Fantasy Football - Week 15 Waivers & Streamers + Pee River Returns! - Podcast for 12/9

8:22Mike Wright:21? Three, four years ago? 2020. Oh, man. I can't imagine how many kids he's had between then and now. But Philip Rivers, it's not a joke. He's coming in for a workout. Daniel Jones is on IR for the Colts. Richardson on IR.

8:38Jason Moore:That is how bad Brett Rippin farts is.

8:40Mike Wright:I mean, Riley Leonard, if you didn't know, week to week with a PCL sprain and only Brett Rippin Farts is on the roster. So a combination of a quarterback room with P. River and Brett Rippin Farts.

8:54Jason Moore:This is the fantasy footballer's dream. It's unbelievable. And truly so. Wait, is this 44-year-old?

9:00Andy Holloway:Two nickname winners?

9:03Jason Moore:Oh, my gosh. You're right. P. River won a footie. Brett Rippin Farts won a footie. Wow. A farty. powerful team here. Pee and farts. Pee and farts. How do we exist? Here's the thing. We need clown lights. 44 years old. Hasn't played in half a decade. Phillip Rivers is not going to be good. No, there is no way this works. But for fantasy football I mean, like, you know, I'm going. Oh, we got some. Yeah, we got clown lights. Those are clown lights. Boop, boop, boop. Wah-haw. The dump-offs. The dump-offs to Jonathan Taylor. You know, I don't know who. It'll probably be Pittman. But I think this is great for the other pieces here.

9:58Jason Moore:Should it happen? Could he have a stool in Shotgun? Would they give him a stool to sit on? Like a rocking chair that he just pulls to the next title?

10:04Mike Wright:Yeah, I mean, just, you know, like if you're ripping tickets at the movie theater and you're over a certain age, they give you a stool.

10:09Andy Holloway:We go with the seven-on-seven rules. You got five seconds. Oh, yeah.

10:14Mike Wright:One banana, no rushes. Two banana. Yeah, I mean, it's awesome. I mean, Phillip Rivers, the only reason this is happening is because he played for the Colts. There were rumors about him. Go get Matt Ryan, you cowards. He's bored. I was like, yeah. And he's got nothing. I mean, you'd think you wouldn't be bored with. Oh, no, he's the opposite of bored. At this point, I'll bet they're talking.

10:37Andy Holloway:Get me out of here. Yeah. Save me.

10:41Mike Wright:I got three of them.

10:42Andy Holloway:How many does Rivers have?

10:44Mike Wright:I'm looking it up right now. Phillip Rivers' child count? Maybe a Baker's dozen? I love that one of the autocomplete questions is, what NFL player has 13 children? I was saying 10. 10 children. Okay. Double digies.

10:59Andy Holloway:Yeah, dad's got to go back to work, everyone.

11:01Mike Wright:We got bills to pay. Zach Taylor said, T. Higgins is back in concussion protocol. The writing was on the wall. why was it on the wall because it was because he was definitely concussed during the game i mean this is unacceptable i've made me multiple times i mean this is this is truly like no jokes this is

11:18Jason Moore:i feel like negligence everybody everybody watching the game saw the hits he took saw him hit the on a

11:24Andy Holloway:frozen ground not even just a nice soft supple normal grass no just frozen um and he probably

11:31Jason Moore:doesn't play again no i agree i i think he will you if you have t higgins and fantasy you have to be prepared to have a playoff run without him he's i mean olave last year yeah that would be

11:41Mike Wright:there's a lot that's one of the examples i mean if you have tillman last year just done for the year yeah multiple concussions and it's best for t higgins and the team is out of it almost but not

11:51Jason Moore:completely i mean i know they have a shot yeah we did the playoff calculator and pick the games and there is a it's like a it's like an eight-leg parlay but everything kind of makes sense that The tough matchups are lost and easy matchups are won.

12:06Mike Wright:Steelers have to go one and three, and the Bengals have to go three and one, and then the Ravens can't win out, and then basically Cincinnati has all the tiebreakers. Cincinnati has to beat the Ravens.

12:16Andy Holloway:Don't they have to win out? Yeah, Cincinnati. Sorry, I said three and one.

12:20Mike Wright:Yeah, they have to win out. But, yeah, T. Higgins probably not going to be a part of it. It probably hurts your Joe Burrow a little bit overall. Jamar Chase will be fine. Devon Achan, no fracture. It was a rib injury. He said he could have come back in. And he basically fell on the football. And so, Jason, control yourself. I know.

12:38Jason Moore:I just wanted you to take your time and get healthy.

12:40Mike Wright:Devon Achan is needed for fantasy. Remember yesterday, you're like, ah, you don't have to make a decision about Justin Jefferson because you're not in the playoffs.

12:49Jason Moore:You're in the playoffs with Devon Achan. Yes, for sure. I mean, so when I saw this news, and he's going to play. He is adamant that he's going to play. I'm sure he's going to be there. We'll monitor as it goes along. He will. I just opened up his profile again, and I was like, oh, dang it. He has been the most consistent player in all of fantasy this year.

