The Ringer NFL Show - Power Ranking the Most Stressful Players to Face in Fantasy

Episode Date: October 13, 2021

We power-rank the most stressful players to face in fantasy football, check in on Danny Kelly’s 22 fantasy leagues, and answer listener emails, including Fantasy Court. Power Hour (3:00) DK Fantasy Check-in (32:47) Listener Emails (35:16) Sign up and compete against us in the Bad QB League on FanDuel here.  Email us at [e-mail].   Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Producer: Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Danny Hyfitz. Before we start the show today, I just want to shout out. The Ringer Gambling Show is one of the best podcasts we have going on the Ringer podcast network. Warren Sharp is, I mean,

you know Warren Sharp. He's as good as anyone in the world at gambling. And he breaks down the games with Verno on Mondays. Him and Ben Solek have like an X's and O's breakdown show on Wednesday. That's incredible.

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in Spotify. Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. My name is Danny Heifitz. I am joined by Danny Kelly, Craig Coralbeck, and today is power hour. Every week, we are power ranking something every Wednesday during the season. This week, we are ranking the players you do not want to face on Monday night football. It's topical. It's topical after the insane Monday night miracle for whether you had Lamar Jackson,

Marquise Brown. Mark Andrews, maybe all three. That would be incredible if you did have that. There were so many people who were down like 40 points and one with Mark Andrews was like 41 or 42 or whatever. I got all these screenshots and it was incredible. And Craig mentioned this the other day that just there is something fun about having like a good player

going Monday night. And then the Ravens Colts game had like the best one I can remember of like all these people who had won with these crazy scenarios. So we kind of wanted to just rank. want to just capture that. But it's like the fear of the guy is better than the... Yeah, encapsulate that feeling of like,

oh God, I do not want to face this guy on the last game of the week. Yeah. Visceral. Visceral, dread. God, I have to watch this freaking guy play. You know, this is a hard list. So I did the ranking,

and they also made their own ranking so they can chime in on how much they hate mine. But this is tough because we're doing it based on 2021, right? It's hard to not let pass. seasons influence you, that kind of comes into play a little bit. How much do you take into account how hot somebody is this year when they haven't been in prior years? It was a tough list. I just kind of had to take into how I really felt. The gut call. Yeah. And to be clear, I think it's kind of like your projections can tell you you'll win or you have this much

percentage chance of winning. These are players that kind of like make you mentally throw the projection out. Yeah, you're like, oh, great, I'm down 22, but I'm facing Mahomes. He's definitely going to score more than 22. It's kind of that feeling. He's up 22. You're right, you're right, right. Okay, so let's just get to it. Craig, who's your number one player you do not want to face someone at football? Okay, let me start the timer. Oh, yeah.

Do we come up with a good timer? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, wait, wait. We never replaced the bet. Did we forget to do the ding sound? Well, I mean, no, the timer hasn't ended yet. Dings after two minutes. Okay, well, we're going to keep doing the ding, but we're still in this market for a new ding.

You can hear this sound when we're done. We haven't quite found the right new sound yet. No, we're still in the market. Yeah. email us at ringer fantasy football at Gmail.com if you have an idea for a ding. I did hear a good suggestion.

We'll have to noodle on it a little bit and think about it. The doink noise when the football goes off the upright. I just think that might go... It might be too kind of quiet. We might not really notice it.

It's hard for people to know exactly what it is. I feel like when I watch games this year, it's... It resonates. They're mic and the doinks. Yeah, maybe. I don't know. I think it might sound weird

if somebody's like on a walk and they hear like a doing, like metal vibrating back and forth, but maybe not. Anyway, okay. Bells are weird. When do you hear dings on the sidewalk? No, I'm saying a doink is weird. A ding is less weird than a doink, I think. Wow.

All right, whatever. This is a conversation. Who are you friends? Okay. The first player that I would not want to face on Monday Night Football is Patrick Mahomes, all right? He's truly mortifying. He's the QB one every year. And last week was the perfect example of it.

In the first half of the Monday night football game, or the Sunday night football game against the Bills, it was a crappy game. He wasn't playing well. They were down at half. He had 14 and a half points at half. He was on pace for 29 points, and he played like crap.

Mahomes is the ultimate, he's the last guy I want to face on Monday night. Yeah, I mean, this one's easy. And in fact, Craig, I looked up in the last five years. So from 2016 through 2021, I want to back up your gut feel with some numbers here. last five seasons plus whatever we've seen this year. Patrick Mahomes, number one on the list of quarterbacks with 30 plus games.

So, I mean, that was probably pretty obvious already. But like, he does just come as like, you know, he just comes with a blowtorch every once in these games. Not every once in a while pretty frequently. Did you guys have Mahomes one? I had Mahomes too, but honestly, my one and two are interchangeable. And realistically, Mahomes is very easy to one. I had, I had them on my list. but I had the quarterback's a little lower than you guys maybe did

maybe it's just because I expect quarterbacks to score a lot of points and I'm just like well maybe it's just like an expectation thing well you're a nihilist so yeah that probably helps facing Mahomes you probably I just think if you're if you're like up 30 and you're facing Mahomes you feel you're like I'm screwed you feel empty you feel distra you like I did all this work all Sunday for nothing my homes is just going to have 32 I Does it matter?

Yeah, it's like looming. It's like the sort of Damocles over you. It's tough. Yeah. Okay. I'm down with it, though. I'm very curious who you had number two. My number two is Lamar Jackson.

Yeah. Interesting. He seems to have like a knack for being kind of wild, high scoring primetime games, which is obviously Monday night football. It's just so brutal. He literally is all of the Ravens points. He is more of the team's points than any other player I've ever remembered playing football. Did he have over 500 yards?

Monday night football. Like, he accounted for, like, 500 of the Ravens, like, 530 yards. Did you see that Lamar has more total yards than the majority of NFL teams this season? That's just crazy. Like, say what you want about Lamar as a player, if you think he's, like, a top five quarterback or not, but statistically he has that Russell Westbrook vibe where he just does everything. He has a triple double every single week.

