Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast - Week 16 Waivers & QB Streamers + Nasty Boys - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/19

Episode Date: December 19, 2023

The fantasy playoffs roll on! On today’s fantasy football podcast, waiver wire pickups for Week 16! Which nasty boys can help managers win a fantasy football championship?! Plus, QB streamers, and a recap of the Monday Night Football game! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for December 19th, 2023. Connect with the Fantasy Footballers Podcast: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on Twitter Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://USAA.com/Insurance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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

Welcome in! The Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Andy, Mike, and Jason back with you. Someone with a hot rod outside the studio revving their engine. I was behind a classic puntyiac Grand Am on the way in. Okay. You know, like the kind that Papa Josh would be driving around? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Back in the 80s when he was living it up.

Yeah, with stuff hanging from the rear view mirror. We were just being born in the 80s, but that was kind of his peak. Someone is getting, I don't know if that's coming through, but they are getting after it. I mean, there is an engine outside. There's a car show outside. someone is get i don't know if that's coming through but they are getting after it i mean there is an engine i mean outside there's a car show outside what else do you do at nine in the morning yeah yeah yeah and don't drive just stay right there just sit down rev and give it some gas uh papa josh had a firebird not a grand dam so i mean i almost nailed it. Yeah. I'll tell you what, man.

That had to be, like, just cliche. Oh, yeah. It had to be his saddest day of his life when he let that thing go. You know what I mean? He probably wrecked it. There's no way he didn't pull up to the high school and then get out and lean against it with a jean jacket. Are you familiar with Billy Madison? That is. When he pulls up with the REO Speedwagon.

And I bring him up because, as fate would have it, in most perfect form, Josh the Betrayer and my League of Record team are now meeting in the semifinals. One of you will be in the championship. One of you will not at the expense of the other. And you have created a wonderful stack for him in Justin Fields and DJ Moore playing against the Arizona Cardinals this week. So we'll see if Evil wins. Based on that matchup, it should. It's got a good chance.

So we'll find out. We'll keep you posted. He's already started the his best attempts at trolling andy came into the studio this morning and had a piece of paper taped to his monitor that highlighted his running backs poor uh matchup schedule yeah yeah it's coming from the guy that has derrick hen last week. So we'll see. It's going to be good versus evil, and I am taking the place of good in that situation. I'm rooting for you, which is a new feeling for me.

Yeah, you had the capstone, the exclamation point, on the fart of a weekend that you had. Yeah. Just a hot blast. It was. I mean, you were the Arthur weekend that you had. Yeah. A hot blast. I mean, you were the Arthur Smith of fantasy managers. Yeah, my week was not good. Not good at all.

But, you know, now I live to root for you, Andy. Yeah, I don't. How do you even wake up in the morning? Hold on. What about your boy? Yeah, Mike made it through in Dynasty. He's alive. I will root for you as well where you are alive. Thank you. Thank you.

We are going to try to help you out today. We've got a waiver show. We've got a Monday night game to recap. We've got a giveaway going on. We're giving away a signed Travis Etienne jersey and a bunch of fantasy footballer swag. It is free to enter. There's a bunch of ways to enter at FootClanGiveaway.com.

I think we've got a couple weeks left. Do you want to get in there? And that's footclangiveaway.com. Now, we've added a couple things in there, just free things you can do to help the show, a couple votes for a couple awards. That was just added, right? So, like, the people who already entered the contest,

can they go back and get more tickets? They can go get more entries, yes. So, if you've already entered the contest, can they go back and get more tickets? They can go get more entries. Yes. So if you've already entered, good point, Mike. You can go to footclangiveaway.com, click a couple of links. We got nominated for the Sports Podcast Awards, and there's a couple of ways to earn some more giveaway entries.

Like I said, waiver wire today, NFL news to talk about. Let's start with the Monday night game. Almost upset of the week. Seattle knocks off the Eagles. Jason, you had your surprise at the pick. Yeah, that means it's good. That's why I went and bet it immediately. Thank you again.

I didn't think I'd have Drew Locke behind center as my – Well, you also didn't think that the other guy would be very questionable to play. No, and look, Kenneth Walker had a big game. Kenneth Walker was 19 for 86, looked great on the ground. Yeah, that's the highlight. I mean, at least in our league scoring format, the Ty Chandler over Kenneth Walker worked out by a point. But Kenneth Walker looked fantastic. He's clearly over the injury zach charbonnet was an afterthought 22 to 4 that was the uh is that the opportunities

opportunity count yeah he he was an afterthought this was kenneth walker's team which that is incredible to see heading into next week. I don't know if there are people out there like me where you kind of had a pivot option from Walker. I was terrified to play Walker, a banged-up Walker, against the Philadelphia Eagles. But this is great for next week. Jalen Hurts, he was pretty good, scored twice on the ground. I don't know what's going to happen with the tush push.