13:15Mike Wright:Yeah, so he should be back, which is great news. Dan Quinn said Jaden Daniels is sore, but no long-term concerns with the elbow. Zach Ertz, torn ACL. Keaton Mitchell avoided serious injury day-to-day. Shadour Sanders will remain as the starting quarterback for the remainder of the year. It was the most positive comments Stefanski said. It was like he's continuously just improving every single week. So it's good news, and it's exciting and fun, and we'll see. I mean, there are opinions out there that he's better than the quarterbacks coming in. I think that there's a decent chance the Browns do not go quarterback because of their forced financial beliefs in Deshaun Watson combined with Shadur Sanders.

13:58Mike Wright:And that combination, they may feel is enough to add more important pieces at other spots on the team. They made the brilliant trade, in my opinion, to get the draft capital and get Mason Graham and trade Travis Hunter. And they have draft capital there. I don't know. Shudor Sanders will stay the quarterback for now and through the remainder of the year. Todd Bowles said Mike Evans has a chance to play against the Falcons on Thursday night. Okay. This is great. I shared in our company chat this morning in my ever-present desires to slightly defend Emeka Ibuka. This came through from J.J. Zacharisa, and he was sharing about Fantasy Life data.

14:35Mike Wright:Pre-Monday Night Football, there's been 107 wide receivers who have run 100 or more routes since week five. Ibuka is 105th in catchable targets out of 107. So it's been both. It's been a both-and. Like, Baker's hurt. Baker's been much worse. abuka is playing poorly on top of it he's dropped some of the catchable targets which is a problem fewer than half of his looks have been catchable we also watched through the film yesterday there were five five just missed touchdowns some were abuka some were baker everything that was working those first five or six weeks you know my son asked me do i think abuka will be fine i'm like i don't think you can do what you did in those first six seven weeks without being fine it's just right now the combination of the offense struggling baker struggling abuka struggling yeah there's a lot and and and i think maybe what we underestimated was as a rookie maybe you want mike evans on the other side to take some pressure maybe that's the best thing for abuka it reminds

15:33Andy Holloway:me a lot of what's going on with rome well i mean rome's hurt now but you know you just you had rome had the hot start as well where he was scoring a bunch of touchdowns roman abuka it seemed on

15:44Mike Wright:Through four weeks, you would have felt invulnerable.

15:46Andy Holloway:And then he had a couple real high-profile drops. And then you have those combined with the production disappearing, and you go, well, it's all the wide receiver. Well, then when you dig into the data, about half of Rome's targets are catchable. But that concoction of uncatchable targets plus a few real nasty drops, it turns your opinion on someone when it probably shouldn't.

16:13Jason Moore:And both of these guys had an injury that kind of coincided with when their play started going poorly. The hamstring, the foot right now for Rome that you found out he was playing through. I mean, if you are, it's one of those things where it's like, is it the quarterback? Is it the wide receiver? If Ibuka is slowed down or Rome is slowed down and the target is uncatchable, is it possibly because he's not where he usually would be? Right. You know, there's so much that goes into it.

16:38Mike Wright:Both of those players I don't have any different view of in Dynasty Leagues. I agree. Than I did weeks ago. Yeah, they're awesome. And if one or two of those touchdowns works out for either guy, we don't even have the conversation because you don't see such a run. It's just the way it is. Other news, we just got an update. Trey Benson facing deadline Wednesday to be activated from IR before he would be inactive.

16:57Andy Holloway:Oh, did we talk to Gannon about it?

16:59Mike Wright:Yeah, Gannon said – What did he say? Well, I mean, because – He had very insightful information. Time is running out. Gannon was asked. He said, we'll see. Not sure quite yet. Yeah. I want to see him out there.

17:08Andy Holloway:Did he have his arms crossed? He's like, I don't know. Yeah, he did. We'll see. I don't know. You'll find out Wednesday.

17:15Jason Moore:We don't like you.

17:17Mike Wright:Jake London listed his DMP again. He might miss again.

17:21Jason Moore:It definitely seems like he is not going to play. As of now.

17:26Mike Wright:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was news and notes sponsored by Progressive Insurance. Quote today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and third-party insurers not available in all states or situations. Coverage subject to policy terms, limits, and conditions. It's waiver time. Welcome to the Waiver Wire.

17:49It's a little lean.

17:53Mike Wright:Hopefully you got some guys before now. It's a little light on the waivers. Yeah, I mean, I made the joke when we were putting our waiver rankings together yesterday that it just feels wrong to have anybody ranked really high.

18:04Jason Moore:Yeah.

18:05Mike Wright:In a lot of these positions.

