Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Week 15 Waivers + Difference Makers, Playoff Bound! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/10

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

Waiver Wire pickups for Week 15 and the fantasy football playoffs on today’s podcast! Find out which waiver adds could end up being playoff heroes for fantasy football teams! Plus, QB streamers, injury updates, and more. Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for December 10th, 2024. (00:00) - Intro  (03:02) - MNF Recap (09:55) - Difference Makers (20:40) - NFL News (29:55) - Waiver Wire (30:10) - RB Waivers (39:10) - WR Waivers (46:30) - TE Waivers (44:40) - DST Waivers (53:00) - QB Streamers Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on X Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: Studio is brought to you by Amazon Prime Difference Makers presented by IAMS Pet Food News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://USAA.com/Insurance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The Fantasy Footballers Studio is brought to you by Amazon Prime. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore and Mike Wright. Ahhhh! Welcome in! He squeezed that one out. I thought we might get in its playoff time. I wasn't sure if you'd just break us into the fantasy playoff. On Tuesday? I don't know. No, I get it. I get it. Today is the day where everyone can log into your platform, your

fantasy platform, look at your playoff bracket, look at Marvel. Papa Josh can't. Oh, right, right, right. But I mean, everybody that's in the playoffs can't. Right. You know what I mean? Like the people who listen to this show.

I was actually just about to make the joke, like what's a playoff? Yeah, no, you know. Well, congratulations on your successful season, that's over, but for everyone else, we're all in some playoffs here or there, and it's exciting. It's fun to go and look at the matchup and figure out how you're going to back your way into a championship. Wow, that, look, Jason, you slipped into the sixth seed with an 0-2 week somehow.

Yeah, baby. And you'll be facing off against Al Borland in our League of Record playoffs. Al, you are feeling confident I think I Not I like my odds. Yeah, you like your odds now. I don't know If we'll have a producer if they all man if I actually when you are very much Josh will be here He's got nothing on the line No new video games have been released today. Yeah, I've talked about a lot of my injuries. My team at this point in the season, it's hot trash. It's just like, this is nasty boy season. And so, and Jeremy's team, to his

credit, it's the first time he's had a great team. Okay. So he's got an excellent, you two I think are the two current front runners. Al Borland is the leader in points scored in the league. And you are the leader in your own right of the least points against. Yeah. You got defense, wins, championships baby. So going into next week, look, it will be, you're like Cinderella but uglier. You know what I mean? Oh yeah. No, that's a good comp for me. So we got fantasy playoffs,

hopefully in some of your leagues. If you're tuning in, you're ready to get going. The waiver wire setting yourself up for these next couple of weeks. Despite my bye week, I decided to come to work anyways. What a hero. And so we'll get into it. We had a fantastically entertaining, I think, Monday night football game. A lot of people out there with Burrow and Chase and Doudel, 18 for 131. My boy. Mike was. My beautiful boy.

Let me say this, and no need to record it and I don't say this lightly or often. I don't know what's about to happen. I know what he's gonna say, but Mike Was right. Yeah, that's what okay I knew it. Thank you. I Mean at every step of the way it it was always if Doudle had a chance. Yeah. And it was always like, if he has a chance,

this is my, it was our view that it wouldn't matter. And he has a chance and it did matter. He did not score a touchdown. Yeah, unfortunately. Much, you know, that was the only thing I got right about Doudle this week. But a career high in yards for the second consecutive league, 18 for 131. C.D. Lam, 6 for 93 in a touchdown, wincing at every turn.

Seriously. Jamar Chase, 1,400 receptions for over 17,000 yards and 25 touchdowns in last night's game. Jamar Chase is unstoppable. I tweeted out early in the game. I was just like, how do you stop Jamar Chase is unstoppable. I tweeted out early in the game. I was just like, how do you stop Jamar Chase? I don't have him in any of my leagues because he's one of those players where you either get lucky in your draft slot, you know? Or is not a fifth round pick.

So you just get him or in our keepers and our dynasties. I don't have him. I don't have him anywhere. And it's a darn shame, because I watch other people have so much fun with him. It's the time of my life. It's great. It's so, and Mike in our dynasty league

has the burro chase stack, and I truly believe. Ooh, it's tasty. Because there's no way for Chase to do all of the points and then not come from the ball thrower. Do you know what I'm saying? Oh yeah, the ball thrower has to be involved. Now, I think that last night I'm watching this game and here was my headline from it.

There's about a minute left or whatever it was, two minutes left. The Bengals have to punt. And at that moment in time, it's fourth and 26, I think to myself as a Jamar Chase manager, oh no, because the Cowboys are going to win the game. And that means that the Bengals are going to go to four and nine, which means that the Bengals are toast and then they block the kick and they muff it and they win the game. If you're in fantasy football right now, you're thrilled at the outcome because the Bengals

still have a puncher's chance and you need that for Burrow and Chase to keep doing what they're doing. We also got interesting comments out after the game from Joe Burrow saying like, in so many words, T Higgins is going to be here. He's like, he doesn't write the checks. Right. But he, I mean, he's saying like, no, basically he was telling the team, I'm the captain. You are going to figure this out. You're going to keep T. Higgins here with me. And that he'll do whatever he needs to do. Yeah, I mean, I don't know if that's a restructure or anything wild like that, but for him to be so forward, like with the media of-

Right away. Putting the team on blast saying, no, you better get T. Higgins back here. Cause they need that two for 23. They need that two for 23 on the way back. T. Higgins doesn't produce every single game, but he makes an impact on every single game. Well, he helps Jamar chase tremendously. Exactly.

So it's, and like, I think the, you know, in fantasy football, we're all trying to project where are these guys going to go. It's like, man, T coming back to the Bengals is such low odds, probably even closer to zero. And this helps. It was Joe Goodberry on Twitter who is like a real Bengals guy. He had tweeted out the other day that, in his opinion, he's like, oh, I think that the Bengals will actually franchise yeah they'll just franchise them again. They got a bunch of cast space and it was like the double franchisers I mean I that's something that I hadn't even considered to be a possibility and yet it makes so much sense that of making sure that Higgins

is back one way or the other. There was also a report yesterday about the Patriots basically offering the sun, moon, and stars for T Higgins as free agent, period, like going into next year. So I thought I'd mention that too, because there was a report that they're gonna do whatever it takes to land T Higgins. And remember, Jamar Chase did not get the bag of money,

so they're gonna have to pay Jamar Chase. The idea of giving both of them the contracts that they need from a franchise that has historically been ran, not the best. I don't know if they would do that. I mean, I mean. But the franchise for Walmart a year, that makes sense. That could happen.

So much money. It's $25 million. It's $25 million receivers. I know, but they're gonna give Jamar Chase more than Justin Jefferson. So that'll be, maybe they look at their roster this year and they're like, man, it went so well. This offense. These guys this year, let's re-up this for a ton of money.

Their offense. No, but it did. Their offense is, it's a championship offense. Yeah, I'm just saying they maybe need to spend on their defense. They made me spend some money, period. Yeah. Yeah, I'm just saying they maybe need to spend on their defense. They made me spend some money period. Yeah So that was last night's game by the way, we will be going through team motivation levels in the coming weeks We will take care of that for you. Let you know which teams are

Incentivized to I guess, you know step on the throttle Yeah, like keep it. Because it does matter. It matters on how they are going to rotate in youth. And it's certainly gonna matter if teams have the one seed locked away if you're a week 18 title game, which hopefully you're not. Motivation is very important and real in football in whether you're betting, playing fantasy or whatever.

There are, next week we're going to also take a look at on a player level and see who has incentives, who has bonuses, who's 200 yards away from a million dollars or whatever. Those things matter. You hear after the season is over, you always hear these coaches talk about, ah, we had to get this guy a touchdown because I wanted him to hit his bonus. That's real, it happens. And we're gonna break it all down. And motivation does matter. That's one of the reasons why I'm gonna do

a really piss poor job hosting the show this week. Because I don't really need to be here. So why weren't you motivated last week? Are you implying that I did a bad? Swish! Goodness gracious. All right, let's jump in. Welcome to Difference Makers presented by I'm Sped Food.

Well, today I wanted to do a little, you know, do something different with Difference Makers, I'm gonna throw out six names and I'm gonna throw them out to you guys and I need a yes or no. Do you think that this player that I mentioned will be a Difference Maker rest of season for fantasy playoff teams heading into the most important time of the year? You can be brief give me a reason yes or no why you believe it, but let me start with the quarterback Brock Purdy Difference maker yes or no no I think we're at the time of the year where the best teams are in and you need monstrous performances, I don't think he's going to give that to you Debo is

Not who he once was obviously I you guys go on Debo think he's going to give that to you. Debo is not who he once was. Obviously, Ayuka's gone. Debo said he's good. Oh, really? Just needs the ball more. He deleted that he said that. But he said, no, everything's good. I'm just not getting the ball. OK.

I'm going. Mike, difference maker Brock Purdy, yes or no? I'll go with no. I don't want it to sound like I think that Brock Purdy, yes or no? I'll go with no. I don't want it to sound like I think that Brock Purdy's a bad start. The schedule's not the greatest, but I think Brock Purdy is still a start,

but a difference maker at the quarterback position, I don't think so. 49ers playoff probability right now is 8% sitting in 11th place with the remainder of the season. Brock Purdy's chance of buying a Scrooge McDuck vault? Very high. Yeah. Yeah, and I don't, you know, that's a tough one.

Really? For you? You're saying? It's a little bit, it's a little bit tough, yeah, because I think Brock is, he's kind of in that, he's kind of right now in the Lawrence category of like not worth the money, but you're stuck paying the money. Like he's not quite worth,

he's not worth league record money. I don't think he's gonna get league record money, but he absolutely is worth his weight in gold as a franchise quarterback. I think he's a franchise quarterback. Yes, he really is. I just, I could see things going south for the team. worth his weight in gold as a franchise quarterback. I think he's a franchise quarterback. Yes, he really is. I could see things going south for the team.

Oh, that is for sure. And so I guess you're just kind of like, without Shanahan's structure, without CMC, without some of these, you know, Debo playing up to level, I don't know. I just think we could look back in a couple of years and say Brock Purdy is OK. And that's expensive for okay. That's all.

It's like Darnold. Yes, it is. Like Darnold in Minnesota is worth franchise money. Darnold somewhere else? Probably not. That's exactly how I see it. You're right. Difference-maker, sincere McCormick running back for the Las Vegas Raiders, who just had another 18 opportunities. Yes or no? I think yes. Okay, I am a yes as well.

The reason I think I'm a yes is because if you are a playoff team that needs Sincere McCormick, which one of mine is, do you really need them? I mean, like, you them? There are very few players who have come from nowhere late in the season and at this point going into the playoffs, you feel like might have a chance to score a lot of fantasy points that when you dealt with an injury late in the season. Brice Hall, I don't know if he's back this week or not, but if you lost Breece Hall and you're in the playoffs, you might have a gaping hole.

And I think Sincere McCormick has looked good. And he has found a lot of success. Oh my gosh. Yeah, okay. I said gaping hole. All right, let's just call a spade a spade. What? What are you talking about? These deuces can't handle it. All right, let's just call a spade a spade. What? What?

What are you talking about? These deuces can't handle it. You silly little boys. He That's a yes for Sincere McCormick. Not only it's a yes for me, it's not only the, is he getting the opportunities? And I do, I really think that he's going to keep getting them. Even if Madison is back this week, I think that the Raiders should and will be like, no, let's see what, let's see what McCormick can do. And the fact that

he is against Denver, it was only five carries, but against Denver, 6.6 a carry against the Kansas City Chiefs, 5.3 a carry on 12 this past week against Tampa 15 carries 5.2 yards per carry like this guy is bringing actual juice to the opportunity this isn't the oh I stumbled in a guy into a guy who's gonna get volume and I really hope he gets 20 carries and a touchdown like this dude is making the most of his opportunity let's make it more difficult. Zach Charbonneau, difference maker, rest of season, yes or no? Oh man. Mike, you go first.

I felt like that one would be the most difficult name that I'm going to bring. Uh, I will rest of season. I will say no, because I, I think that Ken Bone Walker will be back. It may not be this week, but I think that he'll be back in if Walker's back. It may not be this week, but I think that he'll be back. If Walker's back, it's splitsville for Sharps.

I agree. And you've also got, you know, two weeks from now, he plays Minnesota. I cannot imagine Charbonne having a great game against the Minnesota Run-D. So I don't think he's the difference maker rest of season that he was this last week. He easily could be.

We may not have information on the Walker injury, and it's like, oh, we were joking. Walker is going on the IR. And then Charbonneau is truly a difference-maker. The three games that he's played without Ken Bone Walker, 14 for 38 in a touchdown with five catches, 18 for 91 in two touchdowns with three catches, and 13 for 134 in two rushing touchdowns with five catches 18 for 91 and two touchdowns with three catches and 13 for 134 and two rushing touchdowns with seven catches so when

Walker is out Sharpe cooks yeah yeah um difference maker grandpa Thielen Adam Thielen yes or no yeah yes yeah he is he's gonna be one of the guys we're talking probably the highest about on the waiver episode today is Target share with Bryce Young who's playing good ball. Yeah, yes and honestly, so I went back I watched all every single snap for Bryce Young and When you know we've seen this with a lot of quarterback wide receiver combos when he throws the ball to Thielen They're in sync when he throws the ball to Thielen, they're in sync. When he throws the ball to Ligette, there's... No, I was going to bring that up. Xavier Ligette is a disappointment.

Yeah, for sure. His performances have been a disappointment and his reliability is going the opposite direction of what Thielen is right now. I think it's just being a rookie. I mean, you see this with Marvin Harrison Jr. and Kyler. They're out of sync a little bit, and some of it is because they are playing like a rookie. But let's give them a little bit of credit because they're a rookie. So it's okay, they're going to make these mistakes.

Adam Thielen is a vet who is always in the right spot. I think he's going to be a real difference maker. Really impressive catches, including one that didn't count, that should have counted. Yeah, he's got great hands. Oh, that was ridiculous. And I went back and watched all of Thielen as well. There were more times had Bryce looked at Thielen first,

that there would have been easy catches for him. There was room for growth. Yeah, jokes aside, don't be embarrassed to put Thielen into lineups. And the schedule's good. Jordan Addison, Difference Maker, yes or no? Jordan Addison has been cooking. Yeah, he's not consistent, but he has been.

He's been having a lot of really good games lately. Six touchdowns in the last six games. He has 12 targets, six targets, nine targets, eight targets. What do you think? The schedule? I'm gonna go yes. Would you rather have Addison or Darnell Mooney rest of the season?

Oh, great question. I think I would go. My vote would be Addison. Because he doesn't have Kirk cousins. Yeah, I mean, obviously Kirk has not been great, but Mooney just had a good week this last week with Kirk. Mooney has been solid and I believe that, yeah, I'm looking this up. Mooney has more yards than Drake London.

The Raiders, the Giants, and the Commanders are left. I'm going to stick with Mooney, but it's close. Okay. All right. So do you guys think yes on Addison? I do. I think he should have a couple big games down the stretch. The the fact that we're it seems like in the last month that we're getting an uptick in targets maybe they're finally like hey we should we

need to actually focus on getting him the ball not just every once in a while. Okay and just in case Roma Dunezay he had two touchdowns, four for 42 this past week against San Francisco. Hard to argue with the schedule coming up for Chicago, so I'm going to bring him up. Roma Dunze, difference maker, yes or no? No, because I don't think people are going to be able to start him. I mean, to have the confidence of a player who just got four catches after just getting two catches,

he could absolutely have a big week this week. I like Caleb Williams a lot this week. The matchup against Minnesota in the passing game is pretty good, but he's not gonna be a difference maker because I don't think people are starting him. And if you do, and I don't think you should start him because you're basically saying, I hope he gets the touchdowns. And he might, but that's just not the way to, you know, that's not the way I want to play.

Yeah, he's a no, but he, my opinion hasn't changed of, I think he should be on a bench just in case, like over the last, these last few weeks if- If either of the other two went down, I feel like your commonest level would start to go through the roof with the amount of yardage that Caleb's putting up. Yeah, there's that, and there is a world where over the last few weeks,

with nothing to play for, and it's, I mean, I'm doubting that Keenan is back for the Chicago Bears, so they may say, hey, over these last four weeks or three weeks whatever let's let's see what happens if we focal point Rome. All right that was Difference Makers presented as always by Eims Pet Food. When you choose Eims you can see the difference in your pet with your own eyes. Healthy energy in five days, healthy digestion in ten days, and healthy skin and coat in just 25 days. feed I'ms and see a visible difference.

We'll take a break. We'll hit the news. Miami Metro catches killers and they say it takes a village to race one. Anyone knows how powerful urges can be. It's me. Catch Dexter Morgan in a new serial killer origin story. Hunger inside of you. It needs a master.

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To Peter, your dog sitter, and Claire, who shovels your stairs. And to you, when you spend $25 on McDonald's gift cards in restaurants, get a coupon for a free Big Mac or McChicken. See details at participating McDonald's restaurants. News and notes from around the league presented by USA insurance. Some sad news. Jonathan Brooks re tore his ACL in his right knee. That is the same knee.

