Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Studs & Duds + Week 17 Waivers, Amari Christmas! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/26

Episode Date: December 26, 2023

Studs, Duds, and Waiver Wire pickups on today’s fantasy football podcast! Andy, Mike, and Jason react to Week 16 and the matchup vs Papa Josh. Plus, injury updates, and a look ahead to Championship Week with waiver adds and more! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for December 26th, 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 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.

Oh, Mari Cooper! welcome in one and all Tuesday December 26th hope you had a fabulous Christmas I know I did Andy Mike and Jason the fantasy footballers with you. We've got a combo show today. We'll go through studs and duds from semifinal week. We'll go through the waiver wire as we head into championship week. I've heard from lots of you on Twitter.

Congrats on your victories and getting through. We had some late night sweats in our Dynasty League last evening. And it turns out Mike and I will be facing off head to head for that title. Indeed we will. But, you know, I'm normally a very humble winner. I mean, I think you guys would say that. And I'm not amongst the humblest. Amongst the humblest.

No, I'm not one to troll. Yeah, you're above it. But if my opponent, whose name was the grumpy old trolls, Papa Josh himself, on this buildup, I feel like it would be kind of disrespectful to somebody whose name is the trolls not to at least reflect give them what they deserve and enjoy so i mean we did invite josh for a moment to come into the studio if you want to take a look over there at deucer's alley wait for those watching a gift i did get i did prepare him a gift and then in a nice like uh oh nice loser frame and there's a frame we built for him here on youtube now josh while you're over there if you want to just open up your gift and the box is a nice peppermint yeah i mean it's a beautiful box it is i'm just if you just want to open it up

here i'll give you a play-by-play i hope it a turd. Now what's the first thing you find in there? What do you got? It's a picture of Amari Cooper. Oh man. Oh my goodness. Oh there's more? What else is in there Josh? Oh it's the return to sender. Oh it's everything you sent me

all week long including I need this one. The book Healing After Loss. And, I mean, pictures of... I mean, this weekend couldn't have gone more spectacular. Oh, more printouts.

He spent the week giving all of these things to Andy. Everything you dished out all week long, including a history of our games against each other. Yeah. It's going to need to be updated, Josh.

Yeah. If you want to print that out for, uh, and a 0% win percentage down below there. So thank you. Thank you for the matchup. I mean, that is just,

the frame is incredible. I mean, you guys have anything to add. I mean, I know you were, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa,

Whoa, Whoa. Too fast with the camera change putting the loser bracket on me how dare you um i'm a winner today so we'll just keep some stuff up on the screen here during the show oh man yeah i'm telling you this right now andrew holloway oh if you now have done all this and you don't win the championship this week, shame on you. Shame on you.

You have to bring it home or all of this needs to come back upon you. YouTube.com slash the fantasy footballers. Amari Cooper, you are my hero. I was so disappointed that I couldn't overnight. I mean, it's Christmas weekend. I couldn't overnight on Amari Cooper jersey to Josh in time to make him wear it today. Do you have any thoughts? I mean, I'm sure the Foot Clan would like to hear any final words from the great troll himself.

Get out of here. It hurts real bad. Yeah. He acted like it wouldn't matter. He didn't care. Now get out of the studio. Get. Yes, you are banished.

Get. Banished from the land. He's leaving. Yeah. The Rapscallion's the studio. Get. Yes, you are banished. Get. Banished from the land. He's leaving. Yeah. The Rapscallion's coming back. Yeah. Not welcome. All right.

And yeah, we are keeping the score up the whole entire show. If you want to transition it to our more permanent fixture there, Al, we can do that. I mean, it's in a lot of places right now. There we go. There we go. We're just going to leave that up today on the screen. All right. Big weekend.

Lots going on. And if you're heading into the championship game, we want to remind you, you're going to need some swag. Fantasychamps.com. Use the code FREEWRING and you will get a $59 championship ring for free with the purchase of any trophy or belt. Fantasychamps.com is where we buy all of our gear every single year. It's where we get the main league trophy for our dynasty,

for our league of record, everywhere we're at. And again, put both items in your cart. Use the code FREERING. It's a promo they do for us every year. You can check that out. All right, let's talk news. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance.

I was, before I go through all of this news, I was really quite pleased with the level of vitriol from all of my friends towards Josh. I didn't realize how much all of you, Al, Mike, how much you wanted to see him go down. I mean, I wanted to be on the winning side. The good side? Yeah. Not the evil side?

It was fun to root for you for the first time in my life. Oh, man. Oh, my gosh. Amari Cooper was so good. We'll talk about it. That's going to be real fun. Oh, I know. Jets next.

Oh, it's the Jets on Thursday. No, I'm just talking about larger context of you have a multiple hundred million dollar man who has sucked. Oh, you're talking about for the. You got dude off the street who's lighting up the nfl we'll see what do you do qb1 on the week right oh yeah so far all right oh no we're done it's tuesday the week with the monday off i know i'm all thrown out i know i went and looked at this qb1 on the week qb1 on the week crazy flB1 on the week. Crazy. Flacco Bros for life. Yeah. Now he does have to play the Jets Thursday. They are at home.

That'll be part of our championship week coverage. Man. The news that we got, I'll bust through this. The big one, Jalen Waddell, leg injury. Looks like a high ankle sprain. Went down with a poked eye early in the game. I mean, Waddell is just dodging bullets every game.

I don't think he dodged this. He didn't. He finally got hit. At this one, you will have to be without Jalen Waddell for your championship week. There's very, very little chance that he will play this week and probably until the NFL playoffs. Isaiah Pacheco, back from injury, back to injury, early.

He left the game with a concussion, didn't return. And it was gnarly, too. I mean, it was. If he'd missed the play. I did miss the play. Okay. Well, it was a Pacheco's helmet got ripped off, and then he took, I believe it was a friendly fire.

