Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Week 16 Waivers + Playoff Pickups, Monty Fallout - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/17

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

Waiver Wire pickups on today’s fantasy football podcast! Who are the true difference makers for the rest of the fantasy playoffs? Plus, QB streamers, injury updates, and more. Get ready for Week 16! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for December 17th, 2024. 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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Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh welcome in Here we are round two December 17th, the Fantasy Footballers podcast. Semi-final week in the majority of fantasy leagues. But maybe more important than all of that, the Monday Night Football games are over. you don't have to watch them anymore. Oh my gosh! You don't have to watch them anymore. You know Mike, who is still sick, he has not recovered yet. TBD on his... We know nothing.

Mike is not a... He's a man of fewer words than a man of few words would be. Yes, yes. So apparently he is not at the communication stage of health yet. But one thing that he has said many times in the past is that Monday Night Football, these double headers, is good for when you have a bad game because then you can switch over to the other one. He couldn't see this coming.

He couldn't see both games being so unwatchable. I believe he switched it over to mash reruns. Yes, I mean, I think that's what he... With a theme song like that. Yeah, no, I think he was disappointed. I think that would have been a pick-me-up. Maybe you would have seen him today. But we don't know. We don't know when he'll be back. Yeah, when we talk about those games, let's blitz them. I just hope I hope that you were in the position where you didn't need to come back to win You know what I mean? Cuz if you really needed that come you're like I need so-and-so to score a lot It's like well, sorry No, it didn't happen. I mean Jefferson did enough for your team Aaron Jones did enough for your team

last night in the 30 to 12 shellacking by the Vikings. You know, Keenan got it going again. Yeah, found the end zone. Little bit Keenan? Little bit Keenan. DeAndre Swift did his thing where

he doesn't practice all week, supes injured, and then gets 20 carries. Yeah, kind of got it going at the end. I mean, in the end, OK, Keenan, 6 for 82 on a touchdown, fine for fantasy. Like you said, Aaron Jones, 86 yards on a touchdown, Justin Jefferson, 73 yards on a touchdown. It was, in the end, it was okay for fantasy, like if you didn't watch. But this was the most boring, non-competitive-

You knew both games were over instantly. Worthless game. That's the biggest part for me. Yeah. It was like you knew that the Raiders couldn't beat the Falcons, even if the Falcons tried to beat themselves. Oh, and they did? That game was-

I mean, the Kirk Cousins had 112 yards in the pick and a touchdown. That game was far worse than the Bears Vikings. And please don't hear what I'm not saying. The Bears Vikings game was terrible. And how Darnale Mooney do. Darnale Mooney. Darnale Mooney, he did what they call a Cooper.

Oh, a Reed. Oh, a Cup. A Cup or an Amari. Either one. They both goosed this week. And so did Darnell Mooney. It was obviously very, very disappointing if you were relying on him. Did you see that they threw on first down one out of 24 times? I was going to bring that up. Running on first down, first and 10, which is a very common play, probably about 40% of the time

to 50% of the time. And there's nothing wrong with it in moderation. Nothing wrong with running on first and 10. However, less effective than passing on first and 10. If I was a coach, I would certainly be passing 70% of the time on first and 10 and probably on first and 10. If I was a coach I would certainly be passing 70% of the time on first and 10 and probably on you know second and 10. They threw the ball one time. One time on first and 10. That's I've never unless it's like a crazy weather game snowball I don't think I've ever seen that before.

Well it's one of the best ways that I've seen strategically and I've been around the game for a long time. If you run on first down, that is guaranteed to not be a pass by Kirk Cousins. Or an interception by Kirk Cousins. Right. He can't do either of those if he doesn't get the opportunity to. To be fair, the one time they did throw on first and 10 was an interception. It was. The only time. They're like lesson learned. Not letting Kirk. Kirk Cousins. Dude, he is. Is he gonna start next year?

No, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, it's over. Every week you've gotta ask the question, is he gonna start next week? And right now they're pretty vehement that he is, he is their leader. He is their captain Kirk, but he's done. D-U-N, like he sucks. It's a shame. We've always, this show's always

been a huge fan of Captain Kirk back when he was the rookie behind RG3. He was firing phasers before Baker had lasers. Absolutely. And, you know, rooting for him. I've been excited for the Atlanta Falcons team as a whole. The division is winnable. They added some good defensive pieces and their defense is legit with their weapons on offense with Mooney in London. I'll even throw pits out there, but Bijon and Algier, this should be a much better team than it is, but Kirk Cousins is late stage Peyton Mannening

Then the meaning yeah, I mean he's got 300 million dollars to comfort him at night You know if you're a Brock Bowers manager going into a semi-final because you survived his three for 35 night You need to get on your knees and pray that it's not Desmond Ritter again. Um, 39 passing attendance for Desmond Ritter ending up in three for 35 for your superstar tight end. This was the, it's not that it's much better with Aiden O'Connell either. Oh, it's much better with Aiden O'Connell. Yeah. This is like a factorial thing.

This is like Gardner Minshew was much better than Aiden O'Connell for Brock Bowers. Sure. Yeah. And then Aiden O'Connell much much better than Desmond Ritter It doesn't read much Barely better than me you yes correct. I don't think I could get I don't think I could get the ball to Brock Bowers once and and

Maybe once maybe I could get him the ball once so I'd say Desmond Ritter is about two passes better than I am. Okay, yeah, and I'm glad we broke that down. And we had an injury to Cicero McCormick. That was a monstrous, you know, significant situation for fantasy managers because he left with an injury. They went to Madison after that. He did nothing with the seven carries he had

before the injury. And so, you know, this is one of those things where like in a few years we'll probably be saying like, do you remember that guy, Cicero McCormick, that was relevant for like a week? I doubt we'll remember his name. Yeah, probably not. Moving on.

["Difference Makers Theme"] Welcome to Difference Makers, presented by I'm Sped Food. Well I didn't realize that you had picked out a Difference Maker as well, Jason. Hey, I'll let you lead. Yeah, no I... I'll back clean up. I mean, it would be bad in second. Well, no, like you're gonna load the bases.

Because you're talking about a handful of players as an unacceptable baseball reference. No, that's good. You just, you walked right into that. Well done. Yeah, I'm gonna walk off too. Ah, okay. Another one, I'm on baseball fire, baby.

It's pretty good, it's pretty good. I got finger guts. Yeah, I like it. Uh, Jets jets jets jets. We talked yesterday about and I'm ready to roll incentives for players. Um, we we are talking about incentives for teams coming down the stretch. I talked about Houston. They don't have a real shot to change their playoff position. It's what freaks me out about Joe Mixon this week is that, you know, Joe Mixon had another one of those hip drop tackles happen to him

where that's where he missed three games earlier in the year. So as far as we know right now, he's gonna be active, but if he was banged up and I was Houston, I wouldn't play him. So we talk about team incentives, we talk about player incentives. I'm gonna talk about a pride incentive. I'm gonna talk about a trend that is happening right now. And this is Difference Makers.

So I thought about this and to me it is the Jets. Aaron Rodgers has been a top 10 quarterback each of the last two weeks. I was so close to throw in Rodgers, Adams, Wilson, and against the Jags last week in our DraftKings lineup. I was a coward, I didn't do it. Fortunately still, I'm not ashamed, mercifully. But believe it or not, Garrett Wilson and Devante Adams, right now are top, they are two of the top 12 fantasy wideouts.

It's wild, I saw that yesterday. Right now now both wide receivers for the for the Jets who have really stunk it up not one games Aaron Rogers has looked you know like a bad version of himself and an old version of himself you're disappointed with the offense as a whole and then it's like wait both these guys are on the season they are a wide receiver one and Rodgers in his last four games that's a full season pace of 4234 you know that's a 34 to 4 touchdown interception ratio that's more vintage Rodgers we don't know how banged up he was but the matchups the

Rams and then Buffalo who yes they they, but they give up 40 a game. Well, that's because the other team just has to go hard after points. I mean, when you're playing against the Bills right now, you play, you know, it's kind of like years past when you played against the Chiefs, you would go for it on fourth when maybe usually you wouldn't as a team, as a head coach. You're just like, I have to, I know I've got to try to put up 30 or 40 if I want any chance to win. And it's great when you are facing an offense like that. Yeah. And they've, but they've been bad. And, um, in terms of giving up total points.

And I think that Rogers and Adams are a couple of guys at this stage of their career that, look, you're not playing for a playoff spot. But there's a lot of pride there. There's a lot of pride in what, showing some signs of what they were capable of on the offensive side and we're seeing it. And I think they're going to be difference makers down the stretch,

playing the Rams at home, playing the Bills on the road where the defense has been awful. I just- I mean, Devontae Adams has literally said before, I think it was last year, maybe it was the year before, where it's like, I don't wanna abuse the quote. It wasn't as egregious as what I'm going to say, but it was basically wins aren't the only thing

that matters to me. Legacy. I care about my legacy. Yeah, yeah, he cares about being a legend on the field. He wants to go to the Hall of Fame. You know what I mean? And right now he's on the cusp, but I don't think he's a... Well, he's in an ideal situation

where he literally can focus on himself because there's no playoffs. Exactly, that's what I'm saying. Like incentive? Yeah. Player incentive is, hey, Rogers, I wanna go crazy. There's no playoffs. Exactly. That's what I'm saying. Incentive? Yeah. Player incentive is, hey, Rogers, I want to go crazy. Get me more yards to move up the list of all timers and touchdowns and just focus on me

and why not? What else are they playing for if not that? If you look at his yardage recently, this last week was insane, 198 yards. But the week prior was 109 yards. The game, two games before that, 71. Two games before that, 91. Like they are connecting and that's a long stretch. You take the first two games out when he got to the Jets,

when he was just getting integrated, and we thought it would be quicker because of the history with Rogers. But if you take those two games out, you look at the last six games, he's on pace for 1600 yards. Yeah, it's vintage. 120 receptions, 14 touchdowns. So yeah, he looks like a difference maker down the stretch.

So that's, I'm sure Al Borland really thrilled to hear that as he has Devontae Adams rostered, made the trade mid-season. And I applaud it. He, uh, we're a keeper league where you know we have players that you know even when they're injured they have value he managed to turn the Brandon Iuke injury into Devonte Adams for the remainder of the season. It was a great it was a great move good good job Al and Al I am officially 100% like you know how like in the political season there's like you have my endorsement. Oh, are you doing a formal endorsement?

I am officially, formally endorsing. Al Borland has my vote for League of Record Champion this year. I will be rooting for you, young man. Thank you, sir, I accept the nomination. Yeah, that's wonderful. I'm thankful I would do the same in your position. Now move on to your difference maker.

Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah, this will matter. The real difference maker, and we have buried the lead until whatever this is, 13 minutes into the show. Yeah, this was like, we didn't get to talk about it yesterday. Jameer Gibbs is this year's difference maker. Thank you, Santa. Jameer Gibbs is in 100% of playoffs. Like, I've gone, you know, I'm in eight leagues.

Did you go and look? I went and looked. Every single league, Jamir Gibbs is in the playoffs. Oh, that's because he's the running back three on the year. Yeah, and the thing is, it's like he just happens to be on the teams that made it past the first round. Like Jamir Gibbs is still in the playoffs. Okay.

And so this is the guy who's going to win championships. Jameer Gibbs, we have seen him without Monty in the past, and he was a workhorse type of running back. He is the running back three on the season while sharing time with a running back one on the season. The amount of touchdowns, you know, you go, like I would not doubt if next week, this week, the DraftKings Sportsbook line for multi touchdowns for Gibbs is minus 110. Like, I feel like that's assumed at this point because David Montgomery's touchdown goes to him.

