The Ringer NFL Show - Supreme Fantasy Court: Taysom Hill vs. the People. Plus, Week 12 Bold Predictions

Episode Date: November 25, 2020

We lead the show with a special edition of Supreme Fantasy Court in which we weigh in on the controversial move by ESPN to remove Taysom Hill’s eligibility as a TE in fantasy leagues. We offer up our gut calls and bold predictions for the Thanksgiving Day games as well as the Sunday Week 12 slate, and then look back on our Week 11 predictions and build our million-dollar turkey day daily fantasy lineup.  Taysom Hill vs. the People (0:45) Thanksgiving Day Predictions: Jordan Akins, Texans (21:10) Duke Johnson, Texans (24:14) Will Fuller and Brandin Cooks, Texans (26:18) Alex Smith, Washington (28:09) Sunday Predictions: Nelson Agholor, Raiders (31:20) Robert Tonyan, Packers (34:55) Seahawks Defense (37:34) Darius Slayton, Giants (40:33) Daniel Jones, Giants (42:00) Million-Dollar Lineup (46:48) Email us! [e-mail] Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's episode of the Ringer Fantasy Football Show, we send Taysam Hills tight end eligibility to Supreme Fantasy Court. We give our gut and bold calls for the games on Thanksgiving and on Sunday, and we give our million dollar lineup for Thanksgiving Day. Stick around. Hello and welcome to the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. My name is Danny Heifitz, and we have breaking news for you. ESPN released a statement today saying that Taysam Hills' tight end eligibility has been revoked.

Gone, stripped. He's a regular quarterback now, and this decision has unleashed a title wave of fantasy litigation. Our fantasy court has been flooded with appeals from lower circuits, inundated with motions to keep Tayson Hill as a tight end for the rest of the season. There are fundamental challenges to the fantasy jurisprudence and the very role of chief executive in a fantasy democracy. And this decision will have a sweeping,

that changes the topography of the fantasy football landscape, not for just this season, but for a generation. And with such a momentous decision afoot, it is beyond the scope of our humble fantasy court. So for the first time, a case is reaching Supreme Fantasy Court. Justice Kelly and Justice Chargers third string quarterback, Craig Holbeck. We are here today

to hear a case that has risen to the very top of our Supreme Court docket. And we take a representative email from a reader. Rose. I have a fantasy court question. I had the foresight to use my waiver

claim on elite tight end Tayson Hill. Leading. Lead. Leading the witness. Continue. I won my week 11 matchup and I plan to keep Hill in my tight end slot even after he loses his tight end eligibility by locking my lineup and full roster and not making any more ad drops or changes to my starting 10 players. I have already received pushback saying that the commissioner will kick Taysam Hill out of my lineup.

Is this a bad commissioner move? There are no prior rules stating this is not allowed. Justice Kelly, please advise. This is difficult. This is also extremely, I feel like this is unique. Have we ever had a situation like this before? I mean, there's a reason it's not in the rules.

This is the first time a fantasy court has ever just not been specific to one person. This is a fantasy court that spans across the world, across the globe. Thousands of people are affected by this problem. I think it's funny that, because on Twitter, I believe it was Monday night.

People started to realize that there's this loophole where you could just, fucking leave Tayson Hill in the tight-end spot, even though he did officially lose his tight-end status on Monday, 9-ish. Yeah. We need to outline this so everybody knows just a little bit. So in ESPN leagues only, in Yahoo, he is listed as a quarterback. In ESPN leagues, if Tayson Hill was in your tight-end slot last week,

and he scored whatever, 22 points. This week, his eligibility has been changed. He is now only a quarterback. He used to be a quarterback tight-end. However, if he is still sitting in your tight-end spot and you just don't make any lineup changes, any lineup changes. If you even change a wide receiver, ESPN will tell you, hey, there is an ineligible player in a position you need to move him out,

and they will tell you to move Taysam. They won't allow you to make changes, right? However, if you just do nothing and you were lucky enough at a certain time before this deadline happened to kind of plan your lineup for the next two weeks, you could keep Taysam Hill as a tight end until for the foreseeable future and have two quarterbacks

in a one quarterback league. I want to tell you about a loophole within a loophole that I discovered. So Monday afternoon, we knew that Taysom Hill was not going to be a tight end. I went ahead and looked

at my week 12 lineup, saw that I had, who'd I have it? I had a guy in there at running back that got injured, so I was like, okay, this guy needs to come out. He's on IR now.

And I switched Gus Edwards in there for this, running back and it allowed me to make that change on ESVN. And so I basically like, not only am I keeping Tayson Hill at Tidane this week, I am, I got in like before the deadline, before everything locked on Monday afternoon and changed my lineup for week 12. Yeah.

So I don't know. This whole thing is a mess, obviously. I, this is why it's, we've gone to, elevated it to Supreme Fantasy Court. Right. I can't imagine the group text turmoil that is going. on. We got an email from someone named Forrest who said, I'm not speaking to my cousin right now because of how this went down. And even if we were meeting for Thanksgiving, I wouldn't talk to them.

I feel bad for fantasy commissioners at this point because I legitimately don't really know exactly where I land on this. Like, I don't have a strong, passionate opinion on it. I'm going to give you my verdict. So let's start with just the simpler question here, which is, was the ESPN right to take the tight end eligibility away? Yeah. I think so. right that's that's the basis at which we need to work off of i think that's great we can all agree there's no like a dissent the dissent are from the crazies right it's like correct you shouldn't he should not be a tight end going forward but but should should so first of all can we just acknowledge that whether for technical difficulty or to prevent an uproar ESPN has done the

equivalent of like a supreme court punting this back down to a right or like the the federal government puntings down to all the local commissioners or it's like, all right, everybody, you can individually figure out if everybody should have to, like, be removed because they can't get him out of your tight end spot. Correct. They basically, if ESPN has a frequently asked question site and they basically have said in it,

lead managers, you know what, this is up to you. You can rip them out of people's lineups and deal with it or not. It's not up to us anymore. This is a chaos. Literally, I'm going to just read it off. I'm going to read it off to you go. The ESPN FAQ. This is the, yeah, the official FAQ.

If Hill is left in the tight-end flex or wide receiver tight-end slot, users will be unable to make any roster or lineup moves. So originally it was thought that you could still make lineup moves but not roster moves. You can't do anything. They are hog tying you to this decision. I can't even cut Joe Burrow. Never mind, pick someone up. I can't cut Joe Burrow right now because I have Tason Hill in a tight-end spot on my ESPN leak.

Okay, so continuing the ESPN FAQ, if a user chooses not to remove him from that, slot, the user will receive points for Hill's performance. However, if your league deems that it is an unfair advantage, if your league deems that is unfair, league managers will have the ability to move Hill out of the starting spot. And then it goes on to explain how they do that. AKA ESPN basically said, you got us. I mean, they're between a rock and a hard place, I guess. Because on one hand, like, one of the fun things about fantasy is like discovering this hidden gem and getting him before the the rush, right?

It's managerial ingenuity. Think about how many awesome waiver-wire pickups win people leagues. This is not like a new thing. Have someone pick up someone the week before they go ballistic and win that person their league.

Now, the lineup style and like having a quarterback in at tight end, obviously this is like sort of a unique situation. But I think they're trying to decide, yeah, they're trying to decide whether to reward the managers

that had the, like, in the email, had the foresight to do this leading the witness. But yeah, I don't know. It's tough. The thing is, like, the reason this is different than just, like,

adding a sneaky waiver guy and then, like, he turns out to be great, is, like, this has nothing to do with having football smarts. Like, this is just getting lucky, right? So, in a way, yeah.

Do you think people should be allowed if they don't make any roster moves, they should be able to keep Jason Hill in their lineup? The thing is, is I enjoy how much they are hamstrung by this that you know what part of me is like right if they want to just not make any roster moves and stick

Tayson Hill there then okay however if I was in some league going up against some team next week and his team happens to be perfect for week 12 and he has no injuries doesn't have to make any changes and now he just gets two quarterbacks I'd be fucking pissed I have to say I don't think I've ever

been a Gadsden flag guy like I'm not a big tread out don't tread on me person but some part of this has awakened the take your hands off my Tayson Hill, like that's deep inside of me. Come and take it. They're coming, they're not coming for your guns, but they're coming for your tight end ones. These are the fantasy

carons of the world. Coming from my, like, absolutely not. Get off. This is like my team. Get your hands off my clubhouse roster. You don't know. This is my locker room. Can you imagine if a different team wandered and told what the, I would never go into someone else's locker room until you had to run your team. Get out of here.

And it's like, you know what? If this, these are the rules, he's beens handed down. You know, we can't do anything about, you know, this, this big regulatory body. But you know what? We cannot just have people voting in some group me poll

or whatever that it's like, that are all, I'm all competing against for playoffs, but yeah, make his team worse. These are not, this is not an objective democracy in this group chat.

These are people who are jealous of my success. Yeah, everybody that doesn't have Taysim Hill is obviously going to vote. Oh yeah, of course they can't have

taste of highlight tight end. That's ridiculous. That's why we are here. We have to decide. So here's my, it's up to us, but here's my question. And this is the fundamental role. I think this is the real question. I don't think we have to decide if it's like, is this up to democracy?

Is this an example of democracy where the right of the league, democracy and we sort it out to voting and all we believe about democratic ideals? Or is this an example of emergency where we need a chief executive, the commissioner, to step in.

I think this is a role about, this is really about the chief executive. What if the commissioner is playing the person with Tayson Hill this week? Well, that's a terrible, let's assume the commissioner's not playing this person. No, I have this exact scenario in my life right now. Unless the commissioner's completely out of the playoff hunt,

he's not, he can't be objective. That's the job. I actually believe that the commissioner is, this is not up to a vote. It's up to the commissioner. Because like, it's kind of like, you ever been in a, this is a nightmare leak. You been in one of those leagues where they didn't set the price or the playoff

money division until the middle of the season. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they're like they forgot to do it. And then everyone just wants whatever will help them with their specific team and like where they are in the standings. And it's at a certain point. This isn't a democracy anymore. Like everyone is as a skin in their game. There's no pretending

that you're doing anything other than being out for yourself. I think this is similar. There's no one's like, I'm trying to uphold a future precedent. This isn't going to happen again. Right. So I think the commissioner just needs to make the fairest decision. And honestly, I see the idea for giving them a zero. But like, it's, to what D.K said, it's such a crazy handicap to not adjust your lineup at all,

especially in like the corona season. There's so many injuries. So many people that are getting, yeah, like put on the COVID-19 list. Like, odds are it's only going to benefit someone for one week, if that, right? Like, truly. Because at some point, like, you got bought. got a couple of buys coming up next week. This is a crucial week. I mean, this is the final two weeks of the season.

Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. So, okay, are we going to go around and then give our decisions here and give our take on why we're making these decisions? Do you guys have your official verdict? So, best two out of three, I guess. Oh, best two out of three would be interesting. Well, I mean, do we have to come to a consensus or is it just? I think we do. I think that people deserve it. I feel like other courts give rulings and the Supreme Court, which is the highest one gives opinions, which is kind of funny. but yeah so we can give

so I guess we need a majority opinion yes someone could abstain I think majority opinion is the way to do it yeah okay so who wants to go first so here's thing I feel I have Tason Hill my used to be a league and a large part of him feels personally wronged is he sitting in your tight end

tight end slot yes wow and I feel personally wronged and we're recording this on Tuesday night and I feel like I have to address so part of me here's now let's if we can talk real polytec here for a second the issue is that I have is that this is definitely a like don't ask for

permission thing like better to ask for forgiveness because you just let him sit in your lineup it's easier to once you beat someone to answer this question then like address it up front but I also don't want to like go through waivers and not get it tied in to replace him but I can't make any roster moves

so I'm kind of screwed on that front but it would suck to not get any roster waivers in but also not be able to play Jason Hill that's what I'm kind of worried about so So where do you land? And this decision is a unilateral decision. I think that he should not be in the lineup.

And I hate to say that. Oh, wow. I have him there. Wow. I have him in the lineup. But here's what I keep coming back to. He's not a tight end. He's not.

He never was. He's always been a quarterback. The Saints have always said he's a quarterback. Sean Payton always said he's a quarterback. They threw him the ball. But like he's always been a court. It's not a tight end in college who like played court. He has been a quarterback his whole life.

That is what I keep coming back to. It's ridiculous he was ever allowed to be a tight end. And I think that this is... Hold on a second. Didn't you say that you don't want to cook with a Swiss army or you don't want to cut with a Swiss Army knife for something last, just last week? Yes, but that's because he's not...

I didn't think it was a great quarterback. He has been a Swiss Army. He can do many things. But in terms of like his position designation, I know he's like on... But like, he's been listed on the Saints roster as a quarterback. Always. And you could be like, oh, well, watch and play.

That's not how this works. The label next to your name with the team is the label on your fantasy roster. And at a certain point, I think it was ESPN kind of got out over their skis a little bit with being like, oh, yeah, he's a tight end. And now there's like this whiplash, but in reality, he never should have been a tight end. It was a magical weird moment. And this is a correction of a mistake. And it may be painful.

And it will personally pain me. But part of me is that feels like that's why I know it's right. because I'm upset about what I'm saying, but I still know it's true. He should not be in your tight-in lineup. I am okay with the commissioner saying, you will get a zero if you play him this week. Move him or lose it.

And I hate that, and it is a violation of people's fantasy rights, but no, he shouldn't be able to play a tight-end. I think the fantasy carons need to put their mask on, and I agree with Danny Hyphitz. I think that he should be removed, or zero points. Move them or lose it.

Wow. Okay. I was convinced by High Fitz. I didn't know where to stand going into this recording. I was honestly on the fence. Well, you guys have outnumbered me. I was going to vote for allowing him to stay.

Because here's why I think that he should be allowed to stay. The reason people picked him up was not because he was a normal tight end playing normal tight end position, blah, blah, blah. It's because he has this insane upside as a guy who's like playing this really unique role

for the Saints. The people that went and picked him up a few weeks ago were rewarded for the way that they're using him and the way that he's getting that volume and the way that he's being used as a rusher, all that stuff. So my vote,

my opinion was going to be that, you know, for the people that had that strategic outlook, that vision to add him, put him on that roster just in case something crazy happens like this, then they should be rewarded for their foresight. And I think that there's enough disadvantages of having to not be able to do literally anything

with your roster or your lineup that, you know, it doesn't make it so it's like complete cheating for that team. Like they still have to like figure out like how to fill their roster. Next week you got a couple of teams on buys with like Tampa Bay's on buy in week 13. Like there's a lot of fantasy relevant players on that.

So I don't know. That's my take. I think the people should be rewarded for having the foresight to go stash this guy because, I mean, that's honestly, it's what fantasy is all about is finding these breakout players. I would argue the reward was you got one week of a quarterback at tight end and congratulations. But I think that the issue is with the logic, and I think that's very appealing, but I think the issue is that I think the issue is that by acknowledging, well, you know, they can't make any changes to their lineup until they change this is acknowledging this is incorrect. But hey, it's hard. and I think that acknowledging the fact that it is such an advantage that we should let them literally be frozen in time, amber, like the mosquito in Jurassic Park, immobile for however long, because this is such a big deal.

The fact that that's like an acceptable thing means that this is such a ridiculous advantage we shouldn't be accepting it. Like there shouldn't be an exception to, okay, you can have this ridiculous loophole if you stop, if you tie all four like roster spots behind your back and don't make any pickups. And at a certain point, it's such a ridiculous thing to a, like, if you have to make that many exceptions, it shouldn't be allowed in the first place. Because it's just weird. Like, you can't have that for precedent in the future. It's ridiculous. So I don't know. I think for the greater good of equality and equity in a fantasy community, this is ridiculous.

People should play the positions that the team says they're at. The majority rules here. Wow. Okay. It is now the law of the land. Yep. move them or lose it. Is this where we tell people

the fun fact about the Supreme Court which it has no formal authority whatsoever to enforce any of its opinions and all of it is completely a construct in our minds that we agree to follow through? No, no, we don't mention that. We don't mention that. Okay, good, good. So there you go.

Fantasy Supreme Court, it is decided. I'm keeping it in there for as long as I fucking can. Oh, in my own league? Karen. Until someone tells me to do shit, I'm not touching it. You fucking Karen's? Oh, man.

No, to be clear, like, you finagle all you want in your own leagues. I'm just saying if your commissioner, like, don't feel bad about, like, yeah, tell, give me zero. Well, now it doesn't everything else in the show just feel irrelevant and so much less important? And we're like, all right, who do you like this week? Unreal, yeah. Oh, my God. Let me tell you about Duke Johnson. Just, nah, it doesn't get you going.

Happy Thanksgiving, if you're listening to this on Thanksgiving. We got some gut calls, but we wanted to do a special Thanksgiving gut call round for the Thanksgiving games. My Thanksgiving one is a bold call, if that's okay. Oh, that's a good. First, I just want to shout out the Thanksgiving game. So the schedule, first of all, the Raven Steelers game is the best Thanksgiving game in six years. Like the last time there was a Thanksgiving game

that was this good was 2014, the Seahawks and Niners played in a rematch of the NFC championship game, which was sick. It was like the Richard Sherman, Michael Crabtree game, and then they rematch on Thanksgiving. So that's easily,

this is easily the best game since then on Thanksgiving. However, of course, we're inflicted with this COVID news with the Ravens where, like, you know, who knows what's going to happen. J.K. Domman's not going to play. Mark Engerb's not going to play. Yeah, we'll see how that goes. But if you're listening to this, perhaps there's been news about that game.

The other two are the Texans at the Lions, 1230 p.m. and then Eastern. And then Washington's playing Dallas 430 p.m. Eastern. Who wants to go first? Justice Kelly, Justice Chargers quarterback? All right, sure. I'll start out with my bold take. We talked about him on the last episodes, but I think this is the

Jordan Aiken's game for Houston. Oh, wow. He missed three games with a concussion and ankle injuries. He came back. And this is a guy who started out the season really hot too and was kind of like a big part of their offense to start the season. But then, you know, it petered off. And the reason I'm, the reason I'm excited about him is just because it's the reason we're talking about Tays and Mill. It's like the tight end position is just so bleak right now. I just want someone to emerge as like an actual viable guy weekend and week out. I think that can be Jordan Akins. I think Watson trusts him. And their offense is depleted right now in terms of their past catchers with Randall Cobb on the IR. I have. haven't seen Kenny Stills' status for this week, but I'm guessing it's probably unlikely that he'll be a full go if he goes at all. So I think that means that Akin's is going to be like a big part of this offense this week and maybe potentially going forward throughout the rest of the season.

So the other things that keep in mind here, Watson is playing better than maybe any quarterback in the NFL right now. And I just want a piece of that offense, if that makes sense. And Detroit's defense is terrible. It feels like Detroit is, basically just like bottomed out. They're the worst team maybe in the NFL right now. Like at least the most depressing team in the NFL, which is the way they've been playing. This feels like a lame duck game for Patricia in terms of like

they just weren't able to fire him because they have to get ready for a game today or this week. And so anyways, all those variables, all those factors together. I also could see this game turn into kind of like a higher scoring game just because both defenses are bad. And I do think Stafford might have a chance to bounce. back in this game too.

So, yeah, all that said, benchmark for him. I don't know how bold this is, but it would be his best game all season. 13, half PPR points. You mentioned you can see the Lions making it a high-scoring game. They're coming off, I mean, this is the first shot out of Matt Stafford's career. Yeah.

Which I found astonishing because they're the Lions. First shutout ever. How do you feel about like the Lions' offense in this? Let's say DeAndreau says DeAndreau doesn't play. We don't know if he's going to, like, you got Adrian Peterson maybe starting. Like, we don't know if Kenny Galladay is going to play. Galdade is looking unlikely.

he was, this is Tuesday afternoon. He was downgraded to a no practice today. He was limited on Monday. And so people were like, oh, maybe he'll make it back. And then he was downgraded to no practice. So I don't think Ghaladay is going to play on a short week. But it does sound like D'Andre Swift is trending in the right direction. He was limited on Tuesday.

This is today. So we'll see how it goes. But I think getting Swift back would be helpful for them, not just for the run game, but for, he's like a dynamic player. in the passing game as well. I think that could be a big deal for them. I just think, I don't, I don't think that the lion's offense is as bad as it looked last week.

You got Stafford with the hand thing. You got multiple injuries in that offense. I think they're going to have a chance to kind of like bounce back and be more close to like what they actually are this week. So I'm not saying they're going to be awesome, but I don't think they're going to be like a dud. Sticking with that game, I actually have a call about that game too.

I think Duke Johnson is going to just be top 20 running back. It's not like, it's not particularly bold. But I think he's worth starting. I think he's more flexing. This is great because I think a lot of people are giving up on him. I think, exact. A lot of people are giving up on him. Obviously, David Johnson went on injured reserve and then everyone was like, Duke Johnson.

And then everyone remembered, oh, wow, Duke Johnson's like one of the more disappointing fantasy players of like the last three or four or four or four years of four years. And every time he gets opportunity, it's like not there. And everyone's like, oh, he can run between the tackles. And then he never does. And et cetera, et cetera. I mean, the Texans traded a third round pick for him, which was the most, I think anyone had given up in like four or five years for a running back. And then needed Carlos Hyde to come in off the street and like replace him. So he hasn't had a good history.

But here's the thing. It's two things for me. One, he played like 77% of their snaps last week, which was like top five among all running backs. Like he's getting, like, they got no one else. No one's getting carries in there other than him and like CJ Process.

Like, that's it. And C.C. Procise has four carries all year. So Duke Johnson is the backfield. And also he can block, which you know I love, he lit up a Patriot last week on a Blitz. So he can block. He's going to be there and he will get the work. The flip side, well, not the flip side,

but the other reason I like him is that the lions are like the worst team giving up fantasy points to running backs. They're a terrible run-D. They've given up a lot of receiving yards to running backs. I think they've given up tied for the most receiving touchdowns for running backs. Obviously, Duke Johnson is a good receiver. And they've given up the most rushing points too.

So it's not like Duke Johnson's the best rushing running back in the NFL. He's a very good receiving back. But I think that the overall, I just think his odds for a touchdown are good in this game. His odds for a lot of work and a lot of catches are pretty solid. And on one hand, I know it's weird to plug a starting running back is playable. But the fact is he's had one game worth

playing the whole season. No, I think a lot of people are going to bench him. Yeah. I think a lot of people are going to bench him. And it's also sucks because if he sucks, then those points are on your bench the whole weekend, and that's always annoying. But I just think that he's a really good opportunity this week against a pretty bad team. And I think

if you were thinking about flexing him, I think he's a really good play. Ironically, though, you don't want to flex him. You probably want to put him in your running back slot because you want the flexibility of the flex over the weekend. So I actually think you should put him in your running back slot. So sticking with this game, we all love the Texans because here is my good call. And it's

literally we're just naming all the people in the Texans, and I think this is maybe just us talking about how much we love to Sean Watson this year. I think Will Fuller and Brandon Cooks are going to go over 100 yards each. Oh, wow. That's a good one. We do love the Texans. We love the Texans. The Lions defense has allowed the fifth-most

yards to wide receivers, which is pretty crazy. There's no stills. There's no Cobb. It's literally just them too. Fuller's kind of been slow the past two weeks, and I think this gets him back on track. Watson has been so good, like D.K. said, really under the radar good. He has the best passing grade in the NFL after they had that horrible four-stretch run

against those terrible teams. Since then, week five on, best pass a rating in the NFL and their first in per-play efficiency. Yeah, he's been bawling. That's a good step. They're humming. They're humming offensively.

So I think you want to hop on this Houston train while you can. Isn't that also post Bill O'Brien that section you just mentioned? Correct. That's hilarious. Wait, he's the number one Passer rating after the guy

rid of Bill O'Brien? Is it really that surprising to you though? No, but that's still like on the nose. But here's my one concern with this. So you're taking Fuller and Cooks, I'm taking Duke Johnson, you're taking Aiken. So that's the whole Texans office. One of us is going to be wrong.

You know when you're watching those studio shows and then everyone picks the same team to win the game? And then like that team always loses. Does this mean we should just like, get on the lines this week? Probably. I love the spread too. Right now the Texans are laying two and a half.

I know they're on the road, but like, I would grab that. Part of me is like, well, we did all this work and research, and part of me is like, when everyone agrees on something, it's never that. That's true. All right. Any other Thanksgiving was?

I have one bold prediction for Thanksgiving. Okay. This is not based on numbers or facts. It's based on heart. Alex Smith is, I think, is the number one quarterback scoring for Fantasy on Thanksgiving Day. This is huge. Alex Smith.

You just got the lease. You now own... Salty Spatoon. My name's on the least. This is really... simple. Alex Smith had the surgery that saved his leg on Thanksgiving morning two years

ago, and I'm a sucker for karma. So this is really what he's thankful for his football and then he'll show us all. I just think that like Alex Smith three touchdowns day, like two years to the day after he had that surgery. Do you think he will bite into a turkey leg at the end or will that be like too much?

My God. Jesus. I don't want to think about that. Don't remind me of my own mortality. No, I'm like, here you go, Alex. they just rip a leg off the turkey. He like wins it. Here's a turducken. I'm kind of excited for this Washington Dallas game.

I don't lie. Like, on paper, it's a terrible matchup between two bad teams. But like, I'm actually pretty interested in who's going to win the NSE East. There's a lot of interesting young players like McLaren, Gibson,

C.D. I mean, Amari's still a young guy. You got Zika. There's like some good skill players playing in this game. Yeah, Michael Gallup erasure there. Sorry, I know.

I mean, when Michael Gallup, in 2020, when Michael Gallup is on a new team. I can't wait to see what he's doing. He's Michael Gallup's like the guy who plays with Adam Gase without playing with Adam Gase. You're like, as soon as he gets away from Adam Gase,

he'll be good, but he's not with him. Where would be the best place that Gallup could go? And I think he's, I think he's not a free agent until 2020. Should we just say Kansas City, or is that like not funny anymore? Sure, why not? The other thing about this Cowboys-Washington game is, did you guys see the thing with Mike McCarthy and the watermelons? Oh, my God, the Gallagher.

where he brought the, I thought this was fake when I first saw it. He brought watermelons into the ballroom of a hotel. Was there video? No, Tom Pelliserro and NFL Network described this. I would not have believed if I hadn't heard it from like his, his mouth. It feels like an onion article or something. Yeah, seriously. He brought watermelons and he laid, he's like, guys, we didn't do enough with our goals.

And he talked about how one of their goals was to like smash the ball out of Dalvin Cook's hands. So he brought watermelons in with the team goals for the week. And they were all labeled. And he had a sledgehammer. Not a prop, like a sledgehammer. he smashed the watermelons in front of the whole team and then one of them was smashed the ball

to Davin Cook Sands and the Marcus Lawrence the defensive end for Dallas is like, I want to do it. And then he smashes it and they're like, yeah, and they're all getting hyped and Mike, his pants are covered in watermelon. And then they won the game.

So, I mean, imagine what Mike McCarthy can do with like a whole Thanksgiving dinner spread instead of just like one million. He's going to smash a turkey now probably. Yeah. They're the ones ripping his legs off.

Cowboys lore forever. I mean, I can't believe that that has. So anyway. That interests me. I like to hear more reporting on that. Your take is pretty bold. I mean, if you look at Alex Smith number one, QB.

The quarterback's playing on Thanksgiving are Lamar Jackson, Ben Rufflesberger, Matt Stafford, Deshawn Watson, and Andy Dalton. I mean, that's pretty good. I just, Kevin Garnett, anything is possible. That's where I'm at right now. I'm trying to will this goodwill into the world. That's basically what I'm trying to do right here. I want to believe in something.

TK., do you have another Thanksgiving one or no? I do not. That's the extent of my Thanksgiving takes. We'll push to Sunday. regular old Sunday ones who wants to go I'll go I got one on Nelson Aguilar

I want to give this the keep the Nelson Algalar party going game against Atlanta he's quietly doing sort of like what we thought rugs was going to do for this Oakland

for this Las Vegas offense I mean he's taking the top off the defense pretty regularly he's helping Derek Carr be much more aggressive down the field he's sloppy

like to me he's not like that much different than what he was in Philly to be honest. Like he'll drop. He's had opportunities to catch like deep passes and he's like come up short. I wouldn't say there drops necessarily, but you know,

the kind of pass that like really good receivers would probably catch. But the point is he's getting a lot of opportunity in this offense. Now, I'm going to say he is a little bit boomer bust, clearly. But last week, he was third among all players and weighted

opportunity rating, Wopper. which is a combination of air yards and targets. The classic Whopper. The classic Whopper, which is a combination of air yards and target share. And that is from Josh. Can we invent an advance that called Big Mac? Yeah, we'll figure it out. That's pretty good.

Anyway, man, my point is basically just like he's a big part of this passing offense. The Falcons past defense is bad. And I just like, I think Derek Carr is like really confident right now. Obviously, they lost that game against the Chiefs, but they did look very good on offense. and I just like this Raiders offense right now. I think Aguilar is going to get a lot of targets. What's your benchmark?

I'm going to go with 80 yards and a touchdown. Throwing a touchdown. Wow. So we're starting Aguilar this week. I've always kind of liked Aguilar. I thought he was... I have two. He came out of USC, right?

Yeah, he was a first round pick. I mean, he's a good player. He just... To me, he's just like a guy that got really... Like, he lost his confidence. He got memed. Yeah, I mean, he was in Philly. Let's address the elephant in the room here.

Imagine being a badish player on a Philadelphia offense. Like, that doesn't sound great for your mental state. The video of the guy who saved the, what do you save it? Catch a Baby out of a building on the local news. And then he's like, I caught it, you know, unlike Aguilar. Like, that was literally the funniest thing that happened to the entire, like, season. I don't remember those last year or the year before. Can we play that clip?

And it was assisting people down. My man just started throwing babies out the window. We was catching him, unlike Aguilar. and his mishaps, I like to put that out there. That was the funniest thing I'd ever seen. So honestly, he needed to get to the other end of the country to, like, get away from that. For sure. For sure.

Is it done a bunch of people rewrite their histories in Vegas? Good for him. He's one of many. Is that something that they do? One of the few people who's gone to Vegas and won. That's going to say, is that like Vegas is where you can reinvent yourself, I guess. Speaking of gambling in Vegas, listen to the new Ringer podcast out there called Gamblers, hosted by Dave Hill. It's a great pod.

anthology series on the Underground Lives of Six Gamblers. Nice plug. Thank you. All right, who's that me? You. Yeah, just keep it rolling. Robert Tunyon, top five tight end this week versus the Burrs. So Tunyon's been really up and down this week, been a borderline.

He's basically had that four touchdown week, and that's the only reason why he's, like, in any of the, like, he averages this many points per game because he had, like, 41 game. But I do think this week is not as daunting as a matchup as you may have thought against Chicago. Don't get scared off by them. They've been amazing against running backs. So I would say you gotta be worried about Aaron Jones, Jamal Williams, because they've allowed the 32nd most points to running backs this year, the Bears.

Tight end's 17th. Wide receiver's 17th. A little vulnerable in the passing game. After this Packers lost, I'm really a big, like, just like how Aaron Rogers had those like, fuck you comeback year. Like, I think there's fuck you comeback games

after like a really crappy loss to Indianapolis. I think Rogers is going to come out. This is a prime time game. I think he's going to shred the bears. I think Tunyon's going to have a good game. The bears have a lot of 50 plus yards and or a touchdown to a tight end in every game this year,

which is pretty crazy. So I'm going Robert Tenion top five tight end. I don't know if I said that. That is pretty spicy. I want to ask you something. How are you feeling about your boy Aaron Jones these days? Relatively quiet the last three weeks. You would think that, young Daniel,

but when you go to, hold on here, let me scoot over just to make sure I'm not screwing this up. I'm going to scoot over to all fantasy pros and do weeks 1 to 11 running backs, average points per game. Aaron Jones is fourth. Okay,

now narrow it to just 9 through 11, the last three games. Was that to that? Since he came back from whatever it is he was out on. We're watching selective sample sizes in action right now.

Yeah, seriously. I did the whole season, you're like, but what about these three weeks? He's been the RBE... Hmm. Go down. Scrolling down.

I typed the wrong things. He's been, been the RB-9. Okay, fair enough. He's good. Everybody's got accepted. Like, he's in, I'm looking at his stat lines right here. He's in like David Montgomery zone right now, 15 for 58.

That was a fighting words. What the hell are you talking about? 10 points, 12 points, 15 points? Yeah, he's never had single-digit points in a game this year. I don't know. He's been pretty, he's been fine. He's been just fine. What will you do if David Montgomery outscores Aaron Jones in this game?

Somebody make that. D.K., make that your bold take. Is he even playing? the question. Aaron Jones has missed three games, four games this year. He is the total

RB7. It's like F off all of you. All right. Enough Aaron Jones he protests too much. He thinks he does protest too much?

No. Okay. All right. I still have a gut call left. This isn't my bold, but it might as well be bold. I think the Seahawks are streamable defense this week.

I think they're top 12 with the position. Ooh. The Seahawks. It's kind of insane because remember the whole thing about, you know,

they're like the worst past defense. of all time and history, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they gave up, like, the most passing yards and NFL history through nine games when they had only played eight, which is, you know, pretty fucking incredible, if you think about it. Just love it. It's just the best.

But here's the thing. Basically, I know this is Galaxy Brain, but one, I just think people need streaming these this week because the Bucks are playing the Chiefs. And also, like, the Chargers are playing the Bills and the Eagles are playing the Seahawks. And, like, I think there's probably a few teams in each league that probably need to stream a defense. The Seahawks, number one ability, availability. They're owned in, like, less than a quarter

of leagues, they're rostered. So they're probably around, probably because they suck. But they've been playing better because, you know, Carlos Dunlap, I mean, he is, what, three and a half sacks in the three games he's been in Seattle or something? He had that walk-off sack, but almost walk-off sack against Arizona. That was impressive. Jamal Adams is there, even if he

hasn't really done anything. Quondry Diggs had his first good game for Seattle. They're playing better. Adams has been, he's been racking up some pretty good stats. I wouldn't say, yeah, you know, he hasn't necessarily made a big. I don't even worked for a big. But, like, yeah, he hasn't made the impact that you'd hope, but. But more importantly

than how the Seahawks are playing is who they're playing. They're playing the Eagles. Carson Wentz has 14 interceptions and 40 sacks in 10 games. Like four sacks per game. To put that in perspective. Nice, D.K. I don't even get it. What did you say?

He said Carson Winston. Oh, huh. Carson Winston. Did you make that up? That's not bad. I don't know. I just thought about it. Because he's a turnover machine right now. Carson Winston is a great punt, D.K. Well, that.

And not just that. That was a very good pun. Carson Wentzden. Unbelievable pun by D-Cat. Unreal, yeah. Wow. I don't even know what to do with myself. Here's the thing. Speaking of not to do with myself and doing math in public,

I was so happy because it's 40 sacks and 10 games. So it's like, oh, no, how many is that for the whole season? I'm like, oh, it's four per game. It's four times 16. I'd think about that. And then I thank God for March Madness. So it's 64 sacks in a whole season, right? Yeah.

We could do that math in public. See, that this defense hasn't really been that bad if you look at the fantasy points. Like if I just run through the season 6, 3, 11, 5, 7, 7, 3, 5, 5. That's why I'm saying you can start them this week. They're going against the Eagles. They're a good play. And like, here's the thing.

Carson Wentz is on pace for 64 sex. That is, that would be like the fourth most ever. Like, the only, like, there are three seasons with, or quarterbacks gotten sacked more than 64 times. Two of those are David Carr for the expansion Houston Texans who famously was sacked until his career was over. Like, it's David Carr. David Carr, Randall Cunningham, David Carr, Carson, Wence, a little Texans Eagles, like, interlaid thing there.

But so I just think that there's a really high chance the Seahawks have a good game. I think there's an excellent chance of a touchdown or at least a few sacks and a turnover. So if you need someone, I know it seems nuts, but like I would play the Seahawks. This is good. Yeah, that's pretty bold. D.K., what do you got? I'm feeling a Darius-Layton blow-up game coming. It feels like he's due.

You know, I think we've talked about him a few times on this pod where we all like him. He's an explosive guy, but the Giants offense is just not very consistent or predictable or at times even very good. But they have been playing better lately. And I think going up against a bad team like Cincinnati, I don't know. I just feel like there's a light at the end of the tunnel

for the teams of the NFC East now, and like all these teams are still in it. It's crazy. And I just think with the way that the Giants are playing, with the way that, you know, the Bengals have to be demoralized after losing Joe. Burrow. I mean, I don't know if it really will affect

the defense, but I just, I can't see them putting up much of a fight in this game. And so I'm just liking what the Giants are going to do here. And Slayton is my guy on that offense. The Bengals haven't typically shadowed in their coverage this year. They do have William Jackson, who's a good corner, but

he's only, he's only shadowed, I believe, two times this year according to PFF's numbers. So I'm not too worried about that. Bengals are top 10 in points allowed to opposing receivers. and I don't know I'm just going with a big Daniel Jones

and Darius Slateon game but I'm sticking with Slaten in this one I'm saying let's go with six catches for 80 yards I mean I love this you want to take the points on that that's 11 points 11 plus points

11 plus points so this of DK once again you and I are in the same wavelength here I have Daniel Jones top seven quarterback this there we go that works perfect this is just so easy the bangle season is fucking over

like they have no wills to play now and the Giants have every will to play. And Jones has been better. I mean, the first half of the season, he threw two touchdowns. And the second half of the season, he's thrown six. He's also third in rushing yards amongst quarterbacks, which is pretty impressive. So he has a little bit of a floor there. He's had, like, close to 20 points in three of his last four games.

And yeah, I think that's all there is to it. I like Daniel Jones. High Fitz. How do you feel about that? I feel I'm floating. I'm floating. I mean, we just had three minutes of positive Giants talk, and I didn't even say anything. I'm kind of, so I'm very, I'm very curious.

I don't know why, but I'm like, it's like morbid fascination who's going to win the NFC East. So here's, I was thinking about this giant bangles game because I was thinking about like, you know, sports is a metaphor for life. And in life, the mediocre prey on the most vulnerable. And that's how like the Giants beating the Bengals this week feels. It's like the weakest link in the whole league, like these poor Bengals with Ryan Finley, are now the Giants will get their first non-division win of the season against the Cincinnati Bengals without Joe Burrow just feels like life-finding away, but like in an ugly way. It's kind of sad.

Yeah. Recapping last week's gut calls real quick, I said Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson would both be top 20 receivers. That worked. Yeah, Thielen was receiver one. Justin Jefferson was receiver 13. I also said to Marcus Robinson would top 30 receiver, and then you guys made me parlay it with Levy on Bells and top 20 running back.

Neither worked. Levinville 24th, which was close. Marcus Robinson was not close, although if he had not freaking messed up that route with Patrick Holmes, but still probably wouldn't have been close. My bold was that the Ravens' offense would look great. Whoops.

Lamar was not a top three quarterback, like I said. Just a bit outside. Vaughn into the windup in his first offering. Just a bit outside. He tried the corner and missed. Just a bit outside. Yeah, Lamar, bad draft pick this year. Also, I had to mention that, you know,

the run Derek Henry had in that walk-off game? Yeah. It was literally in the shape of an L. Seth Walder pulled up like the dots. The dots, yeah. Like the path he took on the run, it's just an L. It's the most unreal thing I've ever seen. He planned that. Arthur Smith was like, hey, make an L on this next run.

Hand him at L. D.K. How'd you do? Let's see here. I had Damian Harris 12 plus points and half ppr. I'm going to say this is correct. He had 11.4. Close enough. Austin Hooper game. five catches for 50 yards. I was wrong, he only had 3.3 points.

However, fucking Baker Mayfield sailed a pass about 10 yards over his head. He was wide open in the end zone. We need to stop like when Baker has good games we can't be like,

oh, Baker sucks. This is why I'm out on all non-running back Browns receivers at this point. You know how everyone was giving Baker shit for doing all the commercials

before he did anything? Yeah. That was brilliant because if they had waited another year, he wouldn't have gotten any freaking commercials. Would you rather have

Wents or Baker? Wence, I think. Wence is definitely scoring more points. Wentz is making five times as much money and is playing

just as bad, so. True. That's true. And then my third one, my bold prediction was Michael Pittman 15 points in a half PBR.

He had 12.6. So incorrect, but pretty good day from Pittman anyway. Look, top 15 receiver is spiritually correct. It was just kind of a down-week receivers.

Yeah. So overall, I thought, you know, a little good, a little bad. Craig, how about you? Jonathan Taylor, baby. I stuck my neck out under the guillotine, said he would get double-digit fantasy points. He did. He got 13.4. It looked great.

We talked about that on our Monday show. My second one, not so good. I said that Julio and Ridley would be top 15 wide receivers. That was wrong. Julio got hurt, like, in the first quarter, so it didn't pan out. Ridley played fine. And my bold was Alex Smith and Logan Thomas would combine for 30 plus half-p-pr-pr points. They scored 10.

Oh my God, you got a hold of that one. What happened there? So, you know, let's see here if Alex Smith, the QB1 on Thanksgiving Day, can turn the bounce back. And to be clear, I want to be clear about the Alex Smith thing. I'm like, this is what my heart is saying. It's probably not going to happen. Hey, these are called gut-gut bolts, you know what I mean?

This is your gut speaking. But I just, I just, call me a sap. I just believe in the, this, two. years? Or he's going to be terrified. No, I believe in him. He's not terrified of anything. Or, well, he hope maybe he should be. Okay, million dollar lineup. Let's do it. Yeah. All right. So every Friday, making fan, well, it's not Friday. It's Tuesday, isn't it?

It's certainly Tuesday. Look at that. We're recording on Tuesday. Right. This is live on air, people. This is how the magic is made. All right, we're making a fan dole lineup, playing for a million dollars every week, except this week where it's like, it's one and a half million for the three. Thanksgiving thing, so it's a little more complicated, but because it's, you know, whatever. It's a lot of money. We're playing for a lot of money. That's the point. The year I turned 26 as the head of my own brokerage firm, I made $49 million, which really piss me off because it was three shy of a million a week.

Did we win a million? Yeah, how would last week go? We won $38, which we used to split between the three of us and probably pay taxes on of some sort. That's cool. It's huge. 38 bucks? D.K., what is that for each of us? don't ask me that no yeah what is it

quick $13 $1275 something like that okay that's not bad there you go yeah everybody actually played pretty well we had like a pretty

solid lineup yeah and also we made it on Thursday afternoon we had Mark Andrews at tight end which worked out obviously we would have slept in Taysam Hill

if we had like known that that was going to be a thing so that probably would you know but you know official lineups but yeah

do I'm going to run through so we're doing a Thanksgiving lineup this week just the Thursday game so if you guys want to do that match us make follow our lineup on Fandle.

So here's what we got for Turkey Day. We have, obviously, after all of the praise, we gave this team. Deshawn Watson is our quarterback. Then for our running backs, we have Zique, who bounced back last week, and Gus Edwards, who is super cheap after the COVID stuff for JK Dumms and Mark Ingram. Our receivers, we have Will Fuller and Brandon Cooks, stacking the Texans, like we said. And we're going with highlight reel CD Lamb as our third-door receiver. For Tide End, the second most expensive option we liked, T.J. Hawkinson.

There's not a lot of healthy guys on Detroit. And Hawkinson's been super consistent this year. Our flex, we had a lot of money to spend those $38. So we got Terry McLaurin, who has been just honestly kind of just matchup proof and just been fantastic. And they're playing Dallas who's terrible against the past. And then to finish it out, to squeak in under the financial line there, we got Dallas Cowboys defense against Washington, who, you know, we'll see. I like this. McLaurin only needs like 50 yards to, like, be leading the league and during Sunday.

obviously that's cheating because Hopkins and Diggs won't be playing, but he's third in receiving yards among receivers. He's been great. Quiet success stories, quiet sleeper payoffs of 2020. Won't be so quiet after Alex Smith has a fourth touchdown day on Thursday. That's true.

So to recap the show, if you're a commissioner, you probably want to make sure that the person who was Taysam Hill gets him out of the tight end lineup if you're in an ESPN league. If you have Taysam Hill, fight, tooth and nail, guerrilla warfare, do whatever it takes. You got to keep them. we all think the Texans are going to have a big game so you should probably bet on the lions

and yeah we're putting in this light up and Terry McLauran big game and I think Alex Smith is great because I'm a sap and then we will not be coming to you guys with an episode on Friday so we will see you guys next week have a happy and safe Thanksgiving everyone and have a good weekend you guys you say thank you DK thank you Craig it is Thanksgiving so I appreciate both of you it's a pleasure doing this podcast thanks Danny I'm giving thanks Thanks to y'all. I appreciate you, Danny. I appreciate you, Danny.

I appreciate you, Danny. I appreciate you, Danny. I appreciate everyone who listens. Like, you guys are great. But Lauren, Lauren is really the, I mean, Lauren's the best. Where would we be without Lauren? I have no idea. Thank you, Lauren.

Shouts to Katie Perry. Nice. Great guests this week. I want this music thing to stick. All right. Have a good weekend, everyone. We'll see you next week. I like the music thing.

I think it's funny. I like Dika just be like, Thank you, Arcade Fire!