Yeah, it was his own offensive lineman. Offensive lineman, a knee right into the top of the head. And Pacheco grabbed. Without the helmet? Yes. Pacheco was falling backwards while the offensive lineman was running forwards. I did see him fall off the training table break on him. Yeah, and then there was insult to injury as he's concussed,

and they're going to check him. He goes to lay on the trainer table, and that thing just implodes, kind of just a nice little analogy or I can't think of the right word of this is the way the Kansas City Chiefs game is going. It's not a nice Christmas in Kansas City. So, Jarek McKinnon was placed on the IR.

Oh, Clyde Edwards Allaire! Mike, do you have Clyde Edwards Allaire on your team? Yes team yes so you mentioned i'm in the dynasty i would be so afraid to face with clyde edwards allaire where normally you can't be really excited about i mean two weeks ago it was fantastic but he plays the cincinnati bangles who get ravaged by the running back position. So that will be – I mean, he's –

And he's still a running back, right? Technically speaking. Yeah. And he had a couple of really good plays as well. Looked like a bowling ball of – Yeah. He had good balance. So I'm sure we will talk about him as the number one wafer pickup this week.

Pacheco, we'll find out. It's hard to come back from the concussions quickly. You know, is that a Sunday game or a Saturday game? We got games scattered through the week. Okay, Sunday. But also, I mean, he was hurt a day later. Yeah, he was hurt on Monday. It's probably, I mean, he'll probably be out.

Yeah, it's probably going to be Clyde by himself. Who else do they have? Like LaMichael Pirine? Yeah, Pirine's there. So Clyde will get the bulk of the work, assuming he doesn't clear protocol. And I also would look at your chin strap as well, because Pacheco's helmet came off that same drive multiple times. And we like to keep those helmets on.

Corlin's side and concussion didn't return as well. So both of those concussions to watch. TJ Hawkinson, knee injury, quote, not good. Getting an MRI, there's a good chance he is done for the year. Yeah, that is really unfortunate. At this time in the season, you don't have good waiver wire pivots for the tight end position you know you you're in a championship you might have gotten there because of having a t.j hawkinson so we'll we'll look at that maybe uh maybe you've got um hunter henry

on the waivers coming back i mean it stinks we it stinks. We haven't heard exactly what the injury is yet. Is that correct? Yeah, we're MRI today, but the report from Jeremy Fowler was that it doesn't look good. Yeah, and at this point, you're late December. If it is what we all assume it is of a ligament has been torn in his knee, now the beginning of next year for Hawkinson will be up in the year too. Yeah, that sucks. Jordan Addison also left uh early in the game ankle injury not considered major we'll find out more from the team this week trevor lawrence left with a right shoulder injury uh

ian rappaport said following nmri it's not believed to be a major injury. Lawrence has been beaten up. I mean, just from concussion to ankle to now shoulder. So, DJ Moore. I feel bad for DJ Moore because I think he suffered from being on Josh's team. Right. He exited early with an ankle injury. He returned. He played a bunch of snaps. Didn't do anything.

Cole Comet was on fire in that game, but then left with a knee injury as well. Dontavian Wicks ruled out before halftime chest injury. Jaden Reed didn't play in this game for the Packers. They are just running out of wide receivers right now.

And then Brock Purdy left Monday night's game with a stinger. Did not return. He was medically cleared. I guess they just, you know, Darnold had led a touchdown drive and they just let him finish the game out. It was a low odds comeback. Anyways, Brock Purdy, we'll talk about him shortly. I'll press pause there, but hopefully he didn't start him.

Let's just put it that way. I'm sure a lot of people did. Well, Baltimore matchup might have put some people off of it. Yeah, but it's just more of a hopefully it didn't destroy your week, which I've seen many tweets of it did. My sister was in an impossible-to-win semifinal matchup. The only way to win. She won by less than a point facing Brock Purdy.

It took four interceptions and him leaving the game. She had gotten down to one point. He's out with injury, doesn't come back in. She wins by less than a point. So she needed Brock Purdy to score fewer than three points. Yes. And she got it. And she got it.

Against an arch rival. I mean, that was a... There will be people who rage quit fantasy football because of that. It was bad. And I don't blame you. Yeah, and I mean, not all four of them were Purdy's, I would say, like, his fault necessarily, but somewhere. That was today's News and Notes presented by USAAaa insurance learn more at usaa.com slash insurance this week's fantasy stud muffins all right we'll have an abridged studs and duds on today's show just uh some shout outs well, really the starts of the week. I mean, Joe Flacco, 368-3.

They had to bring him back in the game because they pulled all the starters. Yep. Pulled all the starters at the top of the fourth quarter. They weren't even going to play it down, and then Houston scores twice, and they had to put them all back in. But Joe Flacco, quarterback one. Since joining the team, he has got them rolling Amari Cooper since week 10 number one in the NFL in yardage at the wide receiver position Joe Flacco three

straight top 10 weeks and you know if you are in the mire choosing quarterbacks it's hard to go away from him. But this is a tough matchup against the Jets. That being said, I mean, the Jets almost blew this game to Jacoby Bursette leading the team down the field. Someone tell me how to feel about this Flacco matchup on Thursday. I would not be playing Joe Flacco on Thursday. I think that Flacco has – Even at home.

Even at home against the Jets, Flacco has been great. He's been allowed to throw the ball so much. He's been hyper-targeting Cooper. They can't run. They really can't. All things that are great, and he's going to need to do that again. But the pass rush and the cornerbacks, I think this week Flacco will be exposed, and it'll be a good week for Deshaun Watson.

This is, yeah, the data says you're right. If you go to the StreamFinder tool on our website and you look up matchups for quarterbacks, the Jets are the worst matchup by so much. They haven't given up any games above expectation to the quarterback position since week five. Oh, they're brutal five oh they're they're they're brutal and it's not just killing it's not just that they um they're they're holding

their opponent to their average or that they're making their opponent score a point below their average they're shutting whoever they play which goes for wide receivers as well i mean they are number one against wide receivers in that stretch, minus 18 points against expectation, minus 28 points against expectation. Yeah. They're basically making – I mean, is there a world where you ban Shomari Cooper after a 50-point game, basically? I don't think so. I think he could still PPR his way to a relevant floor,

but, I mean, it would always matter who you have that you could pivot to. But the Jets are an absolute brutal, brutal matchup for wide receiver, for the passing game. Cleveland is favored by 7.5 right now with 36 points over under. The Flacco, that's a different conversation, but for Amari Cooper, the fact that Flacco and the team, they're challenging downfield so, so much, it just takes one of those where a defender happens to have a misstep. The Jets have to play perfect, which they could,

but if I have Amari Cooper as of right now, I'm still going to play him. Baker Mayfield, Justin Fields, Jordan Love. More studs at the quarterback position. You know, Justin Fields, it could have been better if he had a healthy DJ Moore, but he still had a really, really good game. I mean, he had 97 rushing yards, which I believe was his second highest total of the year. He scored on the ground.