18:06Jason Moore:Everyone has, like, you have to, someone has to be third or fourth. by by the way rankings were math but no one deserves it no i mean i would say at running

18:17Mike Wright:back right now it is if you need a start there's just two names that matter to me i mean it's chris rodriguez who was great again on the ground in his limited work it wasn't amazing for fantasy i'm not saying it was it's just he's gonna have 10 plus touches against the giants this week he has scored in a lot of his recent starts and chris rodriguez is only 60 rostered he will be playing for me in multiple playoffs i think he's a fine play this week yeah the giants is a good matchup and uh he's not going to catch passes he needs to score the next week is philly i would

18:48Andy Holloway:have far less confidence in that but for a one week type of a situation dallas is three weeks from now so maybe maybe but i think it's i think it will be a lot better for rodriguez this week you have i mean actually they're not playing jayden are they i don't doubt it but either way either way well i i think it's better if they just play mariota yeah it is to be like hey this is what we're going forward with it's going to be mariota this is the game plan we don't have to switch anything for based on the quarterback just move forward with mariota and rodriguez would be a perfectly acceptable flex running back two type of play and then blake quorum blake quorum is the

19:28Mike Wright:other name that we have been talking about for probably six weeks at this point blake quorum only 49 % rostered. But.

19:35Jason Moore:Yeah. The Lions. Plays the Lions.

19:38Mike Wright:He does. He has had double-digit opportunities in four of six games since the bye, and it's not the Cardinals. He doesn't play the Cardinals again. It should be a shootout, though. Isn't that game 55 and a half point over under? 55!

19:52Jason Moore:Very, very high over under.

19:54Mike Wright:But. They will give him touches. There's just no way that they're not going to do that.

19:58Jason Moore:But if he gets 10, 11 touches against the Lions, I don't know that it's going to be a really good game.

20:02Mike Wright:You'd play Rodriguez over him? Yes. I would.

20:04Andy Holloway:I think it's touchdown or bust for Corham.

20:06Mike Wright:And then don't forget about Devin Singletary. He had the bye week. Yes. We talked about him. He was running well. We have an injury to Tyron Tracy Jr., which seems to always be part of the story. But he has two top-12 finishes in his last three starts, speaking of Devin Singletary, with three touchdowns in those games. 12 for 68 last time against New England. That's not an easy matchup, and he got it done. 17.2 fantasy points against Green Bay. That's not an easy matchup, and he got it done. Singletary's pretty sneaky. I'd play him over Blake Korm.

20:36Andy Holloway:I would as well.

20:37Mike Wright:And that's a Washington matchup. You might, depending on the Tracy news, you might want to play him over Chris Rodriguez.

20:43Andy Holloway:Yeah. I think he may end up being number one if Tracy is limited in practice this week. I mean, him and Tracy were already splitting. Singletary was getting the high-value touches.

20:54Jason Moore:Splitting, but getting tons of work. It was weird. They both, every week, were like 15 carries. I don't know how they had that much work to go around. Jalen Wright is another name. I know that Devon Achan is going to presumably be okay, but he is hurt. He left the game, and Jalen Wright was out there 24 carries, over 100 yards. So should the news turn bad this week? You've got to be prepared.

21:21Mike Wright:And then another one to mention. It's gross. I don't like mentioning it, but I don't think Trey Benson's coming back. We'll find out soon, Mr. Gannon. and if he's not back oh don't do it bam night is houston no i wouldn't play him this week oh okay but atlanta cincinnati the next two weeks is awesome that's fine and part of your job as a fantasy manager in the playoffs is to also defend against your opponent yeah you got to block it like it's hot yeah block it like it's hot if there's somebody out there that helps them with a spot start put them on your roster if you've got the room you need to go ahead and and play for every single possible point in your matchup, in your competition.

21:59Mike Wright:So Bam Knight will be a starter, and you don't want to see that guy on the other side if somebody needs somebody.

22:06Andy Holloway:Unless it's this week.

22:08Mike Wright:Unless it's this week against Houston. Let them do it, I guess. So let's take a break, and we'll talk some whiteouts.

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23:24Mike Wright:this is when it gets even harder guys um seriously you know again you're you've been building your roster towards the playoffs for weeks if you've been listening along we've been trying to help you do that what happens if you are like you know mike you just talked about having double concussion universe with cd lamb t higgins in one of your leagues going into the playoffs if you're looking for a spot start and jerry rice isn't available who plays for the cardinals What are you doing?

23:51Andy Holloway:So there's a few names at the top. Ryan Flannoy of the Dallas Cowboys. It makes sense. You know, he had the 13 targets. Huge game, 9 for 115 in the score. Last week with CeeDee Lamb missing time and George Pickens doing whatever George Pickens-y stuff he was doing on the field. But they do – number one, the last we heard about CeeDee Lamb was that he was progressing what was the quote like nicely through the yeah nicely through the protocol so

24:20Mike Wright:there is a chance he has extra time you got to remember this right it was thursday yeah so

24:26Andy Holloway:flannoy is you can only play him if cd lamb doesn't play and then on top of that it's against minnesota which dac and company will get some things done against minnesota i'm not worried about that but how much because that defense is still very very strong it would be a terrifying

24:43Mike Wright:start. It would.

