Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Trust Your Studs? + Hungry For More, Go the Distance! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/13

Episode Date: December 13, 2023

Get ready for Week 15! On today’s fantasy football podcast, start/sit decisions for the fantasy playoffs! Plus, Hungry For More players, NFL News, and a preview of Thursday Night Football! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for December 13th, 2023. Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on Twitter Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://USAA.com/Insurance Hungry for More presented by Uber Eats. Visit https://www.ubereats.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by McDonald's. Monopoly is back at McDonald's, everybody. This is an alert. It's time to get back to Mickey D's. Monopoly Double Play is back at McDonald's, and it's easy to get into the win. First, you peel on pack, and then again in the app. There are millions of prizes to be won,

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

Welcome in. The Fantasy Footballers back with you. Mike, the Fantasy Hitman, right here, present, hoodying it up. Oh, baby, it's hoodie season. Yeah, you've been full-time hoodie. It's great. It's so cozy. Jason Moore is here. I like a good hoodie, but I need a zipper hoodie.

I don't like the pullover. I get it because it's a commitment. It is a commitment to the day, and I'm wearing a non-zippered hoodie today. Yeah, you're locked in. Yeah, but you know what? The problem is I don't have. There's no front pockets on this hoodie either. I have one of those.

Do you miss them? Every time I wear them. Who did this? Yeah. Who did this? Yeah, I'm normally on Jason hoodie either. I have one of those and... Do you miss them? Every time I wear them. Who did this? Yeah. Who did this? I'm normally on Jason's side. I need my root pouch. Yeah. You need your root pouch. Wednesday edition of the show. It is fantasy football playoff season. I was

taken aback by the level of comments on the YouTube channel yesterday of people that... I you know when you get to the playoffs you see a lot of these comments coming through it's like yeah I made the playoffs I felt like 80% of the comments legitimately on YouTube were started oh and four made the playoffs started one and five made the playoffs I had somebody reach out on on Twitter and uh they they started one and four and I I told them, well, if you get to 7-7, you can probably get in.

They got to 7-7, they got into the playoffs. Those are the teams that go on to win the championships oftentimes because they got hot at the right time. They're on the way up, and it doesn't matter. Once you make the playoffs, you need three wins. That's it. You win the next three games, you're a champion. I have a question for you.

Do either of you guys have any fantasy playoff superstitions that you've put into place? I mean, yesterday we were joking where, like, you bought Brooks. You were very nice to Brooks. You bought him a pizza the week you guys played in the playoffs. I remember many, many years ago my strategy in the playoffs was I would change my team's logo to a player from my opposing team that I hoped had a bad game. Yeah, you did that to Robert Griffin.

Worked very well until I met Mike in the finals. Do you have any strategies for the playoffs other than playing the right players? No, I really think it's just being kind to your opponent, making sure that they know how special they are, how valuable they are, how much you wish them the best. You've got to get the energy on your side. I started a new one this year.

Oh, okay. I have a new tradition that I'm going to be carrying it out every year. Okay. Because I am in a very good mood this morning. I'm pumped up. I got the playoffs coming. And part of that is because I drove in and I picked a playoff song.

Oh, really? Yeah. I picked a playoff song that's going to pump me up. It tells me the things I need to know going into the playoffs. Kind of like walkout music. Yeah, it's inspiring. I feel inspired to win. And what was the song? Obviously, it was Michael Bolton. Okay. Obviously.

Okay. It was Go the Distance. Go the Distance. It's a good song. Right? It's a great song. And if you listen to that song, it's pretty much talking about a fantasy football player heading into the playoffs. Or Hercules. You know what, Andy? Either one.

I believe you can go the distance. Thank you. You're welcome. I'm planning on it. Wait a minute. Yeah. No, no, no. You don't know what just happened.

Yeah, what just happened? Did you curse me? I am telling you, you're a fantastic man. Thank you. Great. Great. Walked right into a curse. All right.

We've got a lot going on. We've got hungry for more on the show today, some mailbag to get into. We'll talk about NFL news. We'll talk about the Thursday night game, which has some big injury implications. We'll remind you right here, right now, drop it like it's hot. Your waiver wires have gone through, and you need to keep an eye on who's been dropped there are people that are going to be forced to put some people on to waiver onto the waiver wire today because you're living for today and don't forget to continue looking at your opponent and

what they need and uh what is out there that they should be grabbing that they will not be able to because you block them yeah and uh there's a new dynasty podcast out so after you finish today's show if you want to check that out the fantasy footballers dynasty podcast a keep trade cut episode kyle borgannoni matthew betts jason moore and uh some good discussions there were some really good discussions debatable player archetypes where it's like this guy, that guy, or the other, and some really good conversation. This guy, that guy, or the other. How's that for a tease? You don't even know who we're talking about.

Before we jump into Hungary for more, this is championship season, so we want to remind you about fantasychamps.com. You need a trophy. You need a belt. You need a belt, you need a ring, you need the swag. I plan on getting it all this year. Yeah, it's great. Presenting it all to Jason later on. But there is a promotion that they've been

doing for us every year. You get a $59 championship ring for free if you buy a trophy or a belt. So maybe you're getting something for the league. It's a good deal. Like a trophy. And then you get something for yourself as a champion or for the winner, like

an individual award, and you put the code in free ring. And you put the ring and the trophy in your cart. And you will watch the $60 ring become free. And also, those rings are awesome. That is, every championship that I have over the last decade, I have one of those rings from Fantasy Champs.