He scored through the year. They won the game, which is there. He's QB four. Yeah. I mean, that's a big week. And then Baker,

once again, getting it done, they talked about the team wanting to bring them back. Um, pretty good game for Baker. If you were, uh, in a pinch,

Jordan love as well. I think Baker's like, well, what, what, what are you guys doing? Mike Evans? I'm not coming back.

If you don't bring Mike Evans back. Oh, yes, he would. He would, but it will not be good. No, no, it would not. Running back studs, Brees Hall. Hey, there he is. Big game for Brees Hall against Washington. Thanks, guys.

Thanks, guys. Are you speaking to Brees Hall and B. John? Yeah, yeah, really could have used you last week. Didn't need these amazingly great performances. Good job, though, fellas. I'm a big fan of your work. Did anybody make it through to enjoy these? Yeah, so actually I –

16 targets. One of the leagues that I just don't care about. I am in the championship, and in that league, too, I have both guys. So three different leagues I have Bichon and Brees did we did get through in in one of the three Jameer Gibbs two more touchdowns Jameer Gibbs is the running back three since week seven so um I know Montgomery went out in like the second quarter in this yeah he did and uh so Jameer Gibbs got pretty much all the work from then on out. I'm not sure exactly what was the injury. I don't know.

I feel like they didn't even talk about it. It was all Gibbs. And after a while, you go, wait, wait, hold on. Where's Stephen Montgomery? Since Gibbs came back from his injury, so the last nine games played, he has nine touchdowns in that span. So 17 touchdown pace, 1,300 yards on the ground, 70 reception pace. Like he has been a machine.

And I know how bumpy it was at the beginning of the year and the fear and the endorsement that we had for him. And, you know, to start the year, when you look at it now, it really wasn't that bad. I mean, it's like running back 36 24 23 29 before the onset but it wasn't this and that's what you hoped for every week is an eternity in fantasy football it's just a reminder it is every year the first three or four weeks the impression the weight of the off season upon your back. And if something doesn't pan out, this is arguably the best.

I mean, outside of CMC and a small group of running backs, he's been the best running back in football. I think a lot of people probably had the opportunity to trade for him. I mean, it was week seven before he scored 10 fantasy points. So if you drafted him, you felt like it was it was it was yeah uh an l but goodness gracious he was i mean he is a revelation since then where if you drafted him and stuck through he got you to the playoffs he's gonna help get you a championship and if david montgomery can't play which uh kyle saying david montgomery was possibly a concussion is is the

whispers yeah so that so that, I mean, it's weird that he came back in that game then. Did he come back in? I thought he came back in the game. I don't recall that. That's what somebody reported to me, but I didn't see it with my own eyes. You guys can double check it. Kyle, are you there? Do you know if he came back in for any snaps? I'll look it up. Yeah, take a look at that

play log in the fourth quarter just in case. I'd like to know, because if he came back in, you'd imagine they cleared him from the concussion. Correct. James Conner just keeps getting it done. James Conner, it doesn't matter the matchup. Chicago's a terrible matchup. San Francisco's a terrible matchup.

They finally threw to him. Yeah. I mean, he had five for 67 and a touchdown. He was 12 for 45 on the ground. Guess what next week is? Terrible matchup against Philadelphia. But he's had three consecutive weeks where James Conner is doing James Conner stuff. And this team, they don't have weapons.

Like three straight top 12 weeks, two out of three of those top five. I mean, are you just trusting James Conner at this point? I can definitely trust him with the receiving work added in. I mean, he was hard to trust coming into this week. I know I was Singletary over Connor um because they weren't involving him which is what I did I played Singletary over Connor he still won uh so but um if they're gonna target him and I don't know if this was just because of the injuries to the wide receiver core you know not having Hollywood

maybe they they were they were forced to it and so we'll have to see if hollywood is active this next week but he has never this whole stretch even when he wasn't great for fantasy and his utilization wasn't perfect he's never once looked bad he breaks tackles he's 4.9 a carry this year he's been awesome 4.9 on the cardinals offensive line in case you're curious it's not good and they've got injuries up front yeah Yeah, but it is bad. But it is bad. So James Conner is just like, he's entering the category of just like whatever the matchup is, just play him. Zeke, start of the week by Mike, 11 targets, 9 catches.

Hopefully you have PPR out there. Derek Henry. Derek Henry, you guys said you expected the bounce back. He gets to reap. He has to play Houston next week. Yeah, but now what? Houston shut him down two weeks ago. Yeah, you play him.

Game's in Houston. Yeah, you got to play him, but the fact that there's more than one outcome now for Henry is scary. But Bijan, Jason started the week as well, 12 for 72 on the ground, 10 targets, 7 for 50. Aaron Jones, I was very, very excited about Aaron Jones this week. He ended up with 127 on the ground. The more wide receivers they lose, he looked healthy too.

That was the other part is he actually looked like himself. Wide receiver studs. Oh, baby. Oh, baby. Wide receiver one is this the biggest performance of the year probably uh yes yeah i mean dj moore was close let me go look what he did more i had three huh three touchdowns let me see the mario did have a two-point conversion two touchdowns 265 yards and 11 catches. Yeah, DJ Moore was 8 for 230 and 3. He had 45 points. Yeah, we have him down as 46 here in half PPR. Really? Yeah, because he had the two-point conversion.