24:45Jason Moore:We had three games earlier this season without CeeDee Lamb. And so we've seen this. And Flannoy was the wide receiver 12 on one of those weeks. It was awesome. 114 yards nine targets. The other two games was three points and four points. So it is not like a guarantee that he's fine.

25:02Mike Wright:Right. Jaden Reed to me is the most interesting name for now and moving forward because this offense four touchdowns and three touchdowns Matthew Golden doesn't get snaps. I mean, Bull Melton has out-snaped Matthew Golden at this juncture. Important ballgames. It's Denver. You don't like that. But Jaden Reed will have – this is what I'm looking for myself in the playoffs. Guaranteed touches. Give me guaranteed touches. Like Ryan Flannoy, if you played him and CeeDee Lamb is playing, you could have zero. Luther Burden, does he have guaranteed touches? Probably. Luther Burden probably gets two or three.

25:38Mike Wright:but I think Jaden Reed has the most guaranteed touches of this group personally. I think this was his first opportunity back. He still had six touches in the game and six opportunities. I would not be shocked if he is an integral part. The outside wide receivers facing Denver, Patrick Sertan, move Jaden Reed around, give him the ball in short area space in his second game back. Personally, that's my favorite pickup, even though the matchup's difficult. He's difficult.

26:03Andy Holloway:I think he's a difficult start because it's Jaden Reed, week one was great and then he got hurt so it was the what's going to happen we don't know what would have happened this season for jayden reed in terms of fantasy usage but like 2024 he did the same thing week one was hot disappears has a good game disappears that's my concern for jayden reed is well yeah he's guaranteed his talent the most i yeah i that's why he's so

26:32Mike Wright:difficult and there's no Tucker Kraft and there's no Matthew Golden right now he's he's an excellent

26:37Andy Holloway:player Jordan Love is playing at a very high caliber right now Reed I think though I think the while the ceiling is there for Reed I think the floor is extremely low and Jane Reed could go out

26:50Mike Wright:and give you two for 15 unfortunately that's how I view the rest of these dudes in the list no I

26:54Jason Moore:think there's one other really decent pickup rookie wide receiver Jaden Higgins he has been five of the last seven games. This is rookie season. Five of the last seven games, he's been a top 36 wide receiver. The only two that he wasn't a top 36 wide receiver was against the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos. Really tough matchups. Now he's got Arizona. I'm fine with that. He's been getting it done. He's looked around the end zone. I think he's just a good player.

27:23Mike Wright:Yeah, I can see that. I think Arizona, the matchup, is what jumps out to me. How do you compare I'm still on the read I'd probably go read Bird and Higgins in my top three

27:34Andy Holloway:and you thought I was going to bring up Yoshivas of just any replacement for the Cincinnati Bengals

27:40Mike Wright:you want to believe in that but it's a little bit tough right now with other you know Gisicki was heavily involved I'd rather flex Gisicki over Yoshivas if you're talking about that situation you know with Mitchell with Tinsley there as well it just makes you feel a little

27:58Andy Holloway:bit nervous nervous uh depending on the quarterback situation for the new york jets i mean which really really matters adenai mitchell still had six targets it didn't work last week one for 24 but six targets gets jacksonville on the road he should see like he should see six or more targets again it's just how quality are those targets this is why talking about these why it's tough

28:27Mike Wright:It's very painful. I think we can move forward. At the tight end position, we've got a reminder that Sam Laporta is eligible to return in week 15. So if things get desperate and he's sitting on the waiver wire and you think you need to stash a tight end for a surprise late, he's at least eligible. It doesn't mean you should play him. But there are names at the tight end position to me. Harold Fannin should have it all to himself, which should do our Sanders.

28:53Andy Holloway:I would say the last thing we heard was Dan Campbell said on December 4th that he's unlikely to play again in 2025.

28:59Mike Wright:Okay, so even though he's eligible, he's probably not going to be back.

29:01Andy Holloway:Yeah, if they go deep in the playoffs, maybe he can make it back. I don't think Laporta plays regular season.

29:07Mike Wright:Harold Fannin.

29:09Andy Holloway:He's the top pickup of the week. He's my number one of all players. Of all positions.

29:14Jason Moore:He's probably not available in your league, but there's 35 % of leagues he's still sitting out there. You've got to check. If he's out there, pick him up. I would even flex him.

29:22Mike Wright:I also think that we don't want to be so recency biased that we forget the big name of last week, which I still believe in the opportunity for Darren Waller. I think you need a game script where they can't be so successful on the ground, where they are not leading. You know, they're what, 6-7 right now? Is that right? 6-7, yeah, something like that. Sorry. I'll see myself out. Please leave. get out of here goodness gracious thank you climb under the desk he's gone Jason has left Jason has left you're old you're old man Darren Waller 42 % rostered

30:05Andy Holloway:Andy this is the only way we can stop the youths

30:09Mike Wright:by doing it yes you have to make it as uncool as possible

30:14Andy Holloway:it's fine young people I get it we did we had stupid phrases and sayings that we did all the time ad nauseum but we're done

30:24Mike Wright:my we're done we're moving on my 11 year old daughter is walking home from school yesterday a ups driver passes that was going to our house she gives a six seven to the ups driver the hands the hands the bobble yeah who who the you know they have the ups seven to the ball you have a ups assistant right now with the holidays that person looks so confused yeah the driver does it back. Then the driver gets out of the house and she walks up. She goes, yo, you got to dab me up for that and dabs up the UPS driver for the 6-7. Nice. Kyle's reminding us of what's happening.

30:56Jason Moore:Yeah, getting back to Darren Waller. Waller might be dropped. We're bringing that back. I think Waller will get dropped by a lot of people today. Yeah, so I mean, he is an excellent pickup, even if you're not going to play him this week. See, it's fun. I went under the table. Yeah. I feel like we shut the lights off. No, no, man. We're doing vintage jokes. These are authentic. They didn't feel that good. From the 90s. Next week is the Bengals. The Bengals are on pace to give up the most yards, the most receiving yards, the most touchdowns, the most fancy points, the tight ends of all time. And so, I mean, he is like a must play next week.

31:41Jason Moore:Right. And I would be fine picking him up even to not play him this week.

31:46Mike Wright:I'd be fine to even pick him up to play him. I think Britton Strange and Waller are the two that people were hyped about that didn't deliver for one week. And let's remember, tight ends are not consistent. Very few of them are. You just want ones that have the opportunity to get you a touchdown and perform and be a high target share. And both of those guys still are in that category.

32:02Andy Holloway:I'm good with Strange if you cannot get Harold Fannin. And then the name I will throw out for this week in particular, Theo Johnson, New York Giants, we're off the bye week. Jackson Dart hopefully had enough time to shake the cobwebs from the massive hits and maybe, just maybe, get a little bit of that coaching input of, dude, just go out of bounds. It's okay. Theo's not that bad. No.

32:27Mike Wright:He's not that bad.

32:29Andy Holloway:He just missed a massive touchdown two weeks ago.

32:32Mike Wright:He's a tight end 14 on the year. And since week five, and again, we had a transition. Yeah, it's like 750 and 7 is his pace.

32:41Jason Moore:I think they were saying on the broadcast that it's like his best friend. On the team? Yeah, they're actually close. It makes sense.

32:47Andy Holloway:Theo Johnson, he was an exciting rookie.

32:50Jason Moore:Well, he's the most athletic tight end of all time. You want to chase that stuff. One of one.

32:57Mike Wright:I feel like his biggest weakness is he's too late to go up for the ball sometimes. His timing is off. If you watch his film, sometimes he just – just a little earlier.

33:08Andy Holloway:But he gets Washington. You know, Singletary off the wire is fine. It just – Giants players in general are – they're going to be okay this week. Minnesota – J.J. McCarthy. Nine. Guys, Mr. Nine himself, who has just been awful, looked great against Washington.

33:29Mike Wright:Yeah, how – this is a bigger discussion I think that will help people. Washington's defense – How out will you be on Tyler Warren? Because we're having a waiver discussion. Oh, no. Jason, are you trying to find a non-Pittman option for this week?

33:44Jason Moore:Oh, yeah. Without knowing if Phillip Rivers is actually going to sign, is going to play this week. Right now.

33:51Mike Wright:That is the craziest. I mean, a five-year older, five years without football, if Phillip Rivers is not making me better.

33:59Jason Moore:If Brett Rippon farts is the quarterback, which as of this moment, he is the quarterback this week, then there's no chance I could play Pittman. You would think about it with P. River? Oh, he'll be in my lineup if P. River was. That's why.

34:13Andy Holloway:If he gets hit, he will turn into dust. I don't know, man.

34:17Jason Moore:I think at this point he's so jelly that it's like – Half a decade. It looks just kind of like – Boing. Exactly.

34:23Mike Wright:Half a decade since he's played football in the NFL.

34:26Andy Holloway:The Colts are – shame on them for even putting this idea in our head. Nah, this is great.

34:32Mike Wright:The craziest thing is they're looking to sign him to the practice squad. I'm like, Phillip ain't hanging around in the practice squad. He just wants to get out of that house.

34:40Andy Holloway:Why is Brett ripping on your team if he can't play? These situations, they pop up. Like late season, a quarterback injury goes down. Okay, we got to go get this guy who's been retired for three years. Why are the other guys on your team? If they're not good enough to play.

34:57Jason Moore:At practice, those guys over there on that field have to do something. Retired guys like I'm not practicing. They do have to do something. So we have named quite a few tight ends. Haven't even talked about Colson Loveland, who I think has been showing out. Rome being gone gives me a little bit of hope. But with like the four or five names we talked about, we didn't even yet bring up the guy who is going to win everybody's championship. I am the Senate. Please don't bring him up. Dude. We got to bring it up. I can't believe you did. Ben Sennett, if Mike's Midas touch this year comes to a completion of this season, it will be with Ben Sennett.

35:36Jason Moore:I mean, it's just inevitable. John Bates.

35:40Mike Wright:Double the snaps.

35:41Jason Moore:But John Bates. So here's the thing. We see this a lot of times with running backs. There are roles. We've already seen it with Ben Sennett. Bates is absolutely going to continue his role. He plays, he's the blocking tight end, the inline tight end. There is, he will not, Bates won't change one snap. He will be doing what he has been doing. Ben Sinnott now takes the Zach Ertz role. And this was exactly what happened in the Cliff Kingsbury offense for Arizona back in the day when Zach Ertz tore that exact ACL. And this guy that we loved, Trey McBride, who had done nothing in his career, was like thrust into action.

36:17Jason Moore:And it's like, do you see? He's awesome. him. Ben Sinnott's a guy we loved, Mike especially, who now is being thrust into the situation.

36:26Andy Holloway:I am not playing Ben Sinnott this weekend, but there are certain leagues out there where I might throw him on the back of the bench, just in case.

36:34Mike Wright:All right, defensive options this week. Championship week against Dallas.

36:38Andy Holloway:I know.

36:39Mike Wright:Looking ahead to week 16 and 17 matchups on the defensive side, give me some names.

36:44Andy Holloway:Oh, there's so many. I mean, the most widely available team, because they were on the bye week, is San Francisco, and they play Tennessee. And the Indianapolis matchup right after that, which was like, well, I'm just a one-week rental here for the 49ers. You might get two weeks out of San Francisco. They're 35 % rostered and sleeper. And then the other low-rostered team is the Saints, which we have brought up a few times. They play Carolina. The Saints' defense is good. Yeah, they're not a bad defense. I think they're a good defense. I'm not going to call them great, but they're good. Carolina is a weird team of some – every once in a while, a Bryce Young game happens, and then you're going to be bummed that you played the defense.

37:31Andy Holloway:But I think the Saints are a pretty safe matchup this week.

37:35Jason Moore:Yeah, I'll throw out the Jaguars as well. Their defense has been getting after it, sacking the quarterback a lot. They play the Jets. They're at home. so the Jaguars the Niners if it's what's his name Cook

37:46Andy Holloway:for the Jets then he's going to be Cooked and then the Jaguars will become very strong and they're obviously

37:52Jason Moore:not available I think they might be the number one scoring DST so far on the season but the Seahawks oh my gosh yeah just in case if they play against Rippin' Farts

38:06Mike Wright:crazy yeah that's one of those defenses that you didn't see that matchup as a good one until recent events. Like you can make a bunch of plans ahead of time, but be not so locked in that you don't take advantage of the best possible starter. For some reason, they're available. All of the waiver wire rankings are up on the website, thefantasyfootballers.com. Make sure you take advantage of all the tools for these important matchups, stream finder, strength of schedule tool, ultimate dashboard. Like I said, all the rankings are up there. The start sit tool as well. So, you know, don't miss out on your opportunity to.

38:39Mike Wright:We'll throw it out.

38:40Andy Holloway:We'll nerd out for playoff week. We'll throw it out because this is the time people ask, should I have multiple defenses? Is that okay? Because at the beginning of the year, what are you doing? Wasting a roster spot with extra defenses. Right now, 100%. I have two defenses on my team that's going into the bye week. So the Kansas City Chiefs, I guess, are widely available. In two weeks, they play Tennessee. The Bills available in about half a league. They'll play Cleveland. in two weeks. Do you believe in J.J. McCarthy? Is it real or not? If it's not real, the Giants play Minnesota in two weeks.

39:19Andy Holloway:Should you pick up the Saints for this week? Their stretch run is crazy. Carolina, Jets, Tennessee. Get out in front of it. No question.

39:29Mike Wright:Let's take another break and we'll get into streaming quarterbacks.

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40:36full stream ahead

40:41Mike Wright:all right um if you're streaming a quarterback right now good luck to you and that's not these things happen that's not always the case but um you

40:52Andy Holloway:You might have been riding with Daniel Jones. Yeah, absolutely. So give me a name.

40:58Jason Moore:I'll go ahead, Jay. I'll kick it off with C.J. Stroud. I talked about Jaden Higgins. I like the matchup against Arizona. This is a very, very, very cold week. There are games that are going to be like 12 degrees. This one's in a dome. Great matchup. Over the last month, the Cardinals defense falling apart. I mean, they're dead last in passing touchdowns allowed. 29th in yards per pass attempt. 28th in pressure rate. 24th in schedule adjusted fantasy points allowed to quarterback. So, Stroud's looking really good. This is a team that is a 9.5 point home favorite.

41:36Mike Wright:Not enough. Not enough. Oh, you think it should be more?

41:41Jason Moore:It's going to be a bloodbath. Yeah. The Cardinals are good for losing by 20.

41:47Mike Wright:Might be 40. I mean, I don't know what they can do in this matchup.

41:51Andy Holloway:How many points do the Texans score? 30. I'm going to say – Then they lose by 30. Yeah.

41:56Mike Wright:I mean, here's the only way that the Cardinals do stuff. As Houston thinks it's going to be super easy, which it will be. But then they light up.

42:03Andy Holloway:I'm going with Trevor Lawrence, who – I don't know, guys. He played really well. He played really well. It wasn't just last week. we've had at least a couple weeks in a row now where you're maybe we have some hope for Trevor Lawrence moving forward at least to give us some fantasy value they're 12.5 point home favorites against the Jets since returning from the week 8 bye he's the QB 7 in total points he has 5 rushing touchdowns on the season that's 4th most for quarterback and Kyle also wants to point out that is as many rushing touchdowns as Saquon or Bijan because we can't have nice things but Trevor Lawrence is, he's in play.

42:45Andy Holloway:And I'm of the position of, you know, you see the 12 and a half. Some people go, oh, well, I just only want the running back. Then I don't want the, no, you want the quarterbacks in there. How do you think they're going to get up and beat and win the game by 14 points?

43:00Mike Wright:I'm going to say this name out loud. Hold on.

43:07Titanium underpants. We're going to your two.

43:08Mike Wright:Thank you. No, that's appropriate. I took a look at the stream finder because I wanted to see if the streak is still valid. Teams that play Dallas. Teams that play Dallas still. Dallas has never given up fewer points against expectation to that position. Or to quarterback. Even the Detroit game.

43:28Andy Holloway:His expectation of points might be a little low.

43:32Mike Wright:So we're going to need him to go really above. It's J.J. McCarthy. Oh! It's J.J. McCarthy against the Dallas Cowboys. defense Dallas Cowboys defense who still no matter what happens even when you give up only one touchdown to Jared Goff they give up more fantasy points than expectation no other team that I can see has I mean there every other team is at least four matchups where they have like held a quarterback decent where they've held a quarterback below expected fantasy points I just don't see how a few things i i don't i don't see how dallas doesn't score points on minnesota at home i don't see how they're not forced to uh let jj mccarthy throw the ball more and look it could be horrible but let's see it this is the stretch run for the vikings that determines his entire

44:20Andy Holloway:future i will say they the vikings game plan they they did what they needed to do of who cares about winning this game. I mean, of course you care, but I'm saying your goal here is simply that J.J. McCarthy has to get all the opportunities. I mean, they got down to the goal line. Jason and I are watching the game, and I'm like, they better play action this. Like, run... Don't run it in. You gotta play... No, I'm saying you gotta play action because you need to... J.J. McCarthy has to get reps at every possible scenario, and next play, it was the play-action pass.

44:59Mike Wright:I also do not think Shador Sanders is a bad start this week against Chicago. It's a plus matchup for him. I agree. The Bears are – you talk about the Cowboys and how much they struggle. The Bears are fifth in the league in schedule, adjusted fancy points, giving up to quarterbacks. He's kind of having to do everything. If you're talking JJ, you can talk Shador. That's all I'm saying. I agree. um so to me that's scary as heck and you probably don't have that problem so let's do a little bit of mailbag mailbag um we do have papa josh back in the building today i don't know if you knew i barely even know everybody he came to work how are you i'm i'm quite well how have the video transition's been today smooth smooth you've been doing all the doubtful we'll see if yeah we'll see if the chat agrees the listeners say uh into the mailbag we go if you have a question head to the website the fantasyfootballers.com click the submit a question button dial the voicemail hotline 302-464-TFFB Kevin writing in with Mike Evans coming back now how confident are you starting him if it's his first week back I'm considering playing him in my PPR league over Brees Hall oh man that is a um that's that is a courageous that would be a courageous start breese hall against jacksonville on the road with no quarterback i mean he has been he has been good he was number six against cleveland when they had that matchup he's been mostly good mostly good i think i think if you're looking for baseline fantasy point guarantee i still feel like

46:40Andy Holloway:a better bet yeah 15 opportunities obnoxious that they are not throwing him the ball more

46:45Mike Wright:do you think Evans is going to get like 100 % allotment of snaps in his first no no I don't

46:50Jason Moore:I think he will he's Thursday he's an okay like I I don't see it I don't see it where you can't play him um but you cannot expect him to come out and in his first week have the exact same utilization he had when he's fully healthy like you you saw this with Godwin they they they brought Godwin back put him out there but not as much as recently so he's always good to catch a bomb

47:19Andy Holloway:touchdown and then you're fine for fantasy I think it's it's Jets quarterback related like you're gonna I would take this thing down to Thursday and if there's if all the signs are that Fields won't be playing, Taylor won't be playing, I'm okay switching over to Mike Evans at that point. Jacksonville's got a good defense. And if you're going to get 15 opportunities but you're just going to be running into a fully stacked box, I might shoot for the upside.

47:48Mike Wright:Jake in Kentucky. Hey, baller, should I start Woody Marks against Arizona? Yeah, yes. Or Emeka Abuka against Atlanta in my flex for the first week of the fantasy playoff?

47:56Jason Moore:Woody Marks. I mean, that's an easy one. And that's not saying that you should be sitting at Buka at all. Feels like Woody Marks could be a top five this week. Absolutely. Woody Marks, I mean, he's been very good. He had 26 carries this last week, 19 carries the week before. He is getting so many touches. And then you have a matchup where right now the Cardinals are 29th against running backs. Like, Woody Marks is an awesome play. What'd you do? What's wrong?

48:26Mike Wright:I just, I was quickly going to the Thursday show. You're trying to put in some starts of the week, huh?

48:31Jason Moore:Just one. Oh, but I guess he was taken, huh? He was. All right. He was. He was taken.

48:37Mike Wright:Swish.

48:37Jason Moore:Spoiler.

48:38Mike Wright:Yeah. It's one of those two guys. Or maybe it's both. Maybe it's both. Zach in Minneapolis. Which will not help Jake. I somehow made it to the playoffs with Laser Mayfield. Can I trust him in the playoffs, or do I need to look somewhere else? Like T-Law. The numbers have been really bad for Baker. real bad forever lawrence so baker hasn't given you a if you want to talk ceiling he's got one week this year inside the top eight seven sorry inside the top seven on a fantasy finish on a

49:14Andy Holloway:week i mean the week before that though he was 23 points he was okay he has let me give you another

49:18Mike Wright:one he hasn't scored he scored 20 fantasy points one time since week five yeah okay is that does Does that hurt enough? I mean, it's just that either he's hurt, I mean, one or zero touchdowns other than one game since week five. I mean, it's just.

49:36Jason Moore:So Trevor Lawrence or Baker Mayfield.

49:38Mike Wright:I feel like it's Trevor Lawrence, and you jump into the flames right now.

49:41Jason Moore:Yeah.

49:42Mike Wright:Jacoby's great. Brian Thomas Jr. is going to do well. They have Britton Strange. Their pass-catching running backs are looking good. They're on a roll.

49:48Andy Holloway:Yeah. Baker's going the wrong way. I'm going with Trevor Lawrence because it wasn't just production in a plus matchup. It was the last couple weeks. He has looked better. Maybe he's figured something out. So I'm going to go with Trevor Lawrence.

50:06Mike Wright:It's crazy.

50:07Andy Holloway:Yeah.

50:08Mike Wright:Will in Virginia. A lot of credit goes to this guy, by the way. Duval. Great play calling. He's a weirdo. Playing hard for him. They bounce back from tough losses, and Trevor Lawrence looked like a – he looked like a different quarterback last week, dot after dot after dot in bad weather. Brian Thomas. Yeah.

50:30Andy Holloway:Three for 87, man. Brian Thomas got you 10 points.

50:34Mike Wright:They said it couldn't be done. Never thought we'd talk about it that way. But here we are, Brian Thomas Jr. I mean, he is still a bigger play threat than when Parker Washington's out there or somebody else.

50:47Andy Holloway:It is, now that Thomas is healthy and getting back into it, their addition for trading, oh my gosh, now his name is Jacoby. Jacoby Myers? Yeah, all I could think of was Brissette. I was like, man, where's the beef? Yeah, Brissette was the only name. But anyways, that helps. Some guys are number ones in the NFL. some guys are number ones who they need someone competent on the other side of the ball

51:20Mike Wright:last one here Will in Virginia Travion Henderson against Buffalo DK Metcalf against Miami in the flex for the first round of the playoffs I feel like I'd play Metcalf

51:32Andy Holloway:I like both of them this week I like Henderson this week I like what happened last week with DK Metcalf does that continue it's hard to know So we got Hendo's in over under 50 and a half points. I'm definitely going Hendo. Are you? Yeah.

51:49Jason Moore:Easily Hendo for me. He still had 15 opportunities this last game. The matchup against Buffalo is actually pretty good. Right now on the season, they're 27th in fantasy points given up to running backs. He is a rookie who is coming on strong. And DK Metcalf is not that good.

52:06Mike Wright:He had a huge game. He was good last week. He did. He had targets, tons of yards. Important.

52:12Andy Holloway:If DK Metcalf gets 10 or more targets, then he will be a great play.

52:19Mike Wright:I think I might be most excited for Buffalo and New England this week. Yeah. What is the line of that game?

52:25Andy Holloway:50 and a half.

52:26Mike Wright:No, I'm sorry. What team is favored and by how much?

52:28Jason Moore:The Patriots are favored by one point. Yeah.

52:32Andy Holloway:No, that makes sense.

52:33Mike Wright:I think Buffalo, I think they killed him. Oh! Wow! Oh!

52:39Andy Holloway:this is the anti-patriot bias

52:43Mike Wright:ace that team I've been wrong about everything so I'll probably be wrong about that Wednesday we got backup options Thursday night football preview the mailbag starts of the week on the way Mike's claimed all my guys already and the matchups on Thursday as well we'll talk to you then goodbye

53:04thank you for listening to another episode of the fantasy footballers podcast Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers.

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