But what's going to happen in your fantasy universe? We haven't played that out. I believe I saw a stat that they're like 59 of 64 before yesterday in completing the tush push. He scores – I mean, most of his rushing touchdowns come on the tush push, a vast majority. Like, will that – It'll have a massive impact on his fantasy value.

I mean, the issue is when you are at the one right now, it is a 100% call. They do it every time. There's no longer this fear of like, oh, I really hope they quarterback sneak it. No, it's like, okay, they will quarterback sneak it. When Swift went down on the one, which also, thank you, Swift. You are amazing at going down at the one. Thank you, thank you, thank you. But when he went down at the one.

He was trying to burn the clock. He fell down so quickly. It literally was when that happened, I jumped because I got a touchdown like that moment was me scoring the touchdown and so yeah next year if it is outlawed you'll have to you'll have to look at Hurts a little bit differently it's not like he won't ever score from the one they will QB sneak very successfully but they will they will call other plays they will hand the ball off to a running back which is is a good play at the one, sometimes. The only thing that they could ban is the pushing of the tushing.

Right. But that doesn't stop Jason Kelsey from turning his legs or Jalen Hurts from turning his legs, so he could still sneak it or jump over the line. Is Jason Kelsey back next year? Yeah, that is a question. The receiving game was not helpful for fantasy. No.

A.J. Brown, Devontae Smith, Tyler Lockett. You know, Metcalf was okay with his 5 for 78, Jackson Smith and Jigba with the incredible touchdown on an incredible throw by Drew Locke and completing the upset. DeAndre Swift, if he had scored, you'd have been happy. He was 18 for 74. It's okay. He caught a couple passes. Oh, yeah, he did.

And get this. Will Disley did not score a touchdown. No. The bet is over. I did text Jason as a reply to him sending me $400 that we can end the bet. And then he said, you know what? Let's end it tomorrow. Let's see if Dizzly can get me back on the board.

Complete the week. Yeah, it's only fair. But that's it. Yeah, the bet's over because Jason's broke. Anything else from this game you guys want to talk about? I mean, Jalen Hurts played through the illness, but they've lost three in a row. They've lost three in a row. I don't think anybody, no Eagles fans should be panicking.

The San Francisco 49ers did this. They were on fire. They were the best team in the league, and then they lost three games in a row, and then they recovered because they're a great team. The Eagles are a great team, and it wasn't an interception. Let's move on. Oh, man.

That would be the Julian Love love intercept jason had some strong we won't get into emotion the debate of it but jason debate i don't understand okay that's fine but i'm saying we won't talk about it we will just say that jason was a furious man because he wanted it was funny because it was like... It wasn't going to help you, man. I was going to say, if it wasn't an interception, they had six seconds from about the 40. You had to get 10 yards for a field goal. Yeah, but you were in...

And then overtime, baby. Six seconds would have been pretty tough to get down, but there you go. Jason shared his opinions on Twitter. It was a stupid throw. Oh, yeah. Just run up the middle. You have a timeout. I don't know why you throw... Call a timeout, kick a field goal, go to overtime. Oh, yeah. Just run up the middle. You have a timeout.

I don't know why you throw. Call a timeout, kick a field goal, go to overtime. Eh, whatever. Not an interception. All right. Into the news we go. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance.

Jamar Chase likely to miss some time due to the AC joint injury. You're not going to have him this week, most likely. That also impacts if you've been riding wild with Jake Brown. It changes that stream possibility. Yeah, obviously T. Higgins is now back, and T. Higgins could become a somewhat reliable play but it was the addition of T Higgins next to Jamar Chase that allowed Browning to have a little bit more success I I would have a really really difficult time it is streaming Browning Pittsburgh yeah the matchup is fine yeah but without Jamar, in the second round of the playoffs,

that would be tough. Like, we're talking our streaming candidates today. There's another guy just as nasty and dirty and widely available that I would happily start over. D'Amico Ryan said, CJ Stroud remains in the concussion protocol, and the team will see how he progresses through the week. Saw another report that it was –

the fact that he wasn't like practicing likely means he's still dealing with headaches. And so C.J. Stroud's availability will still be very much in question. They play Cleveland at home in the playoff race. They did win with Case Keenum last week, but that is a closely monitored situation, especially for things like i don't know confidence in the cleveland defense or in noah brown or in dalton schultz or in even devin

singletary and then moving the football yeah i was gonna say you could even go to amari cooper and david nojoku if if stroud is there that they become better plays from uh you know a assumed higher total score for what it's worth right now, Houston is favored by 2.5 at home. Okay. Really? Really. So Vegas is saying C.J. Stroud should be back. And giving credit to Houston and what they've done.