Oh, okay, the two. So this is the number one performance of the year. And just being honest with you, I welcomed it. I really did. I received it all with love and affection. It was the greatest Christmas gift I've ever received. It's a lump of coal for Joshosh he has a 200 yard game now with three different teams oakland dallas and i believe he has the most could you imagine dallas right now with amari cooper and cd lamb dummies george pickens uh wentma, 4 for 195 and 2.

Yeah, what? We had a team that got in one of our leagues that got eliminated last week. Starting two wide receivers was Amari Cooper and George Pickens. Oh. Can you imagine facing two 200-yard and two touchdown receivers? And Mike Evans, boys. Yeah, wow. Seven for 86 and two more.

He's the wide receiver three. He's maybe the best pick in all of fantasy football this year. I mean, if you grabbed Mike Evans where you were getting him. It's like it's him and Rashad White. Yeah. Ironic. Yeah, it is. I mean, those guys just – Evans has 13 touchdowns.

And there's time left. and they're fighting for playoffs. So Calvin Ridley, negative points in the first half, ends up six for 90-2, almost knocked me out of the playoffs. This guy. And he did – one of them was with C.J. Beathard. He had negative points. Yeah. He does all of his work in a half.

He did it in the first half of that first week. He did it in the second half of this last week. He just likes to save up his gas tank and explode. And who else? T. Higgins? Yeah, baby. Five for 140. Mike started the week.

And then DJ Chart got it done with two touchdowns for the Panthers, who, look, they could have won that game. They could have won that game. They could not spike the ball in time. And then tight ends, not a big list, but David Njoku and Evan Ingram, both starts of the week, got it done, 6-for-44 and a touchdown for Njoku. If you want someone that you can count on on Thursday, that's the name. Yes, yes.

The Jets are bad against tight ends. I did think about that earlier when I said really all the passing game against the Jets is bad. It's really not true. The middle of the field, the tight end is where they allow passes to go. So Najoku should be absolutely fine this week. In fact, he's probably a great play. Ingram was 10 for 95.

They have lost a lot of wide receivers there. And Carolina next week. He's had a great year. Evan Ingram's had a consistent year. He didn't – I'm curious what his highest – he's probably had a – yeah, he's had a number one finish. So the first eight weeks of the season for Evan Ingram, it was just kind of like slow and steady and you forget about him.

There was no touchdowns, yeah. No, no touchdowns, never finished inside the top six. But then the last four weeks, I mean, he's doing what he did last year. Yeah, I mean, the last five games, he'd be on pace for 10 touchdowns and 1,100 yards. Who are the top tight ends over the last five weeks? Can you look that up in points per game? I'd be curious.

I mean, we're losing Hawkinson now. Kelsey has been on a tailspin. And you know what? I don't know how much of it. I mean, Kelsey's getting older. He's had some drops. He's getting frustrated, right? Yeah.

There are players like Metcalf and Kelsey. You get them rolling the wrong direction, you make a mistake. There was a little spat on the sideline of the Kansas City game. I'm trying to remember exactly what happened, but almost like Kelsey didn't grab his helmet and Reed got mad at him and then Mahomes. I mean, you know, like a competitive. They're not used to this.

Like, what are you doing, man? Like, let's go. Let's go try and win this game and stop being a crybaby about it. So it has been a rough stretch for Kelsey. Most losses ever by Mahomes in a season. Honestly, Mahomes looked terrible. People have bad games. He had one.

Top five over the last five weeks at the tight end position in points per game. Sam Laporte is number one. David Njoku is number two. Evan Ingram, number three. Trey McBride, number four. And number five, Isaiah Likely. Okay. There you go. Travis Kelsey

is 679. He's ninth. Yeah. And they'll have a big game next week. Cincinnati. Dalton Schultz, 8 for 61. We'll see if Houston gets back. CJ Stroud next week. Let's take a break and talk about them duds. This segment's always kind of difficult this time of year

because it's like, did you survive? Right. Did you make it through with a dud or not? Because some of these guys, you probably did. Pooped in his big boy pants. By the way, in case anyone's curious and you needed to reference the score of me and Josh's match. Oh, what was it? It is up on the screen.

We got it? Yeah, it was 157.62 to 119.38. Okay, that's a beat down. Yeah, that was a lot. I almost didn't need Amari Cooper. Mike, you were reacting. The poopiest pants. Purdy.

Yeah. Turdy. Yes. I mean, this is the worst performance at the worst possible time. I mean, he may – all Brock Purdy had to do was play well the rest of the season, and he would have won the league MVP. I believe that. Yeah.

Not anymore. Nope. No, that's gone. Hope you didn't bet him because he's not winning MVP when pretty much on the brightest stage, the brightest lights, the biggest game of the season, a true Super Bowl – these were the odds-on favorite teams from each conference to make the Super Bowl these were the odds on favorite teams from each conference to make the Super Bowl you're not winning the MVP

after that performance yeah four picks got injured could have thrown more they cruised to start this game they had like 150 yards in the first two or three drives and they ended up with three points.

He threw a red zone interception, which was just pretty inexcusable. It was bad. Now Lamar Jackson the favorite. Running back duds and there are some conversations to be had. Travis Etienne, Jason

kind of had a moment this past week where he was just discussing the inefficiency of Travis ETN. It doesn't get more inefficient than six for 12. That's easy math. Dud of the year. I mean, thank you.

Yes, that would be to a carry. And then Tony Pollard, Tony Pollard is getting most of the blame for the Dallas Cowboys defeat because he managed to not if you watch the replay he managed to not get into the end zone on a toss play where he could have run directly to the pylon

and been in and he decides to cut it back upfield get stuff somehow which seemed impossible and then they fumbled the next play disrupting a long drive to start the game but he has been you know we've had a long history of Pollard being great. And then you had Ezekiel Elliott.

And Zeke's the goal linebacker. And we all resent it. And we're all upset about it because we want Pollard to get everything. And Pollard's been a horrible goal linebacker. Oh, so inefficient. He wasn't the one who fumbled, right? No. He was the one who didn't score on the easiest touchdown of his life i decided

to cut it back won't argue with that but it's funny like well he didn't get it they had another play and then that guy fumbled but it's tony's fault yeah i think everybody just looks at it like hey you didn't need to have that second play like that play shouldn't have existed right on the course of the year okay i mean, here's all you need to say. Fifteen attempts inside the five. How many touchdowns on 15 attempts? Yeah, that number should be like eight, nine, ten. That's high. I mean, seven.