You know, he'll rack up the rushing yards, the rushing touchdowns. The Red Zone looks, the passing. It's too much. It's overwhelming. And he had 41 this Monday night against the Colts. And I think Lamar, because he's a running back and a quarterback. Yeah, that's hard to argue with. I had him a little lower down only because I feel like Lamar also has the potential for like not great weeks.

He does, but I think that's what's, I think the, like the volatility with Lamar is what's scary is, as you know, because ceiling has to be factored in. It's not just somebody with the highest floor. It's somebody who can explode. I still can't get over that he had 88% completion or whatever it was on the 40, on the 41 throws. and like it was the best completion percentage ever on 40 plus, like 4,000 different games of 40 plus passes. That's crazy to me. Like when you take somebody like Russell Wilson or Aaron Rogers even,

I don't feel like they have that truly like explosion potential like Lamar and Mahomes do, you know? I'm not as fearful. No, he's the same fear of Jonathan Taylor breaking a 70-yard run with Rogers kind of breaking a 70-yard touchdown pass and Lamar's kind of both those things. Not stylistically, but the potential is there. Feels like I'm over two in your guy's eyes right now.

No, no, no, no, these are legit. Yeah, I have no problem with these. Both of these were on my list. I think it's just the order. Maybe it was a little bit different. Craig, I refined my search just to include when Lamar Jackson has been playing. So it's from 2019 through 2021, Lamar Jackson, 10 games of 30 plus points, number one in the NFL. So you just got like a little database thing set up right there.

I'm on player, sorry, I'm on stathead, which is, and then you can go on the player game finder. It tells you how many games certain players have of certain games. It's pretty sweet. You are our stat head, Dick. You are. Okay. I'm going to keep throwing out these numbers

because I like them. This is the number three guy I don't want to face on a Monday night. I think it's Derek Henry, folks. I had Derek Henry number one. Holy shit. I somehow forgot to put him on my list, but that was a huge...

That was a huge oversight on my phone. I had Derek Henry won even over him. It's the sheer volume. Like, do you feel completely helpless? He has 142 carries. The next guy is 92. They just don't care. The Titans just don't care.

They ride him in all circumstances. He's like, and I think you can leave sketch. They just commit. Like, they don't care. They will just commit and commit. Oh, we're down 17. We're going to run it. You just know, you're screwed.

It doesn't matter what time it is in the game. He gets stronger. He's like, Thanos. Dude, I was making this joke to Riley, my editor the other day. He's like, speaking of MCU references, you know, and Black Panther, when the suit, like, absorbs energy and, like, actually makes you stronger. This is what Derek Henry is, like, as the game goes long. Like, the more that you try and tackle him, you're actually giving.

giving him power. So as the game goes on, he gets stronger. I wrote about him a little bit in my power rankings this week. He is on pace. So let's see here. He has 640 yards and seven touchdowns on 142 carries this year. He's on pace for 483 carries, which would completely obliterate Larry Johnson's current NFL record of 416.

He's on pace for 200, sorry, 21776 yards, which would be an NFL record. It would beat Eric Dickerson's 2,000. 105 yards. And he's on pace for like 28 touchdowns, which would tie Lidaney and Tomlinson for most touchdowns in the season. Now, granted, he's going to play one extra game in theory, like if he continues. So, like, you know, it's not like a one-to-one thing.

But I also kind of think like it is because these other guys are playing in different eras, you know what I mean? When the run game was so crazy and such a big part of the game, now it's like the run game is like an afterthought almost, it feels like. So, yeah, Derek Henry, I don't know why I, this is. is ridiculous because like he's the number one player probably on the list I completely forgot to put him on here. Okay. Derek Henry's good at football item number one. Okay, number three, this is the last, or number four player I don't want to see on a Monday night.

This guy is the last quarterback I have for a while, but it is Kyler. You know, the rushing quarterback thing is just too scary. It's just such a different experience to face somebody like that. He's like a video game. Go Go Gadgett Scramble. Kyler's one of those players where I regret he's becoming the quarterback I regretted not drafting every year in the Derek Henry Sam. Here's the thing about Kyler though. I have him way down further on this list and part of it is just pure bias but the Cardinals don't have primetime games like they get Thursday football. Kyler's only been on primetime once though other than Thursdays play. He's been a one Monday night football game. That's weird. He's never been on Sunday at football. They have one Monday

in a football game this season against like the Rams but like Kyler and the Cardinals just don't and we'll have a hard time getting on Sunday night. I knew you were going to tell. I was like you know what Hyvitz is going to bring up the players who have actually played on a Monday night and like use that. Well, you don't have the feeling yet. You haven't watched Kyler Murray in prime time. But it's a player who I wouldn't want to face on Monday night. You know what I mean?

I know. I have certain guys. He does have one this year. The Rams Monday night on... Yeah, I just said that. It's okay. You weren't listening. Sorry.

I was thinking about how I was going to insult you. That's all right. Like most of the way you spend your time. No, I agree. My point is that if he had more primetime games, he would be higher on this list. So you're correct. But my fear is based on previous experience. which is the gift and curse of mankind.

Dickey, did you have him at all or no? I didn't have him on my list. Wow. However, I get it. He's on Deky's list. This is more of a, this is more of like a visceral emotion thing, but like the reason I like Kyler so much on this list,

and like you could put Lamar on this list too. The defense can literally do everything right, and they will still just beat you. They'll just run past you. They'll juke you out of your pants. Like, the thing that I think, is so crazy about Kyler and Lamar is like they're just so much, they're just clearly so much

faster than everyone else on an NFL field. The way that they can escape the pocket, keep plays alive, I don't know, I just think it's crazy. So that like gives you this feeling of, I don't know, like vulnerability or whatever, like hopelessness that you just know this is coming.

There's nothing the defense can do. Even like if you play perfect, these guys are inevitable. So that's why I like that one. Okay. Number five guy I don't want to see on a Monday night. It's Travis Kelsey. I think he's the best combination of ceiling and floor in the NFL. He's literally the tied-in one every single year by a massive margin. So I'll spoil this.

I have Tyree Kill coming up right after him at six. But the reason why I did Kelsey is because sometimes when I play Tyree Kill, I'm like, you know what he could put up four? Like he's done it. Like there is a chance that like the defense tries to phase him out, double him, put somebody high and low, and he'll actually have like four catches for 32 yards. Kelsey, that kind of feels unrealistic. feels impossible, actually.

You just said the volatility thing. So actually, I did the same thing. I have Derek Henry 1 and then I have the Chiefs 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, Tary Kill at 4 for the same reason. But Kelsey just, it's annoying how he can just always get touchdowns season when everyone knows the ball's going to Travis Kelsey. It seems like every week the chiefs have a new way to get him the ball. This week gets him bowling or like he just has the rollout

and then they do the tight-in throw backwards or whatever. But Tyree Kill, I mean, remember what he had 190 yards in the first quarter against the bucks last year? Yes, but it's like he'll do that. And then like, what was it? Like week two or three this year, I don't remember what it was. He had like four points in week two and seven points in week three. Kelsey doesn't do that.

And that does still like give me a little bit of hope. It gives me a glimmer of hope. If I'm down or if I'm up, you know, 17, I'm like, you know what? There's a chance that the defense tries to just take Tyreek away. Kelsey, I don't think that's even possible. So I'm looking at the, I'm looking at this list that I searched or whatever of players that have scored 30 plus points. in the last five seasons.

Kelsey's only done that twice, according to this list. Well, it's a bit different. Set it to 20 and see how many times you've got up. He's probably number one on the list. Sure, sure, but I set it to 30, High Fits. I'm just saying, like,

he doesn't catch 70-yard touchdowns. It's not really in his repertoire. Just thinking, like, the explosion thing. Tyree Kill has had 11 of those games. Yeah, but I don't mean explosion on a play-by-play. I mean, explosion in a game. 11-30-point things from Tyree Kill is pretty insane. It is.

I have to say, that's the crazy. I have Tyreek next year because Yeah It's the suddenness of it all It's the oh one play could happen and he just got 14 points and now everything's ruined So yeah Tyree Kill is the one he's he's kind of like he's kind of like Lamar in that game on Sunday So like for instance on son sorry on Monday night

I think it was like deep into this second like third quarter at least the second quarter Lamar Jackson had like a handful of points like nothing was really happening for for their offense. And I was having a, like, on a group chat with some people. And, like, we're talking about, like, it was like a three-way tie between me and two other guys. And the other two guys needed Marquise Brown. One guy needed Marquis Brown. The other guy needed Lamar.

And I was going to win if I, if neither of those guys scored. And I was like, oh, there's no way in hell. But I was also, like, had that little glimmer of hope. And then by the end of the night, I had literally lost by like 50 points. You know what I mean? It was like, I was trying to hold these. No, I lost by 50. So that's kind of.

same, I think that's the same effect you could add with Tyree Kill where it's like, no lead is safe with this guy. He could score 50 and it wouldn't be surprising whatsoever. Um, so that's why I actually like this one a lot because, and he was definitely on my list. It's like, there's almost no limit to like how much he could score. Like if he had 250 yards, 300 yards in a game, it wouldn't even really be that surprising. Was Kelsey on your list? No. Wow. Who's on your list? You don't have Derek Henry, Kelsey or Kyler? Derek Henry was a mistake. Or Lamar.

I just genuinely I'm excited to the end of this. I had my list. I had Mahomes and Lamar. Okay. All right. That's good. Okay.

Maybe we'll have this next guy. Number seven. And Tyree Kill. Yeah. Number seven here. It's Devante Adams. But it's really Aaron Rogers ranking disguised as a Devante Adams ranking

because it's just the relentless targeting of Devante Adams from Rogers. That's just too much. Like, you can't even go to the bathroom if you're playing against Devante Adams. Because you like come back. He's got three more targets. It's all game. It's incessant.

You can't breathe if you are going up against him on Monday night. There are three guys in the league that I feel like it happens once a month where you watch a drive and a team goes down the entire field on a drive just targeting one player and they score a touchdown. The Patriots, Brady used to do with Gronk. Mahomes does it with Travis Kelsey. It'll just target Kelsey four times around they score. But the person who does it the most is Roger.

with Devante Adams. I think they had one this week where they, like five plays, four targets to Adams, four catches, and a touchdown. And it's just like, to Craig's point, if you go to the bathroom, you miss a drive, you can actually miss a four catch, 60 yard touchdown drive from Devante. It's not even a bomb. It's just every single time.

He puts up like an entire stat lines worth of numbers in a drive sometimes. And also like, there's also the weird thing of the Packers have where DeVante, more than anyone in the NFL, when they're at the two yard line, it's like, it's going to Devante. Like, they will try in the first two downs to throw to Devante.

And it will be one of two rounds. It's going to be a little in slant or a little of the back shoulder. And like, it just always works. He's kind of like Derek Henry as a wide receiver, honestly. Yeah, 100%. It is. Like, you're like, everyone who's the ball going to and you can't stop it anyway. So, yeah, because like when you, so like in a normal instance, you really need a guy to

score points. Most of the time I'm like, oh, God, it's a toss up. Like it could be anything. He could go to any of like six different players, blah, blah, blah. Like, if you need Devante Adams to score points and they get in the Red Zone. It's like, oh, yeah, I'm getting this, like, for sure. Like, especially if it's inside the five-yard line, just run a whip route and he's a touchdown. It's so easy. Did we even talk? We've had two podcasts this week already. Did we even talk about the fact that Devante

Adams had 11 catches for 206 yards in a touchdown? It's become so commonplace. It's just ridiculous. He had 37 points in PPR. And to the list, back to the list. He also has 11 games in last five seasons with 30 plus points, which is number one. It's actually, sorry, it's tied for number two. There's one guy who has more, and I'll see if he's on your list. But he's a receiver. So, like, that's kind of incredible. It's really incredible, yeah.

Okay. Number eight here, this is where it starts to get a little wonky. You feel like top seven were kind of chalk in whatever order. It's like it was those seven kind of. This is 2021. I'm basing it off 2021, and I'm basing this off of friends I've spoken to in the past five weeks. I'm putting Mike Williams at number eight. Yeah.

Because for two reasons. One, he's the number one wide receiver in fantasy football right now through five weeks. But two, it's that when you play him, you kind of just still think he's a fluke when you play against him, I mean. You kind of still are like,

well, this can't actually be real. Like, this will be the week when he cools down. And he hasn't. And he has these explosion games. It's just, I, you know, I can't experience this because he's on my team.

But it's probably so goddamn... Probably so goddamn... Probably so goddamn I'm counting that as a lap. I'm counting that as a victory lap. I'm just saying, you know, it's like, I think when you face a guy like him who's on his fifth season and he hasn't really done anything. And he's just week after week going nuts, at the point now where it's probably more frustrating than anything. Also, he's still a guy that's getting like these 50-yard touchdowns every week.

It feels like the other day, he was wide open. The defense left him completely wide open. Like, how are you doing this? This is the number one receiver in the NFL right now. And he's running free, wide open down the field. But that's the worst feeling when you have a receiver that you're going, and like you need them to stay under 20 points or whatever. And then the quarterback just unleashes the ball.

The camera pans up and you're like, no, no, no. And they just come down with them. And like Mike Williams right now, after Tyreek and Devonter is up there with anyone. Yeah. So I should, I agree. I had. I have it on my list. But eight's perfectly fine.

Wow. I've got them at number five. Like normal. I'm lower on Michael Williams than Craig. But I've got him at five, Craig. Wow. agree with you. Also, the fact is, just, again, this is more of like a gut side. Like, I trust Herbert to go nuclear on a team. You know what I mean? Like the quarterback situation matters.

That's like why you mentioned Aaron Rogers with Devantanos. It's like, these guys are really good. And like late in the game, if they need to come back, if they're trailing by a couple of scores, like, I actually trust these quarterbacks to like get those guys the ball and score touchdowns. So that's also some makes essential dread playing these guys. I have, uh, I'll, I'll, I'll, Well, I won't say it yet because I have another player from this team on my list. I'm guessing you could figure out who that is. If Mike Williams had had Justin Herbert for his entire five years, would he be on his way to be in a Hall of Famer right now? I wonder how much it has to do with the offense, too.

That's true. That's very true. Yeah, because it's not. Yeah. Also, he's been injured, so it's hard to know. All right, number nine here. I'm going back to the quarterback while I'm going Tom Brady. Ever heard of him?

He's 75 years old, and he's still just. methodically destroys you every night. He's so good. Speaking of things like Devante, we didn't even talk about is Brady had five touchdowns and 400 passing yards

the first time in his career. He's getting better. He's currently 0.6, 2 points away from being the best quarterback in fantasy. So essentially, he's 44 years old. He's the number one quarterback in fantasy with Patrick Mahomes.

There's like a thousand ways to talk about Tom Brady, but I do want to just actually mention it. I know we joke like he has no rushing upside and he doesn't. But I do think he's faster than he was like 20 years ago. I'm serious.

He's faster now 44 than he was going to. He had a couple really like nimble scrambles last week. He's faster. Nimble. What do you mean? I mean, it's not a bit. I actually think he's faster. Like the pliability and the way he takes care of his body,

I actually think he is a faster person now than he was 20 years ago. I mean that. I mean, I'm not even, I don't even, I'm not disagreeing with you. Yeah, I'm not disagreeing with you. I believe it. So Tom Brady right now through. five weeks, leads the NFL in passing attempts, yards, he's second in touchdown passes, he's averaging 8.2, adjust net yards per attempt, which is fifth. He's number one in PFF's

passing grade and number one in football outsider's DYAR, which is the metric that measures like total value of a player. He's the number one quarterback in DYAR. So, uh, yeah, 44 years old. Well, this is what I wrote. He's not doing, he's not playing well for a 40 year old quarterback or like setting new standards for 40 plus players in the NFL. He's just like setting new standards for all players. You know what I mean? Like, it's insane to actually. He's not being graded on a curve.

Yeah, right. He's still at the top of the class. It's crazy. D.K., where is he on your 30 point chart thing? Let's see here. I thought he was the guy. I had him at 11. But I mean, I agree with this.

He wasn't the guy who had the 30 point, the most 30 point performances. Oh, that list. Hold on. Yeah, where's your God now, D.K., where's this chart? Let me pull it up. So, by the way, first of all, that list that I'm, referencing didn't include quarterbacks. I'm going to pull up the list of quarterbacks. Oh, okay.

All right, you know, Craig and I, we... He's number seven on that list of quarterbacks in the last three years. Let me pull it up and find the last five years, because that was what we were talking about. Well, no, we don't care about five years because I think that Brady with the bucks is a different animal than he was with the Patriots. This is like a crazy... I mean, he's

seventh either way. He has seven total. It's really weird that he changed teams. He left Bill Belichick in his 40s and is now more scary than he's kind of ever been. You know what I mean? sense like Randy Moss. Not ever, but like, it's, it's the, I think it's the best he's been as a quarterback, statistically since 07, and then, like, he's got the juice back from even, like, five years ago.

It's just, it doesn't mean. I think you can say he's more dialed in right now than ever in his career. It's, they're incredible. Okay. Craig, who's next? I think I know who's next. I think I have a, I have a. I don't know if you do.

Maybe you do. My number 10 is Cooper Cup. Yeah. Oh, no. That was not who I. Yeah. Here's what it is for me. So he's the number of two receiver and fantasy.

but it's like the effortlessness of the Rams and Cooper Cup's performance is like how wide open he is all the time he's just like like when you if you're going up against him and you know Stafford launches one deep and then no one on the screen is near Cooper Cup you're just like this sucks man I'm not having any fun he barely breaks a sweat he puts up 20 points in like a half I completely I completely agree with this one

it's like yeah there's really nothing you can do because he's just every time they've dropped back to pass, he's wide open and they find him. And it's like another first down, another first down, another first down. Death of a thousand cuts. And he's scoring a thousand points. He was on my list for sure. It's one of those things where like, it's even now, like, there's a small recency bias.

Like, remember what he's doing the first three weeks of the season? Like, I mean, he's not, he's, he's quieted down a little bit the last two weeks. But he was just going absolutely bonkers the first three games. So, yeah, I totally agree with this one a lot. Whenever the Rams are at their best, the McVeigh offense, it's, seems more effortless than I think any other offense in the league. Like there's just these massive open areas on the field that these receivers are just hanging out in and they just, it's so, it seems easier than anything else I've seen.

Yeah, he catches it, ducks his shoulders, runs forward for four yards, gets out of bounds, goes back to the huddle, catches it, ducks his shoulders, goes forward, gets tackled, goes back to the huddle, catches it. It's like, God damn it. Wait, did he duck the shoulders on the last one? He ate ducks on the last one. You know what I'm talking about? Can you picture what I'm talking about? He like catches the ball, like covers it up with both hands and then goes out of bounds. I mean, Jared Goff was doing this.

Even like the Jared Golf Rams, it just seems so easy at times. And it's just really annoying, honestly, if you're going up against him. Yes, yes. Hyve, now I'm nervous because I don't think the person you're thinking of I'm going to have in my final two here, maybe. My number 11, guys, I don't want to see in a Monday night, it's Zeke Elliott. Ooh, that's a good one. Still, huh? Still.

Yeah. I just don't like when I I don't like going up against a guy where you know he's going to get the ball in the one. Like you know it's the first option for a team. And I think he's, it's Derek Henry than I really do think it's him. I almost feel like sometimes the Cowboy, like, Kellyn Moore has Zeeke on his fantasy team. Like they really try and force the ball to him in the red zone. Like even when he gets hurt, like it's like it's never Tony Pollard. And it's been this way for the last five years.

Like Zique gets more red zone carries from a feel. standpoint, I hate when the Cowboys are in the Red Zone when you're going up against Sikh. It's miserable. It's horrible. Interesting you have Zeke here. I think it speaks that we haven't had a running back since Derek Henry. Obviously McCaffrey would be higher, but he's like we're not really counting him right now since he's not really

playing. Oh yeah, that's right to forget about that. Yeah. Well, no, it's he's hurt. It's like right now he's just kind of he's number one on that list by the way of 30 plus point games. Yeah. Oh, is he good of fantasy? He's pretty good. I mean, Zick is the running back three right now. You know what I mean? Like it's just

Yeah, but like Zeke, I, I don't know, Zique just doesn't, I feel like I'm, I'm pleasantly surprised when Zieg blows up now, as opposed to. Really? I don't know. I'm not as, I mean, it's not like, doesn't make me feel good, but there's a couple people, I'll just say it because I don't think he's on your list. Josh Allen.

Yeah, I thought about Josh Allen. Was on my list. I, like, Josh Allen, because Josh Allen, honestly is just as much of a rushing touchdown threat as, as like Zika's, but he also is, out of here throw for 400 yards and four touchdown. And just the fact that Josh Allen is the goal line back and the bills are like the best offense in football, the Cowboys are up to there too. But like he has the rushing touchdown upside of Zeke, but also will throw the ball.

And I don't know. Josh is like a nightmare. Yeah, Josh was an honorable mention for me. I still think, again, this is just my feeling. Like I like literally like would close my eyes and imagine I have to face this person. It's your truth, which we will argue with anyway. I'm like, oh, I'm down. If I was like, oh, I'm up 28 and they have Josh Allen.

Like, how scared am I? And I'm like, actually, I think I'm more scared against Lamar, Kyler, and in Mahomes. I don't know why. Maybe it's the fact that he'll still make a bonehead mistake here and there. Or I don't know what it is exactly, but he didn't quite make the list. The last one on my list is a real 20-21 grab, much like Mike Williams. We're getting to the point where it's Marquis Brown. Markis Brown is kind of becoming the Ravens version of Tyree Kill.

It just takes one catch. And he seems to get a couple opportunities each week where he's just wide open down the field. And Lamar's just got to hit him. we've definitely turned a corner on Marquis Brown, haven't we? How can you not? It's undeniable at this point. He is the wider seater six in fantasy. And the volatility that he possesses is honestly more than guys like Devante Adams or Cooper Cup or other guys in the top 10,

Justin Jefferson, like DJ Moore, D.K. Metcalfe. Marquise Brown at this point is like, it really just takes one catch. If you go through his last 10 games going back through December when he also looked great, the only fluke is he really should have more touchdowns. Like he dropped He didn't have a catch until the third quarter on Monday night this week

and he has 29 points. No, Marquis Brown has been fantastic and to be, and look, the Colts defense was gassed and they had like, you know,

really once Xavier Rhodes and I forget who else on the Colts defense went out injured, the seconders, devastated, blah, blah, blah, but still,

yeah, no, Markies Brown is unbelievable. I regret not touting him more because it kind of just didn't make sense. Why? Because he just played great

in December. And I think we severe too too far because D.K. was so heartbroken from 2019, in 2020 that we, money that we, I wish that we had steered more in the lane. But no, Marquise Brown is unbelievable

to watch. He's just great. And it's not a slow burn. Like, I don't know, if you're facing, like, DJ Moore, even Justin Jefferson, somebody who's having, like, an awesome year, I'm not afraid that I can lose the matchup in a quarter or even in a drive. I'm like, oh, he's going to have to have, like, a real 10-catch game that, like, he dominates the entire night. Marquise is, like, a couple plays you lose. Tough for Mark Andrews to have, like, 20 points in the final. final two drives of the game and not make this list. No, he's not on the list. Not even, honestly, he's not even close.

Yeah. He hasn't done anything for most, for most games this year. Other honorable mentions, I was surprised, but I was like, I, I didn't put stuff on things on this list, and I didn't really even feel close to it. Yeah. He's had a rough one. Yeah. He's had a rough go.

I didn't even really consider him. Last year, he drove me insane. Like, I personally was like, I will do everything in my power to have him on my team this year because I don't want to face him ever again. and he's been pretty average he's kind of been like Keenan Allen this year yeah the other the other honorable mention that is not I wasn't even thinking of

is Camara yeah I was gonna say how could we not put Camara on here he has he scored six touchdowns within the last calendar year but he does the different team now doesn't scare me I know but still yeah he's been really good but I don't know I can't let that game go so I'm just going to continue he was number three on my list I don't want to

face Alvin Camara ever again yeah I know you're scarred it's okay you're traumatized DK we respect your truth You know what else I think deserves to be on this list? Austin Echler. I feel like Echler is turning into the new Camara. Like, would it surprise you whatsoever if, like, Echler scores 35 points in any given week? No, but I had Herbert over him.

I'm not there yet with Echler. I don't know why. Really? Just a feeling. He's the number two running back in football right now in fantasy. Yeah, I know. He's nice guy. First, I forgot Derek.

He's great. He's named Austin. Hard to be afraid of something like that. He's so small, you know what I mean? Here's one for you, Craig. I'm surprised you didn't actually put this on here. Aaron Jones, for me, is a... I always hate playing Aaron Jones.

Aaron Jones was the earlier version of this season when he had the... Four touchdowns in week two. Well, I always have Aaron Jones on my team, so I very infrequently face him. But I get... What annoys me about Aaron Jones is that the timeshare thing still pisses me off.

I still hate that Jamal Williams or AJ Jones on the damn field. He comes off the field too much because one of the things that makes a guy really annoying or you don't want to go against is that they're always on the field and always getting the ball.

Devante's always getting the ball. But, like, yeah, Aaron Jones comes off the field. You can, like, actively root for him to just come off and you're just not afraid. Yeah, like, if Rogers just gets hot whenever it's the drive that AJ, that Aaron Jones is not on the field, like you can kind of, like,

get around him having a good day pretty easily. All right. Those are the guys we don't want to face. Not a bad list, Greg. I mean, you're not right, but it's not bad. Okay. DK, all 22 time. DK, tell us how your all 22 teams did. you know it's a pretty it's a pretty good week that that a lamar jackson game was incredibly fun uh i had lamar and marquise

on one team i went into the monday night down i think about 40 points right but but we're here for the aggregate how how many of the 22 leagues give or take are still in flux by i actually still refused to add it up for you guys and that's not going to change i will say but give her to how are you tracking your 22 leagues on a monday night game like that where it's like, oh my God, like, are you checking 22 different scores or like five? No, no, no. Usually narrows it down to like a few, a few leagues. I'm five and oh in two leagues, four and one in a few leagues.

So, you know, those leagues are definitely going well. I'm in some rebuilds in dynasty. I have some teams in dynasty that just aren't very good. I'd also like to point out that I'm in many leagues with professional fantasy analysts. And so I feel less bad about sucking in those. I don't care about the record. What I'm saying is how do you follow multiple leagues in that game? Are you going back and forth in like six different ones?

Or you just care about one? Well, it depends on if I have players going in those leagues and or what happened on Sunday. There's a thing, there's a feature on MFL, which is my fantasy league, and that's where a lot of my dynasty leagues are. It just shows all your different scores through all your leagues. And so usually I just kind of watch there. Do you have a set amount of players in your mind that you know to root for on Sunday? Or is it just too much? you just watch the game.

No, I'm like, I've tweeted this out, and it's kind of turning into my bit, but it's actually true. Like, you know, the, the, uh, who's the guy with the hat with the NFL hat, Rob, uh, Lo.

Rob Lo. I just literally want everyone to do well. You've just, just has fantasy? Just, yeah, fantasy football. I want all players to score. It's literally a participation trophy. You just have every player. No, I've told you guys this before.

Like, I've got to the point now where I don't, I don't try and root a, against any players because number one, it's like stressful. And number two, I have so many in these players that's like, there's no point in doing that. I'm just, I'm there for the fun. I'm there for points.

No wonder, D.K. had a tough time making this list. He doesn't have to worry about going up against somebody on a Monday night because he doesn't look at anything. Yeah, that actually makes sense. Nobody forgot there. I was going to say, this is like what we should do in props. We should start bidding overs and unders and then just enjoy the game.

Wow. Yeah. That's a good way to do it. Let's get to some emails. I just want to give an update from the guy who, Remember a week or two ago when he had the commissioner, a commissioner changed the rules and a guy in the league emailed us

that he wanted to confront the commissioner but he didn't want to do it because it was his fiance's made of honors. He changed the quarterbacks from touchdowns from four to six and then the guy drafted Mahomes. So the guy who said as the email sent an update, he said,

I brought it up to the group chat and the commissioner responded with, quote, I told you all to check the settings, what are you insinuating? Spicy. Spicy, very spicy. And he said they went back and forth the group chat, only one of the guy responded, so he dropped it.

And then he's like, my fiance is actually in the group chat, because we co-managed the team, and I don't think she was thrilled, I brought this up. And I also told her Craig's idea of just bringing up my grievances in the vows, and she didn't think it was as funny as I did. I hope the wedding's still on.

Yeah, hopefully. It's just be really awkward. What are you insinuating? It's so good. Like, look, man, if you're going to fucking accuse me or something, accuse me. I would have responded, like, getting a little defensive, huh there, bud? You know. This guy knows.

What are you insinuating? That's something, a guilty person says that. Every week, if I were you, dude, I would just, every week I would send the amount of points Mahomes would have scored in a four point touchdown league

and then what he actually scored. It'd been like, great game this week for Mahomes, dude. What a pick. Get super passive about it. Yeah. Don't actually do that. We got another email from Carter.

And you just talk about, this course, about vetoing a previous fan. We had a corkis, you know, the doc, a couple weeks ago about vetoing a tyrannical fantasy commissioner.

Carter said the discourse about vetoing that fantasy commissioner's trade reminded me of Rich Eisen accidentally trading for the wrong ball brother in his fantasy basketball league and being heated on his show about it for the next week. He thought he was trading for Lamello and accidentally

traded for Lanzo. The trade stood. I could not believe this happened. This happened this year. I went back. I watched the whole Rich Eisen clip. That is exactly what happened. He said, so he offered Chris Taps Porzingis for L. Ball. And to quote Rich Eisen, he said, I didn't have my glasses. I traded for Lonzo when I thought it was LaBello. And I, and the producer of the show is the commissioner. And they just

have the most passive, aggressive back and forth on the show. And one, I just, it's hilarious. And two, I actually was curious what you guys thought of this. Like if it's a like, should it stand? Like if it should have been vetoed? So Rich Eisen was like, I'm not saying you should veto it, but like, I kind of don't think it should stand because it was an accident. and the commissioner was like, you offered a trade. It has to stand. For God, you accepted it. Eisen offered it?

It doesn't matter. Apparently they were texting and Rich Eisen was like, I'll send Chris Steps for your rookie ball, which obviously is like not the, like obviously Lanzo ball's not a rookie and Lamello is. And so the guy was like, sure. And then sent it like clearly recognized what's happening. And I guess I don't know if it was sent or what, but he sent in the deal like Lanzah for Chrisaps.

And I don't know who sent who sent who. but Rich Eisen was like, cool, L ball, accept. Mind you, the team, the team acronym next to it would have been wrong. But Rich Eisen says they didn't have his glasses on. But he accepted the trade. At first, I was going to say this, this is like, sucks for you, Rich, like, put your glasses on.

However, if there's... But on your readers. If there's evidence of him saying, I want your rookie ball, and the guy goes, yes, you have a deal, then... But if Rich Eisen then sends the trade and it's like L ball for Chris Taps... and he proposed it

and he just didn't have his glasses on. Look, I'm a believer in not getting too crazy like a Nazi about like the oh like this is what happened. You pushed the button, blah, blah, blah. Like in my leagues that I commish, I'm like, did you mean to do this? Like, for instance, if someone accidentally drops a player

when they're when they meant to drop someone or they're like fat fingered it, I allow them to go pick that player up, especially if they tell me right away and it was an accident. You know what I mean? This is like the, it's the spirit. it's the spirit of like what they're trying to do not like oh

you you got them like gotcha I agree like at first I was so ready to be like dunk on RichEyes and it'd be like look man you know what like grandpa you know what like you can't just be out here making trades and I was like ah somebody swindled an old man I feel like especially if you notice it right away

and especially if it's before actual game like come on just let him reverse it it was clearly an accident also like it's funny because obviously I don't play in a bunch of fantasy leagues like with older dudes, you know, DK is obviously 80 or so, but other than DK. But like, that's the first one I've ever

heard. It was like, why I didn't have my glasses on? And I was like, never heard that one before. But you know what? I can see how that's a huge problem. I think about that every time I'm trying to drop a player, I'm like triple checking that I have the right player selected because it's like so easy. There's just a million little buttons on your phone. I heard you the shodiest trades I ever made.

Push. Which was... Yes, you did tell. When I was like, when I was like, the first time I ever did fantasy, like, this was like, 2006 probably to fantasy baseball and the Mets had a catcher named Jose A. Reyes, which was perfect because Jose Reyes, the shortstop was like a top five pick. But if there's a Jose Reyes, whatever, because he was on the Mets in like double A baseball, he had the New York Mets next to him and then just a C. It's like, who knows what C means? It's like Jose A. Reyes, New York Mets. And I flipped him straight up for Jimmy Rollins.

which was incredible. But like that was bullshit of me and I shouldn't have done that. I hope you flipped it to like your older brother then he'd beat you up or something. No, I won the leave. Oh, cool. It was total horseshit.

Totally wrong with me. But it was great. Oh, boy. Anyway. Okay. Want to do one more fantasy court? Yeah, we got a good one here. All right.

It's from Jack. Jack. Jack. Fellows, we have a bit of controversy in our league last week the team with the number one waiver claim, so the last place team, used it on Damien Williams for the Bears.

However, after waivers processed, one of the previous week's games were stat corrected so that there was a new team in last place. That's incredible. And that's a different team that would have gotten the number one waiver spot and Damien Williams.

The team with Damien Williams claims that he has the right to him since he was in last place in waivers processed, and the team that was stat corrected into last place claimed he should have him because he's in last place and that's what waivers does.

Our league is practically split on this controversy so we were hoping you guys can help us now. Wow! What a case! Does the Supreme Court ever just go like,

ooh, I don't know. This is tough. It's kind of like what we do to start to sit. It's just you look like, man, this is really hard. No wonder you guys are arguing about this. No one's at fault here, you know?

There's no fault. That's what makes this really hard. Stat corrections suck, man. Stat corrections are the, worst. No, I think this is simple, though. I think Damien Williams goes to the guy that's in last place post-stack correction. The guy who stack-corrected in a last gets Damien Williams in my mind. And I think it's kind of simple. Like, if we agree on stack corrections as a thing, like, if you win your matchup and then stack corrections come out and then you lose because like,

oh, a fumble was a forward pass, two-point swings it. And we're like, that changes the matchup and you, and it win an L-change, why wouldn't it change waivers and why wouldn't it change things. If this guy put in a claim, and that's key. If this guy put in a claim on Damien Williams, he should get him because he's in last now. Is there a way to confirm that? I assume there's a way that they can confirm. Oh, we do not follow up with the discovery process. But like in their league, they can check for sure. I think I agree. I think I agree. I think I agree too. Yeah. Sucks for that guy. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, I'm glad we could come to that. Hopefully that clears things up, Jack. Let us know how the group chat goes if everything gets

cleared up. Also, Jack is a pseudonym for Rich Eisen. And Rich Eisen's sent in that email. You know how in the Supreme Court they make a decision and then they also write an opinion at the end? Here's my opinion on what you should do. Go to a free agent auction budget, FAB, instead of doing waiver order. That'll solve all your problems. What was the last thing we explained free agent auction budget? This is kind of a good chance.

Like instead of waivers where like the last place guy just gets the first pick, which is like the NFL draft, which is dumb and the worst team should get the best picks in my opinion. You can just, you have a budget and you can allocate how much you want. And therefore, it's capitalism. Whoever wants it gets it. Yeah. I think just using Fab, using Fab will eliminate this problem. Not that it's ever going to happen again, probably, but it's just a better way to do it anyway. It is.

Agreed. Use free Asian auction budget. There you go, Jack. Okay. There we go, Jack. All right. Court is bring, court is over. Bring in the dancing lobsters.

Bring in the dancing lobsters. DK., do you know what that's from? Zero. Well, how would he know that one? Is that from SpongeBob? No. No, there's no chance. you should know that one.

That's from the Amanda Bind Show. Holy shit. Or all that. I don't know actually what she came from. But like, that's like Nick. Oh my God. Was it all that or was it,

was it, or was that the Amanda show? Ooh, might have been the Amanda show. I think it was the Amanda, Amanda, Amanda. Man, Amanda, man, man, Amanda. Bring in the dancing lobsters. We've alienated a large portion of our listenership.

It's just a Drake song, D. I mean, I can't talk. I got the Napoleon question wrong. I'm still just very bitter about that. Amanda Binds and Drake are not unrelated. I mean. There's been tweets. Oh, geez.

I think I vaguely remember what you're talking about, actually. I actually, I want to start, I want to maybe, I wonder if I could just use the audio every time we do a fantasy court of. Court dismissed. Bring in the dancing lobsters. Oh, my lobsters. Bring in the dancing lobsters. Yeah, we really should. Okay.

All right. I will not be on the pod for Thursday for the prop bets. Forgot about that. For our weekend preview show. So you guys, I'm going to be at a wedding. So you guys will have to go on without me. we're going to dive deep on the pluses and minuses of PPR while you're gone. It's going to be amazing.

Maybe we'll have you call in like I did last year when I was in Tahoe. Dude, take Tahoe. You can do wherever you're going. We'll do a call-in segment. Okay. Yeah, I'll call him. There we go. Just come fly out of things.

Okay. Thank you, Craig. Thank you, D.K. Thank you, Amanda Bynes. I hope you're okay. Thank you, Lorne. Lauren. Did Amanda Binds ever sing?

Was she a singer? No. I don't think of it. I wouldn't be surprised. She has siren songs for drink, but... Like, she has an album. Oh, wait, no, yes. She is.

No, but not. She would never be the singer in the SNL. I'm 100% using Amanda Bynes on this one. No, you can't. Okay, fine. Hollow notes. Thank you, Hollin'outs. Oh, yeah.

That's such... Is that the first time in human history anyone's tried to do with Tika just said, oh, I can't... Amanda Bynes not a singer? Okay, hauling notes. That's that thought process that's never happened until just there.

Yeah. No one's made that jump. Amanda Bynes, rich girl. I wonder if people will get that. I don't know what that was. You're a rich girl, and you're going to. I thought that was a very easy. That was like a layup reference.

I thought it was an Amanda Bynes reference. It was a Holo Notes reference. It didn't flow as easy as I think you thought it did. So you guys, when you were talking about the Amanda Bind show, it made me think of this thing where like in the old days, or in the Cold War, the, like, CIA or whoever, would like interrogate people that they thought were double agents for the Soviet Union or like deep cover moles, you know, and basically asked them like questions that only a very specific subset

of a generation would know from growing up in America. So for instance, like quiz you on the Amanda Bynne show. The first thing I thought of was like, if you guys ever did have to get that test to prove you weren't like Russian agents, that would be a really good question to ask. Because you would only that generation would know. I have no fucking clue what you guys are talking about. How do you know I'm not a Russian agent? Or it's like asking people like about commercial, like serial commercials that they watched when they were 12 years old or what kind of cereal they ate, things like that. Like only American culture.

That whole, the Keebler elves, what kind of working conditions they got in that tree, man? Man, where is OSHA? EL Fudge. Those are the best, man. I have some real questions into the Keebler work practices. The sweatshop in there. Do you know what I'm talking about, Craig? Is EO Fudge a thing in your generation?

Well, I know that name. Hell yeah, that was my jam. D.K. Are you a Russian spy? No. Okay. Craig, is this going to the podcast? My friends used to come over to my house and not knock on the door. Like, just come in, take E.L. Fudge out of our pantry and leave.

What kind of shop were you running there, D.G.? Why was your door open? I don't know. Okay. Your friends just walked out of your house, stole cookies and left? They were real assholes. Do they come to They never let me

They say hi to you They came to my house Stole some cookies And left Is this like Walk in left Or like do they give you Like a courtesy five minutes

They didn't say hi They did not say hi They just took cookies And then left Fucked up Santa Claus I know All right Thank you.