Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Week 16 Start/Sit + Panic, Anxiety, & Playoff Decisions - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/17

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

Fantasy Football show for Dec 17, 2025. Get ready for Week 16! Tough playoff start/sit decisions including some BIG name players, including Darren Waller, George Pickens, and Rashee Rice. Should you continue starting your studs?! Plus, backup waiver wire options, injury updates, and a Thursday Night Preview. Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast.(00:00) Intro(09:15) Backup Options(14:10) NFL News(23:40) Thursday Night Breakdown: Rams at Seahawks(30:10) Mailbag(30:30) Brock Bowers or Colby Parkinson?(33:20) Tyler Warren or Dalton Schultz / Colby Parkinson?(35:50) Rashee Rice outlook without Mahomes(38:25) George Pickens or Jayden Reed?(41:40) Ham, Turkey, or both for Christmas dinner?(44:25) Hobby ideas for us eliminated?Connect with the show:Subscribe on YouTubeVisit us on the WebSupport the ShowFollow on XFollow on InstagramJoin our Discord Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the fantasy footballers podcast with your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. What is that? That's the anxiety. I thought so. Really? Yes. Yeah, it's the anticipation. He hasn't had a playoff game.

No, I know, but Mike's been just soaring above it. That's not too cool for school. Nobody's really truly above. No. It's all pretend? The fantasy. No, it's, uh, I think it's an execution of like, you know, instill some confidence. Yeah, I can have the utmost confidence.

but there's a Kyle Pitts out there waiting for this weekend. Right. Like there are a lot of people in the second round that probably shouldn't be. There will be another Kyle Pitts type of performance. May it be Chris Olavay? From someone in football and you're just like it's, he's waiting. It's just what Jason said. I mean, you you spend the time, the skill, the ability, the consistency,

you make yourself a playoff team and then you lose. You need a little bit of, well, you need a little bit of luck. Yeah. And one, I mean, it's, it's shocking breaking news. I'm surprised they didn't hit the button, but one person wins the title. That is my, that is the thing that. You can have two good teams and they can both play well and one team's going to win. That's the thing that passes by everyone.

They all got to, oh, I did this, I lost. It's like everyone loses. Literally all but one. The whole game we're playing is everyone but one loses. I mean, we look at it like, oh, I want to be the winner. But it's, the game is everybody but one is a loser. It's a good time to remind people that next week at this time, one of you two will be a loser. Yep.

That is a fact. Because you are facing off in the League of Records semifinals. Well, by this time, one of us will have been a loser for at least a day. One of you will be suffering this time next. Now, I will be suffering this weekend, but also entertained, to listen to both of you. Mike is more quiet. Jason, not so much. No.

Like this weekend, you will be, you will be talking, you will be slowly walking a through everything that happens with extreme language. Yeah. You know, things like, you know, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that I've already lost after the first catch of the game or something like that. I was already congratulated yesterday. You were. On my. You were. Well, I just, you know, look, the projections were pretty wide. So, congrats. 13 points. Backup options on the show today, NFL news, Thursday night. preview, the mailbag, we're here for you, and it is semi-final week. So good luck to everybody in the Megalibol that is still alive.

If you want to see your Megalobol standings, megalobole.com, you can go in there and check it out. Find us on YouTube. We are a year-round podcast, YouTube.com slash the fantasy footballers. Do us a favor. Subscribe, click the bell. We will have Sunday live. Now, I want the people to know. I'm going to just come out and say this. Mistakes might have been made by yours truly when planning our company Christmas party. Which it's unfortunate because you took the, you took the bull by the horns.

You're like, I'm getting this. I'm going to get a schedule. I'm getting out ahead of it. It's a big day. We often are like, oh crap. Get the company Christmas party planned. And he was like, no, this year I got it. I'm hosting.

I'm setting it all up. It's going to be awesome. what are you doing Jason what are you doing I was trying to make a waiver claim oh okay and then it turned out I have ineligible guys on my I are and oh and so Andy was going to take care of it and then he planned it on Saturday right which I thought was normal but I guess it's not been normal no because we have a Sunday live and and that's early in the morning yeah but not only is it early in the morning late not only is it early in the morning not only is it early in the morning after a late night party, but at said party, there shall be extra tilting because

there is football games happening where they make an impact on Mike and I. I'm kind of looking forward to that though. I'm actually kind of excited that there will be, because we've got Al Borland and his Packers. Our Packers. Our Packers. Yeah, baby. Go Pack. Josh Jacobs Packers. And me and baby Jake with our bears. This was a long way of me saying we will still have a Sunday live, but I think I'm going to fill in for Mike. I think I'll be there and take one for the team. Papa Josh, are you with me on Sunday live? I'm with you.