You're going down the stretch in the three-week playoff. And the crazy thing is sometimes you worry, okay, maybe Craig Reynolds will be far more involved. You know, it's not just gonna all go to Gibbs. And while he won't be 100% of the snaps, I mean, we've already had, we've got Dan Campbell coming out saying, he's gotta be ready, he's our workhorse now. Like they've done this in the past. We've seen it.

The coaches come out and said, he's got to be ready for the workload. It's gonna happen. He's going to be the biggest difference maker the rest of the playoffs. You know what's a slight encouragement there too is the fact that there are now three teams in the NFC at 12-2 and there's one buy. Yeah, so this is not gonna be, they've locked it up by week 17, and in the championship, they're gonna take

you know, an easy approach. You've got Chicago and San Francisco as the final two matchups in most people's leagues. Minnesota in week 18, if you are in one of those dumb leagues that plays championships in week 18, please change that in the offseason but Yeah, Chicago and San Francisco both on the road. I expect them to be Essentially a top three back both weeks All right

That was difference makers presented by I'm pet food when you choose I'm 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 IIMS and see a visible difference. News and notes from around the league, presented by USAA Insurance. Clearly Mike has not discovered the IIMS for people yet. Because not a healthy coat. Yeah right now He needs 25 days

David Montgomery is out for the year. That was the news we missed it broke moments after releasing yesterday's show out for the year So it's a torn MCL meaning he won't be back for the playoffs if they make the Super Bowl He will not be back. The timeline should be fine for week one next year. We'll learn a lot more in the offseason. We'll see his recovery. We'll see him later but not not anymore this season. And it's a devastating blow. I know there are teams with buys. Like maybe Montgomery didn't get you through last week with that performance but I know you know Kyle the Borgogin he's got a team on a bye mm-hmm he wasn't very happy about this and it's because Montgomery's been so solid he has been unbelievable until this last

week when he got injured he had only had one single game outside of the top 24 because he gets a touchdown every week Derek Carr probably not back before the end of the season. We got word that his broken hand, it's a few weeks away. Alvin Kamara undergoing more tests on the injured groin. That's not a great sign and he's Monday night football. So I know in one of the leagues where I had a bye and I'm going into round two as the favorite, Alvin Camaro is a big piece that got me there. You figure if you don't have Derek Carr back, that means to me that you don't have Chris Olave back. He was

eligible this past week and they said everything's on the table still. He could return at any time, but if Derek Carr is not back, why would you throw Chris Olave out there? You just paid Alvin Kamara, why would you put him out there? Right. You're waiting for him for the next season. Yeah, that's what it feels like. I mean, if he's-

And you're going into Lambeau. If he's got an injured groin. Yeah, you wanna go into the freezing cold and see how that's gonna hold up? You almost wanna make it- I'm really scared about Kamara this week. I have made, like in the one team that I have in the semifinals with him, he's on the bench.

I'm not expecting to have him, I'm not expecting to play him, and I'm not sure he's worth the weight in this Green Bay matchup. I'm sure he's worth the weight if he were to play. But that's the thing is that you have to have a pivot option. Like I've got Brian Robinson Jr. How do they give him a full allotment of snaps though? Well, I don't think they'll give him a full allotment of snaps.

That doesn't mean he's not going to catch six or seven passes though, even in limited work. I expect he would. Usually when you've got a player of his caliber and the workload is limited, it's really snaps that's limited and it's like when they're on the field, it's like, okay, Kamara's on the field. Let's utilize him and go to him. You see like the the targets per route run Just just go north Kendra Miller obviously would be

The guy to play but without the other offensive pieces. You don't expect a lot of touchdown opportunities So I was saying I've got Brian Robinson jr against Philly. Not excited about that matchup at all. No. But I feel like I have to start him Sunday morning because I don't see a world, like I feel like we can- I'm doing the exact same thing with Ramandre. I feel like- I'm playing Ramandre Sunday morning

instead of Camaro on Monday. There is a world where we will know he is out by Sunday. We'll know, okay, they've decided he's not going to play. Yeah, while the practice reports. I don't think there's any world where we will know definitively, like, he's practicing in full all week, he's good to go, he's not on the injury report. Like, I don't see that as a possibility. I really, yeah, this is the, one of the biggest stories heading into the semifinal week is

certainty on Alvin Kamara and then by extension certainty on Kendre Miller as a start He could get a lot of check downs. He can catch the football. He's he's a I mean, I've said this for years I loved him coming out of college. The issue has been his health, but he's a really good player Kendre is great And if Derek Carr were there if Derek Carr were there and Kamara was out Kendre would be like a top- option for me but without Derek Carr and Chris Olave you could be in a sincere McCormick situation exactly yeah yeah Joe Mixon talked about it the hip drop tackle D'Amico Ryan says he came out

fine Joe will be fine it just freaks me out man because Joe Mixon that's a fart in the wind man don't worry about D'Amico Ryan saying anything that's irrelevant it saying he's gonna be fine means nothing you're saying that we need the wind, man. Don't worry about D'Amico Ryan saying anything. That's irrelevant. Saying he's going to be fine means nothing. You're saying that we need to wait and see what the practice reports say. Yeah, and see what the ankle does. Because he was able to go back in the game, but the last time when he got injured, he went back in that game and then missed three weeks. And like you said, they're playing for nothing.

Yep. So they're going to the playoffs, great. They're going to the playoffs. And if they're going to the playoffs, nothing helps them more than a healthy Joe Mixon. Honestly, if I were the head coach, if he was pretty okay, I put him I want him to have fresh legs for the playoffs. Houston is sitting at nine and five. There is a chance that they could take the two seed from Buffalo. Yeah, in your bra. There's two. Well, I mean, yeah, Buffalo would have to lose, you ready for this schedule for

Buffalo? Uh-huh. New England. Oh, okay. This week. And then the Jets, and then New England. Okay. So they've got to

Who was who was the fire that Mike Tyson lost to way back in the day when he was like a bust? Yes, Buster Douglas. So they've got a parlay three Buster Douglas's in a row not Happening no. No, so that's that's freaky That that's that's a scary one to me And we'll be monitoring it. Patrick Mahomes might be out in week 16. They still have a two game lead on the one seed. By the way, Houston's the Saturday game this week.