I mean, they did win with Case Keenum, and their defense is playing well. Isaiah Pacheco, good to go for Week 16. It's so funny because there were two pieces of news that came out at the same moment. The piece of news was that, well, Isaiah Pacheco had to have surgery. So he's good to go. He'll be back this week. It was like, well, usually when we hear, oh. They should have done that surgery two weeks ago and got him right back.

I don't understand. You could do surgeries to make sure you can play immediately? Cool. This is unfortunate. Keaton Mitchell diagnosed with a torn ACL. Yeah. Oh, gross. That play.

I accidentally saw it. I avoided it on purpose. It is pretty brutal. Taylor Heineke will be the new starter for the Atlanta Falcons because that was the problem. It was, I mean, it kind of was,

but it wasn't just doesn't Ritter. Yeah. Ritter's interception at the end of the game was something special, but this is a, you know, okay. Taylor Heineke's up. Chris Olave didn't practice again.

That's a Thursday night game, right? Yes, sir. Yikes. And then Tutu Atwell cleared concussion protocol. Should be back. Affects your Demarcus Robinson. Yeah, that's more of a situation. Take that away.

That was today's News and Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Put me in, coach. Now that I think about it, Jason, your attention to whether that was an interception or not means that you had hope. Oh!

You still had hope in your heart. Good for you. You needed a touchdown from Devontae Smith, from Jalen Hurts. I mean, your odds had to have been about 1% at that point, and that means you weren't retiring. I was watching every second. You still believed. And my horse in the race is the reason that I am positive it was not an interception.

Not because I needed it to not be, but because I watched that thing 800,000 times. I watched from every angle. People saying, no, you're showing a clip from before. No, I'm not. No, I'm not. Watch every angle. I thought I saw some pellets on the TV. No, you didn't.

I think it's from the other player's knee. Yep, that's where the pellets came from the, the other players knee. Yep. That's what, that's where the Pels came from. I'm not, this isn't a debate. That's what, like we move on.

I mean, it was an interception on paper. Like it, it's official. It's done. Whatever. But I don't know. It brought it up. I'm just saying it's,

it wasn't, his foot did not hit the ground. It's clear and obvious. I, yeah, it's funny. Cause you took the opposite approach with the Ridley

touchdown. I just see truth. Fantasy football is funny because I'm up against Brooks and as the Seahawks, I mean DK Metcalf had done very little and that's who I'm on watch for, but they're driving

the eventual touchdown that won that's who i'm on watch for but they're driving you know that the the eventual game the touchdown that won the game i'm where i'm watching very carefully i'm doing the math i'm like okay he needs he needs 13 points or so right here where are we at because we have a two-point bonus for a 40-yard touchdown like holy crap we're still in range of DK Metcalf destroying my soul. And then as soon as they closed over the 40, it was, ah. But, yeah, they're still that twin. Did you have a twinge of Hope Brooks to the end? Okay.

No. Good. Yes. We had a listener that it was going back and forth at the end of the game where, like, the JSN touchdown, you know, put them ahead. And then Jalen Hurts rushed the football on the final drive and that put them behind. But then Jalen Hurts threw the interception and that put them back ahead. I mean, fantasy makes games like that really exciting.

All right, into the waiver wire we go. At the running back position, there are, you know, quickly mentioned but certainly not available in any of your playoff leagues. Ty Chandler, of course, he's not there. If he was, he's got to be your top priority. He might be there. He might be there. Definitely look.

I've been in leagues where I'm surprised, but he's the clear and obvious pickup. You'd dump your fab. I know Madison is supposed to be maybe coming back. I do not expect Madison to be back. I do expect Madison to be back, but I don't expect him to be a better play than Chandler. You expect him back this week?

Correct. Okay, because he'll come back, but I just didn't know. Yeah, the last report said that it looked like he could rejoin practice this week, and he just was – basically O'Connell was saying he doesn't know who will be the starter on Sunday. O'Connell was speaking very highly of Chandler. Yeah, it said that he's going to be a guy they see featured as a featured role of the offense, which is great.

There's big news for Ty Chandler managers. Looking more towards actual available players Justice Hill is near the top of that list it's not an exciting pickup they play San Francisco but I mean when you look at options and potential starts at running back with Keaton Mitchell leaving Justice Hill already getting a bunch of snaps

it's a shot in the dark you could take. And it might actually end up more exciting because they're playing San Francisco. They're playing Miami next week. And Justice Hill will be the passing downs, the guy. Or, I mean, against San Francisco, could you see the ravens trailing absolutely and if they're trailing it is definitely not gus edwards it will be justice hill so i agree it's not a an incredible pickup where you're so psyched that you got justice hill but i think that he could

end up with a bunch and he's i mean he's the two minute drill guy he will he will have he should see some opportunity he will have so many snaps that are irrelevant I mean he will he will be out on the field a lot you know two weeks ago he was on the field 42 which is a lot for a Baltimore Ravens running back like that that leads the way um and he scored 1.7 fantasy points like I think he'll be on the field I just don. I'm not convinced he's good enough to put in. I mean, obviously, if you have to get someone, he will be on the field, and that's what you want. But if you were to look between him, who you know for sure