Okay. Lucky us. Merry Christmas. But that will be on Sunday morning before the games. We'll be with you, as always, to get you primed and ready. React to the latest news, because you never know when Roma Dunes is going to be suddenly removed from rosters three minutes before. That one was brutal. If you are out there, and I actually saw a league that they allowed

someone to swap out because the only player, good, the only player that was, but here's the crazy part, the only player who would have been realistically swapped out on that team, and it was realistic, and it was not really the fault of the manager, because it was announced, you know, minutes beforehand, was Kyle Pitts. So they got to swap Rome out for Pitts. But they already knew pitts's points but oh is that what i just looked at the post i don't know i mean pitts played on thursday that whatever they allowed happen i'd be out of that league yeah how i was so with that i'm like dude that's great if the yeah because you couldn't have made that transaction like someone could have been a you know church or whatever and you're like i have rome in okay we're good to go and you don't

you're not able to react so i mean allowing people to fix that but you can't just throw the 40 points in there no that i would not stand for no you can't uh Um, yeah, somebody was, somebody was asking about reseeding in the middle of the playoffs. Like, oh, it was an oversight. We didn't reseed. I want to just put it into place right this moment. And then they were like, but just to throw in, like, I'm the commissioner and it's my team in the semis. I was like, you can't do that, man. Also, how is reseeding not the default? Like, it's so insane to me. It's a tournament. Not every professional sports league. does that, obviously. Who doesn't

reseat? I don't think does the NBA resheed? Yes. Oh, yeah. The higher seat always plays the lowest seat possible. Hmm. Because that's how tournaments work. That's me, like, you're a reward? No, the NBA does not reseed after the first round of the playoffs.

That's what I thought. Oh, well, yeah. I'm way up. Only the NFL among the big U.S. Leagues truly recedes its club. Okay, well, football does it. And that's a good enough argument. I'm changing my argument. It's a good enough argument. I will say that. The NBA doesn't recede? No.

That's why. You know, I kind of actually, this might be contrarian, I don't know, but there is part of me that prefers to not reseed simply because you can look at the bracket and know who's playing who if, you know, whenever we're doing our playoff picks, which we'll be doing here in a couple weeks again, it's always annoying to be like, oh, okay, well, if this one wins, then the bracket changes here. Now my matchup is this versus... So your argument against rewarding a team for having the better season,

playing, winning, being great. Your argument is you at home when filling out your bracket, it's slightly more confusing. It's actually that you can... The same argument that I was making if you're making the argument side is actually that you can prepare for exactly who your next opponent would be. I'd rather prepare for the team that's worse. unless you're the team that's worse then you'd rather be able to prepare you're saying that because you got the buy and you're the one seed

why are we rewarding the bad teams if you have a buy and your first matchup is not against the worst team as the best team that sucks that's why the NFL does it NFL's better well we do it and Papa Josh actually was the one seed and he's getting the layup

so Papa Josh will be in the championship against one of us Mike so you're trying to jinx them right now? No, I'm just telling the truth. No, there's no way he's going to lose. Moving on. Backup options, presented by progressive insurance. All right, we're into backup options for week 16.

The most dropped players on Sleeper over the last 24 hours. We'll look at them and tell you if you should grab them. There's a huge name that we didn't really talk. about yesterday because we didn't necessarily think he'd be back. Right, we talked about the backup. Yeah, exactly. And Chris Rodriguez is practicing in full. He is one of the most dropped players on sleeper

over the last 24 hours. He has my backup option this week. He was my start of the week last week, which I really think would have worked out quite well. Yes. Considering Jacori-Criski Merritt was dominant, he missed last week that got him healthy. He had been limited in practice. Now he practices in full on a Tuesday. You know,

it's crazy. Chris Rodriguez, for all the disrespect that his own coaching staff and the rest of the league shows him. Among 51 qualifying running backs with 80 plus carries, he ranks number one in yards after contact per attempt, number one, among 51. That's good. The third and

rush success rate is even more impressive. Yeah, and his upcoming schedule, fifth easiest for running backs, week 16, Philly, I know we talk about Philly all the time, believe it or not, over the course of the year, 1.1 points above expectation. They're not a bad matchup, and then Dallas is real bad. Do you,

have any concerns after last week's Bill performance and the trajectory of the team they shut down Jay and Daniels. Is there any chance they just say, let's see if Bill can do it? I think they need to know about both of those guys.

Yeah, I was going to say Chris Rodriguez is 25 years old. I think they have to question who should be our running back next year. Yeah, or part of the depth of the team next year. So who do you guys have? So I've got the Jaguar. I was shocked to see them as one of the most dropped teams. I have been looking at week 17 matchups and, you know, playing that two-week-ahead game

where you're looking at your championship and saying, who could you play? Now, first of all, they play the Broncos this week, which is probably why they're so dropped. People are like, I'm not going to play them against the Broncos. The Broncos are good offense sometimes. Often times, they're very confusing offense, but they really aren't one of those teams you can't play against. I think you could play the Jaguars against them. They have been on fire. Their pass rush has been great.

They're just a good defense. Yeah, they're just a good defense. And so that's why I'm surprised they're drop. But then you've got the matchup, and I know on paper, when you look at the season totals, you go, oh, it's a bad matchup in week 17. But it's the Colts. Yeah. And things have changed.

And not only are you going to have film on the passing speed of Philip Rivers, but Philip Rivers is going to be coming off of a Monday night. football game with a short week of rest. You know what I mean? Like at 44, it's like he needs all the rest. He needs extra rest, which he has one day extra rest going into this week. But for championship, you know, I would be thrilled to play the Jaguars defense. I mean, the Jaguars aren't going to give up three touchdowns to Philip Rivers in the championship week.

And they could, if you want to watch a predictable pick six opportunity, watch Philip Rivers throughout routes. It's like, one is coming. He floats them. I also, I overheard this name that you're about to mention, Mike, when you were on a radio show yesterday. I thought it was pretty astute. It could be one of those, you know, really, really surprising, you know, you mentioned Kyle Pitts, gives you the weird week. Go ahead and...

Is this here you're trying to pick up, Jay? Warms my heart to hear it's Trey Harris. Love this, man. Of the Los Angeles Chargers. And obviously, this is only if Quentin Johnston is hurt. We don't have the information on it right now. However, he is a good player. He's a second round pick.

He's big. He had been on the field for 42% of the snaps on the season. But then last week, with Kuge out, he ran the second most routes on the team. He had five targets, three for 49, and that was against a difficult Kansas City matchup. Now they get the Dallas Cowboys. While the offensive line will not be fixed and Herbert will still take some shots from the Cowboys, certainly. If Trey Harris is out there for the second most routes against the Dallas Cowboys, you have a chance for something just, you have a chance for a miracle to happen.

You know, you got to wade through the crap of who could possibly do it. And I think if Kugers out, Trey Harris is one of those guys that on Monday when we're in studs and duds, it wouldn't surprise me if you're like, holy crap, look what Trey Harris just did in the semis. Yeah, I think you could be right, especially even like DFS and stuff like that. That was backup option sponsored by Progressive Insurance Court today at Progressive.com. News and notes from Around the League, presented by Progressive Insurance.

Normally I kind of lay the news out and you guys break it down a little bit. I'm going to let Jason take this one. Oh, no! Okay. I'm up. Yeah, be a professional, Jay. Yeah, the dolphins are benching quarterback to a tongue of viola because he has been playing poorly. unless he's been throwing the ball to the tight-in Darren Waller.

That is worked. Excellent. And they are going to be starting Quinn Ewers this week. Eilers against the Bengals. So this is a matchup I have been salivating over. I talked about on the backup options two weeks ago. It was pick up Darren Waller, who had two more touchdowns. He's got like six touchdowns in basically six games because he exited one early with Tua.

and now the question is, okay, the world's greatest matchup for a tight end who's been great. Tightens can be, you know, the best friend of a young quarterback. But can you really play Darren Waller when he's playing 50% of snaps with a seventh round rookie quarterback?

Probably not. I can't. Probably not. It sucks. I think just to follow up. I mean, it sucks because it's not like we didn't just see variable, you know, production from tight end against this defense last week.

We saw Isaiah like Liam Mark Andrews. If they had gone out and both dominated, maybe we would be so overwhelmed by the three consecutive weeks with the triple bills and double ravens. And look, there's an opportunity for Waller to be productive. They don't really have pass catchers. I can't believe. I literally can't believe they made this decision. I mean, they just won four games in a row.

And then they go and play in freezing cold weather. And he has a bad game. Quarterbacks have a bad game. McDaniel is just, he's done with it. He is like, you have to be able to play in every scenario. You also need to know what you have here in seventh round. Like, he's not the backup. Ewers was the third stringer.

You know, Zach Wilson was the backup for the majority of the year. They made the decision. They know what he is on film. Yeah. You need to go see what Quinn Ewers has. They have ways out with Tua Tunga Viloa's contract. Expensive ways out. It's going to cost.

I mean, technically everyone. has a way out. You can cut anyone. I think he is like more than 50 million guaranteed next year for Tua. Cutting Tua would leave the dolphins with 99.2 million. How do you make this move if you're not planning to move on from him? I mean, that's what I'm curious about. It really felt, you know, like we were trying that. Tua won't be part of the team next year. It just has accelerated here. And for Ewers, I think the biggest thing is just the touchdown opportunities. Can yours be that good? I mean, the matchup for a guy

who's making his first start, you're at home against the Bengals, okay, that seems like a positive scenario. We've already seen the line move from 50.5 down to 47 and a half while Cincinnati gained two points on

the spread. So, this is a big move. I actually think it hurts Cincinnati quite a bit. And I know you won't want to hear that with the, it's possible. Chase, but like, You just talked about it. The line's coming down. I got Chase Brown, too, so.

No, but it's not just that. It's like touchdown opportunities for the defense. Total points. It's Cincinnati's defense being able to do stuff, maybe turn them over, maybe score. There's no better bet for a defensive score in football than a rookie start at quarterback. Oh, oh, yeah. So I'm saying that if Cincinnati, you want every possible possession for them to put up points, it's not something you're going to overemphasize or change your start sit.

It's just I'm less excited about the game, period. But it's like Waddle. With Quinn Ewer's. Well, I mean. Oh, Waddle is in huge trouble. I mean, A. Chan should. A.C.N. I keep starting. I'm just trying to think through it of like, hopefully Ewers. Hopefully Ewers is like, I'm just going to keep checking it down to A. Chan, like I saw it too would do it.

But he, he's a different quarterback. We don't know what his tendencies will be. We've seen the dolphins with bad quarterback play and what that did to A. Chan, it was. nowhere close to the superstar that we've had all season. The helpful thing is that A-Chane has been so good on the ground. Like, it's not just what it was like last year. But if a defense doesn't respect a passing game, absolutely, they'll crowd the line for sure. But I'm looking at, you know, the game logging two weeks ago,

he was the running back eight and he had one target. Three weeks ago, he was the running back four. He had one target. He can do it on the ground. Yeah, the Darren Waller starts-it questions are already piling up. Those are, you know, it's Colby Parkinson. I'd go Parkinson. There are a lot.

Tyler Warren, I'd probably go Warren. We had. Harold Fanon, I'd go Fanon. So our team was already prepared for this. We knew that the rumors were in the bushes. So we had all of our waiver claims. I've got four waiver claims in already on four different tight ends. I'm happy to start any one of them.

And this is a good week for streaming tight ends, honestly. There's tight ends I would start over Tyler Warren that are in my list as well. Are you trying to block it like it's hot, Mike? I don't think he could. No, I don't have bench space. Josh and Mike combined can't block my four guys. Remember we had the discussion? That's why I'm willing to be free.

This is why we had the discussion the other day, and you said you changed your opinion on things, is because when you have wide open waivers and you, in a redraft league that has no dynasty implications, if a bunch of other managers jumped into this scenario right now to block you. And that would feel crappy and biased. It would be collusion. I mean, if there is a sensational player out there that could be a... Not losing, but I didn't tell no one to do nothing. Yeah, it's not a collusion because there's not a collective effort, but it's still disadvantages one team over the other, which I don't think is fair.

Right. You know, and if it was a keeper-worthy guy, okay, but the tight-ins on waivers aren't keeper-worthy players. We'll find out what happens in about 30 minutes. Bam night on injured reserve for the Cardinals, we kind of knew that. Jeremy Ruckert signed to a two-year extension for the Jets, tight-end. Saquan did not practice on the Tuesday walk through dealing with the stinger. Hold on. You breathed past

Workhorse. Workhorse Jeremy Ruckert. Oh, man. At least according to Ian Rappaport. I mean... Jeremy Ruckert, everyone. He's a workhorse.

That's what you think of. When I think of a workhorse, I think of Jeremy Ruckert. How? Sometimes you can just block and do your job at Tide-in and be... Since the buy. Since the buy. 53% of snaps, 44% of snaps, 34% of workhorse. Work horses don't work at night, man.

They still sleep. What sucks is like, this has nothing to do with Jeremy Ruckert. This is just the idiocy of what is happening with social media posts. Yes. And from their agents. So, like, our audience right now, what is set the line over under the amount of the percentage of our audience that knows what team Jeremy Ruckert played for. before we just said this. Let me do

one divided by 32 because maybe that team's fans. Workhorse Cup. We got to be better about this. 3%. I think 3% of our audience. It's so frustrating. Christian Watson. Josh Jacobs did not practice on the Tuesday walkthrough. They play on Saturday.

Josh Jacobs intends to play on Saturday. You had some really fun public comments where they came out and said like, look, he re-injured his knee immediately. We kind of saw it on the film. He had to stop them from taking them off the field he says he's gotten into arguments with

their head coach multiple times about it and he's like in normally I have a good game yeah it goes at this point I think you just trust me that if I say I'm good to go I'm going to go out there and help the team and he followed that up and said it's easier for me to play through pain than to watch on the sideline

and that is music to my soul that's what you want your players saying and the truth is a lot of NFL players there are just injuries you can't play through ever no matter how tough you are right but there is a middle ground where you look at these injury prone players that are sometimes like you know a little softer and it's like they just they're they're they're not going to be willing to play through things that you know the if the

coach gives them an opportunity yeah I mean Marshaun Lloyd I that Marson Lloyd is made out of paper machet those hamstrings him and Kendry Miller are just begging for his heart is I don't I don't think he macheted. It's just it's just newspaper. Yeah, it's going to be a dog fight. It's Packers, Bears. That helps. Yeah. It helps a lot for Jacobs being out there, but we'll keep monitoring those guys.

Luther Bird and Rome, Adunzee did not practice. Come on, Luther. Luther, I think, will play. Adunze, I think won't, but that's just my gut on Wednesday. And that was News & Node, sponsored by Progressive Insurance. Quote today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and third-party insurers, not available in all states or situations, coverage subject to policy terms, limits, and conditions. We'll be back in a minute.

Well, we have Saturday games, but we also have a Thursday night game. Thursday night breakdown. And it is the first ever Thursday night game between two teams with 11 plus wins in history. 11 and 3. Seahawks, 11 and 3. That would be the Rams, not the Chargers. Vegas line, Los Angeles Rams minus 1 and a half. The over-under is 43 and a half. The Rams won 2119 in week 11. The Seahawks had the ball for over 37 minutes in that game, but Donald had the four picks. Both teams are basically guaranteed to make the playoffs. Right now the Rams

I believe their odds are 63% to win the division They are Last I saw the Rams were number one In Super Bowl winning odds And the Seahawks were number two There is still I'm concerned about Seattle We have not ruled out like Devante Adams

Like this isn't he is not He's considered a game time decision right now And this is a big game That's crazy So I don't know what's going to happen Would you play him? as a fantasy manager I think you may be in a situation

where you literally couldn't if he is couldn't not play him couldn't not play him so you are well let's look at our let's look at our roster right very clear couldn't not perhaps

so I we would probably we have a decision on Devonta Adams if he's active I presume that we would start him over Travis Kelsey without Patrick Mahomes yeah that's probably what about DJ Moore

I think I'd play DJ Moore I did you are I play DJ more He he went He's running in a straight line and he just went He won't be face first into the ground He won't be playing between the 20s You know what I mean right He's gonna be if he's active

He's gonna be out there for goal line You're hoping for a little Duke route And good hands Two catches for two yards and two touchdown 100% Yeah Brooke said he's gonna be in for him In Dynasty if he's active That's got as Brooks has no one else.

Well, that's, I mean, that's the situation. But, you know, I like the Rams in this game. The running game for Seattle has been awful. I mean, not kind of awful. Awful, awful. Like 30th in the league and rush success rate between the two backs. The 28th and yards per carry, 26th in yards before contact. And I think this is what, this is part of why the offense is so broken right now for Seattle is.

If you can't get that, the Coob's system running where you have any concern about the running backs, everything just falls apart. I mean, you have, what is it, of the past three games, you have one half of actual good Seattle offense. They didn't score a single touchdown at home against the Colts who had Phillip Rivers on the other side. I mean, like, this isn't a, I'm not saying the sky is falling. I'm not playing JSN, but I'm just saying overall, I have great concern for what's happening with Seattle. Yeah, they have a great defense, but their offensive, you know, consistency is questionable.

They turn the ball over a lot. So, you know, the decisions for the fantasy player here is, I don't want to play Sharbs or Walker. I mean, playing against the Rams is. I'm playing JASN, and that is probably it. And on the other side with the Adams injury, we talked through that, Pooka, of course. I think Colby Parkinson is really interesting

and I you know if Adams is out he's even more interesting to me if he's a pickup at tight end and you're on the on the fence that might push you over the fence if Adams is ruled out for Thursday and and even if he isn't you know like you said one play could be all he can handle yeah Parkinson's just been a touchdown machine he is certainly I mean you look at our start sit tool he's one of the most common like should we pick up and play Parkinson's talking to Kyle you know, Parkinson is, he's looking right now at Tyler Warren or Parkinson.

Parkinson's a good play. He's a good play this week. And I can't, I mean, I get it. Devante Adams, tough guy, great player. Maybe they'll use him sparingly. But I still don't think he plays. I don't think he plays either. It's like you, I know how important this game is.

But also, I know how important to Vante Adams is to the playoffs games, which are way more important than this game. Yeah. You know, Kyron is number one in rush success rate among all runners. running backs and Corum is number two. Wow. Like I would play Corum over both Seattle running backs. It's tough because this is like a matchup where neither side. Both both defenses are so good against the run.

They're just, they shut it down. Yeah, it's true. And Corum has been on fire in recent weeks with the matchup is tough. Stafford top eight quarterback and eight of 11 starts. again tough matchup the over-under is 43 and a half in this game it was 2119 last time

so you know the fact that it's in Seattle as well 12th man Thursday night football island game that's their path to victory their path to victory is you know play play good defense make it a close game it's a little

drizzle in the air projected is that what they call rain well they call drizzle in the air when it's just a little light little bit A little bit rain. A little bit rain. Any other thoughts from this game you guys want to comment on for the fantasy playoffs?

No, I think it's a pretty straightforward one. I can't imagine you're playing any of the backup wide receivers. No, Chahed is leveling up, by the way. He is starting to. Right. He's seeing his snap count. I'm talking from like the Rams. Oh, I'm sorry.

Yeah, no, Shehita, I wanted to mention as well. If Adams is out, I'm not like, okay, well, next man up. Not when on the season the Seattle Seahawks are the worst matchup for fantasy-wide receivers. Rashid 4 for 67, 5 for 74 of the last two weeks. Snap counts up, opportunities up, something to monitor. Feels a little Trey Heresy to me, but with the worst matchup. All right, if we're done there, I'll click this button. Mailbag.

If you have a question for the show, we're here to help. Go to the website, the fantasy footballers.com. Click the submit a question button or dial our voicemail hotline, 302-464 TFFB. Why not just start here because this is not the first time I've heard benching this guy as a question this week. Hey, ballers. Henry from Australia here. Bonjour. Quick question regarding Rock Bowers, especially this week.

Do I play him or do I pivot to someone like Kobe Parker? and thanks guys love to try i think this is a really really important discussion to have because i've seen multiple i've seen multiple people ask if they should bench bowers this week they're scared of the matchup i saw one this morning that was should i play wall or over bowers now i said on that one is like hey watch out they may switch quarterbacks it probably takes that decision off. Bowers is in for me. Of your mind. I can't imagine benching Bowers. Philadelphia is they're really strong against tight ends, right? Am I remembering that correct?

Who? Philadelphia is very good. That's who they just played. And he, I know it's Kenny Pickett. Well, it could be Gino. Last, last that Pete Carroll said, he said Gino is certainly ready to go from where I saw him this morning. I don't, well, I wasn't sure if that was a Gino's going to play or Pete Carroll is like, Gino should play If he does the play, he's soft But Brock Bowers is in Before the Philadelphia matchup

I mean he's just been He was on fire and even Play the better player man Yeah I'm saying like Kenny Pickett to Gino Smith, who cares Even with Kenny Pickett he had eight targets But it was just a really tough matchup

And if you want a guy who could Get any one target And break three tackles And score a manimal touchdown It's Brock Bowers so you've got to play them. Yeah, I want to just clear this up real quick. Trey McBride, I play over Bowers.

Yeah? I'd probably play over Bowers this week against Houston. I would definitely. That's it. I don't think I have the guts to try. I'm not playing Goddard. I'm not playing, I don't think I'm playing Pitts. That's the end of my list.

Yeah, Pitts is honestly still interesting. like if if Drake London doesn't play again against Arizona he's high up there well the Cardinals we know we'll give up one touchdown to the defense one to the special teams and two to Bijon so I don't know how close that gets us to 40 points maybe there's room for a couple

like that two to bejean talk so are you are you making pits above Bowers an official recommendation no what did Fanon Matt wants to talk fanning Fanon has been great

I mean Harold Fanny I think Kyle Pins Harold Fanon They're great plays this week 14 targets They're great plays Sweet

I'm still going to play Bowers I agree with Andy I mean it's It's pretty much Tray McBride and George Kittle And then Bowers Yeah

Yep All right We've got Oh boy Another tight-in question Hey this is Hannah From Montana I'm just wondering

Should I play Tyler Warren Or roll the dice stream, Adalton Schultz, or Colby Parkinson, I think. I think that is a much more realistic question with Tyler Warren or the pivot. Yeah, I think the pivot might be my answer. I am out on Tyler Warren. Like I look, you know, I went and I rewatched the Colts film and my opinion on Tyler

Warren, who's a great player, he also could break tackles and make a man of old play. I think his opportunities and the team's opportunities to score are, going to be very hard to come by. And there are a lot of good options this week. And, you know, she named some of them. I also would throw Joanne Johnson out there as another great play of Velae is injured, which it looks like he's weak to week right now. Juan Johnson becomes the number two target for the Saints. There's a lot of options I'd play over. Tyler Warren or Colson Loveland. Loveland. I have Warren at 13 and I might I might lower, I might lower him even more.

It's not his fault No, no, he's awesome This is 100% Like you watch the offense The offense strategy was screen pass Short area, short area Screen pass, short area Emergency short area

Yeah, the numbers of It was like passes over 10 yards I think it was like one of 13 or something It's just not viable It just isn't So I think Shultz and Parkinson are both in play over Warren I just dropped him to He's at 16 now he's at 17

Yeah it's tough it's sad but i think if you roll with someone who you can't get a deep shot like one of the things that was so great about tyler warren throughout this year was you know when he's going down the field 15 20 yards across the middle you hit him in stride he breaks tackles it just looks awesome he's never getting one of those shots with philip right this is the back to the future photograph where alec pierce has disappeared already oh yeah and and warren's disappearing and and everybody's disappearing. And, you know.

The Alec Pierce stuff is such a bummer. I mean, he was dominant, but you can't, you can't run an out route down the field. Yeah, I mean, did he even have a target? He did. I think he had one important catch. Oh, very late, right on that drive? Yeah, yeah, for the field goal. All right, well, we have more panic in the streets.

Rashi Rice without Mahomes question from Instagram. Molecular Matter. How do we feel about Rashi Rice without Patty Mahomes? Are you rolling with Rice? Are you rolling with Tett McMillan? Ooh. Tet is interesting. Rice has had two bad weeks in a row.

Overall, I'm not completely out on Rishie Rice just because of how he's used in the offense. Gardner Minshu, obviously a massive downgrade. But Rishie Rice is like, we figure out how to just get him the ball as easily as we can possibly get in the ball and then let him go out there and cook. This isn't precision route, precision timing. It's, he's out-athleting people.

So he's not a, like, I'm not, I'm got to escape. I got to get Rice out of my starting lineup. Tet McMillan against Tampa Bay. That one I can be talked into Tet McMillan. Nobody has taken more shots than Rashi Rice. Oh, me. The last two weeks. He has been blowed up.

Yes. It's been, I mean, the recipe is out there for how to stop Rushie Rice. He's caught zero of those past. Hit him with a Mac truck. Yeah, I mean, he is, he's a weird receiver, guys. He really is. Oh, yeah. Always has been.

He's not a normal prototypical one. He feels a little bit, he feels a little bit like Michael Thomas, not in the exact same style, but in the fact that you do kind of a couple things better than everybody in the entire league, and that's what you operate under, and that's where your fantasy value is found. it's not going to be deep routes it's not going to be Rishi Rice or Justin Jefferson against the Giants

Jason I would go Jefferson honestly and I know that I'm not allowed to say that anymore Rishie Rice or Ladd McConkey against Dallas Oh man Bounce back week for McConkey It's probably loud because of the matchup

I do agree with your premise though Mike that Rushi Rice is not I'm not out on him He's just a little bit lower There are other good options If there's good options like Tett, like Ladd, then you can make a pivot. But I'm going to play them over Jalen Waddle now. Yeah.

All right. Well, you have more questions on the way after this break. All right. We have people panicking, not just about Rashi Rice. How about George Pickens, Mike? Oh, I'm. We got an Instagram question from Mama Kuzzi. Am I crazy for considering benching George Pickens for Jaden Reed?

Feels a little crazy. Yeah, crazy, yeah. The meter's a little more on the crazy side. I know the two weeks have been horrifically bad, but everything around Pickens is still the same. And I would, Jaden Reed's upside in a playoff matchup is not even close to what Pickens can do. What's your,

what's going to be your post-mortem if Pickens, has the year he had but then just completely falls apart like he's a flop for the fantasy playoffs I would be I mean just nervous

really really nervous about how how teams will look at that I mean because it's it's on him it feels like this is 100% on George Pickens and this is not it looks like effort but that's such a hard thing to judge right

it's funny how it always looks that way when he struggles. And, but then why he's great? Effort. I mean, like when he's out there making the, does he give too much?

And it's like it and he burns too bright from the future. It's possible. That's why he succeeds. He's just like hyper. Right, but I'm saying it's not just the spectacular catches. It's also the run after catch. That's true.

You're right. Yeah, you're right. So it's, is it as simple as he shows up when he feels like showing up? Or is there some, there's probably more to it than we realize. It can't be that easy. It's a weird week for Dallas in general, because there's nothing left to play for, playoffs-wise. I'm just very curious.

Everything's been about this epic comeback for their team. You know, Giovante Williams has been great all year, C.D. Lammon and DAC, like you guys have, ironically, just to use it as an example to talk about it, you have two stacks, Borough Chase. Mike. Emo Burrow right now. Yes. Close tonight. We'll be the night. Burrell, get it together, man.

And then you've got Dak. Snap out of it. Dak and Citi. Both teams were like last week, it was like, oh, we got like a 3% chance to make the playoffs. And both teams lost. And they lost two teams that they thought maybe they could beat. You know, Minnesota beats Dallas.

Baltimore smacks Cincinnati. And now how do both teams rebound? And you have everything writing on both of those stacks. and you both would like them to have playoffs on the line. Yeah. Yeah, but we don't. So we'll just have to see. And then you're not pivoting.

The nice thing is with the Cowboys is they've got a lot of experience at the end of seasons of kind of not having to play to the playoffs. So does Cincinnati. They both, yeah, three years. Maybe they'll be more comfortable. Pickens or Brian Thomas Jr. is a good question. That is from Fleezes writing in on Instagram. That would be Pickens for me.

Yeah, the Patrick Sertan, Tree. treatment. As good as Jacobi has been for this team, you got to imagine Sertan's on Thomas. Instagram question from Kyle. Oh, man, that would be just, if Brian Thomas gets out there. Talk about the inverse of Pickens. I'm saying if Thomas is out there and he sees that Sartan is lined up on Jacoby, that is such an insult.

Kyle writes in, this one's slightly different than the last one. What's on the table for your Christmas meal? Is it ham, turkey, or both? I think we've been on the record. We're pretty, big fans of ham yeah yeah so good do let me ask you this very pro ham when you like your your your team explodes so many points you go turkey yeah is that did that team go turkey no that's him going turkey is like yeah that's like oh man you're what a turkey what a turkey no one's like oh you're a ham now turkey's good though well if you do three in a row but turkey really needs like turkey ham you just is delicious no matter what happens

to it turkey you need like gravy you have to have and maybe mashed potatoes mixed in or a hefty glass of water which is funny because turkeys are mean that's funny

I'm not saying like the we call people a turkey it is like you're being you're weak you're a coward a wild turkey don't mess with them that's fair I think I think turkeys look ridiculous I think that's part of it.

Yeah, no, they do. Like if I call you a turkey. Josh knows a pack of wild turkeys. They're mean. You leave them alone unless you're armed. You know what's good is a turkey sandwich. Oh, dude, yeah. Like after Thanksgiving or Christmas and you got some mayo up in there to keep it wet.

You know what's better, though? A ham sandwich. Ham and cheese on a nice toasted pretzel bun. Yeah, the honey baked, right? We do the honey baked. This is better. sweeter sugar is delicious you can eat the turkey it's fine neither of these will be at our christmas party yeah i don't we don't do a christmas dinner big christmas meal like i don't

think we've ever had your family doesn't yeah we do a huge thanksgiving feast you don't have like a christmas meal no not really i feel like even mike has that jack in the box yeah jack-in-the-box no we've never done i don't think in our entire lives we've ever done a sit-down Christmas dinner. Rahim Morris, a little update here. It says Drake London day to day. He'll be at practice. Look forward to see how much he'll be able to give us this week.

Oh, that's the worst sentence you could give a fantasy player. Josh's team. Looking forward to seeing how much he'll be able to give us this week. We would like to know ahead of time. I'll probably be playing him. It would definitely help Josh's team if Drake London plays. He traded him. No, no, no.

But they're facing cow pits. Ah, yes. Yes. Oh, that would make a big job. difference. That would make a very big difference. Yeah, if Drake London plays, I mean, Kyle Pitts is, ooh. We got one more question here from

Heiserberg. New hobbies for the eliminated? Question mark? Oh. So some new hobbies to, sports cards. Yeah. Mike and I, we've been doing the sports cards thing. And maybe whittling? I feel like it's something Al would do. If you, do you whittle, Al?

Not anymore. You used to whittle? I did. A whittle bit. I was a Boy Scout, man. Sweet. Nice. Papa Josh had to have whittled as well. Oh, for sure. You grew up when whittling was pretty much the only thing you could do, right?

That's how we made our toys. Yeah. He carries a pocket knife on him at all times. He does carry a pocket knife. And that's because he might need to whittles. That's the 3D printer of his generation. The whittling? And then the Falcon, do you even know what whittling is?

Yeah. Oh, okay. Whittling's, whittling. It's interesting. I'm getting a little. old man imagine sitting around a campfire with a block of wood and a night it's i that sounds sounds pretty great you're a boy scout too matt yeah for a little bit okay so you what about you josh no i'm not a nerd yeah get him get him take that boy scouts oh my gosh i think al is

eagle scout no no you stopped short i stopped just short at life scout oh okay i didn't know there was No one has ever heard of a Life Scout because usually if you get there You finish the job Yeah because like everyone knows No no I got to explore this What are the ranks? Yeah

Oh there's I don't remember The lowest thing, right? Is that one of them? What word did you say? Weebelow? You didn't know about weebelos? That's Cub Scouts.

That's Cubscouts. That's just a we below. I can't remember it all. I just how Who set it up? We're like, okay we got Life Scout what's next eagle eagle yeah like dude jim enough with the eagles the eagles scouts have to do a big project like a bunch of hours like a huge year long thing but if you make it all the way is that why the nail on

the head as to why i didn't finish yeah you didn't want to put in did you ever have a project figured out and then you just didn't do it nope okay could have a whittling thing probably should have yeah that was really good whittle like 700 signs it looks like we got scout tenderfoot second class first class star life eagle you went really far to quit i think so star life eagle what is picking words yeah they are and this is after second and first we should rename wait we should rename all we should rename all of our second and first yeah read them again they did scout tenderfoot second class first class star life eagle these are our new yuteers this is our first class guy he's way worse than the life scout what first class what a louis

We're going to hear from a lot of When I buy a plane tickets, I'm looking for the life section. A lot of voice guests. All right. That'll do it for today's show. We got starts of the week and matchups tomorrow. So tenderfoot. That is just.

Tenderfoot? It just reminds me a lamb before time. But you're like, hey, look out of here comes to tender foot. Yeah, I guess it was Littlefoot, huh? That's not a rank. No. Matchups and fantasy faceoff on Friday, my routine, wheel of shame. and then we'll be into the playoffs

in Sunday live Sunday morning before the games so you do not want to miss it good luck everybody out there on waiver day your waivers went through hopefully got your guys you played a little defense against your opponent we'll be back tomorrow good bye thank you for listening to another episode

of the fantasy footballers podcast join our fantasy football community on join the foot dot com and follow us on Twitter at the FF Ballers.