Would you be happy with two? No, I'd be happy with seven. I mean, two touchdowns on tony pollard on that level of work inside the five we should be talking about his season as a top not the what not the running back 14 but the running back five yeah and now he plays detroit and he was franchised yeah so the will the running back situation look the same in Dallas next year? He's going to be more affordable. That's for sure.

His market has not grown this season. So this was interesting too, and it's going to factor into a Baltimore matchup in Baltimore next week, the running backs for the Dolphins. Mostert got banged up, but it wasn't. It wasn't... It wasn't as bad as it looked. No. It looked bad. And he came back in the game, scored.

But Jeff Wilson had a bunch of work late in the game. But Devon Achan, 7 for 24, hasn't had an explosive play in a little while. And then, like, he had an opportunity in this game to do a lot more against a team that just gave up 178 yards to James Cook. A-chan's trust level going into Baltimore next week, it cannot be 100%. No, I trust, but he's a boom-bust type of back,

a low-volume, high-ability of explosiveness like breeze hall breeze hall similar like you just need one of those plays to at least breeze gets all the all the snaps yeah yeah yeah his opportunity is much higher but i'm just talking about like you can have a player where you just see him stuffed so much so ineffective so and then boom he's like oh there's the 80 yards that won me my week and so I don't see how you bench A-Chan but certainly yeah I think about I mean James Connor versus A-Chan is a discussion that would be that would be very I would not want to have those two players unless I had two spots on my roster to put them I I mean, just to bring it up, I mean, I know A-Chan, like you can't do what he did during the three games.

No. The three games he scored five times, he was number one, number four, number four. But then the five games since he's come back, he got hurt. Then he had a big game, number four. And the last three weeks have been, you know, not up to his previous numbers. So, and there were good matchups for him. That the problem like tennessee had slowed down against the run the jets and dallas had been beat against the run and these last three weeks have been tough so i i think he's a tougher decision this week and we'll get into it um it's going to be based on the players you have like i don't know

mike clyde edwards a lair or h and i think you play hn right i don't know i don't know, Mike. Clyde Edwards-Alaire. Or HN? I think you play HN, right? I don't know. I don't know. If Clyde is by himself. Mike, wouldn't it be? Let's take a pause. Mike and I are facing off in the Dynasty League. Look, I know where we're going here.

Mike and I played in year two of our Dynasty League. This is like year eight, I think. I won that year in the championship. Mike then invested a couple years later in a little guy named Clyde Edwards-DeLair. Yeah. Yeah, loved. Jonathan Taylor was. Yeah, you go ahead. Jonathan Taylor was.

Jason and I were so infatuated with Jonathan Taylor. Yeah, you guys were like writing him notes and stuff. Oh, I loved Jonathan Taylor. Loved Jonathan Taylor. And then the stupid Kansas City Chiefs select Clyde Edwards-Alaire, which turned the entire rookie draft on its head for...

I don't have the data. I'll say the majority of leagues. Because that offense, a pass catcher for Mahomes, all the narratives of they asked Mahomes, who do you want on the team? And he said Clyde. And it was like... I mean, Kareem Hunt was a league winner for people. So, They asked Mahomes, who do you want on the team? And he said Clyde. And it was like, well, of course, this is perfect. I mean, Kareem Hunt was a league winner for people.

So I want to beat you, obviously. I'd like to win the championship. But a poetic ending would be Mike, the fantasy hitman, on the back of the muscle hamster 2.0. It would be amazing. It would be amazing. It would be so funny. If I can just win the Dynasty Championship and then cut him.

I'll cut him in the offseason. Thank you for your victory. Thanks for ruining my life for so many years. I mean, he was like a bomb placed on your team to blow it to smithereens. More duds, though. I mean, Kenneth Walker could not get it done this week. No, he could not. Charbonnet was a non-factor. Joe Mixon,

Devin Singletary. Singletary was a victim of a really bad game script. Yeah, right off the bat, early in that game, Singletary was great. I mean, when the score was close, it was like they were giving him the ball, and he was super efficient I mean, when the score was close, it was like they were giving him the ball, and he was super efficient.

Oh, yeah. He's been all year, 9 for 44, 3 for 19. He had a 45-yard run, like a 45-yard reception and a long run, both called back on holding penalties. Yeah, it was an unfortunate turnabout, but I would keep sticking with him personally. If you, like, Connor. Oh, that's going to be fun. You get to do it again. Yeah, with everything on the line.

Ty Chandler. Yeah. He scored. Goodness, this is a bad game. Thank goodness. He scored, but it was very strange because he had no targets, and this was a team that needed to throw a bunch, and they got next to the goal line a good amount, and then they kept throwing.

When you got Nick Mullins, you got to air it out. You point out your score there. So it was – and we'll see what happens. I mean, Madison played. He got two snaps. He had negative one rushing yard. I mean, the Green Bay next week. It was hopeful that the volume could overcome the matchup, but it didn't work this week.

But next week against Green Bay, as long as you get the full green lights, it seems like from the coaching staff, then Chandler is back in the RB2 mix. Yeah, I think he will be. And we'll have to wait and see if Addison's back. We know Hawkinson's not going to be there, so they're going to need whatever weapons they have, and Ty Chandler is a weapon. If you survived with this next guy, congratulations,

because he's the wide receiver 55. What is happening? The wide receiver 55 since week 10. Stephon Diggs, the invisibility cloak has not been removed he's had one finish inside the top 45 he's averaging 7.1 fancy points per game so he has a spike week against philadelphia where he scored 16 points and he thought okay we're back no problem but weeks 10 through 16 you have that one spike week and then the other ones he's under five five for 29 three of them he's never finished above seven points

someone out there and i can speak to this that i traded at once upon a time for greg olson i had a team that was on the way to the championship, and I gave it my all. I traded my future because he was on a tear. Right in the middle of the season, I traded for Greg Olson to put me over the top. And at that point, from that point the rest of the season, he was the worst player imaginable that I couldn't bench. And someone out there traded after week nine for Stephon Diggs to put them over the top. I traded him in our league of record, man. Oh, my goodness.