So he will be done for this year. He will be on basically the same timeline as last year, I believe this is a later tear than it was last year and it took him until week 10 to get here, I mean, it's not good. You could, he could never be the same. This could be like Javonte Williams, who was a sensational athlete and then. Well there's two sides to it, right?

One is just like can you ever perform at that level? But the bigger piece for me is just could a team ever have confidence in him as a bell cow? And that is a much, much further place to get to and a very, very relevant one for fantasy outcomes. So if you in a dynasty, invested in Jonathan Brooks, I mean the pathway for him to get to where he delivers on what you thought he was going to be,

we went from a pre-season where as soon as he got healthy you thought he was their future, to now they signed Chuba Hubbard long term and he re-tears his ACL. It's devastating, it's heartbreaking, I feel terrible for the young man. This is a team that went out and signed Miles Sanders to a big contract,

used a second round pick on the first running back draft, it just signed Chuba Hubbard. My point here is that running backs matter to this team, this general manager, they want a couple of good running backs. I wouldn't be shocked if this off season, they bring someone else important in because they're not gonna have Jonathan Brooks.

They can't rely on him and say, you know what, this coming season we're gonna get Brooks back. They just did that experiment and lost. So yeah, whether the team can wait around and make him a big part of the game plan is sad. It will, it would be surprising if Jonathan Brooks plays any meaningful stuff next year. I would yeah I'd be shocked. Will Disley expected to miss a couple of weeks. So Montana on the mend and then Kenneth Walker

additional tests being done on his calf. Yes yeah I hadn't heard that yet. It's a calf injury and they'll know more in the next day or two. I don't like the sound of new tests coming Tuesday Wednesday after you missed the game That sounds pretty ominous for week one of the fantasy playoffs that sounds on ominous for the rest of the season Yeah, this is a team right now that they're in first, right? I think they're leading the division. So I mean- They want him back.

For sure. They're not gonna just put him on the shelf and say we're done. It does make Charbonneau more appealing. Aiden O'Connell avoided the season ending knee injury that we heard about and has a bone bruise and has not been ruled out. For this week.

So he went from His he was air casted You know, which is almost always he was he was pronounced dead Like he was he was in the more time of death. They put him in Oh, he's in the bag and he's trying to get out of the man. Then they just sort of Hello guys guys. I'm excellent. I'm really okay. It's freezing in here. And I'm hungry. Derek Carr did not suffer a fracture,

or I'm sorry, did suffer. All right, hold on. We're just gonna go, everyone is fine. You know what, Jonathan Brooks, back on the field this week. No, no, no, sorry, I wish I had that news. Derek Carr did suffer a fracture in his left hand in concussion protocol, we'll miss time.

I saw it reported that, yeah, I mean, he's planning to definitely miss a couple weeks here. Not IR though. Right. He has, unfortunately, a contract situation where if he can't pass a physical coming up here in the off season, it's something like 30 million. Kyle, I don't know if you have this off the top of this off. Yeah, Carl has 30 million injury guarantee for 2025.

If he can't pass the physical, he will be guaranteed $30 million. So that will factor in. Also, we did just get a report straight from the source, boys. The newch. Ben the newchie is back. He has signed with the Saints.

Cool. Reports I didn't need to know for 5,000. Yeah, we did. He is back. He has signed with the Saints cool Reports I didn't need to know and for five thousand. Yeah, we did names. I don't want to hear the newt. Yeah No, thank you Yeah, I'm out on that one. That's all right. It's no Jennings Yeah, the the support you received from the world Jason. I'm so happy I got in at the end. I'm happy I'm still out. Oh, no. Cedric Tailman.

That's because you haven't been saying it. Brother, you're pushing up against a crowd. Jenang. Try it out. Jenangs. Yeah. That's pretty fun. Yeah, you had a good time, right?

Yeah. You know what's fun? The nooch. The same. All right, I'll try it on. Well, we all what's fun? The nooch. The same. All right. I'll try it on. Well, we all got to be willing to try new things, guys. All right. Try nooch things.

Thaddeus Tillman, Romeo Dobbs, both still in Concussion Protocol. Dude. That is sad for both of them. Tillman's been a long time. It has. The waiver wire today, when I was looking at it yesterday, I was like, I kept moving him up and up.

I'm like, if this is the week he's back, when he's back, he looked so good. He's got the size, speed, combo, but this is, it was week 12 when he got the concussion. They didn't put him on IR, and it looks like he's gonna be out a while. George Pickens, not expected to play in week 15 against the Eagles.

He is dealing with a grade two hamstring injury. My, looking into it, it's, yeah, I'm expecting him to miss this game, but then I think he'll be back for week 16. It's Baltimore. They, That could depend on the stakes too. It could, but the way that the Steelers were talking and Mike Tomlin.

Mike Tomlin was, I think, being earnest and honest about, no, I think that George is going to play. We're going to test them out in the morning and we'll see how it goes. Their plan as a team was for George Pickens to play on Sunday and then they just reevaluated and said we don't want this to basically they didn't want to Mike Evans it put him out there for limited snaps have him injure himself and be out for four weeks so just saying grade two that sounds really scary but I don't I think he's back in a couple weeks yeah I mean I I think he misses the two I don't think it's a great sign personally that you go from he might play to a ruling

amount for another week It's the It's the the rule of two here, so I think that he just misses the two I'm following it All right Any other news that we need to cover we didn't have a practice for Garendo. We're waiting to hear about him. The reporting on the quote from Shanahan on Garendo was very funny to watch because we were simultaneously getting glasses half empty, glasses half full,

from the same exact quote. But essentially, Shanahan said, if we had practiced, Garendo would not have been able to do it. I'd be surprised if he's able to go tomorrow. So, Patrick Taylor will be talked about on the waiver wire and I think he is a, you gotta add him just in case, but we don't have the full news yet. So, Garendo is Thursday.

Yes. And so, basically what we know now is that he's not practicing this week. We're not going to get new information on Garando before the game. We're just going to find out, like he's not going to practice. He didn't practice yesterday, he's not going to practice today. And then it's going to basically be maybe he gets in a limited practice, which would be a walkthrough.

And then he's either active or he's not. So this is just be prepared for him not to be active. But the quotes were basically, he's not gonna practice, we hope he plays. Yeah, yeah, that's a quick turn-over. Do you, because of the quick turn-around here for Thursday, like we know they have, so Patrick Taylor is, depth chart-wise, he's the next man up.

Like he's- And just for the record, fifth. Yeah, yes. Fifth on the depth chart for a reason. And, but he is technically the next guy up, but you have Keishon Vaughn who came in in garbage time this past week. They picked up a band of canda. Yeah, get that whip out.

Get that whip out, Mike. I don't know if I have the drop. Come on, Izzy. Oh, I do. But with it being the quick turnaround, I have the drop. Come on Izzy. Oh I do But with it being the quick turnaround I would say I have If Garendo is out I would have more confidence that Taylor will be the guy just because they don't have time to get the other Guys ready and and I will throw this out. I believe Isaac Garendo will be the starter. That's that's my current I know he's not gonna practice. They've already said that but I think he plays on Thursday and is good

That was today's news and notes presented by us a insurance learn more at us a.com slash insurance Welcome to the waiver wire Well, you can say bye to the buys no more buys the Broncos Cols, Patriots, and Texans, you get their players back this week. We jump into the waiver wire with Sincere McCormick, aforementioned Sincere McCormick. Somehow only rostered still in 18% of leagues, despite being brought up, I feel like, prominently last week. People didn't believe.

But 15 for 78, nothing really to play for but the future for the Raiders who may or may not even have their second string quarterback. So I do think the opportunity will be there for McCormick. It's a matchup against Atlanta, then Jacksonville, then New Orleans. Yeah, that's nice. That's difference making stuff that's spin the fab on it if you have a need type of stuff. I'd be curious if Thielen and McCormick were somehow both out there, where you'd go on that. I would go Thielen simply because he is going to be the primary target and we know that.

Sincere McCormick, I'm with Mike that I think he's earned and will retain the work when Alexander Madison comes back but there's a chance he doesn't. Alexander Madison comes back and now it's like okay well we've got the starters back he gets the and you know what sincere you've done a good job you're gonna get a couple carries too but it's you know that that still exists so I would go feeling first. All right, other running backs that you have the highest amount of interest in. We just talked about Patrick Taylor.

I am personally nervous about that. Me too. If he was to get that opportunity, it's not that he couldn't perform, it's just that when you look at who they've had, I don't look at Patrick Taylor as possessing any of the elite traits and skills that, you know, Gurindo had elite speed and Mason elite tackle breaking. And, you know, Mitchell was a very well rounded back. And obviously, CMC, CMC, Taylor is fifth on the depth chart for a reason. And I don't

know if he's the kind of back that Shanahan would look to do everything with. Like if you had to start one I guess he'd be the one you'd start but it would be with trepidation it would be somebody that I would start Sincero McCormick over or Julian McLaughlin over or I mean probably even Gus Edwards over. Yeah. I wouldn't go that far. I'd play Taylor over Gus. Man, I have more confidence just in the Shanahan system and the matchup, I guess, than you guys do.

Yeah, I mean, the system has always worked. It's just. Nobody's into somebody's all the time. So this might sound really, really stupid, but I feel like if Gurindo can't go, I think it's going to be Izzy. I think Izzy would be the guy. Obviously he wasn't a part of the game plan last time. Just because of speed? Because of speed. He fits the system far. Like Patrick Taylor wasn't brought in to be

one of these running backs. He was fifth. He's a special team's type of, you know, jag. He's a four, five, seven, 40 time. This is not the type of running back that the 49ers have ever used. Izzy, I think, like his pit pro day was like in the four threes. You know, he's got that trait where it's just like, I don't care who it is, next man up. There was an example of this, and Kyle Kyle if you can search the recesses of your mind or the internet for the name but there was one San Francisco running back picked up off the street a few years ago because the 49ers lose three to four running backs a year but there was someone they signed straight off the

street that came right in to be their starter in lieu of the depth chart. Right. And I cannot remember his name. I will probably find it here in a few minutes. I don't remember. But there was somebody that they grabbed, I want to say off of the Bears practice squad or something. He was a truck and he played on Monday night football. But my point is, they signed him and they played him and he was the guy if you wanna lean towards Vaughn. But again, it's messy. It's really messy from a fantasy waiver wire. How much fab, how much do you go at it for them?

Patrick Taylor's currently the next man up. He was next on the depth chart, whatever. If I knew Patrick Taylor was the starter for this game, I'd be happy to play him. I would be happy to play whoever the starter is for the 49ers, but I don't think it's as clear as just saying it's Patrick Taylor with Izzy there. Yeah, or Keishon Vaughn, maybe it's Keishon Vaughn. Other names to bring up?

I mean, the Jets guys should be, they're more priority pickups. We don't know what the health of Breece Hall is gonna be. And you get the matchup with Jacksonville. The discussion there then becomes Braylon Allen versus Isaiah Davis. And if you wanna talk total work, Braylon Allen was 11 carries 43 yards Isaiah Davis 10 carries 40 yards

And he got the touchdown six targets for for Isaiah Davis five for Braylon Allen. They really split it up and Watching the game Isaiah Davis was the guy who had the better day Awesome, he is. Yeah, he's the running back that if I were running the Jets, I know that Braylon Allen projected to be that guy. But I would be like, no, we got hot hand here with Isaiah Davis. I'm giving him all the work. So if Breece misses again, it's probably a timeshare,

which puts them both as startable, not the confidence level that we had hoped we would have with Braylon Allen being the true back The matchup against the Jaguars means I think you can start both of them if if Breeze is out I did make the playoffs so I expect Breeze to be out again until I'm out and then he will dominate That's just I got that's how the math should work, but Isaiah Davis is a worthy pickup He's available in most of the leagues and if you need someone to start I mean if I'm talking about Isaiah Davis against a worthy pickup. He's available in most of the leagues, and if you need someone to start. I mean, if I'm talking about Isaiah Davis against Jacksonville or Patrick Taylor,

I think I go Isaiah Davis just because, you know, if he gets 50% of the work against Jacksonville, that could be safer than Patrick Taylor being the backup. I don't know. Would you go with any of those guys where it's a, we're in flowchart season right now of, you know, if this player is out, then I can start these guys. Or would you prefer Jaleel McLaughlin, Denver Broncos,

coming back off the buy, he gets to match up with the Colts. He had, I mean, McLaughlin has done really not much except for this past week. He got a whole bunch of opportunities. Yeah, and he looked great with it. You know, like two weeks ago. We talked about how they are riding the hot hand. Obviously, they usually give Gervonta the first opportunity

to show that his hands are ice. McLaughlin was so good last week. The matchup is great. He's certainly in play, and I think you could pick him up and take a shot, but it's very Patrick Taylor in the sense that he might not, he might go out there and get three or four carries, so it's very difficult to rely on that. You also have Kendre Miller, who came in, got a touchdown, was a little bit involved.

He's at least ahead of Jamal Williams. Oh, he's definitely ahead of Jamal. I mean, he had 10 carries carries. One carry from the team picking him up and taking him into the end zone. Dude he didn't go down man. He started at the eight yard line when contact happened. I think the team got involved at the three. That was a boss run. Talk to me for a second about philosophical change. You know we've had the waiver show all year long. There's been a lot of the, okay, we're going to pick up players, we're going to hold them, we're going to have the insurance backs. How do these change mindset-wise?

Are you dropping insurance backs at this juncture if you are viewing somebody else's... How are you approaching the shift in the win one week situation? Right. Win one week is priority. If you need to drop someone to get someone for this week, you have to do it. I'm willing to drop a backup. I would also prefer to roster at this point. I'm looking a lot at the defenses and I'll take a look at next week's defense and

Even even the championship week defense to make sure that you know, there's in most leagues There's five or there's usually six teams that are in the playoffs And I think the majority of those teams that make the playoffs they're all gonna be looking at their playoff defenses now So the waiver claims are gonna come in looking at their playoff defenses now. So the waiver claims are going to come in for those defenses and I would rather play that game and make sure I get the points that I know will be scored of you know because they're not gonna get injured. The defenses can't get injured as a whole to where you can't play them so I would rather roster them than the than the insurance backs but I'm not

like dropping insurance backs of my own players just because it's playoffs either. Wide receivers, by the way, all of our waiver wire rankings on the website, the fantasyfootballers.com. Also if you would like them customized to your specific league and scoring type, all of those things are in the Ultimate Dashboard, which can be found at jointhefoot.com if you want to see who's available. That is a tool that can help you there. A wide receiver, heavily rostered, but at the tippy top of our waiver rankings,

Thielen number one. Yes. Quinton Johnston. He's still there. Five for 48 and a touchdown. I thought the lack of McConkie would benefit him. It did. And he's had games.

So like he's a much higher ceiling dart throw than playing in my opinion a LeGate or a McMillan or a Palmer or a David Moore or a Westbrook, a Keeney or a Don Tavian Wick some of the other names that are dart throws but Quinton Johnson plays a lot of snaps and can score touchdown. Do you want to play QGE this week at Tampa or Elijah Moore against Kansas City? That's an easy QGE for me. Yeah, I'm on that side too. Elijah Moore's had some good games and Elijah Moore is in play. I'd like to roster him as well.

I think last week he only had three catches. He did, three for 34. In the matchup, if you look at the matchup, you're talking about one of the most difficult for Elijah Moore and one of the easiest for Quentin Johnston against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Completely agree, and Elijah Moore, I mean even with Winston, 15, three, 15, four.

Well that just means a 15's coming. Come on, we know how stats work. Yeah. Only if he's on your bench, though. Remember the rules? Not for me. I've been playing him everywhere. This is the type of week where I think

what you need to be taking a shot at, what you're looking for. You're not looking rest of season. Adam Thieland, great. Quentin Johnston, involved enough, great. Those two, to me, are in kind of a tier of their own They're heavily rostered. They're probably not available if you are looking for a wide receiver to start and play We really have to be we have to have the mindset of You need a touchdown

This is the playoffs who can go out there and get a touchdown. That's kind of how I look at it You know is a Rashad Bateman who obviously- D'Ontavion Wicks, if Dobbs is out, is the answer for me. Yeah, that's a great answer. The matchup against Seattle is good. He's got more snaps. He's very, very capable of the big explosive game. You could throw Keon Coleman in there as a dart throw.

We still don't know if he's gonna be active, but if he is, you know Josh Allen could throw five touchdowns. With that same line of thinking, for Cedric Tillman, should you get news today? Like, oh, no, Tillman's actually, he's back at practice, it's limited, but this looks like he's gonna trend to play for the weekend. Where would he jump to? He would probably be third. It's limited. But this looks like he's going to trend to play for the weekend. Where would he jump to? He would probably be third.

Still behind Kuj? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. But he would be very, very high. He would jump into that tier. I don't think my confidence level would shoot up there. You talked about how bad the matchup is. It's very concerning.

And the rapport with Judy is building. You already saw that switch start to happen before the injury, so I'd be less bullish. I'm not saying he's out of the picture, but there's also floor play options. Like Ray Ray McLeod is being used a ton in the Atlanta offense. Like if you need, you know, a floor play of seven,

eight points, to me that's where he represents. And he had 11 targets. I never ignore targets in an offense, and he is functioning, if you look at the way things have trended for Atlanta, delete Kyle Pitts and add Ray Ray McLeod into that equation. Targets six, six, 11 the last three weeks.

But I guess if you're talking about targets, just in your- And he said 95 and 98 yards the last two weeks. If you're comparing the targets, just remember Cedric Tillman, when Javis took over, had 12 targets, 9 targets, 11 targets, 8 targets, and then 4 targets in the game that he got hurt early, didn't play half of the game. And then you'd want to talk about, okay, they both got targets, they both can get yards. Tough matchup, I agree, but then it's playoff weeks. Who has the higher likelihood of a touchdown?

I believe Kirk Cousins is not allowed to throw touchdowns anymore. That is one of the things he has- He said he's done with that? Yeah, he's ruling out any more touchdowns for the rest of the season. Has it been a month? Has it been a month of games since he's thrown a touchdown? Yes. Crazy. Yeah, it's been four games.

But when's the last time he threw a pick? About 20 minutes ago. Think they are practicing right now. He is. The last month, his touchdown to interception ratio is 0 and 8.. Oh man it's not been good. He was I don't know if we had it in the news or we brought it up he was announced that he is absolutely the starter he is the leader of the team. I. Your point of Ray Ray is very involved. He is getting targets. He should be looked at. But you said it right.

He's a floor play. He's not really a ceiling. No, he's the player you play when you don't want to risk one for 19 from Westbrook-Akene. That's my point. Yeah. Is if you are a heavy favorite that still needs to flex, I'd rather have that in there than risk a one for four

from Calvin Austin, a one for 19 from Westbrook-Akene. I completely agree. I think the majority of people that are scouring the waivers are probably the underdog that are looking for a starter, but there's definitely a situation where you lost a wide receiver. You're the favorite. Yeah, exactly.

Walker, Pagan. It feels gross to say it, but I'm gonna say it anyways. I would pick up and play Michael Wilson over Ray Ray McLeod. Tell us why. Well he's up against New England. He's been, if you want to talk about floor, he's been 50 yards for three straight weeks and he is more likely to get a touchdown than Ray Ray McLeough. I think Ray has won on the year and this I like. That's a pretty good percentage of the team's touchdowns though.

I like yeah that's fair. I like the Cardinals this week. I think that they're gonna be just fine. Would you drop Debo or MBS for these guys? MVS, sure. Yeah. MVS has no car. Goodbye. Yeah, he's walking. Oh my gosh. All right. Bosses.

Thank you. Deebo, it's tough. But yeah, for some of them, for sure. For QG, for Thielin. Yeah, I mean, if I had to start. If you had Tilman? You'd play Tilman? Yeah, for Thielen. Yeah, I mean, if I had to start. If you had, Tillman, you'd play Tillman. Yeah, if Tillman was active, I think I would start Tillman over Samuel,

Thielen over Samuel. All right. And probably Cuge, yeah. Crazy. Again, check out all the waiver rankings on thefantasyfootballers.com. We'll take a break, we'll hit tight ends, defenses, and quarterbacks.

This episode is brought to you by Dyson On Track. Dyson On Track headphones offer defenses and quarterbacks. Acro-fiber cushions engineered for comfort and a range of colors and finishes. Dyson On Track, headphones remastered. Buy from DysonCanada.ca. With ANC on, performance may vary based on environmental conditions and usage, accessories sold separately. All right, tight ends. Hello, goodbye to Juwan Johnson. I, it's not impossible that he's relevant rest of season,

but really tough though. Yeah. It's really hard to rely on that without a quarterback that you can trust. So, you know, I wanted to come in here. I assumed we'd come in here and be talking to Juwan Johnson a lot until that injury happened. Hunter Henry comes back from the buy. He is at the top.

As two bye week tight ends that are probably on your waiver wire or could be Hunter Henry and Zach Ertz both have opportunities for touchdowns in every game. Both are the starting tight ends with big snap shares and that's kind of all you can hope for. I mean I I would still like Kate Otten more than Hunter Henry, but the gap is not that big. Since week seven, Hunter Henry is averaging seven and a half targets a week. It's just that Baker represents a much higher chance

at touchdowns, but Hunter Henry, otherwise, are you guys both on the side where you'd rather have Kate Otten than Hunter Henry or no? Oh man. It is very close, but I lean with you on the Baker will throw more touchdowns than Drake May. So I would be on the Kate Otten side in searching for that touchdown, but ahead of probably both of them would be Zach Kurtz.

Zach Kurtz. The last three weeks man. Yeah he's been touchdown touchdown touchdown. Exactly so and you that's what you're looking for. Jaden Daniels probably the higher likelihood of everyone to throw a touchdown. Well him and Baker maybe Baker a little bit more but the matchup is pretty good against New Orleans for Zach Kurtz. He's been reliable. So those three guys are the guys you're hoping for. And then if they're not available, now you're dropping down a tier. And you don't have a reliable target share. Would you go Calcutera for them from the Philadelphia Eagles?

He plays Pittsburgh. Or would you go Noah Gray, tight end one from the Kansas City Chiefs? Tighten 1.5 No, no great five more targets last week last four games target pace 85. I wouldn't play Noah gray I Mean I Probably if on if I'm being honest, honest I probably play Calcutta if it were me because of the snap share like now that he's there in Dallas got it's gone he played 91% of snaps and I'm I mean what's the snap count for Noah

Gray 60% yeah the the snap count is not as consequential when when the other quarterback is like 150 yards a game. Yeah, no, I'm not... you can have your opinion. I just said, like, that's why. I'm going to chase the offense here from the Chiefs. I don't like the whole frame of conversation around those two. I mean, if you're Calcutera or Noah Gray, you are in trouble. Yeah, you are in trouble.

You might as well... I mean, I would throw Cole Comment into that mix too, obviously just Goose, but he's had a couple big games. I throw him right out. Sure. I reject your Cole Comment. I mean, I'd just be terrified.

Oh, I'd be terrified to play any one of these three guys. But you're just talking upside. Sure. I mean, he had 10 targets the week before. Yeah, Grant Calcutera, Noah Gray, Cole gray Cole commit the highest floor is probably Noah gray but that floor is for it does it's it's not a relevant number so then you go okay well who's got the highest ceiling who can go out there and actually dominate Cole commit can actually go out and dominate a game he's done it many times until you

lose by four points, Jason. Then you're like, no, Greg. There are defensive options this week that are highly attractive. The commander's defense, which will have Latimore for the first time, will face a backup in New Orleans. Is it Hayner? Is that who it's gonna play? Kyle?

I mean, it could. Yep. Thank you. Jake Hayness. Well. Oh, hmm. Is it Hayner? Who's gonna play? Kyle? I mean, it could- Thank you. Jake Hanus. Well- Oh, well, we didn't ask for your commentary over there, boy. You're stat, boy. You give us hard and cold facts. I can, I mean-

Hanus. He'll be Hanus after the week. The Cardinals play at home against New England. The Cincinnati Bengals face Tennessee. That's a little bit- The Bengals face Tennessee that's a little bit like the Bengals defense is just it's just not that good. Baltimore you can always play you can always play a defense against Will Levis. Baltimore plays the Giants by the way the that's gonna be outrageous. I was happy to see

it get called out because I noticed the play from Will Levis who oh gosh putting my faith in Will Levis last week is an absolute disaster. But there was an end zone play they had, for whatever reason, two players leaking out to the left of the end zone and Will Levis ignored the wide open, a conqo. He's like, no, I'm going to throw the guy who's got an actual defender on him for whatever reason. That guy sucks. No, I'm gonna throw the guy who's got an actual defender on him for whatever reason that guy

That sucks The 49ers I don't want really like them against the Rams at all on Thursday Yeah, I mean that would be a terrible start. I don't know why it's in this list Delete you gotta have options. Um the Jets against Jacksonville Yeah, yeah, give me the Jets against Mack Jones. You're targeting backup quarterbacks. The Falcons against Las Vegas. Yeah, backup quarterbacks. I would also throw in the Atlanta Falcons.

They are playing Baltimore this week. That is not what you want. The next week, they're not playing Baltimore this week. That is not what you want. The next week, or they're not playing Baltimore, sorry. But next week they are playing the Giants. And that is gonna be an important game for the Falcons at home. And if you look at the week 16, if you're looking two weeks out

to get ahead of your opponent, most of the teams that you focus and try to play against, you want to play against the Titans, that's the Colts defense. It's like, okay, they're not that good. You want to play against Jameis and the Browns, that's the Bengals defense. It's like, okay, so I think the Falcons are really the team for next week that you can get now. All right, let's move forward.

Full stream ahead. Well, my streaming quarterback this week is gonna be Justin Herbert against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31st against quarterbacks, 30th in passing yards per game allowed. I know he's been banged up. We'll see if Vlad Mikhalky can get back out on the field. I think Herbert will do enough.

202, should be okay. Game has a 46 and a half point total. He's been a top 12 quarterback in four straight at home. I'm gonna go and, you know, scared money don't make money. It's a little scary. But I'm gonna say that you you know, scared money don't make money. It's a little scary. But I'm gonna say that you can stream Caleb Williams this week. Oh my gosh, what are you doing?

Well, I mean, look, he played against Minnesota a couple weeks ago. He was the quarterback three. You know, he threw for 340 yards, two touchdowns, ran for 33 yards. I know it's a divisional game. Minnesota is still a team that you want to target for the passing game,

because you really just can't run on them. It's a 44 point over-under. It's dangerous, but you can see the path where it works. I mean, two of the last three weeks, he's been a top six option in fantasy. He's looked good in spurts. In second halves. Yes, in second halves, really. It's looked good in spurts. In second halves. Yes, in second halves, really, it's all in the second half.

It was another, at halftime, the Chicago Bears had a handful of yards in the first half. Like this, I don't know how this can keep happening, that you could be shut out for an entire half and then you put up a hand. It's a rope-a-dope, Mike. They're like, ah, you guys are too good for us. Falcon, is that more puns than yards?

Yeah, I think so. Well, whatever. I don't know, I'm not verifying that, but that's fun to say, more puns than yards. Speaking of dangerous, a true streaming quarterback this week, ugh, that's gross. We're playoffs, please, hopefully you have your guys,

but Bryce Young. This is the first time in the Bryce Young era they are favored at home by 2.5 points against the Dallas Cowboys. So proud of him. What a world! I know you're talking about Bryce Young, but I just want to know how many packs a day

freaking Falcon is smoking. More puns than yards. More puns than yards. More puns than yards. One pack. One pack? You eat it though, right? You eat it, yeah. It's a pack of 75, but it's just one.

Bryce Young, I think that he is playable, hopefully more as a quarterback too. But the section's about trying to find streamers. Yeah, it's wild. All right, Hungry for More in the Thursday night preview tomorrow some mailbag playoff mailbag to help you out as you head into your fantasy football playoffs and we'll continue to follow along the Jason V Al Borland battle for the week. I know Jason I've known him for a long time I've known him for 20 plus

years. I know exactly how he's gonna be playing this week. I know his exact psychological state. I know exactly what he's gonna be doing and it's gonna be a man that on the surface presents with indifference. It will be a man who doesn't care about the matchup. I'm just happy to be here is the but inside he still believes he can win a championship. I mean look I can't. Yeah yeah so just expect a lot of concessions Al. Maybe I'll buy you a pizza. We'll see. I'll take that too. Goodbye everybody. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast.

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