We have multiple Saturday games this week. And then there's a Christmas game the next week. Or championship week. But isn't there, I mean mean isn't there matchup this week Wait, I mean, it's Kansas City. There's a Christmas game. Is it Christmas on Wednesday this year? Mm-hmm Wednesday football. It's Christmas football. It's Wednesday football to its best both Christmas football calm We own that rain. I'm. We do. All right. We own them all, baby.

This is where the money is made. We license that out. A lot of people don't really. Bingo, bingo. They think that they support us by going to Join the Foot, getting all of our premium tools, all of our waiver wire tools,

and doing all that. We got many helmets now on ShopBallers.com. We got many helmets on ShopBallers.com, the replicas of what's on the set. They think that's how the, that's not where we make our money. We make our money licensing all of the somethingfootball.com domains. Wednesdayfootball.com, Tuesdaynightfootball.com,

Christmasfootball.com, it's groinindex.com. Millions of dollars. That's where. Groinindex.com. It just prints money. Groinindex.com just prints money. Ack, my bank account goes up. Geno Smith, hopeful to practice this week. Alex having a good time back there.

Jay LaWada will not need surgery on his knee, nothing major in question for the week. Matthew Betts, our injury expert says, likely a sprained MCL could miss two games. Yeah, yeah. I mean, the truth is is is there's a lot of stuff we're monitoring this week and it's Tuesday and it's waiver day and we'll talk about options if you need them and then we will keep track of stuff and let you know what to do this weekend. Yeah, I mean Jalen Waddle is the type where when we don't have the

information right now I'm fine dropping him. Like if you need to make a waiver wire maneuver. Yeah, if I told you it was healthy right now how confident would you be to put them in your lineup next week mildly yeah barely barely all right I think that is it by way of news is there anything else Al have you got anything for us I think you got it any other of my players on my roster getting stronger heading into the semi-final or just hopefully not mixing Well, that's not some kind Marshawn Lloyd bring that name up for the 100th time. This is the new Kindred Miller Talented player who's never played football

But bringing his name up. Yeah, because he is now eligible to come back. He was Helping and came back just stop then he gotis, man. It's not his fault. It's so dumb. He had an emergency appendectomy and now he's had a month to recover from that. So he gets his name mentioned because he's got his appendix, no appendix? No, he gets his name mentioned.

We don't own noappendix.com with all the guys without appendixes. He gets his name mentioned because I think he'll play football this week for like the second time in his life. No, he won't. You don't think he's playing this week? I mean, active or not, he's the third,

fourth string on this team. I mean Chris Brooks has looked good. No he hasn't. Okay, all right. Yeah, the unplayed Marshawn Lloyd. Take it from Jason, his start of the week. That was today's News and Notes, presented by USAA Insurance.

Learn more at usaa.com slash insurance. We'll take a break. We'll talk about waivers, not name Marshawn Lloyd. ["Waver Wire Theme Song"] ["Waver Wire Theme Song"] All right, here we go. ["Waver Wire Theme Song"] Welcome to the Waver Wire.

["Waver Wire Theme Song"] I am still, like this moment, cleaning up hair from that that wig that wig What was that the troll or we were both trolls? Gnomes it was like no yeah, and that beard was it just was two dollars on Tmoo a Magical shedding masterpiece. I still find the hair everywhere. You're not far off on the price that it actually came in a 10 pack So we have eight more back there. $2 for 10 wigs? I'd like one wig for $10 that doesn't fall apart. I think what they did on that wig is they took

like they're like just trying to find a way to use leftover product to make stuff and they're like if we take this asbestos and don't have it pink, can we turn it into a wig? I mean that stuff was awful. Yeah, we uh, we suffered for multiple weeks. All right, running backs. Now I am on first glance not seeing Lloyd in this list, but I am seeing Jerome Ford at the tippy top of this list who has a magnificent matchup, who in my opinion on film watching him every week has looked like not just a better runner than Nick Chubb

but a pretty good runner receiver all year long. So Jerome Ford. He had a 62 yard breakaway run this last week and we've seen him win given the opportunity be a very solid back. I don't look at Jerome Ford as one of those players that because of the injury he's going to get so much work that he's a top five guy. This week with the matchup,

with the over under, with what I expect to happen offensively, you could see him being a top 12 running back, but I don't see a world where he's not top 24. Like to me, he's a safe RB2. He's the top of my waiver wire rankings. I think there are some other guys that might have more upside should the starter be injured, but we know Chubb is out. That's where Jerome Ford needs to be number one to me because it's definitive as of this moment. You also need to remember that before Chubb returned

when he was more of the full-time back, he was on pace for 72 receptions on the season. I think it's going to be Dorian Thompson-Robinson for multiple reasons. I don't think it does the team any good to put Winston out there anymore. I also believe that if you don't come out and basically say, hey, Jameis is our guy right after the game, more often than not, it's not that guy, so I'm, you know, that can help the running game. I think Dorian Thompson-Romerson can help the running game. Oh, I think it would be monumentally disastrous

for Jerome Ford if DTR was the quarterback. I don't think it'll help the running game in the slightest. I don't think the numbers back that up. If you're saying help the running game as in his yards per carry is higher, sure. If you're talking helps the running game as far as total yards, total offensive output, total touchdown opportunities, no way.

No, I disagree. I disagree, I think. So you think touchdown opportunities are higher with Dorian Thompson Robinson than with James Winston No, I think they're pretty cool and put something in your coffee young man if you believe that It's not coffee. Miss Winston was on base for 700 plus attempts the the offensive system and the Focus on the running game, which is what made the Browns running backs are valuable for years, was predicated on them not throwing the ball 700 times a year. And it's not like James Winston, I mean what they scored, six

points or something last week? I mean they have not been moving the ball down into scoring range. So to me it's in I'm indifferent on the total touchdown situation there and I think they hand the ball off. I think it's a game plan built not around Jerry Judy, but built around Jerome Ford, and that's all I'm saying. I'm not saying that the offense will score more points, but I'm saying that he'll get more opportunities than he would have with Winston. Yeah, I understand and I believe that you are correct

when it comes to rushing opportunities. I value the passing game work from Ford a little bit more and the scoring opportunities. Regardless, either one that's there, Jerome Ford should be a top 24 running back this week. I just believe that the total reception count and touchdowns would be higher with Winston, who I still think, you know, I'm not bullish, but I would still put it, you know, 55% chance that it's Jameis. I do expect that we'll find out early in the week though. It's been, yeah, it's unfortunate that we've gone the direction we did with Winston. I mean, they scored seven points against Kansas City, 14 against Pittsburgh the week before.

But those are like, those are also great defenses that oftentimes shut down teams. Like Kansas City and Pittsburgh, we worried about those matchups weeks and weeks earlier. This is Cincinnati bangles. Like if we get Jameis Winston against Cincinnati, now I don't know the weather yet in Cincinnati, this time of year you gotta care about that,

but if it's clear, oh man, oh my baby, want it I want I want Cedric Tillman back we'll talk about him when we get to wide receivers I want all the all of the pieces in that 48 point over-under as of right now that's you're still very Winston bullish I am still very Winston bullish for fantasy football I'm fine with Judy but beyond that I mean we just saw Will Will Levis get benched against Cincinnati last week and I don't know, he's playing some pretty crappy football. As of right now, only 2% chance of rain, 6 mile an hour wins, which is A-OK. All right, let's go.

Come on, Winston. I imagine Cincinnati, I mean, we probably have a line already. I'm guessing they are... Where is the game? In Cincinnati. I mean we probably have a line already. I'm guessing they are Where's the game in Cincinnati eight and a half point favorites. Oh that can't be seven told you I Probably would have gone like six and a half five and a half Yeah, so that is my point total a lot of that's going to Cincinnati Cleveland has an implied team total of twenty and a half points right now. Yeah. Yeah

Taji Spears, so that's the next big name. He scored twice last week Tony Pollard re-injured his ankle We don't have any further reports on Pollard. He's been playing through injury He's been finding a way to start games even when it didn't seem like he was going to. So that could happen again, a la Deandre Swift for the Bears missing practices. But Spears? If you knew for sure if we got definitive like, Pollard goes to IR, I would put Spears above Ford. I think Spears is a more explosive player, will be very involved in the receiving game.

I believe he caught six passes last week. They're very similar. Cause they, it could be DTR and Mason Rudolph, which is the most likely. But the difference there is that I think Mason Rudolph is actually an upgrade. I think DTR is actually a downgrade. So I'm not worried about who the starting quarterback

is for Tajay. If it's Will Levis, great, he'll do some crazy stuff, but crazy stuff often makes your offense have to, you know, James. And then if it's Rudolph, they tend to score more points with him. Kendre Miller, we talked about him already in the context of Kamara.

If we get more, you know, it's hard. I would go hard in the paint for all three of those guys if they were somehow out there, by the way they wouldn't be mentioned on the show if they were rostered in 50% or more of leagues they're not you know probably a little bit higher in playoff situations right now but you know Kendra Miller's still 16% rostered and I would I would throw everything at picking up those three players put them in the order you think is most suitable for your roster but bid everything on those three players. Put them in the order you think is most suitable for your roster, but bid everything on those three guys

if they're out there. 100%, they need to be rostered. Also take a look at your opponent. You need to pay attention. They might have lost Camaro. They might have lost David Montgomery and really be needing this player. There comes a time, and that time is now, where if you've got

your backup, you've got your insurance running back for your star who is currently healthy, and you're like, I can't drop my insurance, what happens if for the championship game my guy gets injured? I need him. But if your opponent needs to play one of these three running backs, and I personally I'll put four because I think Alexander Madison, but we could talk about him in a second. But if your opponent needs a starting running back for this week, drop your backups and block them, even if you don't need them. It is more valuable for you getting to the championship

than your backup right now. Yeah, the value of the backup is diminishing Exponentially right now. Yeah, you have one week of Insurance, that's it. Yeah, and and If you even if you're not blocking I would be dropping the backups for these guys who might have prolonged value. Yeah. Yeah, that's true I mean Ford Tajay Kindre, they are probably

more valuable than your backup next week as well. What is the, is Ty Johnson some sort of mirage or is this a new? I don't understand. I mean look, Amari Cooper went from 14 targets to zero. Ty Johnson has two weeks in a row where he's been involved in the passing game. Now, two weeks ago it was only two receptions, but he caught a like a 50, no, a 41 yard reception for a touchdown.

This last week, still only seven total opportunities. Now he was five for 114 in the passing game. That's great, but I don't think you could bank on that. I wouldn't be even picking up Ty Johnson. He's the third string running back on this team. I don't know what he is, man. I don't know what he is. Is he a third string running back?

I believe he's a third string running back. Is he the number one passing back? I mean, yeah, I mean, it's probably an anomaly. What's happened the last two weeks weeks there are too many pieces in Buffalo that can score the touchdowns you know they've kind of started using him a little bit like Khalil Shakir the last well really not even two weeks ago just as last week they kind of utilized him in that screen game the same way that they use Khalil Shakir but the point is they can use Khalil Shaker. They can use other options.

Let's talk about the Raiders running back, because since Sierra McCormick got injured, I don't think, I've tried to look this morning, Kyle, if you can vet and see if there's any more definitive news on the ankle injury, but if he's out, and I think he will be out, it looked pretty bad, you've got Amir Abdullah and Alexander Madison. I would personally

put Alexander Madison ahead. He's going to get more volume even if he's not the pass catching guy and they play against Jacksonville. So the matchup is okay for a bad offense. I think he would be next up after the three pack of Ford, Spears and Miller. I think Gainwell might be in play as well as an ad. Kenneth Gainwell looked good in the passing game and we really don't know how banged up Saquon is. If you are Philly, you know, you've got to make a decision on what's most important. He's got a lot of tread on the tires this year, Saquon does. Mm-hmm. And if you don't have him for the playoffs, you're in trouble. So as the practice reports go on Kenneth Gainwell

In our League of Records somebody threw him on the roster Sunday morning. I believe it was was it you Jason? Yeah, it was doesn't matter cuz I'll check me out and it Barclays not talking about his injury But he missed like the second quarter and he only handled a little bit of work over the second half and he looked bad Like he looked wrong. Yeah, I mean Little bit of work over the second half and he looked bad like he looked wrong Yeah, I mean you you look at just you know his efficiency on the course of the season Saquon And you're like man. He's just so good every game and then all of a sudden last game when he got injured He's sitting there at three point four a carry not getting it done If you look look at look at his game logs going back ten point four a carry four point nine five point nine four point seven five point

six nine point eight four point seven7 6. he's just been unstoppable and then he was clearly not just shut down by Pittsburgh he was injured you know he was sub for a carry and looked bad on the field wide receivers that you want to keep your eyes open for to me is Jalen McMillan is the headline yeah Really? Yeah, because. Well, look at you. Because I don't, look, we're coming in here every week and we're repeating names that don't matter at the top of the waiver list. So I want, if I'm going into the fantasy playoffs,

I think that Jalen McMillan matters. You know, we've said QGE for a thousand weeks because guess what? He just keeps getting dropped and picked up and dropped and picked up. I'm not saying if QGE is out there, you shouldn't pick him up. I just think-

You would pick QGE up over McMillan, right? I mean, QGE has been good pretty much most of the season other than his prime time drop-a-potamus fest. No. You would rather start McMillan this year. No, because I'm living in the vacuum, the single vacuum of a one week situation, and I prefer Jaylen McMillan this week than I do the Denver matchup for Cuge where Lad

McConkie is the target hog. It's a touchdown prayer for Cuge, and I think McMillan, we saw what Godwin did in the offense. He's finally getting the opportunity. He's 6'4", 75 in a touchdown, and guess what? We know what Godwin did in the offense. He's finally getting the opportunity. He's six for 75 in a touchdown. And guess what? We know what huge is. We don't yet know what Jalen McMillan's potential is. It is the right approach to take a one week look.

And if you say, I like McMillan this week against Dallas more. Dallas is, I need to look at the last few weeks. Trayvon digs this out for the season now. I mean, this is a huge opportunity for Tampa. They're gonna score a lot of points, controlled weather environment, not up in Denver, figuring it out,

a team that's kind of going down. That's just my- Is this like another Macmillan touchdown guarantee? Is this what- There's barely, he barely has room to score more touchdowns. He's scoring so many. Yeah. The highest over under the week, by the way.

So I'm McMillan, huge. And then beyond that, you know. So I like, if we're taking a one week approach, I really like Rashad Bateman. It is, again, it's hot and cold. He's not a volume play. But if you look back at this season, I mean, he is pretty much, you know

At least every other week gotten it done He's got seven touchdowns on the course of the season. He is often getting he's definitely getting bomb passing attempts almost every week this upcoming matchup against Pittsburgh with maybe no TJ watt or a banged up TJ watt They're at home the weather as of right now looks good. I like Bateman I would I think I would rather take the shot at Bateman than McMillan who's really only had two Two good games in his career, right? That's I mean they've been the last two weeks a rookie

So we'll disagree there. I mean, I feel like the baseline for McMillan's gonna be higher. You know, Bateman is definitely a home run threat. He's had zero catches against Philly the week before, but then last week had the two touchdowns, so it's, I'm still McMillan, man. Sure, you also have the easy matchup. We don't agree a lot today.

I think we agree on Jameer Gibbs. Like he's going to be really good. There you go. What about the Packers wide receivers? You had Dobbs get the dub touchdowns this last week. You're at home against an easy Saints matchup. I feel like you should have some passing touchdowns there. Watson over Dobbs.

Yeah, I would take Watson over Dobbs as well. And Watson might be better than Bateman. I will say McMillan, if you look at the path, he's got a good quarterback, he's got a good matchup, and when you have rookies that start to break out at the end of their rookie season, it can come in stretches. I'm not saying he is Amon Raugh, St. Brown,

or the next coming, but we saw that with rookie season Amon Raugh, where it took a while and then towards the end of the year, it happened week after week after week. And you don't have the time, it's the playoffs, you don't have the time to find out. You've gotta call your shot. And so you're saying that it's gonna be sticky.

And honestly, we've seen Kate Auten kind of disappear. They need McMillan. I think you've warmed me up to Jalen McMillan being higher up my personal waiver rankings. I just want a shot at, you know, the way Le'Ad McConkies come on in the back part of the season. The fact is the Baker Mayfield offense

that the running game is banged up and hurt. That's the way I lean. These are not must starts. Nobody in this wide receiver category is a guaranteed must start, although I do consider huge McMillan and probably Bateman as flex-worthy plays. Another name that you have to bring up is Malik Washington of Miami, because Malik Washington, it's a San Francisco matchup, but he already caught five passes last week. They let go of Orel Beckham and Jaylen Waddle is injured. And so you're looking at this situation where, you know, we caught what, three more passes

than Tyreek did? Yeah. Another rookie who is- And his snap count will be in the 70s and 80s next week. Yeah. He'll get a lot more opportunities this week. I think a near must start, but you don't even know for sure if it's capable when you're making your transaction

on the waiver wire. But Cedric Tillman's still available in half the leagues. He's missed three games with a concussion. He was practicing last week, seemed like he was going to play, was not active. However, if Jameis is there. Only Jameis. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Only if it's Jameis. Not for both of us, we're in agreement. Because it's been five weeks, yeah. We're just agreeing all over the place. Yeah, we're just super, sympathical. Yeah, if Jameis is back, and Cedric Tillman is active against the Bengals,

I mean, he goes from possible flex to me to almost a must start. dart throw my our dart throw. Oh because you're our ball No, oh, all right. No, I'm like shut up my dart my dart throw my Don't be surprised if he has a huge week and you didn't see it coming and he's still on waivers next week Is Jaylen cocker of the Carolina Panthers. That's Coker, Al. As I've always said. As you've always, as you looked up and verified, this is a this is the deep threat for Carolina. Adam Thielen is gonna be your underneath and your dink and dunk, but you've lost Xavier LeGette and he's not really a

deep threat type of guy anyways, and Jalen Coker is. Jalen Coker is a physical force. He played 80 plus percent of snaps. He had four for 110 and a touchdown against Dallas. And if you want to take a shot, because you are just ravaged by injuries, that'd be your guy. Yeah, and I was gonna throw out Fireball Jones,

AKA Tim Patrick. He keeps scoring. Well, the last couple weeks, he's not only scored, but he's been involved in the target-pecking order, seven targets, eight targets. Now, the last two weeks, these are shootouts with Green Bay and Buffalo. I do think it comes down a little bit

against Chicago in Chicago. They probably won't need to throw it as much, kind of like what you saw from Sam Darnold last night. But Tim Patrick, you know, in deep leagues is available. Jason, I wonder what the kind of next piece of the Lions offense is going to be without Montgomery. Like, is there going to be more involvement from a secondary option or more involvement from La Porta?

Like, I think La Porta could be more of a focal point where, look, you have to understand this team isn't going to just, they're not just going to run Montgomery packages with Gibbs every play. They're going to do what is in their best advantage when it comes to structuring this offense. We used to know what they do. They go out with their huge, giant personnel and run Montgomery. That's not how they're going to they do. They go out with their huge giant personnel and run Montgomery. That's not how they're gonna use Gibbs. They may use them sometimes like that,

but they're going to kind of conform to the personnel that they have and Laporta is a weapon that's been waiting in the wings. Maybe it's some Tim Patrick, maybe it's Jameson Williams. I think we're gonna see some different stuff. Maybe it's more Jared Goff in general because- I think it will be more Jared Goff. Jared Goff to me goes the

next couple weeks as more passing touchdowns and rushing touchdowns. All right, we'll take a break. We'll jump into tight ends where we agree on everybody. All right, we're into the tight ends and we agree on everyone cuz there is no one we do not really anybody I mean Brent Britain strange Is widely available? He was targeted on 30% of his routes, which makes sense because he had 11 targets with Mac Jones This is the tight end for the Jacksonville Jaguars in Replacement of Evan Ingram if you're in a full PPR league, okay every of Evan Ingram. If you're in a full PPR league, okay. Every target for the Jacksonville went to Brian Thomas or Brenton Strange last week

with Mac Jones. It's a great matchup against Las Vegas, but I have gone through this exercise. I don't have, I don't think that I'm going to sit on and down for Strange even if I got him on the waivers. Okay, so that is the level, that is the exact level. Cause most people who are in the playoffs. I don't think I'm gonna do that. They have a good tight end. You didn't just lose Evan Ingram

and you're in the second round of the playoffs. You have an answer. I think that the people out there that don't are maybe the Njoku manager, you know, had a buy and is still in it or the, you know, you're dealing with a Kate Auden level replacement. And if you're not going from Kate Auden to Britton Strange. I'm just going to bank. I've been through this whole exercise.

I knew bringing it up would submarine any attempts of me getting Britton Strange on the waiver wire in our league of record to fill in for Kate Auden. I've been through the exercise, and to me, it's the highest over-under of the week in the Tampa game. Who's gonna score a touchdown? Right. I've been through the exercise and to me, it's the highest over under the week in the Tampa game. Who's gonna score a touchdown? Right. I mean, Britain Strange, if I told you a player got

11 receptions in a game, you'd be like, that's a dominant week. This was not a dominant fantasy week. It should at least be 100 yards. 11 receptions at 100 yards would be pretty inefficient. And it was, yeah, it was 73 yards he didn't score the odds of them scoring are low. I'm not saying Britain Strange is gonna have a bad week and he's unstartable. I'm just saying I'm gonna go with the odds that

Baker throws three to four touchdowns and I'm just gonna hope that one of them is to Kate Otten. It's not like they haven't taken shots to him. I'm just gonna hope that that's the situation. Sure. And it sucks. Outside of that you got Stone Smart on the waivers. He's the next man up for me. And it sucks. Outside of that, you got Stone Smart on the waivers. He's the next man up for me. Yeah, I mean, because of untapped upside that we don't know about. Yeah, but the problem there is the Denver matchup, divisional. Stone Smart is the replacement of Will Disley for the Los Angeles Chargers. He looked pretty good. He got overthrown on a couple balls. He actually could have had a pretty big game last week.

Unfortunately, him and Herbert weren't quite in sync yet. So I think as the season goes along, Stone Smart is someone worth paying attention to. It'd be really hard to start him in round two of the playoffs against Denver, though. To smart him. It'd be hard to smart him, right? Busted!

Yeah. Sorry, bud. You weren't really... No, I wasn't feeling that one. Well, I mean, I don't feel any of these tight ends, so I shouldn't have even taken a shot. Yeah, let's go to defenses then. What do you like there? The Arizona Cardinals had a very down week this last week. However, so did Bryce Young. Bryce Young kind of pumped in a little bit, and you know're they're pretty available. The Cardinals defense on the course of this season has actually been better than you think for fantasy purposes and Bryce Young has been known to throw some bad-looking balls. You know that's that's gonna be my defense this week in the semifinals.

Cardinals are a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde on defense but I'm gonna just hope that even if you know if Bryce plays well for three quarters one bad quarter from Bryce could be enough to support a good performance. My favorite defense of the week is the Packers. It's gotten even better. Oh yeah. I mean no Camara no car no all of it. No body. So they're playing against the rat tail in Lambeau. If you've got the Packers defense available to be picked up, they absolutely need to be picked up. Hopefully you got them last week like Al Borland did. If for some reason... Man, I love his team.

Al's team is so good. It really is. It's like do no wrong. That's my guy. That's the man of the people over there. Everyone's rooting for you, Al. You endorsed him. Yeah.

And so when the rally happens, you go up there and you give a speech and stuff? Absolutely. Am I allowed some speech time? Of course. Oh, thanks, bud. Yeah. I mean, who wouldn't root for a guy that's never won one? Yeah, I mean, that is part of it.

I'm definitely rooting for him to get his first rather than you to get your second in a row. If Will Levis has announced a starter, obviously... Sometimes it's a compliment, sometimes it's a backhanded compliment. Obviously the Colts can be, all teams can be played against Will Levis. That worked really well for me this last week throwing the Bengals awful defense against Will Levis and they should have had two pick sixes. It'll be Masonville. I think it will be Masonville as well. And then the Raiders against Jacksonville and

Jacksonville against the Raiders both directions kind of work Although I wouldn't do it with the Raiders because I'd play Jacksonville defense if I'm desperate But I wouldn't do the Raiders defense against the have you did you watch the Mac Jones highlights? I watched the Mac Mac. Are there the bravado? Oh, yes The game they're like post good play body language type of stuff. I believe that Matt Jones is doing the one thing that you should be doing in your situation. If you're a backup quarterback, by the way, he was, when you say, are there any highlights? He was a top 10 quarterback last week. He attempted 46 passes and he supplant. He supplied not Britain strange with 11

catches, but Brian Thomas with all those catches. I would say Brian Thomas supplied Mack Jones. I mean, Mack Jones threw for 300 yards. Mack Jones did what you're supposed to do when you get a chance. Don't come in and be a Desmond Ritter, dink dunk fest, just chuck it. Winston's done this for years, Flacco's done it. Come in and show another team, like Mack Jones.

Is playing for a job. Show another team that you could maybe be a starter someday. It's not impossible. Yeah, I could easily see if Mack Jones goes the rest of the season with some good performances, I can easily see him getting one of these starting jobs for a team that drafts a quarterback. You know, that type of situation where you're like, come in and play, and it'll probably end up going more the drew Lock route, but yep, that's what he's got something to play for

There's actually a handful of really good pickups the Atlanta Falcons. They've got 13 sacks over the last three games They play the Giants and their 10th string quarterback. I believe is it gonna be Tim Boyle? I Don't know you never know they pick them out of a hat right before the game and the Rams defense You never know. They pick them out of a hat right before the game. And the Rams defense, sometimes they're really hot, and the Jets, while their offense has been going, they've actually given up a lot of fantasy points. So they're not the worst option either. Well, that's going to dovetail poorly into this next segment. Full stream ahead. My streaming quarterback is Aaron Rodgers against the Rams following up on Difference

Makers. The Rams defense is 28th against quarterbacks over the last six weeks, 31st against White Outs. A lot of risk there for me. I think there will be a lot of points scored in that game. So I think Aaron Rodgers is actually a streamable. How interesting. My streamer is Matthew Stafford on the other side because of pretty much everything you're saying.

I think there's going to be a lot of points scored in that game. So maybe don't play the Rams defense. These two teams have been in some shootouts recently. Both these quarterbacks have put up a lot of yards recently. And if you look at the Jets defense, the Jets past defense ranks 30th versus quarterbacks over the last eight weeks. It's not just the high end guys, it's literally everybody. Russell Wilson was the quarterback five.

Anthony Richardson was the quarterback five. Tua was the quarterback four. Mac Jones last week, quarterback eight, everything we're talking about. Matthew Stafford feels very safe for the streaming options this week. Sometimes these shows- Who would you rather start between those two? Stafford feels very safe for the streaming options this week sometimes these shows you rather start between those two Stafford and Rogers are both there Rogers just cuz he's at home or yeah I just I mean both

both are fine both are in the exact same category both could suck and both could be great but Rogers has got a couple good weeks in a row and you know it's it's tight it's close flip a coin don't play either I mean we're we good weeks in a row and you know it's it's tight it's close. Flip a coin, don't play either. I mean we're not in a position here by the way. This waiver show feels weird to me in some regards. I know we got to do it and there might be a nugget here or there. Most people have got players to play this week. I mean that's why you're here. I Dave in Montgomery goes out, you probably got a guy on your bench that's better than most of the guys you're picking up. Maybe you end up able to grab a Spears or grab a Ford and that would be awesome.

Ford would be outstanding. But if not, you know, this is maybe you're doing, maybe you're playing defense more than you're playing offense in some of these leagues. Yeah, I mean, obviously if you're playing defense, it's because someone else needs to be able to play offense but yeah you're right to reiterate what you're saying if Jemir gives us on the waiver wire. Yeah pick them up. Full swing. Falcon will you bring those in here real quick because we're gonna close this show out. I forgot we had to show these up but we do have some sweet swag. If you notice there's a new custom helmet on the center of our table and

the folks at Green Groot and Iron hooked us up with that. We have mini helmets for the first time. These have been requested for years. So if you want mini helmets, Jason's got the white one, I got the black one. They're all on shopballers.com, and we'd love to get them out to you

so you can display them. They go nice right next to like a championship trophy. You know what I mean? Yeah, right under like a championship ring yeah I mean put the display stack with cases it's not a bad idea thanks for joining us back tomorrow with the two of us and maybe Mike or a bear or a bear we'll find out catch you then thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on JoinTheFoot.com and follow us on Twitter at The FF Ballers.