I passed on him. That's right. That was that time. Oh, my word. People wanted Stephon Diggs. Everyone in the league thought that I was going to trade for him because I had all the draft capital. And I just, something in my soul said don't do it wow and i have been bailed out i high point trade is the

fun somehow i still think at this point you're looking at it and you're going how do you not play him at home against new england and you're going to yeah you should just like the greg olson i mean jason ended up naming one of our two bathrooms at the studio after Greg Olson. The one in this room is Greg Olson. Because of what happened. DeAndre Hopkins, Deontay Johnson, and Drake London. Yeah. Second straight dud for London.

We just need to be used to this. This is just... It's what happens. As long as... And we got word that Arthur Smith's probably going to... I mean, there's a chance he's going to be back here, right? They won the game. Yeah, if he had lost this week.

They play Chicago, New Orleans. There's a good chance Arthur Smith's back. And if he's back, you're always going to know that he could decide to remove some of your hope any given week. Yeah, and you've got to add in the quarterback. I mean, you just don't have a quarterback good enough to be confident in unless you've got a great matchup. I mean, when he was playing against Tampa Bay,

when Mike and I were really excited, it's like this matchup is so good anyone could succeed in the passing game. He doesn't have any of those matchups left this season. So Drake London is someone you're not going to want to play. Well, if you win into your semifinal matchup with Laporta or McBride, you were left wanting yeah Laporta three for 18 uh the matchup it was a tough one and then Trey McBride this was the bigger disappointment because you had no um you didn't have Hollywood Brown and you end up six for 31

it just was not the kind of week that you hoped for yeah I mean hopefully you're in a full PPR league if you've got McBride. Six receptions is at least a baseline where he didn't crush you, but certainly disappointing. Matchup against Philly this next week is good. You're going to play him. Yeah, you're going to play that one, and you're going to play Laporta against Dallas as well.

So, yeah, Dalton Kincaid, we've moved on. Hopefully, I mean, we had said we wouldn't play him but the involvement is not there well it's I mean Stefan Diggs Dalton Kincaid they all disappointed because they were in the shadow of Gabe the babe yeah who oh man he showed up legend like. Truly a legendary season for Gabe Davis. You flip the coin, you get zero or you get a weak winning performance. Can we just tell the truth? People should be deciding.

It's like he's Darius Slayton, guys. He's Darius Slayton. If he catches a long touchdown, you're like, that guy's great. And that's it. That's the whole story. How in the world did we not know that this one would be a good one? He is Mr. Christmas. All of his games are red and green.

You know what I mean? He's either. Very nice. Yeah. I mean, our analysis let you down. Christmas light analysis we were weak on this year by the way Don Kincaid snaps in case you're curious 49% 42% don't play him

what are they doing winning barely I mean they barely won that ball game they should have lost it that was the charger flop so they look weird I mean the Chiefs and the Bills look weird on offense right now think about it Diggs Kelsey yes They look weird. I mean, the Chiefs and the Bills look weird on offense right now.

Think about it. Diggs, Kelsey. Yes. Like, these are fundamental staples for your roster. At least Josh Allen runs the ball. So, we've got a waiver wire for you as well. Put me in, coach. This just in.

All of Josh's players available on the waiver wire. All of them have been, they've been let go. All right. Uh, all right, Mike, take it away.

I mean, it's the waiver wire is tough for this week because this is literally you're picking them up to play them or to block your opponent from playing them. And I don't see a world where Clyde Edwards, a layer is not the number one pickup. It is – I was so happy to see he's not available in our league. It will be – yeah. I don't want my opponent to pick him up.

Yes. Thank you for rostering him everywhere, Mike. You're welcome. That's what I'm saying. It's the weirdest thing because you will – playing Clyde in a championship weekend feels about the sketchiest thing you can possibly do. But the process of – and this is all assuming that Pacheco doesn't clear

the concussion protocol, which we all imagine it will be tough. It's not impossible, but it will be tough for him to be back. But it's Clyde against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals who, if you remember just a couple weeks ago when Ty Chandler was the hero of the moment, part of that is because he played against the Bengals. So if you need a running back help or your opponent needs running back help, this is who I'm targeting.

Yeah. Yeah, the Bengals, I mean, they gave up 21 points to the Najee-Warren combo. They gave up 23 points to Chandler the week before. They gave up big games to Baltimore and Houston and Pittsburgh and twice in Jacksonville. So they've pretty much given up high double digits every week. Yeah, I mean, it's a great matchup. He'll be all alone.

The touchdown opportunities should be there. They gave up 34 points to Pittsburgh, man. Yeah, I would absolutely. And they're going to Arrowhead. The game's in Arrowhead. Oh, my gosh. Clyde's a great pickup. It's going to be a get-right game for them, isn't it?

And he's the only. Facing every chief under the sun. He's the only reliable. Now, granted, Pacheco could still clear a protocol it's not a guarantee you've really got three players out here because you're just talking about who can you pick up and start realistically right reliably confidently the player that's out there that I would pick up and start in a heartbeat if the starter is injured is Zamir White yeah I know I know Josh Jacobs yeah they're committed to the run yeah oh yeah they are and you saw it you saw like the cliche the the cliche ending of like you wear down a defense like it

was like the Chiefs at the very end of that game their defense just finally broke because their defense was good and they just kept running the ball kept running the ball kept running the ball and then it was like oh they just they were done and at the end then it was everything was a chunk run from Zemir White um and and that's what they want to do so Josh Jacobs was you know talked about as like true game-time decision. So I think right now you kind of expect him to be back this week. But he didn't practice all week. And this is a team that is still in the playoff mix.

And so you might want him to be healthy before you bring him back. I would love to play Zamir if Jacobs is out this week. Aiden O'Connell. Oh, yeah. Aiden O'Connell, all of his passing yards was in the first quarter. Did he not complete another? I'm going through it because I know for sure in the second and third,

he did not complete a pass. I'm going play by play, trying to see if anything happened. Kyle's saying it's correct. He didn't complete a pass in the second, third, or fourth quarter, and you beat the Kansas City Chiefs. Yeah, I mean, this is an offense

that if they are... That's like an immediate... You're no longer the interim head coach. You're just... You won the job. Congratulations. Zero passing. You had no quarterback production, and we won. I mean, we didn't talk about it on the duds. We should have.

I mean, Devontae Adams had one catch for four yards. Yeah, because there was no passing. There was no yards to go around. Yeah, he won the game in Arrowhead. He did not throw for 70 yards. Not 170. He did not. Total, full game, 62 passing yards.

That is unbelievable. For the offense. This is a team that wants to run the ball. So, yeah, Zamir White. And then we saw Deontay Foreman get ruled out suddenly. It was listed as personal reasons, so we have no clue what's going on there. But if he is out again, Khalil Herbert will be the primary running back. No, thank you. That's what we learned this past week.

It's Atlanta. Atlanta's brutal against the run. Yeah. Chris Rodriguez went out due to injury, so I'm not going to really mention him, but Justice Hill gets a ton of opportunity with Baltimore, and so it's worth mentioning the fact that he will be on the field. Yeah, he's

been on the field a lot. I mean, he's played a lot of snaps too. Let me just read his total fantasy production. Seven points this last week, great. Two the week before, two the week before, three the week before, one the week before, one the week before. These are not fantasy finishes. That's total fantasy points.

He's on the field, but it's irrelevant. I don't think you could play him. He is the running back equivalent of Elijah Moore. Elijah Moore has so many targets, so many snaps, and so much nothing. And you can't blame the quarterback. No. Flacco is – oh, man, Amari Cooper is good. He's a good wide receiver. Well, he's always made those, like, incredible catches that your eyes are like,

what? How? He just doesn't have a quarterback. This is why quarterbacks matter, man. Also the Jets, man. Yeah. Garrett Wilson could have been a ridiculous superstar this year if you just picked up Flacco, who was already in your system,

who you already had, youacco, who was already in your system, who you already had familiarity with. Yeah. What is wrong with them? If Chris Rodriguez is hurt and if Brian Robinson is hurt still, Antonio Gibson will at least get volume. Yep. It'll be San Francisco. The wide receiver waiver wire, Demarcus Robinson, 14% rostered, keeps getting it done.

Demario Douglas had a nice game, 5 for 74. The Dortch, Greg Dortch for Arizona scored a touchdown. And then you had seven targets for Wandale. You also had a big game from, like, if you look at the snap counts for Darius Slayton, there's a reason why, like, I was microscopically close to playing him over Adam Thielen in our Dynasty League. He had another huge touchdown. He's playing all the time. And Tyra Taylor is back. Like, this is good for Saquon for next week.

It is good for your dart throws at wide receiver. I'll mention him in the same breath as Wandale. I'd rather have Slayton because if you have a good offensive play for Wandale, it's eight yards. If you have a good offensive play for Slayton, it's always a touchdown. That's fair. Both guys' floors are irrelevant. They're inviolable.

Yeah, you could be zero. Yeah. KJ Osborne, Minnesota Vikings wide receiver. He went ham with five for 95 and a touchdown against Detroit. He is not someone I love counting on, but if Addison is out. Yeah, he's the pickup. And they're playing the Packers. Yeah, my top two.

I mean, I think Demarcus Robinson's a great pickup. He's worth picking up. Worth picking up and playing. Douglas against Buffalo and Osborne. So how do you have those three ranks, Jason? I would have Osborne first. At the top? Okay.

And then Demarcus. Yeah, Demarcus has a nice Giants matchup too, so that's worth looking at. And Demario Douglas, it's tough because that team, you just never know who's healthy on a weekly basis. Parker, Juju, is he back? But Douglas is a player you could throw into your lineup if you needed to. I don't think he's really had a game above double digits, like 10 points.

No, he's been very good for a rookie wide receiver for New England. Yeah, the best ever. Like if that is the bar. Did you know that? Yeah, I did. Yeah, he's the best ever. There you go. And then Tyler Boyd this past week got it done with

no Jamar Chase, and that could be the case again. Like when I say got it done, I mean it was like eight points, but you know, they play Kansas City. You figure T. Higgins is going to get the Sneed treatment. I mean, Sneed followed Adams around this past week, and Adams did nothing.

Higgins gets sneed. I mean, Tyler Boyd. Yeah, it's not a bad call. I think that that one might be your sneakiest pickup if he's available. He's not. It's 55% of leagues he's rostered. Yeah, him and – 55!

Thank you. Where are you guys with Romeo Dobbs if he happened to be out there on your waiver? Because the data we're seeing, Yahoo is 57% rostered. I just like those other guys more okay yeah we we don't know right now jayden reed whether he'll be back next week or not and uh minnesota's defense yeah they might have their way is really good tight ends who are you uh who are you willing to start i mean the or pick up and basically make that emergency play over some like maybe you were counting on Kincaid and you made it through.

Maybe you were counting on somebody else, like Hawkinson. Make sure that Isaiah Lakely is not there. There's a small chance. And then I think of the remaining guys, I would go Tucker Craft, Green Bay Packers rookie against Minnesota. You can look to Gerald Everett. Gerald Everett would be my pick up. Against the Giants, you'd go him over Tucker Craft.

He doesn't play the Giants. I see that in this. But he plays against the Denver Broncos. And so, you know, I've been targeting. I'm taking Chigokonko as my favorite pick-up. He's six for six targets in this past game with Tannehill scored and was the number two tight end on the week. What if it's Levis?

Which it could be. I'm still okay with Okonkwo. Yeah. I mean, we're not happy here, people. We're not thrilled. Averitt, seven for 42. Chig was six for 63. I mean, I think it matters.

I'm just going to choose the matchup. You know, for me, it's target the teams you've been targeting. Isn't Houston weak against the tight end position? Houston's an okay matchup, yeah. Yeah, so I think both of those are in play. Defenses this week, you could be like me and stash Cleveland. Sure. For Thursday.

Because I've been eyeballed that from like week eight or something because you want to play against them, but you probably can't pick them up. So when you need to pick someone up the Rams are at the tippy top of the list they play the Giants in New York and the Bears the Bears are at the top of the list too I'd put the Jags at the top for me I signed

the Jags against Carolina I signed the Jags last week to keep them away from our opponent in the championship because I was terrified that he'd pick them up and they play Carolina Josh Allen will wreck Bryce Young yeah our opponent in the championship because I was terrified that he'd pick him up. And they play Carolina. Josh Allen will wreck Bryce Young. Yeah. Yeah, what?

You know what? This was the first week I saw a little bit of stuff from Bryce Young that I was like, that was okay. Yep. Still missed way too many open throws, but he was, I mean, DJ Chark, Adam Thielen, both had good games. Yeah, Thielen had like almost 100, right? Yeah. I mean.

It's been a while. They almost knocked off Green Bay. Green Bay will play Minnesota and Nick Mullins, and he's a chucker. I mean, Nick Mullins. He's a wild man. How are they allowing him to keep doing this? Listen, we can't. When you see a backup quarterback come in and they're too conservative, we scream into the heavens. Yes.

We're angry. It takes away any potential for anybody. But then you bring in Mullins and this guy has, he's full de-gaffed. And we're mad too. Maybe find a middle ground where you push the ball downfield. It's a real Goldilocks situation.

Yeah. That's all I'm saying. When it's appropriate. I'm saying just when you're falling over, don't try to air yard at 40 yards. I mean, he was good for Jefferson. He was good for Osborne. Jefferson was good for Mullins. Two of those catches.

I know. Interceptions are great for fantasy football. Yes, it's Nick Winston. Nick Winston here. Yes, exactly right. I love a quarterback that's going to throw me some kicks. Yeah, I support fully what he's doing. I don't want him to change at all.

No. All right. But, in fact, I do want him to change, air it out a little bit more. Huh? Let's push the envelope. Why are you being so conservative here, Nick Mullins? That was only 20 yards. I mean, he's proven that if you just throw it up to Jefferson inaccurately,

you're still going to get a reception. Yeah. Poor Jefferson's going to get himself killed. Yeah. Denver plays the Chargers. That's a sneaky one as well, mostly rostered. The lowest rostered of all of those was the Rams against the Giants. The Rams had been a pretty good defensive late.

So, Jacksonville, Chicago, the Rams, there you go. Anybody else you want to add? No, that's a pretty good summary. All right. Full stream ahead. So Mullins would be my desperation stream. If he's out there, he's got an elite weapon in the passing game. They are willing to chuck it.

So I think Mullins would be my emergency start. Look, it wasn't great for us in DFS this week playing Mullins, but it was fine. Yeah, it was fine. It worked out just fine. It didn't look very good in the beginning. No. But, yeah, I like your guys' streamers a lot more than mine, so I wanted to throw it in there real quick.

I'll bring mine up first and quickly because I came in this doc what I thought was so early to put mine in, and Mike, you had already got a man. It's the clear streamer this week. It's who you want to play in your championship matchup. I'm going to take the quarterback on the other side of the ball, Baker Mayfield against New Orleans. He's the quarterback 11 on the season.

Tampa Bay's last three weeks, 29, 34, 30 points scored. They're looking good. He was the quarterback seven against New Orleans in week four. So Baker is someone you could play. But if I had the choice, I'd play this guy, send them in. It is the ultimate process play for your championship weekend. It is Derek Carr against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We've had three passing touchdowns in the past two weeks. Send in the Carr. Send in the Carr. This is not going to work.

It's not going to work out. 7.9 yards per attempt since week six. It never works out. Since week six, Tampa 29th in schedule adjusted points to the quarterback. They're allowing the third highest yards per attempt in the NFL. It should work. It should work. Much like Clyde Edwards-Alaire,

this is the ultimate process says this should work. How will Kamara be? That's my question. Hopefully better than last week. Because that was brutal. I mean, if he's going to get it done, it's going to be through the air.

Kamara on the ground will not have a good game. Look, I acknowledge every I mean, if he's going to get it done, it's going to be through the air. Yeah. Kamara on the ground will not have a good game. Look, I acknowledge every external with Derek Carr. Yeah. He should be totally fine and great and good. Remember how great he was last week? Three touchdowns, 319 yards. Oh, yeah, the garbage time.

I was so happy. Honestly, I thought he sucked. And in my head, I'm like, oh, yeah. He was awesome. I was hesitant to. Honestly, I thought he sucked. And in my head, I'm like, oh, yeah. He was awesome. I was hesitant to even put his name in the doc. So having Jason saying, yeah, that's the way to go. It is? It helps.

I mean, really hope you don't have to do that. But honestly, if you were rolling with the streamers already of, I don't know, trying to time up Browning, Joe Flacco, both Browning and Flacco have really bad matchups. Andy, would you, in this matchup, Baker on one side, who is playing well, looks good, would you rather play Baker or Derek Carr? Those two guys are both available.

It's championship week. You're like hitting the table with anticipation I would not have the I would not trust Derek Carr Derek Carr is gonna slip on some banana peels this week or something Baker I'd go Baker

but Carr's a better matchup so trust the matchup trust the man I mean that is the decision to make. Who do you think wins the game? Tampa. I guess you think – oh, so you think Tampa wins it? Yeah, I think Tampa wins.

Which garbage time for Derek Carr then? Tampa's at home. They are – you know, they've been playing pretty well. Won two of the last three weeks. Kyle says Tampa's favored by three. Yeah, I like Tampa. All right. That is going to do it for today's show.

You know, Al, I can't really see the score. Would you mind? Thank you. Thank you. If you want to leave those up there. We'll just close this thing out in humility. It's on the screen three times. I don't know what you're talking about. Thank you for joining us. Hope you had a great holiday. And we'll be back with another episode about. Thank you for joining us. Hope you had a great holiday, and

we'll be back with another episode tomorrow. Get you ready for Championship Week. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers.