as well, so there will be a trickle of points available to all players to tilt about.

You know what I mean? Like every... I like that. Yeah, you want the maximum amount of blood pressure medication taken this week? You get doses. We were micro-dosing the football this weekend where it's like, okay, you get a game on Thursday. Yeah. All right. You know a little bit of information. A little bit.

Saturday, here's another game. Just more information, but you still don't know. All the way through the weekend, it should be a fun experiment. Yeah, yeah, that'll be fun. Just gotta take care of business this week. We're gonna help you do it. That's what this show's all about.

You can find the community at jointhefoot.com. I also wanted to let people know. We mentioned it late on the show. I was just reaching in. We got some mini helmets on shopballers.com now. We went with the white helmet on the set today. Oh, in the middle of the set? Yeah.

We had some brand new helmets made for the set, and then we've got minis available now at shopballers.com, and you can check those out They are pretty cool Yeah, yeah, we've been wanting those for a long time. So we finally got them up there and we'll have You know the foot clan title t-shirts coming up at the very end of the year. So we'll get the team working on those It's championship season. Yeah two weeks away. All right, let's move on to Hungry for More. Welcome to Hungry for More, presented by Uber Eats. OK, well, Hungry for more, Jason.

I think I'm going to let you start. I like the name. Yeah, I am hungry for more of a player who I think is very, very talented and we have seen almost none of this year. It's Tajay Spears, second year running back for the Tennessee Titans. He got injured in the middle of the year, has really been relegated to a full-blown backup. This is not like a timeshare where he's, you know, this is a guy who, for the most part on the course of the season, hasn't had many

opportunities to touch the ball double-digit times. And for fantasy purposes, you pretty much have to touch the ball at least ten times at the running back position in order to be relevant. Tony Pollard is super banged up. Tony Pollard exited the last game, we're not sure his health. I expect that he will try to tough it out and play, but I also think that Tajay will be more involved. We have seen him in the past be kind of that 1B to the starter. Last year he was out snapping Derek Henry when they

had Derek Henry as a rookie. The head coaching staff really likes Tajay and now that he's back and healthy, he looked good last week. He got two touchdowns. I mean, he was the running back five last week. It was on the back of those two touchdowns and it took Tony Pollard's injury. But the combination of him being healthy, Tony Pollard being unhealthy, and the matchup against the Colts who, you know, the last five weeks they have just been, you know, a sieve to running backs. The only team, you know, you look at the Jets scored seven and a half points over their expectation. The Lions over their average, which was already high, scored five extra points. The Patriots scored more points. The only team that hasn't

really beat them down in the running game was the Denver Broncos. Yeah, they're not running backs. Yeah, exactly. It's like, okay, how can they? Well, and the other point to bring up is he had two five zone carries before Pollard's exit last week, which was something significant, surprising. Pollard had already scored. Then they got down on the goal line. Spears had the opportunity to score, got stood up.

They kept them out there, gave him a second carry. He rose into the heavens and scored. So it makes sense. I imagine that was what it looked like when they When they brought in when they boated in the Statue of Liberty and it was just coming down the river With the the arm raised high that's that's how it's how it arrived. Yeah. Yeah, I wondered if you really sure that's down the river down the Atlantic River, you know the Ocean River. Yeah gotcha. No Yeah, but Tajay Spears, huh?

Jalen McMillan is my name. We talked about him a lot yesterday, so I won't belabor the point, but... You won me over. He has been targeted on 24% of his routes in the last two games. He's scored three touchdowns. He's a third-round pick. He's got Dallas on the schedule and they need his explosive ability uh in the game. I mean they just do. They need it at the wide receiver position. They're

you know when you're talking about Sterling Shepard having involvement in the offense it tells you everything you need to know about their need for Jaylen McMillan and he's a rookie so acclamation route running. I'm dealt with injury. It's a slow burn, but he's here. Kyle, can you look up, see if there was any change in the last couple weeks of his slot utilization? Because when Chris Godwin went down, we were very, very excited for Jalen McMillan because he's, I think he's a talented rookie who was the slot guy in college and seemed like he could really step into that role.

When Chris Godwin went down, he literally didn't move into that needed role. He was still playing on the outside where I don't think his talents align. I'm just curious if the last couple weeks have coincided with them utilizing him in a better way or not. It looks actually the opposite. So less slot the last two weeks. Interesting. Maybe he's just leveling up as a rookie then. He's just capitalizing too on opportunities

where earlier in the year he had targets and did not have a high catch rate and didn't take advantage. But the matchups are good. So I'm hungry for more Jaylen McMillan making a impact on fantasy teams. I was hungry for more. Presented by Uber Eats

where you can get the best deals on game day food all season long. Uber Eats, the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL, order now. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. All right, well, look, everybody's paying a little bit of closer attention to the news relevant to them. And what's relevant to you Andy? Well I

think it's more than just myself in this case. But I know you're paying close attention to Joe Mixon. Yeah Joe Mixon is the one I'm very very concerned about. The matchup is not good. It's Kansas City. We looked extensively at the motivation factor for Houston yesterday. They have about a 1% chance of getting the two seed. So moving from the four, where they're pretty locked, to the two, where Buffalo is, because Buffalo would have to lose to three terrible teams.

