The Ringer NFL Show - Making Sense of Muddled QB Situations | The Dantasy Football Podcast (Ep. 352)

Episode Date: November 27, 2018

Nyheim Hines and Cameron Brate lead this week's Initial Advice segment (0:30), and Chris Thompson and Gerald Everett are among the top players to add off waivers this week (12:00). Plus, what does the recent surge of QB benchings and injuries mean for your fantasy team? (24:30) Hosts: Danny Heifetz and Danny Kelly Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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What's going on, man? How are you doing? I am horrible because I have Andy Dalton the Ringer Fantasy League, and it's a two-quarterback league, and we also have Mitch Tribusky, and we're screwed. There's a lot of injuries this week. We're having that battle of attrition late in the season where people have to really adapt to some of that stuff. Yeah, we're screwed. Oh, but I forgot. Craig, Jim, how are you guys? Are you Craig? I really care about you. Thanks. I'm great. to be here. Also, I think Jim might not have a mic, but Jim, you're beautiful. I know.

Oh, there it is. He does have a mic. Hey, look at that. He was going to sleep. Well, Jim, while you guys are both there, Jim, how do you feel about Batman music for the DK's Dark Nights? Sure. Hit it. Really? What about, like, the Blue Fire

Dark Night music? No, never mind. All right, never mind. Fine. We're in a hurry. Anyway. All right, D.K. Let's get into some Dark Nights for this week. Obviously, it's the last week of the fantasy regular season for many people. So, real do-or-die-week. So let's just dive in, shall we? Yeah, go ahead.

Who do you got first on your list? I have some real hard-hitting fantasy analysis to start off with. We're just going to call this, like, working title, no-shit Sherlock. Austin Echler, the Chargers, obviously. So Melvin Gordon has an MCL sprain. He's not likely to be out for the season, but he is week-to-week at the moment. And we've talked about this before about handcuffing back in vote. Echler can do a lot of things Gordon can do.

He's not quite as good, but he's shockingly competent for his draft pedigree and all that. He's good, man. Yeah, he's good. He's very good. I think he can get you 80% of what Gordon is doing, if not everything. So if you have Echler, hopefully you handcuffed him, but if not, definitely you can plug him in very safely. I'm so sad that I didn't get him in more leagues and just hold on to him because, yeah,

I mean, he's explosive. He was, I believe he was a spark god back in the day before he was drafted really fast, really explosive, good receiver, slippery, he's very good. You can make the argument that he's not getting enough touches in that offense. It's obviously tough to take away touches from Gordon just because he's so good this year. But to me kind of find to watch him play. To be clear, you mean speed, power, agility, reaction, and quickness?

Yes. The Chargers number two running backs, or like their receiving backs, are always good. They had Sprouls, Woodhead, Michael Turner was a back up there at one point. Now, Eckler. Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. I forgot about that. The history lesson.

Look at you. I love it. Yeah, that's a good play. Going up against the Steelers this week. MCL injuries typically are at least two weeks, probably more like three. Something to keep in mind, week 14, they get the Bengals, which, as we know, is basically the best fantasy defense to be going up against if you're any position. So that's a good one.

My first initial advice about my dark night this week, Gus Edwards or the Ravens. I think we can kind of say at this point that he is officially arrived. they're still going to have to deal with a running back by committee in Baltimore because you know you got Alex Collins, Ty Montgomery, Buck Allen they're all kind of in the picture there. I think with two straight 100-yard games, you know, obviously he's working really well with Lamar Jackson in that offense. He's a downhill guy.

I just think he's started, he's really started to emerge. It doesn't seem like they really like Alex Collins all that much anyway. So going forward, I think Edwards's guy, Jason Lockhart, reported that yesterday, actually, that Edwards is, quote, definitely the guy in the Ravens backfield. He said that the coaches believe he's more instinctive, doesn't dance in the backfield like the other Baltimore running backs. And I saw this.

I dug this up per PFF for the last two weeks. Edwards ranks first in broken tackles on rushes, 13, first in elusive rating and second in yards after contact per rush, 4.1. Among qualifying rushers, so minimum 24 attempts behind only Seekwan Barkley. So he is breaking tackles. You know, D.K. What's that?

That's why they call him Gus the bus. Gus the bus, baby. The U-Haul. He's not the U-Hull. He's the bus. Jerome Bettis wasn't even that good. Moving on. All right.

Who do you got next? Yeah, I'm stuck you with that, Drew Bettis. Last one for me. So Marlon Mack, obviously, he suffered a concussion on Sunday. Obviously, this is very much, like, monitor his status throughout the week.

But if he's not able to play next week, I loved how Naheim... Oh God, I'm speaking of names. He's going to miss him. Naheem Hines? Nahim, I think, yeah. Nahim Hines? Well, he looked wonderful on Sunday.

I really liked the way he was running. I mean, he had... Yes, wonderful. I love his blend of like speed, but also he can lowers his shoulder and just truck people, but he also is really quick in the open field. He's been their past catching guy,

so I like him a lot more than Jordan Wilkins, and I certainly like him more if Mac is out because they're playing the Jaguars, and I actually like him... Because I think he can be on the field in between tackle situations, but also if they need third and long and all those things. I think he's just a more versatile piece, and I would actually play him with a fair bit of confidence

if he's going to be out, because I think the pass catching gives him a volume, like a poor man's James White. So love 9-E. Heinz is fun. He, if you remember early in the season, like he was, he kind of emerged as the leader of that group before Matt got back,

and he was really looking solid, catching a lot of passes. there was that one game. I think it was against the Texans where he like skyed up over a defender and grabbed a touchdown. He's like got natural receiving skills. So I like Heinz.

I think he has a potential to, you know, be good down the line too like just in the next couple of seasons. So keep him in mind. Should we just go into the next guy or do you got anything else? Let's just roll in, D.K. This is your boy.

Cameron Brate. With O.J. Howard on the injured reserve, Brate kind of inherits a lot of the volume in that offense in terms of the tight-end position. We've talked about it many times on this podcast. He is a Red Zone Master. I actually saw this from Matthew Barry on Twitter. He's accounted for 28% of Winston's touchdown passes

since the beginning of last season, which is crazy. That's notes. One third almost. And so he's still kind of just like this touchdown upside play only. He's not going to catch a lot of passes. He's not going to be, you know, he's not like a PPR, or anything like that, but all he does is score touchdown.

So last week he caught three catches on four targets, 26 yards in a touchdown. He was the only Buccaneer with the Red Zone look last week. And going up against the Panthers this week, who have given up the most fantasy points per game to tight end position this year. So I think it's a good matchup, and they're probably, you know,

the game scripts are just going to match up with what you want from that. And so I think Brade's a good play going forward. Yeah, Brade splits with Winston-in and Fitzpatrick and have been absolutely night and day. It's been fascinating to watch that happen. We're going to touch in that a little bit later, actually. The last one for me, I think I said that for Heinz,

but this is the real last one for me. You mentioned him last week. I mentioned a few weeks ago. We love Josh Adams on the Eagles. He had 22 carries for 84 yards and a touchdown. He also just looked great. He had 48 yards after first contact. And then between the tackles,

he had 16 carries for 77 yards, according to Eastman stats and info. They're going against the Redskins, which have not been able to, deal with the run as well as they should have. Their defense has kind of fallen off along with their offense in the last few weeks. And then according to Rotow World,

Doug Peterson said he has to get Josh Adams more work each week. He's basically been named the feature back. Corey Clement ripped off a couple runs last week, but it was really more the result of open holes. I think Adams was the best runner. He's the most decisive runner. He's really breaking off chunks more consistently. He's doing more with less than the other guys.

And he just, he has the job. And he's fantastic. I think the Eagles' offense. is doing better. They have an interesting schedule coming up. So I really love Josh Adams this week and the rest of the fantasy playoffs. Yeah, I mean, Adams is kind of the foundational back, and that I think opens things up for Clement, but he's not getting, like Clement's just not going to get the same volume. I think, like you said, Adams is the guy now.

He's physical. He can run between the tackles. No one else on that team kind of has the same attributes as him, and so it makes perfect sense. It's actually kind of frustrating why it took him so long to kind of get to this point, but that's the NFL for you. I think he was a rookie, and I think it's... Yeah, that's true. I think the two months in the middle of the season can be really huge for rookies sometimes.

So it might be a blessing in disguise. Absolutely. My last guy is actually two guys in it. Again, it's another one of these contingent on kind of what happens going forward, but it might be worth a waiver claim before all this stuff goes down. T.J. Yildenar Carlos Hyde for the Jaguars going up against the Colts this week. If for Net get suspended, for throwing a punch.

I don't know, like, I actually don't know off the top of my head what the history is in terms of guys getting suspended for that kind of stuff. Typically, I would guess, I would lean towards him not getting suspended,

but you just never know. If he does, if Fournett does get suspended this week, then that's a huge opportunity for Hyder Yeldin, both really. I think Hyde is going to dominate the early down work, Red Zone.

Red Zone action. Fournette has actually gobbled up 13 Red Zone looks in the last three weeks. He's just getting tons and tons the Red Zone looks. The next closest skill player on the team is actually Hyde in that time with just two.

So, you know, if Fournette is out, there's tons and tons of opportunity for scoring there, and you could have a very key ad in terms of hide or yield in late in the season when you might have,

when you're dealing with some injuries or whatever. So that's something to keep in mind. Yeah, I think it's unlikely at this point that Fournette's going to get suspended, but you'll probably know this by Tuesday afternoon. There would be probably something very definitive on this.

But if he does get suspended, then it's definitely a great play. But I don't think he's going to be, to be honest. Yeah, probably not. Worst case scenario, though, honestly, it's a good handcuff. Exactly. I think that's actually the better play because I think Four Nets injury is one that's very easy to linger. Right. Should we just talk about Bortles now?

Or we're going to get to Bortles later. Yeah, we'll get to Bortles in our third segment. Yeah. Before we move on, let's take a quick break. Here's a little insider travel secret from our friends at Hotel Tonight. There are tons of empty hotel rooms out there just waiting to be booked. And Hotel Tonight has partnered with these awesome hotels to help them sell those unsold rooms, which means you get incredible deals.

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or download the app now. All right, TK, let's hop into a little waiver wire lightning round. Obviously, we don't know your leagues as well as everyone listening does, but we have thoughts. So whether it's adding somebody to your bench, maybe you need to toss one of these guys in your lineup, we just want to keep an eye on them. We're going to give some thoughts,

and we give you guys the autonomy to make choices. That's really nice of us, yeah. That's life, man. This one's interesting. Chris Thompson of the Redskins, I had him. this is fascinating to me. So he's fantastic,

but it's actually a similar story to last year where the beginning of the season, he was great. He's this, like the, I mean, running back standards, grizzled old veteran, but,

you know, he's late 20s. And he's just became this like Uber pass catching back late in his career. He never, like, put up a huge volume

until last season. And he was like, almost like a top-down fantasy running back, and then he really broke his leg. Coming back this year, he came in, I think he was kind of still hesitant

to really put a ton of weight, and really trust that the injury had healed. And then coming into the season, he once again was getting a lot of passing volume. And then he got hurt again. So he really has just been out for the last eight, nine weeks, I think. Craig can quote me on that if I'm wrong. But he has actually ownership dropped to all the way to half of Yahoo leagues,

even though he was like a top 20 guy when he was playing. And he's finally back. So on one hand, this is not at all reliable, predictable. I mean, we have no idea what his usage going to be. We have no idea how much he's going to spill. Peterson. We have no idea anything. We have no idea how healthy is. Yada, yada, yada. On the other hand, if you are like scrounging at running back right now and you have no idea what your second or third guy is going to be in the playoffs, this is a fantastic like flyer because two weeks

from now he might, you know, he might be able to, you know, get one of those 10 catches for 100 yards and a couple touchdowns kind of games. So I think he's about as good of a flyer as you can do it this time of the year for someone that's around half owned and you're just trying to get a flyer for maybe the playoffs. He's one of the few guys that is on the waiver wire right now, that could be starting on a fantasy championship team in four weeks. It's a more concise way of saying it, but fine, Craig. He had 14 targets, 13 catches, and 92 yards in week two. I mean, yeah, he, I really like Thompson.

I've been kind of keeping an eye on him just because, like Craig said, I mean, he's the kind of guy that you can plug into your starting lineup if he's going to be playing and if he's going to be healthy. But, yeah, it's something to monitor. I wouldn't play him until I see him, like, on the field. I'm a little more conservative than most. But, yeah, I like him a lot. Eagles have given up fourth most receptions to running backs this year.

With Colt McCoy in there, and we'll get into this later in the show, it could change the dynamic of their offense. McCoy, if he's looking for sort of like a dump-off option, screens, swing passes, things like that. That's where Thompson really excels. That's not really Adrian Peterson's game. So I think, yeah, I think Thompson's an interesting one. If he's out there, I'm definitely adding him.

So, yeah, I like that one. My next guy, Bruce Ellington and the Lions, going up against the Rams this week. Former Texan and 49er, kind of a shifty, you know, speedy slot kind of receiver who could see his role elevated in Detroit now that Marvin Jones is on the injured. We just found that out today on Monday. Marvin Jones is done for the year,

so that kind of opens things up. And that offense, obviously Kenny Galladay is going to be the clear cut number one if he wasn't already. But I think it does kind of give other guys in that, offense chance to step up. The Lions actually have an incredible amount of receivers named Jones. So with Jones gone, T.J. Jones and Andy Jones are also kind of there behind him, but I think Ellington is going to be kind of the main beneficiary that he's got 12 catches on 16

targets in the last two games. A second on the team in targets of our last two games. He's running 46% of his routes out of the slot per PFF. What do we think about slot receivers? We love them. And the Rams are giving up a lot of points. Anti-aging cream. Exactly.

Teeth white or you get thinner, better tan. I can't believe that there's three guys named Jones and you're picking the guy named Bruce. All right. Well, I think we've reached the Mea-Culpa section of this podcast, D.K. I hate this section, yeah. I'm talking about, so Lerick-Garrett Blunt, who I slandered, maybe, on the podcast last week.

I wouldn't go that far. I wouldn't go that far. He had a very legarity game. obviously he had two touchdowns after we question whether we should just rely on whether he's going to get goal line touchdowns. And 88 yards on Thanksgiving. I'm still torn here because I think the original logic I used last week I still believe in, which is are you going to go down in your fantasy playoffs like losing because you played the Garrett Blunt and he got like 14 or like 40 yards and no touchdowns? But at the same time, like maybe he's just going to keep getting these goal line touchdowns.

So I am admittedly weakened and staggering in my stance. I'm standing true, D.K., I still don't want Legerick Blunt playing. But probably worth picking up. But I still won't play him. I mean, yeah, it's one of those things where I guess if you don't have any better options, go ahead and play them. Craig, what do you have thoughts here? I agree to your logic, though. Craig is a carry-on owner.

I don't know. Fantasy, I feel like more and more as I get older, just about swallowing your pride and just understanding that. You know what? I'm going to start Legeratierre Blunt. So am I going to be starting Eric Ebron this week? Yes, I am. Well, that's kind of, you know, that's a whole other story now that Jack Doyle is on the injured reserve. But even if he hadn't gone onto the injured reserve, just kind of like at this point, resigned to the fact that Eric Ebron is just going to score touchdowns.

So, yeah, it's just one of those things. Speaking of swallowing your pride, Danny Heifetz, do you have anything to say? Yeah, Mari Cooper is going to lose everyone in their fantasy championships if you stick with the men. It's all just roping you back in. It's just a long. It's please play in the long game. Is it pretty lonely on top of that hill you're on? Yeah, but you know what?

You can see the truth from up here. It's all by perspective. Oh my gosh, I love it. I will die on this hill. You are dying on this hill. Gasping for air. Anyway, let's move on.

All right. My next guy, Robert Foster of the Bills, really kind of like a deep cut. I hate a Mark Cooper. God damn it. Yes. Anyway, back to Foster. So with the Bill's offense, obviously, it's really tough to trust anybody on this team.

Foster has kind of emerged as a playmaker for these guys. He's an undriverted free agent out of Alabama. He has catches of 47 yards, 43 yards, 75 yards in the last two games, 165 yards total in the last two games, which almost reaches what he caught his last season at Alabama. He's a former high school, first team All-American, in the top five receiver recruit nationally, according to his NFL.com scatting report,

I have to admit, I didn't know a whole lot about him before the draft, but he's kind of come out of nowhere and making some plays for that team. Obviously, with Josh Allen having a big arm, having a deep threat like that is kind of interesting if you're really desperate. But for me, I'm like, he's more like an ad

and kind of stash him on your bench and see how things go, but he's not necessarily the kind of guy I want to depend on in the final week at the regular season or the last two weeks the regular season if you're like

really trying to win your league or whatever get to the playoffs I should say. I agree. I'm so finicky about trusting receivers but as Craig says

we almost swallow our pride and I think like Jarvis Landry is a great example of someone that I'm just up to here with and also I'm thinking about this and I'm thinking

in my mind if I would cut like Cortland Sutton for like Robert Foster and oh man Sutton had like what one catch? Crushed me crushed my heart

crushed my heart crushed my heart. Last one, the tight end, I love Gerald Everett on the Rams. I mean, obviously, so we had three touchdowns in a two-point conversion his last two games. Two touchdowns against the Chiefs. He looked fantastic. I mean, obviously, you kind of got to throw that game out because that was just like such

an epic tilt. Like a hundred and some points, yeah. But at the same time, I think Everett and Josh Reynolds really did split a lot of volume that usually would have gone to Cooper Cup and other people. And I think Everett was a bigger part of the passing game. and I'm interested to see if the tight ends get more involved in passing than we've seen under McVeigh this season. So I actually really, I mean, Titan's just such a wasteland right now.

I mean, Evan Engram might be back this week, maybe not. Doyle is out for the season. I mean, it's just such a disaster that, like, you could really do worse than like a 50-50 shot that, like the Rams really get their tight ends going and stick to it. I mean, and I like Everett more than Higby. So maybe Higby, you know, it's just like a match of thing. You go back and forth, but I think Everett's a better play for, like, I'd rather bet on Everett. Everett was

wasn't Everett their top pick a couple years ago? I mean he was a second rounder but he was their first pick of the draft I want to say So they obviously feel very highly about him He's a great athlete Dynamic player

You know I don't know It's just really tough to To predict what's going to happen With a tight-end position in that office And yeah And you know who else Went down And is that now an IR

Who's that? Medium-sized Jeff Oh yeah Damn it That sucks Jeff Heardman, I think. Yeah, I think that's it. But anyway, yeah, he's, I think he's out of the season.

Yeah, I mean, so, yeah, if you're desperate for. So now it's medium-sized Gerald. Many people are. Medium-sized Gerald is in. Last one. I like this one. Yeah, so Josh Doxon of the Redskins. He is a former first rounder, a very good college player who I liked a lot,

has had a lot of struggles early in his career. Has not really developed into what I think a lot of people thought he would be. but coming into this week, it seems like he's kind of just ready to break out. After Alex Smith broke his leg, McCoy came in and targeted Doxon on, I think it was five out of 12 throws. Last week he had 10 targets, six catches, six yards.

Seems like McCoy really kind of likes going to Doxon. So that is a potential, like we talked about with Winston, things like that. It's just potential chemistry play. And Doxon's got the talent, I think, And going forward, if you're looking for a receiver to potentially plug in out to flex, if you've got injuries or whatever, I think he's an option just because there's not a lot of guys in that offense right now. Yeah, we're going to get into the chemistry stuff next segment, but we wanted to highlight docs in because, I mean, so this was, I mean, they took him in the first round out of TCU. I mean, he's like jump ball specialies.

So he's just absolute huge, huge catch radius can just leap in a bunch of, like, ridiculous catch abilities and all that. But a lot of foot injuries is his first couple of years and really stopped him from getting NFL reps at NFL speed. He already was going to, separation was already going to be the thing you to work on, and then you have these foot injuries, and then you're not getting reps. So it's really hard. On the one hand, I'm curious if Colt McCoy's actually had more time with him than normal than a normal backup wood because of his struggles to get to the starting level.

So it's actually kind of intriguing now, almost more so than it was before for me. The Eagles also have many problems in their secondary. So they're giving up the second-most fantasy points to receivers this year. they're just injury riddled back there can't stop anybody so that's another factor oh yeah I'm going to read you a list of names and tell me who are characters

in wreck at Ralph 2 and who are cornerbacks playing for the Eagles this season or now that they have four of their top five guys are hurt how's that? Yeah, let's do this

I have no idea number one, wreck it Ralph guys who are playing for them or record Ralph characters Devante Bosby Chandon Sullivan Cravon LeBlanc

I know Devonte Bosby is an NFL player and Cravon LeBlanc is also Yeah they're all NFL players I don't recognize the other guy's name What was the other guy's name? Chandon Sullivan They're all NFL players

The point is they're down four Of their top five Okay you know what It was a swing and a miss Okay This game didn't work I don't know why I've heard of those guys But I have

I bet Craig's not even going to cut this Just to spite me I'm going to sound really dumb All right, let's move on. Before we move on, let's take a quick break to talk about the Yahoo Sports app. Have you gotten the Yahoo Sports mobile app yet? Are you ready for live football on your phone? With the Yahoo Sports mobile app,

you get live local and primetime NFL games all season long. Tune into your favorite teams and the biggest NFL matchups wherever and whenever you want, all NFL season long. So download the Yahoo Sports mobile app and watch NFL football at the tap of an app. Seriously, go get the app. It's your ticket to watching live NFL games wherever you want is all football and all yours. Watch live NFL games on the Yahoo Sports mobile app. All right, DK, we wanted to run through for this last segment.

We kind of just wanted to run through. There were so many quarterback situations that got so murky this week. So Blake Bortles, Boppels got penned for Cody Kessler, about four years after it was supposed to happen. Finally, God. Shout to Roger Sherman for calling Blake Boppels. the Bengals, well, Andy Dalton, out for the season with a thumb. And Jeff Driscoll replaced him. Colt McCoy's in for Alex Smith.

And we have the Niners, maybe Nick Mull and C.J. Bethard stuff. So we wanted to run through those and just look at, does that, obviously none of this is like great for anyone who's like on the season, or at least it's not apparent yet. But we wanted to look at who's about the same and who is really a downgrade. So shall we start, T.K.? Yeah, my thinking essentially is, what? What does, what are these quarterback changes, you know, or just the quarterback situations in general?

How does it make you feel about these players, like, going into the last couple weeks of the regular season? I think this is half the battle right now, because, again, we talked about this with the bucks, but I can't hammer it enough. Sometimes quarterbacks just have chemistry with different dudes. James has chemistry with Cameron Brate. Yeah, I have no idea why. Trust him. But then Fitzpatrick comes in, clearly has chemistry with Chris Godwin right off the bat. And Deshawn Jackson, for whatever reason.

Apparently, that was because he threw a different kind of deep ball, which was... an interesting thing. You lofted in there. Nick Foles has a different deep ball than Wentz. There's weird little quirks and, like, I don't want to pretend to be able to predict it as much as it's worth looking at those things the next week or two for the fantasy playoffs.

But right now, there are things that people we can downgrade. Yeah, so first, let's start off with Cody Kessler, because in this situation, I almost, it's like you almost feel a little more confident in the receivers with Kessler in there. That's how much I, like, just didn't. I just didn't really, like, I did not trust Bortals. And obviously he's put up fantasy numbers in the past.

And so it's partly, you know, the argument of, you know, a quarterback is bad versus a fantasy quarterback. You know, like sometimes you just have to play guys that you think are bad just because there's going to be so much volume in the whatever offense. But like they've made Bordles, they've taken Bortals out of the game plan, essentially in the last couple weeks. I don't know how that's going to change with Kessler in there. Maybe they'll let him pass more.

want to say Bortles has had like, I don't know, 12 or 13 past, like completion's a game over the last couple of games or something like that. So I think maybe with Kessler, there's actually a chance they could throw it more because I think he's actually a better quarterback potentially. I agree. I mean, maybe we just, no, no, we're not crazy. No, he's better than Blake Bortles. Bortles has been profoundly bad in getting worse this season. I mean, it's just, I'm glad the experiment is over. I think we shit on him enough. But Farewell Blake. Maybe he comes back and this isn't a permanent benching.

I think it has to be a permanent benching. And I actually would be rarely interested to see which receiver thrives with Kessler. And I'm curious if that could stick. Yeah, the other factor that's really interesting with the Jaguars is offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. I think we both liked him. I love to Hackett. Hackett got 45 points out of the Jags and the Divisional Round against the Steelers.

By the way, the fact that he came out in the media and was like, Yeah, I thought I, he got called into whoever Morone's office. He's like, I thought I was going to bench Blake. That is such a, I don't even know what that is, but that's just so hilarious to me that he came in. He's to Lombardi. There's some real good fellow stuff.

Now the offensive coordinator is someone called Scott Milanovic, who I don't know much about. Don't know what the hell their offense is going to look like. It's basically just their own life support for their last five weeks. They're out of the playoff picture, basically. I don't know. It's one of those things where we don't know what the hell is happening with this team.

And that makes me worried about starting any of their players potentially other than Fournet. You know, assuming Fournet is on. I would monitor Keel and Cole and Westbrook and Moncrief. I'm staying away generally. I think I'm staying away from these guys. I think that's fair. The interesting one that's the Bengals, I think, are actually more interesting. So Jeff Jerskel stepped in for Dalton, who is...

Yeah. I mean, if there was war for football, I feel like Dalton's the definition of like a replaceable player. Or maybe, I guess maybe that's like Brock Oswald or something. But Trisco looked like shockingly competent. 17 of 29 for 155 yards. He didn't throw a bunch of stuff deep, but he kind of kept the bagels offense humming,

and it's hard because without AJ Green, it hasn't looked the same anyway. So it's already kind of like a lower bar, but I actually am not like, it's not good for Tyler Boyd. I'm not destitute, but, it's tough because it already was a huge ask of everything going on without E.J. Green. So if you have E.J. Green and you've been waiting for him to return, this is really tough.

He might not even return now at this point, right? Yeah, I was going to say. Is there a chance he's just like get his foot healthy and like move on to next year? Exactly. What's the point of him coming back? Oh, geez. Well, what's the point of doing anything? That's true. Yeah, that's good point. As a Tyler Boyd fantasy manager or whatever, I've got him on a few different teams,

I think I'm going to still go ahead and be pretty confident playing him. I mean, when Driscoll came in, he looked to Boyd pretty often. He finished the game with seven catches, 85 yards, and a touchdown, and I believe his, yeah, his touchdown came with Driscoll in, right? I believe it did.

And so I think that Boyd's upside still there. I think he's still kind of with green out. He's still the go-to guy in that offense. You can maybe bump John Ross in there as a guy who could potentially see some volume. And actually, Auden Tate is another interesting one that his playing time went up

in this game. I saw on Twitter he had six targets from Driscoll so that might be something to watch. Again, it's a chemistry thing. I'm guessing those guys have been playing together like on scouting teams and things like that. They just have that familiarity with each other.

So that's something to keep in mind. But for me, Boyd is the main one, and I'm going to be continuing to start Boyd going forward even with Driscoeat quarterback. I just think that there's enough volume at this point to make that worth of play.

Boyd's earned it. He's been really great. The next one, I'm still intrigued by this. Colt McCoy was real up and down on Thanksgiving. What is it, 2438 for 268 yards, two touchdowns and three picks. You're not playing Colt McCoy, like unless you're in like a deep two-quarterback league.

So the three picks matter, but like, do they? Like, if Alex Smith had just, like, checked it down and threw under bounds, like, ended the drive and punted. Like, that doesn't really, isn't really that different for your fantasy perspective. I like that he's, like, slinging it. And so I'm actually, we talked about Doxon. I'm kind of, like, intrigued by Doxon. And then also Jordan Reader Davis. Reed looked great.

And I'm really curious if McCoy's actually going to be able to, like, get the best out of them. And, I mean, also destitute fantasy, or maybe they could even get something out of both of tight ends. I mean, obviously, the Reds. receivers are banged up because Paul Richardson's done, Jameson Crowder's been hurt for what seems like forever. And I actually don't think, despite how he kind of looked, I don't think Colt McCoy's bringing significantly less than Alex Smith was. I think that Smith was very good.

But in terms of fantasy opportunity, I don't think McCoy's as big of a downgrade as it seems. I think with McCoy in there, and this is just maybe going off of the fact that he threw three picks, but with McCoy in there, it's harder for the Redskins to kind of do their game script thing where they want to run the ball a ton, control the clock, you know, get a lead and then hold on to it. It's more like, I think it's a portends sort of like a pass heavier approach going forward. It also doesn't help that they have like no healthy offensive linemen to help block in the run game. So yeah, it's an interesting one.

They've got the Eagles, Jags, Giants, Titans, and Eagles to finish out the season. Two games against Eagles, again, like we said, defensive back. on that team are not good and they're giving up a lot of points. The Jaguars right now are a mess defensively even the bills and

Josh Allen scored points on them so that I don't know, there's just some opportunity there going forward again like we said with Chris Thompson he's another interesting guy. I just think yeah these Redskins skill position players just seem to be trending up at the right time for the fantasy playoffs or whatever so that's an interesting one to watch. None of the guys are essentially

must start players clearly but it doesn't make me less confident in the Redskins to have Cole McCoy in there. I'll say that. Yeah, no, I think that's actually a weirdly good way of saying it. And then the last one with this weird situation, I mean, so Nick Mullins and C.J. Bethard, you know, not 100% sure who will be the starter

for the next few weeks. But, I mean, tell me if I'm wrong. I think that there's like three fantasy, truly fantasy relevant guys on this team. So it's George Cato, obviously. Yeah. He's Matt Brayda, who's become really good. and if you want to mess around with him, Dante Pettis.

And, yeah, I think Brady, I actually think, Brade is fantastic. I think Brade is great. I don't think this totally affects him. Any Brady is worth playing the Fantasy Plus. He's been really good, yeah. Kittle, I mean, it doesn't really matter if you have Kittal you're playing. I can't really imagine a world where you're not playing Kittles.

So it doesn't really matter. No, I got 12 targets last week. Exactly. You're not going to bench him. Yeah. Right. So, I mean, the questions if you're going to take a flyer on Kendrick Bourne or Dante Pettis. We liked Pettis early the year before Geropolo got hurt. I would love for Pettus to make a splash.

I don't think you can depend on it, but I don't think the, I think Niners are equally as irrelevant as they were. Yeah, I think that's a good way looking at it. Yeah, whether it's, whether it's Bethard, I keep wanting to say C.J. Btherd, whether it's Btherd or Mullins, and obviously, man, Mullins really kind of failed with his, he had a really good chance to go up against a terrible Buccaneers defense

and just did not play well, 18 to 30. two with a touchdown and two picks. I know no one cares about personal fantasy leagues, but I have to share this one. My brother, in our fantasy football league from home, my brother saw that Nick Mullins was playing on that Thursday night game and was so excited that he could play against the third string quarterback. He dropped his defense and picked up the Raiders defense in our league. The Raiders defense got negative two points, and my brother lost by one point.

I love fantasy. And he's going to miss the playoffs now by one point, by one game. So there you go. So I will forever remember Nick Mullins is keeping my brother out of the playoffs in 2018. That's great. I can hear Jim just grimacing because I told that story.

No, it was all right. Oh, wow. He really isn't a good mood. Oh, my God. Wow, is not even screaming. Wow, this is so wonderful. I mean we're not cutting it, though. Let me finish.

To finish my thought on 49ers, though, it's, I think you're right. Like, the simple way of saying it is, if you're relying on any of the 49er skill position players other than Brita or Kittal, Godspeed. Good luck to you because it doesn't make a difference, really. I think if Bethard comes back, you know, that could potentially actually be good for Kittal, you know. And so, you know, it just doesn't really matter at this point, whether it's Mollins or Beatherd.

And I think you're still probably going to play both of those guys regardless. So, yeah, that's an interesting one, but really it probably doesn't have any effect on your fantasy team going forward. hopefully not. And if it does godspeed. All right. Thank you, D.K. Best of luck to everyone. May the playoff fortunes fall forever in your favor.

I can hear Jim grimacing again. Yeah. Well, 13 is my lucky number. So I think if you take my advice, you'll get lucky. But maybe D.K., not so much. All right. That's all the time we have today. Thank you, D.K.

We will be back on Friday. Thank you for listening to the Danesey Football Podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. Thanks again to Hotel Tonight. by showing you top-rated hotels with unsold rooms, Hotel Tonight makes it easy to book your stay at an amazing rate. And even though their name is Hotel Tonight, you can book in advance. It's perfect for spontaneous weekend getaways, three-day weekends, staycations, road trips, business trips, booking a place to the pool, and more.

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