Keaton Mitchell's injury is like he's kaput, or Zemir White, where there's a question of like, well, Josh Jacobs didn't play last week didn't practice last week but he's got an extra week might be back this week who would you put in if it was just a priority claim would you take the shot at the upside of a Zemir White or the known commodity of a floor if there is one uh for Justice Hill Zem White, and it's just because the opportunities would be there. I don't think it's going to be anything like last week. Kansas City.

Yeah. I'd go Justice Hill. Yeah, I'll take 17 opportunities for Zemir White from last week, but I get it. Las Vegas plays Kansas City better than other teams do. I'll say that. But, yeah, those two. Chase Brown is another one where.

It's also, Kyle, it's on Christmas Day, so that's on Monday? Correct. Okay, so you'll then have that added variable of Josh Jacobs gets an extra day and you won't, like the Sunday matches will be done and you won't know. So maybe prioritize Hill. But then if the news if we get more information or news, both are should be picked up. Yeah. And don't forget Christmas games mean Christmas football dot com is in play.

So you can go to Christmas football dot com. Is this still running? It's still up and running, baby. Hey, make sure you check it out. What a good one of the best websites I've ever been to, ChristmasFootball.com. Are we sure about that? I'm positive. Oh, yep, me too.

What a good site. Let's bring up some more conversations here. The running back situation in Indianapolis is in flux. You have Zach Moss, who says he's going to play through the arm injury, miss time. You have Jonathan Taylor, who people, I think, are holding their breath. He could be back. Do you expect him to be back this week? I do expect him to be back. It is not a guarantee obviously but if you just follow the transactions they did not put him on IR. He has missed three games. Now that happens

sometimes where they take the chance of not putting a player on IR for the hope he could be back before four games, and lo and behold, he's not. But obviously that does mean that the initial timeline had an expectation that he could get back before missing four games. This is the fourth week. Given the injury to Zach Moss as well and having to play through that, I have hope that you're going to have Jonathan Taylor this week. So that probably takes – I agree with you.

I think he's probably back. That takes Trey Sermon and Tyler Goodson probably off the table for teams unless you are the manager of Zach Moss or Jonathan Taylor. Antonio Gibson probably rostered another name that you could pay attention to, but Brian Robinson could be back this week. So to me, it's like Chase Brown, Justice Hill, Zamir White are at the top of the list. I'm going to ask Jay, where are you with like Justice Hill versus Chase Brown? Chase Brown, rookie running back for the Bengals. Give me the juice, man. I mean, these are,

yeah, Chase Brown has not played a ton. It seems like he has because they are giving him opportunities when he's on the field. Ten opportunities this past week, 11 before that, nine before that. Even though he's very similar to Keaton Mitchell and to Ty Chandler, we're seeing these kind of just explosive speed guys really have success on limited touches as rookies. Chase Brown has looked the part so against pittsburgh i would rather have chase brown than justice hill personally yeah and then you have you do have you carry upside the justice hill does not have

in the sense that like if gus edwards goes down to injury justice hill is you know he gets a little bit more but he doesn't go to the moon. Whereas if something happened to Joe Mixon this week, then your championship week, Chase Brown could be a league winner. I also think Chris Rodriguez Jr. is a name worth bringing up. If Brian Robinson does not play, Antonio Gibson, I don't know if he was benched or hurt or what, but, you know, it's – They went away from him.

They went away from him. He's always a fumble away from benching himself, and he is a player that's widely available. And then just final discussion here, what do you do with, like, Jerick McKinnon, with Isaiah Pacheco back, and the kind of the narrative that the Chiefs were letting out there of we've been getting Jerick McKinnon more ready for this time of year. Is he still –

You're saying whether you drop him or not? Or pick – I mean, he's a sub-50% roster guy, so there's a chance he is out there. Are you – if he happened to be out there versus these other players we're talking about, would you prioritize him? Or with Pacheco back, is it I'm kind of out of McKinnon? No, I don't care about McKinnon anymore. I would certainly want to not drop him, and I would pick him up not as my main priority.

McKinnon, the fact that Pacheco is like, oh, he just had surgery, we expect him to play this week. It's Tuesday. He gets out in practice and re-aggravates that shoulder or something. McKinnon is great. So I would not drop him. All right. Quick break.