Mike, we've got them all in front of where we work. Oh, I dread when they arrive because I know you'll be displaying them right next to me. They're gorgeous. So, yeah, free ring at fantasychamps.com. Welcome to Hungry for More, presented by Uber Eats. And I won't look back. Are you holding the lyrics? I can go the distance.

Are you holding the lyrics to the song? And I'll stay on track. No, I won't accept defeat. What is happening right now? I'm looking at him holding a piece of paper. I have the lyrics printed out. That's all. Just for inspiration.

Like words of affirmation throughout the day? You're just going to pull them out and read a stanza or two? I'm just going to read a stanza from Michael Bolton. It's a normal thing for the playoffs, for your playoff song. Like you keep saying, it's Michael Bolton. Michael Bolton did not write that song. There's no way. No, he sung it.

Yeah. I'm giving him credit for all of it. Wait, wait, wait. Michael Bolton wrote plenty of music. Are you telling me Michael Bolton didn't write his own music? It's a Disney song. I bet he didn't write much of his music. You think he wrote, I thought I loved you, but I lied?

It was Alan Menken. I mean, the dude writes everything. Yeah, it's a Disney song. There's also a rock version. I mean, it was a long drive in, so I had to go through all the covers. Also, lyricist David Zippel. Don't want to leave him out. Oh, yeah, good old Zip.

They wrote the words. Michael Bolton's just a voice. You only like me for my voice. Yeah, and the hair. All right. Hungry for more. I'm not surprised that Mike's picked this one. Yeah, baby.

I went to put him in, and Mike had him first. Yeah. Drake, London. Arthur. This is how we do it, my man. This is how we do it, my man. This is how we do it. Drake London, 10 for 175. You feature your alpha number one wide receiver,

and he is every part of it. He is a fantastic player. He's averaging two yards per route run. Apparently, the Dinoino i did not hear this discussion we had london garrett willis and chris alave that's a fun one to go through but drake london is just it's been a frustrating season knowing like just watching drake london and knowing what he could be doing if he were in a different circumstance. They gave him this opportunity against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Gets 175 yards.

Monster game. So hopefully, and it wasn't just London. It was also Bijon, Kyle Pitts. Like the big three were finally the feature part. It wasn't just, oh, we'll distract them with our really good players and then we'll give our tertiary options the the ball keep doing this i need i need more drake london in my life this was what you wanted to see i said it could be the coming out party the problem has been not drake london ever the problem has been

can the ball get close enough to the area where he could catch it with his hands because i mean you're literally coming off a game where he caught 20 of the targets so that's the problem can desmond ritter continue to put the ball anywhere near his gigantic frame and uh you know he caught 10 of 11 targets this last game he has never had a game with that high of a catch percentage he's been a 63 guy in his rookie season in this year before this past week. So, yeah, let's do it again. Yeah. Although they lost, so they may go back to Algier and Patterson.

That would be a travesty as they did not lose because of the offense. They lost because of the defense. Yeah, that's fair to note that, like, it wasn't their offense that lost them the game they deserved to win based on what the offense did but it's also fair to know like it's probably unrealistic to think that all the targets are going to be catchable they haven't upgraded their quarterback and so you know we see plenty of these middling quarterbacks have good games from time to time jason get out of that toxic group think okay that's right yeah j, who's your hungry for more candidate this week?

A player I loved coming into the season. Started to get hot on fire, got injured. Came back and has been running a ton. It's Justin Fields, and I am hungry for more Justin Fields. Since returning from his injury, he's been running like crazy. 18 for 104 rushing yards. 12 rushing attempts for 59. 12 for 58. And the Bears are winning.

They're winning ballgames. The team looks good. Justin Fields has looked better. The involvement of DJ Moore has finally been making sense. Their defense has stepped up. In his last six starts, Justin Fields, four of those six matchups, have been a top ten quarterback on the week. That's what we need. Three of those six have been a top three on the week. We're not talking about like, oh, that was good. That was a week-winning type of performance.

Now he plays the Cleveland Browns. And this week that seems like not the matchup you want, but I want to highlight something. The Cleveland Browns through the first 11 weeks of this season were the best defense in the league and specifically against quarterbacks. They were the number one hardest defense, but they have dealt with injuries. Ward has been out. Miles Garrett has been playing but clearly banged up. He is not the game wrecker he was for the first 10, 11 weeks of the season. The last three weeks, every single week, they have given up more to the quarterback than that quarterback's average. They are, instead of the first, as in the best defense against quarter, defense against quarterbacks for fantasy. They are,

in the last three weeks, the 24th. They aren't quite as strong, and with Flacco in tow, you know, he's had a lot of good coming for fantasy. You know, you could trust Amari Cooper, you could trust David Njoku a little bit more, but he also has had just a few like, what was that pick? And that sets up the other team's offense to score. So I am hungry for more Justin Fields. I want him to run. I want him to succeed. I want him to help people win fantasy championships

this year in the playoffs. This week will be a big test going into Cleveland. Denzel Ward didn't play last week, could be back this week. If he gets it done this week, that'll be the proving grounds for the Arizona-Atlanta explosions. And as someone who may end up facing Justin Fields next week, not looking forward to that.

Don't want to do that. He's also been protecting the football a little bit better. No interceptions for three consecutive games, only one interception in the last five. He did fumble a little bit, but No interceptions for three consecutive games. Only one interception in the last five. He did fumble a little bit, but last week, no turnovers. He only has two multi-touchdown games throwing the football out of nine, and he's still putting up those numbers. So that's kind of a nice place to be when you're a quarterback.

Those multis are four apiece, though. I know. If you throw a second touchdown, though, like Justin Fields throwing a second touchdown, though, like Justin Fields throwing a second touchdown automatically puts him into the top five every week. Yeah, because he's rushing, basically. It's a strange thing when you can just throw two, and then you're like the best quarterback on the week,

and they've won three or four games. So I like that one. I just realized. So you, Andy. You're thinking about the Bolton song? Yes, I am. And this is the tale of Captain Jack Sparrow. No, I was talking about the odds.

You know, any given Sunday, anything can happen. But the odds are right now that next week you will play Papa Josh in round two of the playoffs. And you will have to face Justin Fields, who you basically orchestrated getting to his team against the Cardinals. Right. Oh, man, that's going to be must-watch TV. Continue, Andy. Who's your hungry for more?

It's a two-pack. Oh, you're starving. David Njoku and Amari Cooper. Joe Flacco, 44 and 45 pass attempts the last two starts. Did either of you guys see his post-game interview? I did not. It was pretty endearing because this was a guy who was watching football like three weeks ago, and he's just kind of in a YOLO zone of like,

I feel like I'm 10 years old again getting to do this. Like he knows how valuable it is to get to play in the NFL. That had to have been brutal. For someone like Joe Flacco, watching what has happened this year. That quarterback? With all the backups being awful. And he's like, guys, I can do this better than you. I mean, we all, you. I mean, we all

you know. Yeah, we say that type of stuff. Like Cam Newton says that all the time. Yeah. No, and he cannot. But Joe Flacco can. Well, and he had a very good game. This is the first time last week, David Njoku, two touchdowns. First time in his career, he's

had two in a game. Second highest yardage total of his career with Joe Flacco. Omari Cooper, season high, 14 targets, 7 for 77. Would have been in a better game if he hadn't fumbled. Chicago-Houston, the next two weeks. These two players, I think, can be key cogs in a fantasy football championship run if you were so lucky to have them on your roster. And I'm hungry for more.

I can go the distance. Believe in yourself because you are good enough. Thank you. All right. That was hungry for more presented by Uber Eats. Get almost almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. A defense. No.

Deodorant. Yes. Yeah. And you can order now on the app. Product availability may vary by region. See theant? Yeah. Yes. Yeah. And you can order now on the app. Product availability may vary by region. See the app for details. Eckler finally put some deodorant on last week. Yeah.

Smelled a lot. Not stinky. Smelled a lot better. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. I'm sure we've all done it. The left home without the deodorant on mistake. Oh, yeah. We've been there.

How long? What's the average time to remember, do you think? Like moments from, like you leave the house, you forgot. How long does it take? It's either five minutes, like right away, or it's a problem. It's either a smell or a feeling? Yeah, it's either I remember, and that's right away, or I am reminded, and that's a problem. That's like, oh, wait.

Oh, no, that's right. What do you do in that situation? Do you hit the Walmart? Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah, you got to make a little pit stop. Mike lets it ride. You got to let it ride to Mike. Let's ride.

Let it ride. Mike's got the look of a disgusting. Yeah. I mean, he's got like two or three shirts on. Yeah. I've got a barrier that dude hoodie season, man. You just throw on another layer. I'd like, I am not sweat more. I am not opposed to, you know, a run to the bathroom a couple of times.

You got to soap and water it up. Oh, a full cleaning. Yeah. Hmm. Look, desperate times. You've got to soap and water it up. Oh, a full cleaning. Yeah. Hmm. Look, desperate times. Yeah, yeah. All right, news and notes. The Vikings have named Nick Mullins their starting quarterback

against the Bengals. Makes sense. Jason said he was pretty much sure of that yesterday. It was their plan from the moment that, you know, Kirk Cousins got injured. Dobbs was brought in to be a backup while Mullins was recovering from his injury. It just so happened Dobbs was thrust into... He won that one game. Yeah, he was thrust into a game he wasn't supposed to play.

Won the hearts of the Vikings and was given more opportunity than he really deserved. He is the, and I hate to say this, but he's the drunk guy at the bar who thinks the girl's real pretty, and then the next day. Oh, no. He realizes he did not go home with the girl he thought he went home with. That's what we thought of Dobbs. That's what happens every time people see Dobbs the first time. Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Arizona, Minnesota. Oh, this guy's pretty good.

And then you wake up the next morning and you're like, who is this? He's not. Alexander Madison, non-participant on Tuesday's walkthrough. I assume we're all in a very doubtful state about Alexander Madison. That's where I am. Currently very doubtful. Expecting him to miss, but we'll be monitoring it until Sunday. And Jefferson will be monitoring that as well.

Or Saturday. I mean, you talk about a real gamble justin jefferson last week you know he basically was the equivalent of the week you played a chan off of injury yeah got nothing you'd waited forever for him now you have a new quarterback and nick mullins i think it's better yeah it is definitely better mullins is an upgrade over Dobbs for the passing game. Mullins is not as good as Dobbs if you're playing that player as a quarterback because Dobbs has that rushing floor. But this is an upgrade. And if Justin Jefferson is active, I am 100% still starting him.

Jamar Chase, non-participant, ankle injury, monitor that. Tyreek Hill, day-to-day. Tyreek Hill is not a guarantee to play, but I think he'll be playing. So we'll see what happens there. And we got a report this morning, a couple reports this morning. Nico Collins feeling better, making progress. Stroud still in concussion protocol.

Houston, a complete unknown right now don't know the quarterback don't know the wide receiver group I think that's the best way to say it Houston is a question mark I don't even know if the line is active for that team but I don't know how you would you're just making a bet on injuries you don't know about right now and then Shane Sikin did mention yesterday that Jonathan Taylor will play again this season.

Well, he said that's the plan. So we'll see if that is your fantasy season. I mean, people make plans. This is a team that is playoff contending. They are fighting to win ballgames. They did not put him on the IR. He has already missed two weeks. So in theory, they believed that this injury would not be a four-week injury.

They want him back. This would be the third week. I don't imagine he plays this week, but it's realistic that he could be back for next week in the playoffs. That's against Atlanta the following week against the Raiders. That was today's News and Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance we'll take a quick

break and come back with the Thursday night preview apparently Jason all those thoughts you had on Jonathan Taylor coming back made Papa Josh very excited. That's great. I look to make everyone excited through the playoffs.

I believe that everyone out there can be a winner, Josh included. Not everyone. Yeah, I mean, it's – Well, not everyone will win, but everyone can win. Well, not everyone. If you made the playoffs. That's all I'm saying. I mean, if you didn't make it.

Half of the people every week are not winning. Mike, did we make the playoffs? You're darn right. Darn right we did. Yeah, we did. I don't know what you're talking about, Andy. Champ, champ, champ. Yeah, the most important league.

Yeah, darn right. All right, let's jump in. Thursday Night Breakdown. All right, the falling down the hill Los Angeles Chargers at 5-8. Take on the... Stay strong, little roots. Take on the falling down the hill Las Vegas Raiders at 5-8. The DraftKings Sportsbook line, Las Vegas, minus 3. This is

the part that is so sad. The over-under is 34, and that is not a number you would have ever seen for a matchup between these two teams with those weapons if they had quarterbacks. They had quarterbacks, and they had running backs, and they had wide receivers. I mean,

Josh Jacobs, certainly in question. Kyle, I don't know if you can look up and see what the line was, the over-under, before the Jacobs injury. I'd be curious if that was accounted for at all. But, you know, the Chargers have lost four of five. The Raiders have lost three in a row. Neither team is hitting the overs. Raiders are home favorites in this one.

The hockey sticks at quarterback for Los Angeles, Easton Stick. And it's Aiden O'Connell who had a zero-point game. They're 30th in points per game since he took over, 31st in plays per game. Yeah, this is a bar fest for fantasy. The Raiders' defense has been legitimately pretty good. The Chargers' defense has been legitimately pretty good the Chargers defense has been legitimately pretty good and that is awful when you consider how bad both offenses are and now losing Justin Herbert I think these teams are going to have a hard time scoring the line at 34

is very low but I could easily see them not getting to that low line. You know, I don't know. I'd be curious the Max Crosby status right now because I think that that was up in the air. That obviously is the Raiders' defense in a lot of respects. But, yeah, I see what you're saying. I mean, Aiden O'Connell and Easton Stick is not the matchup you were hoping for on Thursday night football. And, you know, these are two teams in the top 10 of the NFL draft right now.

Even worse, is Keenan Allen playing? Yeah. I mean, did not practice. Was he a full did not practice on Tuesday? Correct. He was, or whatever it is right now, because it's the early game, so listed as that. And if you recall, there was the very famous playoff Keenan Allen. Was that in the playoffs?

Oh, yeah. The fantasy playoffs? Oh, yeah. Oh, Mike would remember. Also burned into Mike's memory forever. Because Keenan Allen shouted. It was to me. He looked right in the camera into my eyes.

We had a moment, and he shouted with full confidence, don't sit me because he was coming off an injury. Did you know it was this exact week with this exact matchup? Yeah. All right, that part I didn't. Same week, same team in Las Vegas. And you know who didn't sit Keenan Allen that week? This guy.

Because he said, don't sit me. If you don't remember the story or you're thinking Mike is making some hyperbolic statement by saying that he looked right into Mike's eyes, Keenan did look at the camera pre-game and say, don't sit me. He was telling people, don't sit him. And then he goosed. Not only goosed. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

One for 17, Jason. Yeah, he had a catch. And then left the game. I was going to say he didn't play much that game, right? There was something that was outlandishly bad. He was just a decoy. Some have considered his comments. Maybe he meant it like, don't sit me. He has a problem articulating punctuation.

Yeah, punctuation is an issue for Keenan Allen. Christopher Walken situation. Don't sit me. an issue for Keenan Allen. Christopher Walken situation? Don't sit me. Wait, hold on. Hold on, man. Wait, what do I do? What are you saying? I've said what I need to say. Well, the fact

that it's lining up that way again, and let's be honest, Keenan Allen's a top five fantasy producer. He has a different quarterback. He'll be completely needed in this game if he's active. Oh, my gosh. All right. Let me tell you this.

Push comes to shove here. We need to look at some names. Yeah, we do. And by the way, for those in need of roster spots, I'll tell you what I did because I don't know if it's prescriptive or not, if you guys would have done the same. After paying for Joshua Palmer last week with Fab, I jettisoned him into space yesterday.

Because I realized I will never have the confidence to play Joshua Palmer. If he comes out and has a good game, I will not have the confidence to play Joshua Palmer moving forward. So I took that question out of my head for future weeks. Yeah, that's not too bad. Okay, so here are the questions. Would you sit... Pass. Would you sit Keenan Allen...

I'm going to start... Would you sit Keenan Allen if you could pivot to Devontae Smith against Seattle? Yeah. Yes. Okay. No, you're making it easy first. Yes, I'm starting easy. Cortland Sutton in a plus matchup against Detroit in Detroit.

Cortland Sutton. What if Keenan's in full practice today? I don't have that information, so I'm answering like I've never heard. Yeah, yeah, Sutton, Sutton, Sutton. Okay, let's go down a little bit further. A player who's been hot. His opportunities are up because of injuries around him the matchup is perfect but this is a guy who's been a questionable start every week would you be willing to bench

keenan allen for jayden reed rookie wide receiver for the packers against there against tampa bay and one of the best matchups for wide receivers. And you, you won't probably won't know Christian Watson's full status by then. I would be. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I'd be benching him, him,

which is what is his name that you are? Yeah. You know, I were talking about the dude. I don't, this is not a fair game. I want to know the status report of Allen Kyle in, in all those situations, who are you playing? I'm playing Keenan Allen, and I'll probably die.

Yeah. Kyle's not the right person to ask, though, because Kyle, what does the tattoo say across your chest? Keenan Allen. Yeah, exactly. It just says Keenan Allen. That's exactly it. That's all it says, Keenan Allen.

He takes his shirt off, and people are like, oh, are you Keenan Allen? It's his lower back. Yeah, it's all it says, Keenan Allen. He takes his shirt off, and people are like, oh, are you Keenan Allen? It's his lower back. Yeah, it's all over. Front, back, legs, behind the ear, little tiny. Right cheek. By the way, there's a report that just came out this morning on the other side. I mean, you're looking at Devontae Adams. It's been a struggle.

Like, you always play Devontae Adams, but it has been a single-digit struggle very often. The Athletic is reporting right now, and this comes from Beat Rider in Las Vegas, Vic DeFore. Very likely, Aiden O'Connell gets benched for Garoppolo if he plays poorly in Week 15. Okay, I was going to ask, what happened? I mean, I know Garoppolo wasn't playing great or anything, and you had all the coaching fiasco, but was there, I couldn't recall the

contract status was this they're trying not to get garoppolo hurt so they don't own a bunch of money yeah there's money implications if he plays and gets hurt which he loves doing yeah he does okay so that makes sense to bench him if you know he's not the future but aiden o'connell's been he's been terrible he's been terrible and and you, it's much better for Devontae Adams and Jacoby Myers if Jimmy G is in there. Well, it's just – that's such a tough situation because it's so unfair to the defense to be like, your offense is inept.

You have to carry us. And, I mean, they're doing their best. Like, they held Minnesota to zero points with two minutes left, and they couldn't win the game. All right, if Jimmy G gets hurt, they're on the hook for $11.25 million to Jimmy G. If you're Jimmy G and you get to start, are you sliding? My groin.

You're not sliding, right? No, head first into everything. I'm currently calling doctors to say, what can you not verify with x-ray or MRI that would be a legitimate injury. That's what I'm doing. I'm going out there and whatever that is, like if it's my spleen or whatever, I know.

What can't you see with the cameras? Yes. How can I not be proven to not be injured? You guys are playing Devontae Adams, right? Yeah. Would you play him over Keenan Allen if Allen's active? I would play him over Keenan Allen simply because this is not the first time that he's really in that situation.

It is a new injury. It's a new injury. Yeah. It's not one he's been reporting this year. If Keenan is hurt and has Easton Stick. This conversation's – I'm worried about this conversation because it's Wednesday. We don't have today's practice report.

We don't have tomorrow's situation. Well, they play tomorrow. I guess I'm worried about the conversation just because I don't want to like – This is not the end of the story, okay? We need to make sure – This is the middle chapter. We need to make sure in tomorrow's news we have the updated practice report with today and we talk again about what you would do.

Because I do think in this matchupup if you're looking at what is probable for Easton Stick I would think that you're looking at around 200 passing yards like kind of almost as the the cap I know he threw for like 150 in the second half last week yeah he's 13 for 24 for 179 last week um and so not that good two fumbles. But I think that one touchdown and 200 yards is kind of like – I think the Chargers would be like, you did pretty good out there. And if you're dividing that, you're still going to have Quinton Johnston, who was the more benefactor of Easton Stick last week. You're going to have Austin Eckler out of the backfield,

some tight ends. It just seems like there is not going to be a whole lot here to go around for Keenan. He's also the best friend of quarterbacks, though. Great. I look forward to Jason telling me if he's going to play Keenan Allen tomorrow. Yeah, let's suspend that for tomorrow. Listen to some inspiring songs coming in and make a decision.

It's up to Jason. All right, I will answer. You're interested in either tight end in this game? No. I would have said Everett if it was a different quarterback, but I don't have confidence in Everett. I don't want to start my week on that note. Yeah, this does not seem like – you know how a couple weeks ago

you got to start, I guess, a couple weeks in a row, you got to start with the Seedyd lamb thursday night yeah my sweetie i i think most people who are playing guys in this game are going to start off where the end of the week they're going to be like i gotta throw gabe davis in because i need i need upside yeah i have davante adams in my big matchup and i'm just praying that look if youiden O'Connell, just throw it to him every play. He'll be happy. He'll be one less person mad at you on the sideline. All right, anybody else from this game you want to talk about?

Eckler. Let's talk about Eckler for a second. Okay. Yeah, Eckler and Zemir just in case. Because if Josh Jacobs plays, I'm going to play him. 100%. So if Josh Jacobs plays, I'm going to play him. 100%. So if Josh Jacobs is out. Zemir White slides into the, you know.

Does he make it to RB2 territory? No. He's Antonio Gibson RB3 territory. All right. In my opinion. Absolutely. And I would rather play Antonio Gibson if I could over Zemir White. And the same goes for Abdullah.

Abdullah to me would be even lower than Zemir White because the touchdown opportunity is probably Zemir White. And the same goes for Abdullah. Abdullah, to me, would be even lower than Zemir White because the touchdown opportunity is probably Zemir's. He's a P. Ryan category. Yeah. And then Eckler last week bounced back a little bit. They're going to be dependent on him. The opportunities for Joshua Kelly and Isaiah Spiller were not there, and they weren't good.

So Eckler is a start, and you pray on Thursday? Yep. You have to start him. I mean, his opportunities, even when he was sucking. Kenneth Walker or Austin Eckler? Two players with question marks. Walker versus Philly. Yeah.

I'm going to go Eckler there. I would go Eckler there. He's got a lot to prove the rest of the season. The last three weeks, 16 opportunities, 17 opportunities, 17 opportunities. Last week he looked pretty good. He was over five a clip. I gave that little anecdote about the play I saw where I was like, That's not him.

Who was that? That wasn't Eckler. I was like, oh, no, it was. He had burst. Mike's talked about he's been coming back from this high ankle sprain, which sometimes could take months. All right. Nobody else from this matchup? Do you want sometimes could take months. Yeah. All right. Nobody else from this matchup?

Do you want to get into the mailbag? Let's go. Mailbag. Mailbag. Ooh. All right. If you have a question for the show, go to the website, thefantasyfootballers.com.

Click on the Submit a Question button. Dial the voicemail hotline, 302-464-TFFB. Mike, are you shaking your head over there? Yeah, you're just posting pictures of your playlist. Well, I noticed that I had a paused song in the corner of my laptop. What was the song? It was superstar lyricist Michael Bolton. Now I need to know, did Michael Bolton write any music?

Did you want the lyrics, Mike? Here. No. Here you go. Here you go, Mike. I have often dreamed, right? Yeah. No, you could probably sing it.

Of a far off place. That's right. Yeah. We're a hero's welcome. We'll be waiting for me. This is fantasy football. Oh, it's a great team. It's fantasy football.

Let's jump into a mailbag question. Hey, footballers. This is Jason from New Hampshire. Just a quick question heading into the fantasy playoffs. I was able to grab Trey McBride and David Njoku. Who would you guys be riding for the fantasy playoffs? Thank you very much, and I love watching you guys. Keep up the great work.

Oh, man. This is actually a pretty tough question for this week. Trey McBride gets the 49ers. David Njoku gets the Chicago Bears. San Francisco is the second best defense against tight ends in the league. Njoku coming off a big game, but you don't want to just chase a career high in touchdowns. Right.

And you also have a matchup where, like, Cleveland on paper could be out ahead in that game they could you know jason was talking about justin fields maybe if justin fields gets it going against cleveland defense they're throwing the football like they were last week that would be the hope that's the hope for sure but you know i feel like mcbride is a target guarantee. I would bet the targets are higher for McBride than Njoku if I was betting targets. That's a really tough decision. The last two games these two played, 8-89 for McBride with a touchdown before the bye week. There was some more buzz

this morning interviewing offensive coordinator for the Cardinals, talking about Trey McBride was ready for the opportunity. Sky's the limit. Elite tight end was thrown around. It's tough because this is the one position where I really do usually focus on matchup a lot more. Najoku's matchup is against the 17th ranked tight end defense. Yeah, I mean, if you really look on a game-by-game basis, right,

what the San Francisco 49ers have given up, the second half of the year has been worse for them at guarding tight ends, which is good. That's where we are. I mean, coming off this last week, you saw a lot more points than average from the Seattle tight ends being scored than you usually see out of them. So they actually gave up quite a bit a couple weeks earlier. They gave the average to Seattle the week before that, to Tampa Bay.

They gave up more than their average. We should say the answer at the same time and see if we have the same name. Okay. I think that's fair. This is a tough question, but I do have my answer. Mike, do you have an answer there? I do, yeah. All right. The last name's here. Last name. Last name. Okay. I think that's fair. This is a tough question, but I do have my answer. Mike, do you have an answer there? I do, yeah. Alright, the last name's here. Last name. Last name.

Three, two, one. McBride. Yeah, I saw that coming. So we were, Mike and I were McBride, you were Najoku. But it's very close. Here's the truth. I'd feel great about both players at this stage in the season. They're both above Kincaid. They're both above Goddard. They're both above kinkade they're both above above goddard

they're both above ferguson in my opinion they're both very good plays this week yeah and uh we brought it up before but just hang on to david nojoku he's got the best tight end schedule of any tight end the rest of the season hopefully they're both just great. Yeah. Hopefully this is a, oh, man, I got 21 points instead of 20. That's been happening a lot lately. Like we benched Flowers, and we thought, oh, no, we made a huge mistake because we put in Jaden Reed over him. And it was like, ah, they scored six. It was a mistake of.1.

Those are the best mistakes. Mistakes that aren't mistakes at all. All right. There is a follow-up question from YouTube on Team McBee. Isaiah Likely or Team McBee? And that's a Trey McBride easy for me. I'll go McBride. Let's jump into another voicemail.

Hey, Ballers. Tyler from Dallas. Quick question for you. Trying to decide who to start between Kyler Murray and Trevor Lawrence. Appreciate it. Yikes. So Kyler Murray against Sam Fran. Yeah, Trevor Lawrence is in a rough matchup.

Baltimore is the second best team against quarterbacks. Tell that to Matthew Stafford last week in the rain. No, I know. I know. I think that for me, I'm going to go Kyler. I think the mobility gives me a higher baseline from disaster. I would agree. Given the current ankle issue that Trevor Lawrence is playing through,

the theoretical very good defense that Baltimore usually is, and this is a very important game. I mean, these two teams are playing for that number usually is. And this is a very important game. I mean, these two teams are playing for that, like, number one seed. I will go with Kyler's rushing ability and hope that if he gets, you know, 50 or 60 yards on the ground that it comes with a rushing touchdown and have that baseline. I'm not really thrilled with either option this week. Yeah, I'll go Kyler as well.

Week 11 against Houston, the team only put up 16 points, and yet Kyler was the QB 6. The next week they only put up 14 points. He was the QB 9. And then in a weird one against Pittsburgh, they put up 24 points, but he was the QB 17 because that was the James Conner. James Conner was back. I mean, James Conner is still a playable fantasy running back because of the volume,

but San Francisco, I would bet more on the Kyler side. Last week was the most yards and points given up by Baltimore all year long, and it was at home, and it was against Los Angeles. In bad weather. Maybe that was the reason. Yeah, it's the weather. The defenders were slipping around. The weather seemed just fine.

It wasn't as bad. I mean, both quarterbacks threw for a billion yards and played well. It wasn't as bad as earlier worries about wind, but it was just rain. And rain does not really affect passing that much if it's not windy. Yeah, it kind of seemed like a dome game or something. I mean, it was just the exact same output. I don't know. Dome games last week were like three to nothing.

Oh, have you flipped? Never! Yeah, I know. You won't abandon that. Because quarterbacks still also matter. Show me the teams who are in the domes. Sleeper has the little icon that is next to the matchup that shows a dome or a blowing wind or like the sun.

I see that little dome symbol. It just feels so good. Yeah. For fantasy. Yes. Yeah. And for like getting like pneumonia. It also protects individuals from pneumonia.

So if I flip my argument to health-based, can I get people on board? If you give me the stats, pneumonia per capita in open dome cities. All right, I'm on it. Which Kyle, stop it. Stop looking it up, Kyle. He already has it. Because he's already got it pulling up. Kyle's kind of like a fantasy AI that we have access to.

We can just ask a question. Yeah, even when you don't want the answer, you're going to get it. He'll give you the stats for every Mighty Ducks starting lineup player. I don't know. He's like Minority Report over there. He'll give you the stats for every Mighty Ducks starting lineup player. I don't know. He's like Minority Report over there. He's got all the screens. Let's move on here. It's a trust your studs test.

We're going into it, okay? You want to play this game? No, I don't. Too bad. You have to. All right. This question comes in from Twitter, Mark West. Wait. Oh, yeah. The mark was that no one listening 1992 center for the phoenix suns mark west wow old dominion alumni wow

thanks for listening and supporting the show we really appreciate it mark oh man uh well he would like to know he's a big fantasy guy uh big guy in general but uh after the last four weeks ppr question stefan diggs rashi rice uh full ppr i'm still gonna go digs i completely understand uh rashi rice has been more and more involved more active getting touchdowns but i don't expect it better yeah sure better no i'm with you. That's why I made the joke. The targets are there for Diggs. Are they? Yeah. I mean, last week he still had two straight weeks. How is he doing such little with so much?

Well, two games ago against Philly, he was the wide receiver at 13. Yeah, he scored. Last week, very difficult matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. There's a high over-under in this game against Dallas. Yeah, I'm still going Diggs. It was pointed out to me yesterday by Mike that I turned down your trade

after you turned down my trade. You could have sent me Eckler. It would have changed your season and everything. Then Mike pointed out, he was shopping Stefan Diggs. Right. Something in me just didn't... Everyone thought I was going to get him. I had all the picks to get him, and I didn't do it.

And so far – Yeah. You know how bad that would feel if I was rolling Eckler Diggs right now? Yeah. With no draft picks? You would be not in the playoffs. Yeah, you would probably be not in the playoffs if you made those two trades. Crazy. All right.

Dave wants to know, he just picked up Matthew Stafford off waivers. Do I play him over Mahomes? Oh, my gosh. I am in a league, the listener league. I'm trying to earn everybody out there an extra spot to be had. I am actively paying Fab to pick up Matthew Stafford. I am playing him over Mahomes on my team. Yep. And I would do the same thing. It's very tough pill to swallow. When you look at the names,

you know that Patrick Mahomes is awesome, but the matchup is incredible. It doesn't get much better than, you know, I talked about it on the stream of the week yesterday for Matthew Stafford. But you just look at the last three weeks, Matthew Stafford is the quarterback three in fantasy. Only Dak Prescott and surprisingly Trevor Lawrence have scored more than Matthew Stafford. And then you add in the matchup where Patrick Mahomes, low over under against New England. Patrick Mahomes over that same time period has been the quarterback eight, the quarterback 16, the quarterback 20, while Stafford has been the quarterback seven, eight, and five. So he's been playing better, and he's got the better matchup.

I'm rolling Stafford. Would you play Geno Smith over Patrick Mahomes? That would be hard because Geno's coming off the injury. Injury concern. But he plays Philly. I'm saying the chance of re-aggravating the groin injury is, like the thought of that is so devastating. So I'd probably go Mahomes there.

But Stafford, at this point, you're not finding a waiver wire piece of garbage that you're throwing into your lineup because, oh, the matchup is so great. No, it's, I mean, Cooper Cup looks like he is, he's ready to perform again. Puka's playing fantastic. Everything is lined up so that you just, you need to adjust how you're looking at Matthew Stafford right now is.

Quickly. Is what I, yeah, the point I want to make, it's not just the matchup. It's Stafford and the Rams are moving forward, are in a really good spot. The touchdowns are hitting for Stafford right now and the matchup against the Manders. I believe the Manders have given up the most top 12 fantasy quarterbacks by far. Yeah, it's a smash matchup and that's hopefully you blocked

somebody you're playing from playing Stafford. Let's close out with this classic annual debate question from Instagram. Tony wants to know, should you continue to add drop players? Once your team is eliminated from the playoffs, I am in a expert league right now that got put into playoffs. The notice went out with the bracket and it said, remember, only playoff teams can add and drop players on the waiver day. So I don't mind at all if a league wants to institute that. If a league wants to say, look, we want our playoff teams to put their best foot forward, not be blocked by people who are playing for nothing.

I don't mind that at all. But I prefer leagues where you are playing for nothing. I don't mind that at all. But I prefer leagues where you are playing for something. There's a consolation bracket. There's a weekly prize. A weekly prize. There's a toilet to avoid wearing around your neck. There's still the possibility of trying to find a keeper. Right, yeah, if you're in a keeper league.

Obviously, Dynasty or whatever. So the majority of leagues, i think i have a different opinion now yeah so the majority of leagues for me i prefer active players uh not just like grabbing a guy to cause mayhem entirely but i think if you're playing actively it shouldn't be limited to just the playoffs if you want it limited to just playoffs then your league just needs to institute that as a rule i think my opinion unless you're in a keeper league is now on the side of non-playout teams should not be able to add because the purpose here's the reason why and we had a discussion this morning in the studio about you know people that have gone out commissioners in

particular and made jokes in the in the know. Quote, unquote jokes. Yeah, quote, unquote jokes. Wouldn't it be funny if everybody signed a quarterback and this player can't sign one? Don't do that. Don't do that. Well, listen, one of the things that happens, if you're a non-playoff team and you are participating in the waivers

without any purpose, there isn't, I'm saying if there isn't external reasons, a weekly prize, a keeper, a playoff position, something in play. If it's totally arbitrary to do it, somebody loses on the other end of that signing, right? There's a winner and a loser. Somebody else is going to look at it with the eyeball to collusion. I mean, at some point in time, you're like, that guy picked this player up. That affects me negatively. My opponent gets a benefit. Is that player working with my opponent? Yeah, if there is no purpose to you playing, if it's not changing the outcome of draft picks or punishments or keepers or anything, then you can argue then the only thing you're doing is trying to...

You're disrupting somebody. Yeah. Not like one matchup. You're disrupting one person in a matchup. And I've never been on that side until really today in this discussion. Are you still firmly on the other side, Mike? Watch the world burn. If there's a rule in place before the season starts, fine.

I will abide by the rule. But there is no gentleman's clause for me. Well, you can't do this. Why? Because you're just not supposed to. Because I don't really like it if you do that. Get out of my way. I'm going to do what I want.

Well, that's not surprising. One more question because it's a good one. It's a marriage question which is we're experts obviously youtube question from billy how do i win when i play my wife and week one of the fantasy playoffs seems like a real lose-lose to me i think it's a win-win you win and then you you just make sure she don't forget it yeah you know right guys no i look i'm like if you have a if you have a that seems like a lose if you have a that seems like a lose

if you're in a marriage and you have a strong relationship what if you have like a kind of mediocre relationship like if you're on the verge of ending things then maybe you shouldn't be playing fantasy football together you should be doing cooperative if she wins and you lose you lose

if you win and she loses you win at fantasy doing cooperative things, not competitive things. If she wins and you lose, you lose. If you win and she loses... You win. At fantasy. Yeah. Which is all that matters right now. Yeah. I mean, whoever loses, they'll get over it. Go the distance.

Yeah. Show your wife great respect by putting your best foot forward and showing her how great you are at fantasy football. And then buy her a pizza. All right. One last reminder to drop it like it's hot. Waver Wire is going through. See who the other league mates have sent into the Waver Wire.

Tomorrow starts the week. Matchup previews. We do have one slight update. Do we? Yeah, because, I mean, we had talked about it. Oh, yeah, this is the. Jimmy Garoppolo. But now it's being reported head coach Antonio Pierce of the Raiders,

he's not decided who will start. So this is upgraded from a mid-game move to maybe we just play Jimmy Garoppolo, which would be fantastic. There's no way that this doesn't happen if I didn't listen to that song coming in. I've got Devontae Adams and I'm Bolton. You King. I was just going to say there,

I could tell you there's no, there's no chance that Jimmy Garoppolo doesn't start. Everything has worked. Why Jason? Jason Andy has Devontae Adams. No, no, no.

I know we've got Devontae Adams. I'm just saying every single thing that needs to go right has fallen into place for Andy so far. What if it's Brian Hoyer? It's anything but O'Connell. I think Brian Hoyer is a sideways move, but Garoppolo is an upgrade. That'll do it for today's episode. Starts tomorrow.

Match-ups the next two days. Fantasy face-off and a whole lot more. We'll talk to you then. Goodbye. Goodbye. 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.