That's not gonna happen. There is a higher chance to move to the three seed. That would be passing Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has Baltimore this week. Houston has the opportunity if they beat Kansas City. If for some reason Mahomes sits, if they take it easy, whatever. If Houston can get by, that would be the motivation you'd want. At that point, Houston has a game

with Baltimore down the stretch. There would be a realistic shot if, you know, if Baltimore wins this week and Houston wins this week, which means they want to win. If both of those things happen, their odds of getting that third seed go up tremendously, more within their control. And so all of this to say, like,

what is the status of Joe Mixon? We we've been looking into that. It was a hip drop tackle. They've come out again. This is the second time he's been injured due to a hip drop tackle on his ankle. And a penalty was not called. So a lot of his discussion, I feel like I haven't seen a hip drop penalty the whole season. There have seen plenty of hip drop plays. Yeah, no, there were there were other ones last week too. But we do have a clip of Joe Mixon yesterday chatting about the

injury and where he stands. I think the best thing is I'm up walk down, obviously finished a game so you know, just going to keep on trying to do whatever I can to attack recovery and get ready for Saturday. You feel good for Saturday though, the way you're feeling right now, do you feel like you're on that track? Yeah, I mean, we start to play our football right now.

Like, I mean, I gotta be there, I'm gonna be there. You know, I'm being there for my teammates and obviously for myself, and Maristos, I do whatever I can. Like I said, we're attacked or to attack recovery today, tomorrow, Friday, and obviously that game on Saturday. What was your reaction to hearing that, Jason? Because I was very curious. You hadn't heard that clip yet. I had got it ready before the show.

And I knew you'd hear it fresh. And I wanted to know if you were more optimistic, pessimistic, what was your? I think the takeaway there is a little bit more optimism in the sense that he is viewing it in the light of the playoffs have started. They care about the seeding. I was looking it up because I knew that Baltimore

plays on Saturday as well. And if Baltimore, if that game goes the wrong way for the Texans, then their motivation is gone. However, the Texans play first. So when the Texans play, they are still playing for an increase in their seeding, longer home field through the playoffs, very important. So the fact that he discussed it in the context of the playoffs starting, that it mattered. Because when you read the quote, I had read the quote, I had not heard it. And it's just like, I'm going to be there. It's like, well, I know you're going to be there, but will your helmet be on?

I did wonder after our discussion yesterday, his comment about being there for his teammates, and then he said for myself. And then I'm thinking back to the contract incentives. He's had 910 rushing yards. He's got an 1100 rushing yard incentive. So there is a being there for yourself aspect to it. But the reality of the mix in situation is that if he's active, this is a Saturday game.

If you know he's active, how do you not play him? He's the horse that got you here on Saturday and just hope that you end up with the outcome you're happy with. Yeah, I mean, you're going to play. There's no world where you don't play Joe Mixon and he can easily, I think Joe Mixon has a very down game. Yeah, like what, 10 points? Yeah, yeah. Eight points. I think Joe Mixon has a very down game. Yeah, like what, 10 points? Yeah, I think 10 points.

I think that's kind of what you should be expecting. I'll bet he gets a lot of volume, it's very inefficient, and you're praying they get around the goal line. I mean, they are playing against Kansas City, they're number one in the fewest fantasy points given up to the running back position. And I expect that he is banged up. I mean, also in that quote, all he's talking about is hitting recovery.

No, and he said he's not, I mean, he didn't practice. I think at best you'll see a limited practice. So you'll have a hobbled Mixon against a great rush defense in a bad environment. The game is in Kansas City. So yeah, I mean, you're hoping for 10 points, but I can't imagine you have someone better to start than Joe Mixon in the playoffs. Yeah. Yeah, that's kind of where you're at and

if he didn't play you also would know early, right? I mean you would you'd be getting that information quite a bit earlier. I'm looking at Kansas City and I'm curious how they've performed against running backs in recent history. We'll have to take a look at that too. I'm sure they've been shutting them down just like they have most of the year. Miami last week, yeah yeah we'll see. Yeah they have Miami scored over their expectation last week and that was the first time on the entire season that a team has even hit their average.

They have not, I mean they... Fifth against running backs in recent history, yeah. Yeah. Okay, we got news, big news that Kirk Cousins is getting sat down. I mean, I can't believe that this is second in the news here Well, that's my fault remember the bias. I told you about Care about I don't have a lot of dependency on Kirk Cousins, but the Falcons did Financially only one touchdown nine interceptions in the last five games. They're sitting him down Michael Pinnix

jr. Taking over as starting quarterback and taking over as starting quarterback and here's what we know. We pointed and laughed at Kyle during draft day. And now you're, like the mistake is either drafting Pinnix or signing Cousins. It looks like the mistake was signing Cousins. I thought about this and there's only one thing to root for here and that is for

the Falcons to win the Super Bowl and everyone to just all the draft pundits and you know all the problems of why would you spend that draft capital on a player that can't help you win now if he comes in and is good gets them to the playoffs wins a playoff game or whatever, it will be incredible. Now for fantasy purposes, I'm terrified. Is this an upgrade for Drake London because of how bad Kirk Cousins was playing? It could be, certainly.

Kirk Cousins threw one touchdown in the last five games. So that's great. Historically speaking, rookie quarterbacks haven't been, you know, positive assets for wide receivers, but I mean this is the new NFL. We had that be different last year with CJ Stroud. We've had that obviously be different this year with Bo Nix. Yeah, Bo Nix and Jayden Daniels. And so also Pinnix has had time to sit behind the starter, to learn the system.

And so I guess we're gonna see. What's your expectation? Like darn El Mooney, the guy who just goosed. Yeah, that's the biggest negative impact to me. Cause to me, Mooney was the one dissecting defenses, timing routes where cousins had picked him as a favorite. I don't know, it's all worth it. Like can you play Mooney this week?

Can you? Nah. So Mooney is a full bench. No, the switch involves, I mean, he just came off a goose with cousins. The variable here of a brand new quarterback going into semi-final week is too much for me. Mooney was not in a must start category. He was a flex guy. Yeah.

So to me, I would be, I'd be trying to find somebody with more certainty and look, it could be the wrong call. I don't, you know, we just don't know what to expect from Michael Pennings. That's the reality of the situation. And that variable freaks me out. Some people, maybe not. Maybe you're more risk averse. Maybe you're one to take the shot. I don't. I don't think it's good for Bichon. I don't think it's good for the offense. My initial... Predictability-wise. Yeah. My initial reaction was certainly that this is bad for Bichon, bad for the offense,

bad for scoring opportunities. When you look a little bit deeper though, they just scored 15 points against the Raiders Yeah, they're not scoring the week before they scored 21 the week before they scored 13 the week before they scored 6 The week before they scored 17 so can't get much worse Pinnix can score 20 points not that he will but like they're also Heavy favorites this week against the Giants, right? Yeah, there's an opportunity. It's a great matchup We're all curious. To get a start. So maybe you do need to throw in a you know a Mooney and and hope if sure you know I maybe Bichon gets more scoring opportunities.

You're just saying that the baselines been so low for Atlanta for five weeks it can't get much worse. The usual refrain is rookie quarterback coming in equals bad right now for offense. But offense has already equaled bad right now, so nowhere to go but up. This is really good math analysis. Yeah. Here's where you go down.

Browns are starting Dorian Thompson Robinson. That sucks. Jameis Swinson was benched. It seemed like it was going that direction. So we said yesterday that we kind of expected that but uh-oh I mean this is the so oh my gosh he's never scored more than 13 points in a game as a starter. He is a terrible quarterback. Dorian Thompson Robinson is one of those backups that shouldn't be a backup. He's a third string.

Yeah, he's a third string. I mean, he was a third string, so that's fair. You are taking away our Jerry Judy. You are taking away our David Njoku if he's active. You are taking away Cedric Tillman coming back from Concussion Protocol, who was going to be right in the lineup and Now I don't know that you could start anyone outside of Jerome Ford It's not a great sample

Because Jerome Ford has played a committee back role historically with the Browns His numbers are better splits wise With DTR than they are Winston, but they're not good with either historically. I was trying to find some, you know, correlative, like what do you expect? I mean, he caught more passes with DTR than he did with Winston. It's small stuff. It's not really predictive. He's a starter now. He's not a backup. He is playable in this game. I do believe that the Bengals matchup is going to be very good for Jerome Ford. I think DTR might run a decent amount in this game

and you gotta hope they give you a goal line opportunity for Ford because it's probably gonna be one. One opportunity, three points, 13 points, 12 points, and three starts for him last year. Bengals playing for playoff lives. Browns are done. They're toast. We got IR for Nick Chubb, and Jerry Judy terrifying.

You're probably playing him. Man. I mean, I'd play him over Mooney. Yeah. Wow. Just because of how good he's been and how elite he's been. How good he's been in the matchup against the the bangles You know that they're gonna have to throw the ball a ton in this game the bangles the bangles are going to

roll over the Browns this week Titans are also making a switch to a backup Mason Rudolph taking over For the Titans. This is more of the can't get worse than it was situation. He actually, um, you know, Calvin Ridley had piles and piles of targets from Mason Rudolph when he started this year. I think he averaged 12 a game. So could it be a little bit better for Calvin Ridley? I think so. Yeah, for sure. I, I, I don't, I've seen whale love his play. I don't view this as a downgrade.

This is, I don't necessarily view it as an upgrade either, but it doesn't change my outlook. Like I'm hungry for more Tajay Spears. The matchup is really good against the Colts and the quarterback change doesn't affect it at all to me. Aiden O'Connell trending upwards to playing this week. I don't know if you saw, did you see the comment? I think it was through Barstool. I mean, this is just, Dave Portnoy had talked to Antonio Pierce

in an elevator the other day, and he said he was competing, because he's a New England fan. He's like, he said, we're competing for like the number one pick. That's what Antonio Pierce said? Yeah, for first place or something like that. It was some kind of comment regarding the fact

that the Patriots and the Raiders are competing for the opportunity to have a higher draft pick. That's where they're at. So I mean, if you're the Raiders. So then Aiden O'Connell should trend towards not playing. Well, yeah, I don't think you win with either guy. But yeah, it was just one of those Acknowledgements of the team's demise which makes it hard. I mean, I know Connell is much better than Ritter

however Brock Bowers confidence goes down with either guy Yeah, all of them. I mean you're still gonna start Brock Bowers because you know Myers Jacobi Myers is the is the real is the real start or must bench guy. It's almost like must start and must bench. If O'Connell was there, would he have a better start to you than Adam Thielen with Bryce Young in Carolina? Yeah, for sure. They're playing against Jacksonville this week,

who was 32nd against quarterbacks. And they give it up against wide receivers. You saw last week Aaron Rodgers look like Superman against Jacksonville. So yeah I would certainly play Jacoby Myers if Aiden O'Connell is the starter. Mahomes full participant in practice. Yeah that makes sense. He's gonna play. Hollywood Brown full participant in practice for the Chiefs. That's really interesting. The reports that he could actually be on the field in week 16 is surprising for a player who missed so much time and just got activated. You'd expect them to kind of pull the pacheco where they activate his

window and then give him a couple weeks of practice before he's out there but it seems like they really need him We also got news that Bruce Hall did not practice estimated DMP today. Oh, don't worry about that. I'm telling you Breeze Hall gonna be awesome this week And why is that because I am out of the playoffs in the two leagues I have him and that's what he did to me last year. So you have two years of pain from one man. Yes it feels like four years of pain because it's the two main leagues. Yeah yeah it's four knives over two years. Yeah. George Pickens DMP on Tuesday still dealing with the hamstring will monitor that but that's a scary

start as well. You know if he's active I'm sure you're playing him but their offense has not been anywhere the same without him. That was today's News and Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at usaa.com slash insurance. We'll take a break. We'll hit the preview. Thursday night breakdown. Thursday Night Breakdown Well, semifinal week will begin on Thursday. Denver traveling to LA to take on the Chargers.

Denver sitting at 9 and 5. Chargers 8 and 6 and slipping. They're slipping. The DraftKings Sportsbook line. Chargers minus 2 and a half at home, however. Over-under is just 42 that's low mm-hmm that's low right now they are both playoff teams they are currently the six and seven seed in the playoffs and with a decent lead in those spots but very important game both defenses are tied for number one in points per game allowed. So, you know, I don't know, maybe Kyle, you can dig up the health of Patrick Sertane because he twisted his ankle.

I think it was a minor injury, but it's a quick turnaround and that would be significant for the McConkie huge universe. Yeah, this is a real interesting game. You saw that, so the Chargers defense for the most part this year has been very, very good. Last week they were very, very bad. Baker tore them apart, I think the Bucks put up 40 on them.

This being a divisional matchup with two really good defenses scares me for fantasy points scored. Feel like they're going to be well prepared for each other and this could be a, you know, it's a low over under that could not get there. Surtan is healthy, by the way, the latest report. Boom.

So Surtan will be out there. You know, Bo Nix, there's been a lot of trust there with Bo Nix and with Cortland Sutton. The matchup over the last six weeks has been much better. Like you said, the Chargers have given up some points. They've been slipping. Part of it is that, you know, their offense is missing pieces and success and running game and, you know, short fields and mistakes and Stone Smart has become a talking point in fantasy. That's not where you wanted to be if you were the Chargers. How bad is Joshua Palmer? Real bad. I don't

understand because he was always so fine. That's the compliment. He was so fine whenever Keenan or Mike Williams went down. He had a 6 for 78 game two weeks ago. Good enough for 30th. He's had a wide receiver 23 week and wide receiver 27 week, but no, not very many boom games. McConkie has been really the guy. He's averaging 88 yards a game since the injury or since week eight. So you can play McConkie. For sure. He is not the kind of player that gets, you know, followed all over the place, and he'll have his receptions. Quinton Johnson's healthy, but scary, and I don't know if I'd really want to.

I would not. This is why I like McMillan more than him in waivers. Yeah, and I get it. I would start McMillan over him as well. Looking into the specificity of the matchup, a low over under, Patrick Sertan on the other side, a prime time game. You know, it's like, how's Quinton Johnson going to do in prime time when that ball's in the air dropping to his hands? You know what I mean? Like, this scares, because it's a mental issue.

The extra cameras can distract. Yeah. So, I would be shocked. I mean, he's an athletic guy that could get a bomb touchdown from the most beautiful thrown ball that there is in the NFL from Justin Herbert. But in the playoffs, I can't start quitting Johnston in this matchup. I mean, the Broncos are number two against wide receivers.

So Ladd, I'm OK with just because what he does is kind of you can't really guard against it much I mean he's a more PPR guy I would expect he's gonna have at least you know five for 55. That's the baseline and then you you hope it ends up more like eight for a hundred and a touchdown But I don't he's not the type of player that I think could go out and goose Coraline Sutton's in your lineup though, right because this is a yeah a situation where you trust the alpha on this offense But beyond that, I mean you don't have probably Julian McLaughlin anymore. So it's on T and Estimé. Just Sutton, it's just Sutton. You can't, I'm not gonna start Gervonta or Estimé.

I'm not gonna start Bo Nix either. He has thrown quite a few interceptions recently, looked a little bit worse than when he was on fire. This is a tough matchup. Cortland-Sutton is fine, but that's it. It's basically just Courtland Sutton on that side of the ball and no one else. I think we're due for a Deucers-Alley combo mailbag drop.

Oh, well that sounds delightful. Let's get the camera rolling. I never took a dump on air. No, I mean it's just, but you're- I got you. You're in the alley alley man. Here we go Mailbag Car wreck I'm Do we allow him to fix that? Yes post. Yeah, you can lower the volume. Okay, I could just mute Matt and it'll be fine

Oh my Lanta, so is that who screamed like a freight train? Okay, so here's what the lower the volume okay I could just mute Matt and it'll be fine oh my lanta so is that who screamed like a freight train okay so here's what the he's turtle audience audience you won't you won't understand because we will we will do you a blessing and we will fix this so you will never hear what I just heard right we're pretty deaf but I'm like you know those smell insults yeah dude we got something. We got something better We got something better for yeah, I am awake. I

Can I can see sound this is incredible? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that was um, that's as close as I've been Being hit by a train. Yeah, I mean honestly Really really good work back there. You knocked the wind out of me Good job. Now Papa Josh says he doesn't want to be lumped in with the other trash back there. That was terrible. No, but I think Al doesn't want to be lumped in either.

Yeah, I killed it. Yeah, okay. All right. Well, that's the, it signifies the mailbag, Jason. We are into the mailbag, and if you have a question and you want to subject us to that drop again, by the way, get back, getbag, Jason. We are into the mailbag, and if you have a question, and you want to subject us to that drop again, by the way, get back, get well, Mike, get well. We need you.

Go to the website, thefantasyfootballers.com, click that submit a question button, dial the voicemail hotline, 302-464-TFFB, and we have a lot of questions about Jayden Daniels this week. There is significant worry about Daniels versus the Eagles. And the most asked question by far is what quarterbacks would you actually start over Jayden Daniels who was the quarterback 24 against the Eagles last time.

The Eagles defense is very healthy. The offense for Washington is not healthy. Noah Brown is gone. Zach Ertz, probably out. Zach Ertz is a very nice safety blanket underneath for Jaden Daniels moving the football. This one is a tough one. You've got a rookie quarterback in a difficult situation, but he's been so good

Jordan love against New Orleans or Jaden Daniels Dad against a feeling that's a really That's a difficult one Obviously that could be a situation where you have those two players Jaden Daniels wasn't a highly drafted guy so maybe you held on to both I'm not moving away from Jayden Daniels in this week they they they played earlier in the year and Jayden had a down game he had like 13 fantasy points and that could happen again but Jayden got me there Jayden Daniels is great. He is very, very good at football. We watched last week,

and this is an important game for them. Now, the Eagles defense is really, really good, but it's not like they don't, it's not like they, you know, Lamar just put up 25 fantasy points against them a couple weeks ago. They aren't some defense that is impossible to score against. This is a divisional matchup, those can always turn into a slugfest. But I want the Jalen Hurts versus Jaden Daniels. I'm not moving away from Jaden Daniels. I think he's gonna run the ball a lot in this game. Not having the safety blanket of Zach Gertz might just mean you got to take off and run. And for fantasy, that's fine.

So over love over golf. Yeah. Again, Chicago over to again San Francisco. Definitely. Well, over Darnold against Seattle. They're back to back in my rankings and I've got Jaden Daniels ahead of them. Over Baker against Dallas? That one I might go Baker. Baker against Dallas is, so right now my rankings go Baker, Jaden, Sam Darnold. Okay. Let's jump into a voicemail question here. Hey, what's going on Fancy Footballers? This is Tristan from Texas and I need some quarterback starting advice.

I'm in between Kyler Murray or Bo Nix. So Tristan is between Kyler Murray and Bo Nix. Kyler has the Panthers. Panthers are a great matchup for quarterbacks. The Broncos, we just talked about it, Chargers, Thursday night, low over under, I would play Kyler. When the question started with should I play Kyler or, I was locked and loaded to say the

or. You were on the or. I was on the or, but I don't like the matchup for Bo Nix. Both of these players have the ability to dodge. Both of these players have the ability to dodge, both of these players have the ability to actually have good games. I mean, Kyler is as untrustworthy as it gets, but he still had a handful

of really, really good fantasy games. And this matchup against Carolina. They're favored by four and a half. Yeah. Broncos are underdogs by two and a half. I'll play Kyler in that matchup. Really big popular start sick questions around Jalen McMillan, Jaden Reed and JSN. So the J's. Okay.

First question from Munoz says, are you worried about JSN? This is a Geno Smith question probably about his health. I mean, I'm not worried about JSN in general. If Geno is not playing, then JSN certainly takes a couple steps backwards. The matchup is very good against Minnesota. This is a team that's gonna put up points. You can't run on them, so they're gonna have to throw the ball.

I would not say that JSN moves to like a must-bench level He's been too good. I You know they said that the knee is like structurally okay for Gino right so Gino is also as He's tough as nails. I think he'll be there, but I'm probably gonna be playing JSN So that would be JSN over McMillan. Yes, I would be JSN over McMillan. Yes, I would play JSN over McMillan. That would be Jaylen McMillan or Keenan Allen for an underdog.

I'm gonna go. This is from Benchart. I'm still gonna stick with JSN. He wasn't an option. It was Jaylen McMillan or Keenan Allen on that one. Oh, Jaylen. On that one, yes. Or Keenan Allen. Oh man. That one is really tough. How are you feeling about Keenan Allen?

I still have a hard time trusting him. He plays against Detroit this week, which is wonderful right now with the way that Detroit has sadly lost its entire defense. Man, do I love Dan Campbell. Just listening to how he talked about all these injuries, and I guess it was even more on the offensive side of the ball. He's just a solid dude. I would want that to be my, if I was a player and I could pick my coach, Dan Campbell is who I would want to play football for. He might not even be the best coach, but like, I feel like Dan Campbell would get in a fight for me, and so I'd want to play ball for him.

Yeah. You've always been a big, you've been a Tomlin fan. Oh, I loved Tomlin. You'd rather play for Dan Campbell. But if I'm getting in a fight and my head coach has to come in, I want it to be Dan Campbell, I want it to be Guns Mahoney, not Tomlin. You never see the story. Tomlin will just give him the dad stare and stop the fight that way. I want to punch his throne. You ever see the story about Andy Reid when he was an offensive coordinator? Yes.

And he had to pretend to be yelling in a player's face. And he was saying, he was basically saying calmly like, I'm going to be really demonstrative here and I'm gonna say a bunch of stuff. I need you to act like I'm yelling at you, but I just wanted to tell you that you're doing fine and you're doing good with the coach. It was amazing. Yeah, it was the old head coach for the Seahawks was an angry, ornery guy.

And so the expectation was that the- Holmgren was it? Yeah, I think it was Holmgren. And yeah. Was it Hasselbeck? Yeah, and he's like, I'm gonna come out and pretend I'm yelling at you, but you actually did that. You ran that play pretty well,

and I like what you're doing. Turns out that people respecting their coaches, it kinda matters. Human beings, I think we like to respect people we work for. Yeah, and the tough part about being the players coach versus tough guy versus all that stuff is, it's mostly about when you need to be what. And that's kind of emotional intelligence from a coach

as opposed to pretending. If you decide as a head coach, I need to be tough right now, you've already lost the battle, you should know that already. And if you're like, oh, I need to be tough right now, you've already lost the battle. You should know that already. And if you're like, oh, I need to be a players coach right now, they will see through that fakeness too. Dan Campbell, Mike Tomlin, Andy Reid, they will lay down the law, and they will hold you accountable.

They will make sure that if you're doing something wrong, it is pointed out. But they're not just going to be tough guys to be tough guys. Mike McDaniel, I'm not sure he's ever... Tough? Laid down some law. I think everything is always okay. You know what I mean? Yeah, I get it. He's a players coach. That's fun, but... Yep, yep. I tend to agree. Jayden Reader... You lack discipline. Jayden Reader, Jamison Williams, Logan writes in on Instagram, wants to know,

Reid, where our confidence is, Williams, where our confidence is. Whew, I'm more confident in Jameson Williams than I am in Jaden Reid. Jaden Reid can have, you know, obviously, at the beginning of the year, he had a ton of touchdowns, looked good. The emergence, what's, is that the word

I'm looking for? Of Josh Jacobs? It could be, you're gonna have to finish the sentence. The emergence of Josh Jacobs? Ascension, I mean, what are you saying? Is that work? Like, Josh Jacobs has just been a touchdown machine lately. Okay.

So I think against the Saints, I worry that it's, you know, it should regress back to the mean But right now it's working every game and that's hurting the the receivers for the Packers the touchdown opportunities, so I you know I I'm gonna go Jameson Williams. I would try Jameson Williams out there higher probability of that big big play and higher probability of that big big play and unknown with no David Montgomery and how that offense is going to function and that unknown can lend itself towards Williams targets that's where I would go as well so we'll take a quick break and jump back into some more mailbag questions

all right this next question comes in off of Instagram, Jason, is Amari Cooper dropable for the Packers defense? Yeah. Of course. Any mid-level questionable starter at this point, I think, is dropable for someone that you need. I mean, unless your opponent has the most monstrous hole at that position. I mean, I would not be afraid of my opponent picking up Amari Cooper.

Yeah. I might be excited. Sure. Obviously, Amari Cooper can get it done and have a big game. If I'm a huge underdog, he's the type of player I would throw in a lineup. But most people in the playoffs, especially in round two, you have good teams. You don't need that kind of uncertainty. Amari Cooper's five games played.

Actually, I'll include the game he came and scored a touchdown in week one. Just so you know, Amari Cooper, the bill. Okay. On pace for 45 receptions, 654 yards. Oh, awesome. And 2.8 touchdowns. 2.8, you say? Yeah.8 touchdowns. 2.8 you say.

Yeah. That's about what Jamar Chase scores every game. And it's only 2.8 because he scored one time in that first game. Yes. He has not scored since then. Jamar Chase is on pace for 1,700 yards and 18 touchdowns. Yeah. You gotta make the moves now that don't feel like normal moves.

If you've conditioned yourself for 13 weeks to think about your insurance back and having depth at this position and keeping this guy away from somebody else and you're sitting there and you could pick up the Green Bay Packers against Spencer Rattler and no one and no Camara at Lambeau. You have to make that move. What your potential loss of points is later is lower than your potential gain in points today. You have to live short term. Yes. There is no tomorrow. And I promise you, if you lose this week, you will find no solace staring at your bench of depth next week.

Correct. And I also promise you, if you drop your backup, right, and your starter gets injured, but the move you made helped you win this week. It's a net win, I promise, because- Yeah, you're fine. You're fine. Also, in case people were like, why is he bringing up Jamar Chase when you're talking about Amari Cooper? I

Wanted to bring I just bring that up because you were gifted I have a purpose here of bringing this up you were gifted to my name. I made a great trade you clicked accept Yes, you I was an all that went into it. I pursued chase for weeks You know who else pursued him? It didn't have an accept button to click al borland over there The borland's I made a way stronger offer you very much. It wasn't just amari. How are you clowns? However? The reason i'm bringing this up Is because I want this is a case study on hype. Yes on trading on hype want this is a case study on hype. Yes on trading on hype. Amari Cooper has sucked. He has been irrelevant as a bill. He is worthless. But when that trade happened and he went to

the bills, there had no receivers. There was no what if oh my gosh, he could be a top five. He could turn into Jamar Chase. You know, I made so so you I had made an offer, I'll just lay it out there, it's not a defense. I had made an offer with Amari Cooper, it was Cooper, Nijoku, Mooney and two picks for Chase. No I'm not doing it, he says. My good fortune was the trade happens. All of a sudden the sugar plums are dancing in the mind of this other manager. So you made the trade offer when Amari Cooper was a Brown. A Brown. He says, no, I'm not doing that. It just so happened that within the next 24 hours,

Cooper goes to Josh Allen and the Bills, the same offer comes back to me. And you couldn't click it quick enough. I mean, so fast, so fast. Yeah, because you got Jamar Chase for nothing. Because I'm already trading Cooper as if he was great. Yes. And there's a what if in the equation.

When these trades happen, Hopkins, Hopkins got traded for in a lot of leagues with Kansas City. Cooper, when a mid-season trade happens, all you see is the greatest possible outcome. Not everybody. Yeah, so that's the point. But you're trading it on the value of the accomplishment. Whenever a player's value is super high on hope, trade at that level. If you can get something at that level, always do it.

We've said that for dynasty leagues a lot. We've said that for pre-draft trading, the value of the player, if you're getting the value of them performing to their maximum outcome. Yeah, it's not just trade them regardless. Then you're winning the value of them performing to their maximum outcome. Yeah, it's not just trade them regardless. Then you're winning no matter what. Yeah, because you're getting the value back.

Yes, but it is a good point that I have Jamar Chase that you brought up. That you shouldn't have Jamar Chase that I brought up, yes. Well, you know, not everyone listens to the show, Jason. All right, we've got more questions. Packers defense or Falcons defense? Falcons playing well. Sack in the quarterback playing Tim Boyle and the Giants.

Packers against the Saints. Wow, that's, both are on the road. Falcons are on the road, right? I know the Packers are in New Orleans, so. I'm gonna go, oh, they're both at home. Yeah, they are. Okay, then I'm gonna go with the Packers. Okay Is the Bengals defense this is from I want you to answer that which one would you go Packers? Okay the

Because I am worried that Pinnix could put the defense in a bad situation We saw that with you know, the Cardinals and Kyler the other the other week Land Rover on X writes in is the Bengals defense a sneaky potential number one defense this week? 100%. I am thinking motive over skill because the Browns are starting DTR. Yeah, I mean I would love.

You did this last week with Will Loves and it worked out. Yeah, I'm super happy to play the Bengals. The Bengals defense is bad in real life, but they do things that score in fantasy. They sack the quarterback, they cause turnovers, and with DTR at quarterback, I would be fine playing the bank. Do you feel the same way, and this is a question coming from me as a follow-up, do you feel that way about Jacksonville's defense, 30th in the league, but could be playing Desmond Ritter? If I knew it was Desmond Ritter, yeah.

If it's Aidan O'Connell, no. Right, I agree with that. Cody writes in on X, do you go with a regular pepperoni pizza or pull out all the stops for your opponent during the playoffs? Okay, this is a question regarding a very successful

common strategy if you are a follower of the show. Right. Which is you precongratulate your opponent. You let them know how great they are. Buying them a pizza. Well you take care of them. You are, it's the opposite of trash talk.

And you did not buy owl a pizza which might have led to you losing by 80 points. I just realized that. I just realized I didn't get owl a pizza. Because I got Brooks a pizza last year, and I beat him. And I should have got, Owl, I'm sorry I didn't get you a pizza. I accept your apology. But no, pepperoni is fine. You can buy him one now, Owl.

Pepperoni is absolutely fine. I think a lot of people would say that that is the the goat of pizza. I mean what is pulling out? I don't know is that stuff crust? I don't what's pulling out the stops. Is that getting them dipping sauce? I mean, I mean sure if you it's not quantity total quantity of toppings does not make a good a better pizza, right? There's there's cheese pizzas that are better than supreme pizzas, but like that. Yeah, so like just adding more time It's more expensive if you add toppings. Yeah, this isn't about breaking the bank. Just get your opponent a pizza.

If anything I'd spell congrats in black olives. Yeah, or if, you know, depending on the time of year, obviously this can't happen now, but sometimes there's like the heart-shaped pizza. That's just nice. Speaking of which. That's just an act of love. Good reminder, Jay. Al, when we meet next week, congrats.

Your team is the best team I've ever seen. You too, buddy. Yeah, all right. Oh, he's already. Pizza fight! All right, YouTube question. Travis Kelce or Britain Strange this week? Sweat, sweat, sweat emoji.

Kelsey against Houston, Strange against Las Vegas. I mean, we talked about this in the context of your dynasty team, because Strange might be on wai of your dynasty team because you know Strange might be on waivers and dynasty and you've got cows. It's gonna be Kelsey. I'm starting to waver just a little bit for real Yeah, no, it's starting to waver just a little it's Kelsey. Well, no, it would be Kelsey But I'm wavering on my like Otten or somebody else situation Otten has been awful. Yeah, he's, you know, but then I look in at Baker and Baker's got three touchdowns,

then he's got four touchdowns. The last two weeks? Yeah. Who's gonna score a touchdown? Is it Matt Jones or is it Baker Mayfield? Yeah, it's Baker. So is it Britton Strange or Tucker Kraft? Where does the line?

Because that question came in from Johnny. Between those two? Yeah. Are you going 12 target Strange? I'm gonna go with craft. I'm gonna search for the touchdowns over Crafting range. Yeah, but I would I would take Kelsey over both of them and and for the record That is either with my homes or with win got update that got an update that Cedric Tillman remains in concussion protocol. Okay, I mean he should not come back. I'm just, I'm saying now that, now that

James Winston isn't there, why bother? The Falcon over there, who has great attendance record lately by the way, Falcon. Going out of town though soon, is that right? Yeah. Okay. He would like pizza for lunch, is that right? Yeah. Okay. He would like pizza for lunch. He just let us know. He would just let us know that we've said pizza

enough times, I'm in. All right, all right. Yeah, Jason, you paused. I'm trying, I'm eating healthier. But I'll eat a pizza. I mean, you don't have to twist my arm. All right. Lead me not into temptation.

Aaron says, how do you decide what players to start or bench with a stacked roster? Oh, you just get it wrong. I mean, that's, the truth is you're gonna look at all the potential information, weather report, you know, are they home, are they away? What's the over and unders on Vegas, what is going on with your brain right now, Andy?

Waivers just went through. Oh, all right. And I was almost hoping that I wouldn't get Britain Strange because I got him. And now I'm gonna be staring down strange, Otten all week long. Man, Borland decided to play some defense, grabbing Madison.

Smart. And you got McMillan. Yeah, I got Jalen McMillan, you never know. I mean, if Mixon was out, would you be playing Damian Pierce against Kansas City, sharing the backfield with Agumbo Wale, or would you play McMillan in your flex? I would play McMillan.

Yeah, that's why I did that. Interesting. So we'll see. But now I have to decide, strange or odd. Do you know any good podcasts I could listen to that might have insight on that dilemma? Yeah, the dynasty episode that just came out today from the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty Show, go subscribe.

Now, Kyle, you're listening in, right? And your team in League of Record with Mike is just mean it's been out of the playoffs for a few months here do you have an unbiased opinion on strange V Otten I have a supervised opinion it's always on yeah you are I mean if you don't know Kyle's I don't know what it is with Kate Otten, but Kyle is he kind of in love. Oh, man He is an Otten truther which not true. He's just on the field. I like that. He's I see I'm with you with that I love the snap cam. I looked again last week 92% He's almost always there But man, can we get him some targets Kyle strange played 82% I know

12 targets. I knew. 11 for 73. Well, I'll- Along of nine. I know, I know. I will have to make that call. And you know what?

Here's the final thing I'll say on today's show. Thursday game, Saturday games. Depending on how those go, that might very well make my decision. If you are a healthy lead, if you look like you're the favorite, I assume that means you'll go strange. I don't know. I don't know. I think that's probably true, but it's hard to not play a tight end like Kate Otten in the highest overrun or the week with Baker Mayfield I think that will probably stay with my that'll probably stay there

But if I got through the week and Otten sucked again, I'd have strange on my bench. Okay, you know what I mean? It's gonna be a stressful week I just realized Thank you for joining us everybody thank you for supporting the show over at jointhefoot.com. We appreciate you. We'll be getting Mike back here soon I'm sure. We got Christmas coming up and looking forward to that. I believe, what is our recording game plan for next week? I believe we're, are we like, I know we're off on Christmas.

I know we're not recording Christmas. But are we double trouble on Tuesday or just a Tuesday show? I think it's just a Tuesday show. I think we're not recording Christmas. But are we double trouble on Tuesday or just a Tuesday show? I think it's just a Tuesday show. I think we're taking off. Christmas Eve show, then we're getting out of here, getting with the families. I believe both weeks, same on New Year's.

Okay, all right. That'll do it for today's episode of the show. Thank you, Deucers minus Falcon for that mail backdrop and we will catch y'all tomorrow. Starts of the week. Thank you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast. Join our fantasy football community on join the foot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FF ballers.