Back with wideouts. All right. Who are your favorite wide receiver pickups this week? Noah Brown has to be a great pickup. I know that the Cleveland defense is difficult, but if the sportsbooks are saying with their betting lines that they expect C.J. Stroud to be there, Noah Brown's been very, very good for a handful of times.

You don't know about Nico Collins. I don't even know if it's bad if Nico Collins comes back. You know Tank Dell is gone. And Noah Brown, obviously this last week, just had a monster performance, 11 targets, 8 for 82 and a touchdown. He's rostered in about half of leagues, but he would be my number one pick. Curtis Siema scored two more times. It can't stop.

He does play the Jets this week, so that is unfortunate. But, I mean, they've said, we've heard at least, that Sam Howell will be back despite the benching. There's not a ton of hope and optimism there. If you know that Sam Howell goes out there and plays poorly, he can get benched. He's kind of the one who loves Curtis Samuel. It's not

the best play, but I think that you're safe with a type of floor. It is... We're pretty nasty here with these wide receiver pickups, but I think I would highlight again, I was hungry for more from him. Dontavian Wicks

who we thought you know had he had gotten banged up a couple weeks ago but he did not miss time and he ends this game against Tampa Bay with six for 97 and then you throw on top of that Christian Watson status is still unknown and Jaden Reed left that game with an injury. So if next week it's, you know, Romeo Dobbs and Dontavian Wicks against Carolina, I think that he is the type of player that'll give you an okay floor with some upside potential. One of the names that I think is worth looking at as well, he's had the targets recently.

He has the opportunity because of injury. And I love this week's matchup is Parker Washington. Yeah, yeah. Yep, another nasty boy. Parker Washington finished last week with 12 yards. So he's going to be available. He's out there. But he had six targets.

Trevor Lawrence now is going to be, you know, another week removed from the ankle injury. And the matchup against Tampa Bay is I mean they're 29th against wide receivers since Krisha Kirk went down Parker Washington has been out there running a lot of routes really involved um in the in the target pecking order and you know if you're scrounging your waiver wire for someone that you could actually throw out into your lineup and get points. Did you mention Zay Jones was hurt? I didn't.

Yeah. So that's where Parker Washington's a little more interesting. It was a hamstring injury for Zay Jones in the fourth. So if he is going to miss, the targets have to go somewhere. The New England Patriots, Bailey Zappi, looking a little bit better than what they looked like before. Demario Douglas and Devontae Parker. He seems to have a rapport with Parker. Demario Douglas played 72% of snaps, had five targets. Parker had five targets, caught all five of them and played 91% of snaps. I don't want to bury Devontae Parker just because we're enamored

with the younger Douglas. Which of those two would you spot start if you had to make that kind of a nasty decision? Oh, man, that's really hard against Denver. Not a great game plan. You wonder who Patrick Sertan would be on. I would guess he would probably be on Parker more. Man, if I had to pick between those two,

I would go with the hopeful upside of Pop Douglas, but I don't want to play either of those guys. I would personally play Parker Washington over either one of those players on this week's matchup. Mike? If I have to pick between the two, I'm going to go with Devontae Parker. Although, you've got to watch the Juju news because he was out. And if Juju is back, I think that it makes both of those wide receivers

very difficult to spot start. I mean, it might be jumping ahead here but the answer even though he left with a fourth quarter knee injury that the answer might be hunter henry because we've now had bailey zappy starting two games and we've had hunter henry as a top three tight end both times and the first time was off just touchdown power. But this past week, nine targets, seven for 66 with a score. So I think that if you're looking for a Patriot, the answer might be Hunter Henry. I will bring up Rashid Shaheed on the Thursday game.

Olave could be out. I don't want to – you know, wide receivers have great variability, but Shaheed is a favorite of Derek Carr. I would play Shaheed over Parker Washington, for example. So Shah Shahid if he was for some reason out there at least for me that would be my my favorite of the nasty boys and we we don't know Keenan Allen whether he will be able to play this week whether he wants to play for a team that is playing for nothing. Oh, no, Jason. But I'm just saying, Joshua Palmer, would you play him? I wouldn't. With Easton Stick?

If he's all alone? No, Buffalo just – look what they just did to Dallas. I mean, Buffalo's playing for everything. Chargers are playing for nothing. Yeah, you could get lucky, but it would make me want to die. Okay. All right. I'm with Andy.

It makes sense. Maybe you're in a really deep league where Joshua Palmer does is the actual answer for your team. The targets will be there. Assuming Keenan Allen misses, Joshua Palmer is at least the number two option in the offense, but it will

be rough. He had a broken play right yeah 79 yard touchdown otherwise he had 34 yards he is going to be the guy so if you need somebody that's playing every snap there you go i do ride dirty nasty point per snap you're looking good uh do you think keenan plays i'd see if health wise no yeah health wise i I feel like he could get back, but why rush back for a team that is on the way to a top-five pick and you're playing for Easton Stick? Stats, bro, stats. You want them stats?

How close is Keenan to some thresholds? He's pretty close to some of his career highs. I think he's got some of them. He's got 1,200 yards right now, seven touchdowns, 108 receptions. I feel like he's completed the season. He has completed everything. I did good. I did good.

Put my feet up. Heel up. Tight end waiver options. Really, Hunter Henry's the name to bring up. Hunter Henry's been on fire. The rapport with Zappy. you've seen it for a couple weeks here and he did leave with the injury but pay attention to that they play denver he's a go-to receiver he's 20 percent rostered tucker crafts 14 percent rostered those are the two spot start

tight ends if you got like the best example would be dalton kincaid if you had been riding dalton kincaid and then you just got goosed, do you go back to that in the matchup with the Chargers or do you play a Henry or Kraft? Well, Henry is – I mean, he's set up to disappoint everyone because he looks like a smash start. We've been saying all season, play against Vance Joseph. Defense is at the tight end position.

That's Denver. Denver's great at giving up points to the tight end. Hunter Henry is the number one target in this offense. He's been great. I would start Hunter Henry over most anyone this week. Certainly over Kincaid. Do you have an elevated interest in Tanner Hudson with the absence of Chase? I think it's sneaky.

Yeah. Tyler Boyd. Tyler Boyd. Tyler Boyd could be... Jamar Chase commands what? 25 plus percent of the targets every single week? Those targets have to go somewhere. Not that I love Tyler Boyd the player, but

Jake Browning will have to throw. We're talking about Joshua Palmer with the Eastern stick. I'd play Boyd over Palmer. And then just a cursory note that if Isaiah Likely was still out there, you need to pick him up. He's at the tippy top of the list. And Darren Waller as well.

Would you play Waller over Henry or Kraft or Hudson, though? I'd be too afraid to do that. I would order them likely Henry Waller. Okay. Defensive options this week, there's a lot of them. What are your favorites? The favorite? Let's see.

I said favorites. I mean, you don't have to pick just one. The Bears' defense has been really, really good. They're at home against the Arizona Cardinals, whose offenses looked very bad. They are widely available. So they would be of the teams that are completely available in almost every league. And you're looking for someone to start this week.

The Bears would be my start. If you're talking about guys that are out there in half of leagues, then it's the Broncos and Bengals. Bengals. Broncos and. Broncos? Broncos. Play the Broncos. The Broncos play against Bailey Zappi and the Patriots,

who have not been scary. And then the Bengals get the Pittsburgh hero, Mason Rudolph. Well, it could be Kenny Pickett. The door is for this week? Yes. Ajar. It could be either one, but I feel like the Bengals are safer. Do you want to go Bengals or do you want to go Packers against Bryce Young?

Yeah, I like that one the most. There's a lot of really good options. The Bears one is risky to me because Arizona scored 29 points against the 49ers last week. I know it was ugly, but they did put up 29. When you're seeing Bryce Young versus Kyler. They had a defensive score, right? They had a defensive score, yeah.

They did. I'm just looking, do you go with somebody like Bryce Young, who always gets sacked? He gets sacked four times a week. The Packers have the highest floor to me. Whoever's playing the Panthers, like you just – the Panthers aren't going to come down and put up 30 points on you. Not possible.

Yeah, it's not possible. They're really tough to watch. Oh, they are. They're hard to watch. They're not good. They're winners. And they beat the Falcons. They're winners, guys.

Yeah, baby. Seahawks defense has been playing well they play tennessee which could be levis could be tannahill i don't know that it matters they're also at home so i think seattle's sneaky and low rostered agree and uh the colts against taylor heineke colts defense has been i mean they're they're a good football team they play an atlanta offense that is inept by design. That's the best way that I'm going to put it. That really feels oddly true. It actually feels like they are fourth.

The Colts are fourth in fancy points per game at the defense. I think it's sneaky. They turn the ball over a lot. They have a streak going right now. It's insane. I don't remember what it is, but it's like in the teens of games in a row with a turnover. Am I wrong on that?

I mean, that's what our website says. It says their defense is fourth in fantasy points. That's what I'm seeing. In the last five weeks, number two, number two, 12, one, 15, and four on the defensive side of the ball. And the matchups have been juicy. I mean, it's been Carolina, New England, Tampa Bay, Tennessee, and then the Pittsburgh matchup. But just, I mean, Atlanta's juicy as well.

So let's talk quarterbacks. Full stream ahead. I want to start with Mike's pick because this is the setup. All right. No, I'm not saying I endorse it. I'm saying that I understand it, and this is the setup that this man has given us his entire career, and I'm afraid. I understand that, but it is Baker Mayfield who's out there in almost half of Yahoo! Leagues.

Perfect passer rating this last week at Lambeau, and on the season, he has more top 12 finishes than Dak Prescott Baker Mayfield dude Baker Mayfield has been like sneaky good he's not getting you high-end finishes like Dak has done but you had a you had a month run where he was quarterback 11 10 7 10 then kind of hit a lull. But the last two weeks, quarterback 12, quarterback 2, and you get the Jaguars. I know that it didn't translate to, like, Lamar feeding his wide receivers, but, I mean, Lamar really destroyed the Jacksonville Jaguars. As an overall game, it didn't get us the fantasy points we want, but if this team is going to

win, I mean, it's checking it down to Rashad white and it's throwing touchdowns to, to Mike Evans and who knows, maybe Chris Godwin has figured something out after this really strange, I'm hurt all week. And then I dominate the green Bay Packers. Yeah. I mean, he's obviously coming off a great game in Lambeau. My stream of the week is Joe Flacco, the ancient one. I would love to have a young, athletic, mobile quarterback to pad my fantasy stats, but if I'm looking on the waiver wire, I find the exact opposite. I find an old, statuesque, great pocket passer. He's had three starts so far.

Passing attempts of 44, 45, and 44. They are letting him rip it. He's got a clear connection with Amari Cooper and David Njoku. I mean, he's been the quarterback 13, 10, and 9 in his three starts, and now he's playing Houston. Now, Houston's defense is not a terrible defense, but Flacco's been okay, and the hope here is that C.J. Stroud plays, can score on Cleveland. They're in Houston.

It's a controlled weather environment. I think he's going to pass the ball another 40-plus times and is going to be a fine start. I have the Flacco-Geno Smith decision to make in a league where I lost Herbert and then I missed out on Stafford and it's a thin waiver wire so I just

grabbed as many as I could. And so I have Geno Smith who's my streamer of the week this week. Here's what I want. I want teams and quarterbacks in the playoff hunt and all three of the names you brought up are in the playoff hunt. Baker, Flacco, Geno Smith all the teams fighting for a spot i understand it with flacco i think what's not being said about cleveland is i don't think it's that much about you know the game script

that's going to force the 44 passing attempts i think it's going to be 44 no matter what they people are underestimating the fact that they can't run the football. Like Jerome Ford has been banged up and not good. Kareem Hunt is the least efficient running back in the game. They can't run the football. That's actually a problem. They're running through the air with David Njoku underneath and Elijah Moore underneath.

And so I think that that's – I think Flacco is safer than people want to give him credit for. And Houston just shut Derrick Henry down to a degree that has never been seen. So like Jerome Ford, I don't have a ton of confidence that Ford and Kareem Hunt are going to get it done on the ground against Houston. So I think Flacco is very safe. I think the upside is with Geno, and so that's why he's my pick. Just because he has three elite weapons in the passing game,

if he comes back, they're fighting for a playoff spot. They're playing a Tennessee defense that is 27th against wideouts. So I'm going Geno if he's back, and then it's Flacco if he's not. Both are in play, and then Baker, obviously, they're fighting for a playoff spot as well. All three of those guys, I would take above Jake Browning this week with the weapon problems in Cincinnati. I would take them above Matthew Stafford who, look, Kyron Williams can get it done.

It's a tough matchup against New Orleans. So Stafford would be in play. I don't have a problem with that. I put him in the same category as these guys, but he's not a guarantee. Yeah, that would be really interesting if you had all of these guys but he's not a guarantee yeah that that would be really interesting if you had all of these guys where stafford would kind of sort in and we'll we'll know more information as the week goes on with injuries to you know all these players and weather and all of that but there are good options this week if you are in the playoffs and you were the

team that lost herbert yeah i mean i'll always bring it up. I mean, I won a championship in Dynasty a handful of years ago with Alex Smith, who was a backup to a backup on my team where I had lost multiple quarterbacks. Like, you've got to just play some nasty boys sometimes. Championships are won on the back of those guys. All our waiver wire rankings are on the website, thefantasyfootballers.com. Don't forget about the giveaway at footclangiveaway.com. We've got time for a few mailbag questions.

Mailbag. Mailbag. Yeah. Alex says, Hey, Ballers, playoff semifinals this week. Do I dare start Devin Singletary over Austin Eckler? Yes. Oh my goodness gracious. Singletary against Cleveland Eckler? Yes. Oh, my goodness gracious. Singletary against Cleveland, Eckler against Buffalo. I would.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the matchup is bad for Singletary, and the matchup is arguably good for Austin Eckler. I don't know that there is a combination of matchups that would make me take Eckler right now. I mean, you just saw Tony Pollard have a horrible game against Buffalo. Eckler looks atrocious.

Like if it was against the Panthers, right? Like if the Chargers were playing the Panthers and the Texans were playing, who's the toughest run defense in the league? That's San Fran Philly I think I would take Singletary over over all of them I mean Austin Eckler over the last month as I I'm I'm so happy you're in the playoffs because most yeah the fact that you have this decision is a shock yeah I mean here's here's his fantasy point totals and half PPR going backwards. 5.8 this last week.

That was the only game we have with Easton Stick. The week prior, 18.5. He got in the end zone, had a good week. 3.7, 6.96. I mean, that's just – The Buffalo Bills, for what it's worth, the last five weeks, are the seventh worst matchup for running backs. So they have tightened it up on the defensive side of the ball, and you saw it with Pollard's terrible performance

and the Cowboys' terrible performance. And Eckler's a 10.5-point home underdog in that matchup. Like if you're Buffalo trying to make the playoffs, and you're like, who could I play this week? You get to pick anything you want. I'd be picking the Chargers yeah that team is like lame duck right lame duck situation well not anymore I guess the coach is gone but um we'll see I mean is there a possibility that the interim situation rectifies the usage of Austin Eckler. Yeah, I mean, you could easily have a game here. I mean, this isn't like Devin Singletary is guaranteed to outscore Austin

Eckler, but Devin Singletary has looked great. He has broken tackles. This last week, he had that 45-yard touchdown run to clinch in overtime that was called back that wasn't the reason he was able to make that play. Austin Eckler has looked bad. Now, the change head coach could say, hey, all we have is Austin Eckler. I want you to check the ball down to him 50 times. And Austin Eckler PPRs his way to a fine fantasy day, inefficient, but just has a bunch of volume, a bunch of receptions.

That can happen. But Devin Singletary is getting 30 opportunities. Hey, it can happen. You know, and so I think they're both getting opportunities. Give me the guy who looks like he can do something with it. Yeah, the efficiency for Singletary has been through the roof, so that's where I would go as well. How many times, this question from Brian in Wisconsin,

how many times have you seen the top three scoring team miss the playoffs? The top three scoring teams? All three? I have you seen the top three scoring team miss the playoffs? The top three scoring teams? All three? I have never seen that. No. At first I thought he said a top three scoring team. I have never seen the top three. That's unbelievable.

That's not okay. You might want to, in that league, introduce the play against the median line, which I will be voting on every league that I play in. I will bring that up to a vote from now on. How do you feel about the idea of just letting the sixth playoff spot go to the highest scoring eliminated team? I like that. To me, I feel like that is – I think that's a good way to do it.

Yeah. If you don't want to include median, which I'm, you know, I see the benefits of median on every week that I lose with a lot of points. And I also love the fact that, you know, when you introduce that, it's not simple math to understand comeback to, you know, like for divisional comebacks and stuff like that. It's not as easy as understand comeback for divisional comebacks and stuff like that. It's not as easy as I can gain this much spot.

That's the part that's kind of the yin and yang of it is it's not just head-to-head, and you can't gain a game with a win and a loss. So there's different components, but I like the fact that maybe the sixth playoff spot, I would vote for that. Yeah, I like that as well. All right.

We're going to shut it down. We got more episodes coming this week, including our starts of the week on tomorrow's show. No. That's Thursday's show. There you go. It's Tuesday. And then we've got a long season.

You know what? I barely, I barely exist at this point. I, I at this point. I am alive, though. I've got a handful of teams, and if one of them doesn't make it through to next week, that'll be painful. But I'm going to choose to believe they all will. And I can fill a handful of rings from fantasychamps.com.

How's your Michael Bolton consumption right now? I've gone back to it, yeah. Okay. I think it was too low. I listened to plenty yesterday. I even worked a little Groban in there. I don't know. How does that work though if you have the song? I do have the song but any of these

ballads are really inspiring at this time. You're just going to make a whole playlist. Like You Lift Me Up? You Raise Me Up. You Raise Me Up. You're just going to make a whole playlist. Like you lift me up. You raise me up. You raise me up. You lift me up. You got any creed in there? You going higher? No, there's no creed in there, but

I'm hoping Dak and CeeDee raise me up. How do you not have creed? Dak and CeeDee raise me up. Because he doesn't have the vocal ability. Yeah, ability. That Michael Bolton and Josh Groban do Mike or many or any so

tomorrow's not starts the week you're gonna have to wait till Thursday for that one hungry for more Thursday night preview mailbag news to catch you up on probably practice reports with some significant you know starter sit decisions going on including like the jonathan taylor

pacheco those are big ones yeah and uh the evil one the betrayer josh has jonathan taylor so i'm sure he'll be back chris alave yeah there's a lot of names coming up so if you want to enter that giveaway go over there for clan giveaway.com that'll do it for today's episode of the show you lift me up talk to you tomorrow goodbye everybody thank you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers.