Playoff Lockdown: Week 16 Must‑Starts | Fantasy Focus 🏈

Summary

Fantasy Focus Football Podcast Summary

Episode: Playoff Lockdown: Week 16 Must‑Starts | Fantasy Focus 🏈
Date: December 19, 2025
Hosts: Field Yates, Mike Clay, Daniel Dopp, Phil Jaetz

Overview

This episode dives deep into fantasy football strategy, injury updates, and key plays for advancing in Week 16 playoff semifinals. The hosts recap the wild Rams–Seahawks Thursday Night Football game and then analyze crucial start/sit questions, injury situations, matchups, and their “starts of the week” for quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight end. The show’s tone is conversational, lively, and rich with actionable advice for fantasy managers aiming for the championship.

---

Recap: Thursday Night Football – Rams vs. Seahawks

(00:31–11:56)

• The first half was slow; excitement picked up massively late in the game.

• Seahawks comeback: Down 16 points in the fourth quarter, staged an improbable rally.

• Key wild play: Sam Darnold’s two-point attempt crazily ruled successful after a tipped, backward lateral to Zach Charbonnet.

  "That play not result in points. ... The offense had a bad play, the defense a great one. But somehow they get two points." – Mike Clay (03:28)

• Historical stat: Seahawks were previously 0–172 when trailing by 15+ in the fourth quarter.

Fantasy Standouts:

• Puka Nacua:
  • 12 catches, 225 yards, 2 TDs (46.5 pts).
  • "If you had Puka, congratulations, you've advanced to the fantasy finals!" – Phil Jaetz (04:31)
• Matthew Stafford: 457 yards, 3 TDs.
• JSN (Jaxon Smith-Njigba): Zero catches in first half, ends with 23.6 points, including overtime TD.
• Kenneth Walker III: 100+ rushing, TD, key pass game involvement.
  • Only started in about 48% of ESPN leagues.
• Rams RBs: Kyren Williams (11.5 points, volume but no TD); Blake Corum (13.1, similar story).

Kicker Note:

• Jason Myers struggled due to weather, just as Mike Clay predicted pregame (08:31).

Uniform Digression: (10:14)

• Love for Seattle’s “chrome illusion” paint on helmets, reminiscing Jeff Gordon’s NASCAR car.

---

Week 16 Must-Starts & Key Matchups

(11:56–22:25)

C.J. Stroud vs. Raiders

• Fringe top-10 QB, playing “amazing football.”
• "If ever there was a time for 250 and three TDs, it’d be now." – Phil Jaetz (13:16)

Bears RBs: DeAndre Swift & Kyle Monangai

• Nearly identical usage; Swift boom-bust (20+ pts in 2 of last 3, sub-12 in 3 of last 5).
• If Swift is out (injury), Monangai rises to RB1 conversation (16:25).

DJ Moore, Bears WR (vs. Packers)

• Absurd boom/bust splits: Four games under 5 points, three over 22.
• “Starting DJ Moore is the ‘hold onto your butts’ moment from Jurassic Park.” – Daniel Dopp (19:19)
• Consensus: Fringe WR2, but huge ceiling due to no other reliable WRs healthy.

Colston Loveland, Bears TE

• High potential, especially with pass-catcher injuries. Has cracked top-10 tight end rankings (20:43).

---

Notable Tight End Matchups

(24:13–36:42)

Darren Waller vs. Bengals

• Bengals are league’s worst vs. tight ends, but rookie QB downgrade stifles excitement.
• “Not a lineup lock... he’s their clear favorite in the red zone.” – Phil Jaetz (25:32)
• Waller ranked TE12–TE14; risky but possible ceiling.

Kenny Gainwell (Steelers RB)

• 16+ points in 4 of last 5; faces Lions’ ultra-tough run D.
• RB2/flex conversation only, not a must-start.

Wandell Robinson (Giants WR)

• 9.8 targets/game since Week 7 (WR4 in that span), but faces Minnesota's top WR defense.
• Safe floor WR2, but bust potential due to matchup.

Kyle Pitts & Trey McBride Showdown (Atl–Ari)

• Both are top-5 TEs over the last three weeks.
• Kyle Pitts’ production could be affected by Drake London's return; both are recommended starters.

Start/Sit: Drake London

• If healthy (“full go”), inside top-20 WRs.

---

Regression & Team Futures

(41:40–42:22)

• Open speculation on 2026 regression candidates: No clear team yet, but the 49ers might see positive regression due to anticipated improved health.

---

Injury Report – Key Updates

(42:32–49:37)

• Rashee Rice (KC, concussion): Unlikely to play; Xavier Worthy top-20 if Rice is out.
• Tee Higgins (CIN, concussion): Not trending toward playing; have contingencies.
• Josh Jacobs (LV, knee): DNP all week; if out, Emmanuel Wilson a flex but Chris Brooks will mix in.
• Woody Marks (HOU, ankle): DNP all week; likely out.
• Dalton Kincaid (BUF): DNP Thursday; monitor, Dawson Knox could see uptick.
• Marvin Harrison Jr. (ARI): Back practicing, expected to play.

---

Q&A – Rapid-Fire Listener Advice

(58:21–63:44)

• Hampton vs. Swift: Slight lean to Hampton, but neither has huge ceiling.
• Michael Wilson vs. Wandell Robinson: Split panel, slightly more support for Robinson, but Wilson is close (especially if Harrison plays).
• Quin Judkins vs. Travis Etienne Jr.: Etienne safer despite tougher matchup.
• Brenton Strange vs. Juwan Johnson: Johnson preferred due to volume and opponent injuries.
• Dart vs. Herbert (QB): Herbert vs. Cowboys, matchup too good to bench.

---

Starts of the Week (52:50–57:23)

Mike Clay

• QB: Jared Goff (high on him in both season-long and DFS).
• RB: Tyrone Tracy Jr. (consistent 16+ pts, steady workload).
• WR: DJ Moore (significantly higher than consensus).
• TE: Dallas Goedert (French “wildcard” pick, vs. Commanders, top-5 matchup).

Phil Jaetz

• QB: Jared Goff.
• RB: Marianne Hampton (could go for 70+ and a score).
• WR: Christian Watson (Bears secondary vulnerable to speed).
• TE: Dalton Schultz (highly consistent, found endzone last week).

Daniel Dopp

• QB: JJ McCarthy (going bold, sees third straight 20+ pt game).
• RB: Kenneth Gainwell (leaning on upside in projected high-scoring game).
• WR: DJ Moore.
• TE: Travis Kelce (reconciled “beef,” locking him in as a wild card).

---

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “That game was as wonky and topsy-turvy as it gets!” – Daniel Dopp (05:16)
• "Starting DJ Moore is like Samuel L. Jackson in Jurassic Park — 'Hold onto your butts.'" (19:19)
• “Start your tight end vs. the Bengals—until you need to win your playoff matchup!” — Mike Clay (27:11)
• “Kyle Pitts and Trey McBride have been tight end fire the last three weeks. Beautiful.” – Phil Jaetz (34:41)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------------------------|--------------| | Thursday Night Football Recap | 00:31–11:56 | | Week 16 QB/RB/WR/Tight End Must-Start Debate | 11:56–24:13 | | Darren Waller & Bengals TE struggles | 24:13–27:46 | | Kenny Gainwell Analysis | 27:47–30:46 | | Wandell Robinson & NYG Discussion | 31:03–34:27 | | Pitts, McBride, and TE Evolution | 34:34–38:51 | | Washington WRs: McLaurin, Deebo, and Outlook | 39:19–41:44 | | Injury Report (Major Updates) | 42:32–49:37 | | Cardinals WR Startability & DFS QBs | 49:57–50:19 | | Starts of the Week | 52:50–57:23 | | Listener Q&A (Start/Sit, Injury replacement) | 58:21–63:44 |

---

Tone and Style

The episode is filled with good-natured banter, rapid-fire takeaways, data-supported debate, and some pop culture/life tangents (e.g., building dollhouses, NASCAR references, movie analogies). The analysts maintain a practical, sometimes cautionary, but always hopeful approach — empathetic to the high stakes of fantasy semifinals.

---

Summary for Fantasy Managers (Key Takeaways)

• Stars are shining: Puka Nacua, JSN, Stafford, Kenneth Walker all paid off for managers Thursday night.
• RB Committees: Caution on Swift/Monangai; volume not guaranteed.
• Injury pivots are critical: Monitor Rice, Higgins, Jacobs, Marks, Kincaid closely.
• DJ Moore is risky but may be unavoidable: Proceed with “hold onto your butts” energy.
• **TEs: Keep playing McBride, Pitts, and watch for upside with Waller and Loveland amid injuries.
• DFS Insight: Jared Goff is a value stack, especially with Jameson Williams.

---

For more insights, tune in to Fantasy Football Now on Sunday for late-breaking injury/news updates!

---

Transcript

[Daniel Dopp]

There's a reason Chevy trucks are known for their dependability because they show up no matter the weather, push forward no matter the terrain and deliver. That's why Chevrolet has earned more dependability awards for trucks than any other brand in 2025, according to J.D. power, because in every Chevy truck, like every Chevy driver, dependability comes standard. Visit Chevy.com to learn more. Chevrolet received the highest total number of awards among all the trucks in the J.D. power 2025 U.S. vehicle Dependability Study Awards based on 2022 models. Newer models may be shown. Visit jdpower.com awards for more details. Chevrolet Together, let's drive.

[Mike Clay]

Fantasy.

[Daniel Dopp]

You're in the whole 6010 Focus Fantasy Fantasy Focus what's Good friends? Welcome into Fantasy Focus Football, presented by Wingstop alongside Mike Clay and Phil Jaetz. My name is Daniel Dopp, here to bring you another awesome Friday show. Hopefully an awesome Friday show. We got a lot to be able to talk about. Not only a Thursday Night football game that we have to recap, but diving into the rest of our Week 16 preview part, making sure you're all set to set your lineups here for the semifinals of your playoff matchups. Before I turn things over to Mike and Field, quick shout out to our friends over at Trophy Smack head on over to trophysmac.com use the promo code FOCUS10 for 10% off your order over there. And shout out to our buddy Eric Moody, hanging out in chat right now. Follow him on social media, Rick N. Moody, and make sure you ask him all the questions in chat. He loves being able to answer questions from our community, so make sure you do that. And without further ado, listen, we got a bunch of stuff to get into. I'm actually not going to go slow into this. We got a lot of football to talk about. People want to be here. Dive into Thursday Night Football Arena, Rams and Seahawks. If you watched the first half, you might have said to yourself, you know what? I might have had more fun putting together a children's dollhouse. But the second half was a lot more fun, my friends.

[Phil Jaetz]

Ironically, that's exactly what I did. If you've ever wondered how long it takes to build a dollhouse and nobody tell my kids, it takes exactly as long as a game that goes basically until the end of the fifth quarter takes. That's what I started at kickoff. I'm sitting there and I'm watching like it's blear. Another Seahawks two point conversion attempt and I'm like, fiend. Yes, fiend. My father came down last night to Come visit and see the girls. And he came with me. He actually sat there with me during the entirety of it. But it turns out this dollhouse was mostly a one person job. A lot of it is just screwing one screw at a time and taking one panel. So shout out to my dad for hanging out. But what a game.

[Mike Clay]

Game of the year.

[Phil Jaetz]

Hyperbole.

[Daniel Dopp]

At least half of the year.

[Mike Clay]

Well, maybe half of the conversation.

[Phil Jaetz]

It's in the conversation. The Seahawks come back from 16 points down. I think they were actually down 15 plus in the fourth quarter.

[Daniel Dopp]

Did you see that stat?

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah, they were like 0 and 1. 72 when trailing by at least 15 points in the fourth quarter.

[Mike Clay]

More, folks. Yep.

[Phil Jaetz]

They were down 30 to 14. They convert two 2 points conversions in the game. One of which, by definition, one of which was one of the crazier two point conversions you'll ever see is Sam Darnold was trying to throw like a little rip screen to Zach Charbonnet. Yep.

[Daniel Dopp]

And the ball, we love when he gets in the end zone.

[Phil Jaetz]

And Charbonnet like the ball was tipped. Yes. And then the ball kind of ricochets. Yeah. Into the end zone. And the entire field thought the play was dead. It was an incomplete pass. And Charbonnet just kind of picks the ball up like to prepare to toss it back to the ref. After review, they ruled it was a successful two point conversion because it was originally a backwards lateral. Wild, wild, wild, wild game last night.

[Mike Clay]

I'll say this about that play. It added to the drama of the game, which was awesome. Fine, whatever just was. Was interesting. But that should not be a. That play not result in points. It was a bad play by the offense. It was a great play by the defense. And somehow they get two points. You know, like a dead ball.

[Phil Jaetz]

You know what it is though?

[Mike Clay]

Be a dead ball.

[Phil Jaetz]

Remember the Caleb Johnson play at the beginning of the year where the Steelers running back, rookie running back forgot to pick the ball up and it was recovered for a touchdown Y on that kickoff. And then every coach the day after showed that play during team meeting. That will be the play last night. This morning, every coach will be reminding their players, I don't care if the quarterback threw the ball 100 yards down the field, clearly forward. If the ball is down on the ground, pick it up.

[Daniel Dopp]

Someone grabbed it.

[Phil Jaetz]

In case. I will say this though, while Mike may disagree with whether that play should count or not, it saved Jackson, Smith and Jigba managers last year.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh man.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean it boosted a lot.

[Phil Jaetz]

Zero catches in the first half.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, getting a full 10 minutes really, you know, added a lot of points to people's totals and yeah, JSN touchdown was the overtime touchdown.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes, it was.

[Phil Jaetz]

Let's just go through the numbers from last night. So Puka Nukua the headliner. Guys, if you had congratulations, you've advanced the fantasy finals.

[Daniel Dopp]

Seems like it.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. That was my FF now wish on Sunday I said we all were like what do we want for the holidays? Mine was a big playoffs from Puka. Nakua was really good last week and hopefully advance for my teams to the finals last night because that was unbelievable guys.

[Phil Jaetz]

12 catches for 225 yards and two touchdowns. 46 and a half fantasy points by the way. So Naku in the first quarter and like a minute had four catches for 73 yards.

[Mike Clay]

Ten points in the first quarter. Yeah.

[Phil Jaetz]

And then he went silent for like a half of the game or a half of a regular, a regulation.

[Mike Clay]

Stafford also missed him for a wide open touchdown.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh my gosh.

[Phil Jaetz]

So this kind of wonky, topsy turvy start to not just Puka Nuku's night, but everybody's night ended in Puka Nuku finishing with 46 and a half fantasy points. Ridiculous. Matthew Stafford. Sorry guys.

[Daniel Dopp]

As expected. 457 passing yards and three touchdowns.

[Mike Clay]

And same kind of thing too. There was a lot of these star players had long stretches of. Not much. Like the game was quiet early. Kyron, they were getting first down control game. Yeah. And not even efficiently. They were just. It was like if you run for three yards on every play, eventually you're going to and do it. On fourth down, which they did. You get a first down. They just kept doing that and doing that and doing that.

[Daniel Dopp]

How about the Rams being uber aggressive on fourth down early in that game too?

[Phil Jaetz]

Three times in first quarter.

[Mike Clay]

But anyway it was not, not much from Stafford. Like at halft you were like we kind of. Other than jsn you're like this is going about as expected. It was windy and a little rainy and then the wind kind of as. As the forecast seemed to indicate. The wind calmed down in the second half. Yeah. And then the game just being a shootout just led to ridiculous numbers. And that happens.

[Phil Jaetz]

You know, I guess the old expression is it's not over until Eric Saber catches a two point conversion and overtime to conclude the game or fat lady sings. Both of those apply. Same huge day for Matthew Stafford. He was awesome. If you, if you started them, you were smart and you should have stuck with your conviction there. JSN 23.6 fantasy points, which felt great after the way that it started. Like 23.6 big night there from JSM. And then of course both the Seahawks running backs have at least 17 points.

[Daniel Dopp]

How does this happen?

[Phil Jaetz]

Well, Kenneth Walker III is like an amazing one because he has 100 rushing yards and a touchdown plus three catches for 64 yards.

[Mike Clay]

Naturally.

[Phil Jaetz]

I don't know how frequently he was started in the fantasy playoffs because of course he really struggled this entire year. But if you still had him and you rolled them out last night, shout out to you because it was a monster day from Kenneth Walker iii and he of course once again looked the part. He always looks apart. It's just whether they just don't commit to Kenneth Walker iii. It's hard for me to argue with the Seahawks now that they are 12 and 3 and have the first seed in the NFC.

[Daniel Dopp]

Kenneth Walker III was started in and mind you, this is espn. Not we don't have the full gamut of everyone playing right. But right now it says they started in about 48% of fantasy leagues last season.

[Phil Jaetz]

Good job by people. Kind of a coin flip player. Uh, but a couple things did kind of go as expected last night. Kyron Williams, a lot of volume but didn't pay off with the touchdown. So he has just 11 and a half fantasy points. Blake Corum had 13.1 because he also got a lot of volume as the Rams had a gigantic play advantage in this game. A total number of snaps. They played last night. Way more than Seattle, but kind of a pedestrian night overall for Kyren.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, no doubt about it. Um, and we kind of talked about that, that this was going to be a tough challenge and he needs a touchdown to pay off. And obviously if you start him, you got 11, like you're OK. But.

[Phil Jaetz]

But a payoff would have been 17 and he was, he had a couple of goal line opportunities. If he finished one of those, we'd be saying, hey, it worked for you. But there was definitely a lower ceiling given the matchup he faced last night.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, Colby Parkinson said, I know some people started him. Oh yeah, dud there. That was an unfortunate one. That's about it though. Everyone kind of.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's the one positive A.J. barnard scored in our Dynasty League that we've talked about. I said to you guys before the show, I actually didn't start Matthew Stafford. I started a different quarterback which is going to crush me. However, Matthew J. Berry started Colby Parkinson at the tight end spot. Help a little bit.

[Mike Clay]

Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

So that's going to help just a Little bit.

[Phil Jaetz]

Did you have anybody in the game last night?

[Mike Clay]

Nope.

[Phil Jaetz]

Okay, so you're clean slate. He had just Parkinson.

[Daniel Dopp]

Just Parkinson. That was it.

[Mike Clay]

I had our old friend Nua in that league and the other semi against friend Damian.

[Daniel Dopp]

So it'll be a big one. Be a big one. Mike, you put out a tweet before the the game to be like, boy, I'd be a little bit worried about kickers. And if you had Jason Myers, you were totally right.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

On the other side, Harrison Meis just continued to, like, kick short field goals basically all game.

[Phil Jaetz]

He did miss a 41 yarder. That was very consequential in the fourth quarter there. But the Rams offense is just exceptional. I want these teams to play again at some point in the postseason. Last thing I'll share before we move on. Hat depp to our guy. Hat tip to our guy. Kyle Sapi, the legend, the great Kyle Sapi, who noted these two teams in their two meetings this season. Final points scored by the Rams, 58. Final point scored by the Seahawks, 57. Total yards gained by the Rams, 830. Total yards gained by the Seahawks, 829.

[Mike Clay]

Wow.

[Phil Jaetz]

How is that unreal? Teams that are at their best when.

[Mike Clay]

They face each Great. What's the word I want for the epitome of this division right now? I mean, you can put the Niners in there at this point now, because the Rams and Niners, if the. If the Niners win this week, they'll have the same record as the Rams for second place. Come on now.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's unbelievable.

[Phil Jaetz]

The. The 49ers and the Seahawks, if you believe in the term controlling your own destiny now control their own destiny. If either of those teams wins out, they're the number one seed in the week 18.

[Mike Clay]

They do.

[Phil Jaetz]

So can you imagine a potential week 18 number one seed on the line? That hasn't happened since last year.

[Mike Clay]

That might be Lions, Vikings. Yeah, that could be the Sunday night game. There's a. There's a few candidates for that game.

[Phil Jaetz]

Ravens, Steelers, Panthers, Bucks.

[Daniel Dopp]

Before we move on from this, do you guys mind? I want to do one last thing here.

[Mike Clay]

Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

How did you guys feel about the uniforms last night? Can we take a quick look at this? Because we got them up here on the screen if you're watching the YouTube chat.

[Phil Jaetz]

Okay, Mike, go ahead.

[Mike Clay]

My take is that I love them. I love the chrome illusion paint, which is like, as you move, the color changes. Yeah. That became famous at the NASCAR all star race. I believe it was right around 2000. Jeff Gordon had it on the 24th. Dupont.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Mike Clay]

Dropped the chrome illusion and he had it in the All Star race, which is like a huge event on like a weekend. And it was just cool. I've never seen it before.

[Daniel Dopp]

Can you imagine as a car drives by you, it like changes colors in the sun.

[Mike Clay]

The funny thing about that is you don't. I haven't really seen that chrome illusion paint for a really long time. And the other day I saw a streetcar with it and I was with Megan and I was like freaking out about it and telling her all about it. And then of course we see it on the helmet, which I never saw. I didn't know they did that.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's amazing.

[Mike Clay]

I think it's really cool. I think it's awesome.

[Phil Jaetz]

You're like kind of a traditionalist when it comes to uniforms. And of course you'd like the uniform that has some for the NASCAR tie. Yes. Like, that's what it takes. Okay.

[Mike Clay]

If you. I sent you the. The link to it. The link to. Yeah, what is chrome illusion? And I googled it and one of the first results is Jeff Gordon's car from.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I was like, I don't know what chroma illusion is, but it sounds like a medical condition. You should get it checked out the next time you go see someone about your rats.

[Phil Jaetz]

I was affixing the family room to the dining room at that point, so I missed that text. My raw thumb. Seriously, this thing is like pink from all the.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, yeah, that's how it works.

[Phil Jaetz]

I've been there.

[Daniel Dopp]

Welcome to bed.

[Mike Clay]

I have all that stuff too.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right.

[Phil Jaetz]

Offered to come do it for me.

[Daniel Dopp]

Well, even though the first half was a little bit dicey, by the time that you got to the end, basically everybody that we hoped would pay off paid off in this one really fun Thursday night game. Let's see what we got on tap for the rest of the weekend because we got part two of our week 16 slate ahead of us. Field Minister Yates, I'm going to start with you for your first one.

[Phil Jaetz]

We talked about this player a couple of days ago. No, it was yesterday when Mike was giving us some of the quarterbacks. No, this was two days ago. My bad. Two days ago when Mike was giving us all the quarterbacks that kind of the head to head styles. And one of them was C.J. stroud, potential top 10 option this week, guys. He's coming off of a 260 passing yard. Three passing touchdown game against last week, the Arizona Cardinals. Very good matchup. He had just five rushing Yards last week. As we know, the Raiders are not a good defense, but they don't really allow a ton of fantasy points to quarterbacks compared to how good their talent is because teams just run the football a ton against them. So they're 19th in fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks. Not great, but not like this is not facing the Cowboys or anything. I would just say this. So CJ is right there on the border of my top 10. Putting the numbers aside, he's playing amazing football right now. 80 plus percent completion percentage. Last week they played against the Chiefs. Two weeks ago in that Sunday night game, I actually thought he played better than the numbers. Told the story of. Sure. That Chiefs defense was really good. That was. I mean, that was a game in which kind of felt like the chief season was on the line. So I'm kind of in on CJ Stroud this weekend against the Las Vegas Raiders.

[Mike Clay]

Raiders. Yeah, me too. I think he's a fringe, a French starting option. The only issue is he just doesn't have much of a ceiling. You know, he'll.

[Phil Jaetz]

If you get like, ever there was a time to maybe get like 250 and three passing touchdowns. This would be a good, good week to do it.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Phil Jaetz]

And maybe scamper for like 30 yards as well.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Oh, you dope. That'd be great. Get that. I mean, give me 16.

[Daniel Dopp]

Give me 16 yards on the ground for C.J. stroud. I'll be fine with it, to be honest.

[Phil Jaetz]

Is he one of the.

[Mike Clay]

Because it's on the screen.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes. No. Is that what you have? Oh, that's amazing.

[Phil Jaetz]

Wait, so remind us. In this dynasty league, you have two quarterbacks you can play and you created. Okay, so you have Bo Nix leftover and CJ Right.

[Daniel Dopp]

Bo Nix and CJ Stroud are my starters. Yeah. So we'll see. Obviously, I didn't expect 30 from Matthew Stafford.

[Phil Jaetz]

Against the Bucks, you might get 26 from Bo and 22.

[Daniel Dopp]

I could get 20, 22 from CJ and I'll be in an okay spot. So I'm with you on that matchup. I do agree with you, though, based on the way that the teams are playing the Raiders, like there is a little bit of a lesson ceiling. Even though the matchup is really nice.

[Phil Jaetz]

You have Woody Marsh in your injury report.

[Daniel Dopp]

I do. We will talk about him a little bit.

[Phil Jaetz]

I was just going to say. Because that should be noted when we discuss.

[Daniel Dopp]

Absolutely.

[Phil Jaetz]

How it could look. Mike, you're next. What do you got?

[Mike Clay]

I'm next. I'm going to talk Bears running Backs because this is a hard group to project. Highly or Hank Highly. Because they're using two guys very evenly at this point. DeAndre Swift. And the reason why we need to talk about them again this week is because DeAndre Swift is coming off a big game. And you might think after 96 yards and two touchdowns and 19 touches, this guy should be a lineup block. But keep in mind it was. It was kind of predictable to some extent. The Browns just lately, the last month or so, running backs are crushing them. I mean, crushing.

[Phil Jaetz]

James talking to you, buddy.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, it's like five straight games now. Just terrible. So he had a good game against Sam. He but does have now 20 plus fantasy points in two of his last three. But he's also fallen short of 12 points in three of his last five games. So been a little boom bust in this committee. If you look at snaps, carries, targets over the last four games, almost exactly identical with Kyle Menangai. They are splitting this backfield down the middle. He has a little bit of an edge in terms of passing. We'll say passing down usage. He's on the field a little bit more, running more routes, but he only has eight targets in his last four games. So again, kind of uninvolved in the passing game. You're playing the packers eighth fewest fantasy points ladder running backs. These teams play in week 14. So that was two weeks ago. Yep. Swift had 11.2 points. Manangai had 8.7 points in that game. So it's a tough spot committee. This is very much like Corum and Kyron Williams. It's very similar in terms of how to attack it. If you start one of these guys, you're kind of hoping they get into the end zone. Swift is obviously the better play. He's been better. In fact, Kyle Manon Guy's been under 11 fantasy points and two straight in five of his last six games. And he actually scored a touchdown in three of those games in which he scored under 11 points. So think about that. He got six points. Wow. From touchdowns in those three games and still was under 11 points. He's just not getting much volume. And over his last four games, he has a total of 0 receiving yards. So Manang Guy is not a guy. I know he's found the end zone a lot, but I cannot trust him in my lineup.

[Daniel Dopp]

Field has zero receiving yards over the last four games.

[Phil Jaetz]

In my defense, I've been nursing a hamstring injury. I'm not as I usually am.

[Mike Clay]

He has any.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's true.

[Phil Jaetz]

Two follow up questions. DeAndre Swift was added to the injury report. He's officially questionable for this game.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Phil Jaetz]

If he's out, does it come. Does it become Kyle Moon? Nungai to the Moon.

[Mike Clay]

He'll be in the RB1 conversation even in a tough matchup.

[Phil Jaetz]

So let's note that for those that again, this game is 8pm Saturday night.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yep.

[Phil Jaetz]

Second part, I don't know. Are you talking Bears pass catchers in the injury report?

[Mike Clay]

Next topic.

[Phil Jaetz]

Okay, never mind.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Phil Jaetz]

I have no further questions.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right. Love it.

[Phil Jaetz]

Daniel, top your turn.

[Daniel Dopp]

Let's move ahead then and talk about this because are you seriously considering starting DJ Moore in week 16? Let's dive in because Fields, you alluded to it dealing with a foot injury. Luther Burden dealing with an ankle injury. Both DNPs Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, both ruled out yesterday. Which means that he is the last man standing in this wide receiving core. Basically you're going to talk about a couple other guys there, but it's basically just DJ Moore. I went back and looked at his game log over the last couple games. It doesn't make any sense. The game log is broken. Like Tyler, let's give the people what they want. Give them another full screen here, my friend.

[Phil Jaetz]

Friday, let's go. You are on fire. Fire right now.

[Daniel Dopp]

Look at this game log. Week 9 22.9 points Week 100 Week 11 3.1 Week 12 23.4 Week 13 4.7 Week 14 0.6 Week 15 22.9 so let's see four of those games under five fantasy points. The other three over 22 fantasy points.

[Mike Clay]

Definition of boom, bust. It's hard to be that extreme over that span.

[Daniel Dopp]

He's never topped seven targets and he only hit seven targets twice. Five or fewer targets in five of those seven games. And the matchup though, feels like it's. I mean, here's what I'm going to say. They've allowed the seven most fantasy points to wide receivers over the last two months. The matchup doesn't scare me as much with the Green Bay packers, especially without Micah Parsons trying to put pressure on the quarterback.

[Phil Jaetz]

And the home road splits for the packers defense have been not that kind to them. They've been a dominant defense at home, not quite as dominant on the road.

[Mike Clay]

Chicago. Yep, yep.

[Phil Jaetz]

And by the way, no weather concerns.

[Daniel Dopp]

For Saturday doesn't seem like it.

[Phil Jaetz]

40 degrees or something like that.

[Daniel Dopp]

So like the matchup seems like, okay, this is all right you're talking about and he should lead all the pass catchers and targets. It seems like because the other people that should be catching passes are going to be olamide Zakias, Devin DuVernay, Colston Loveland, Cole Comet, Jade Bear. Not Baron, Jade Walker. Walker.

[Phil Jaetz]

Thank you, Broncos. Yes.

[Daniel Dopp]

I wish. I mean he could catch passes for this team essentially as well.

[Phil Jaetz]

I need him skills.

[Daniel Dopp]

In the end, I kind of settled on him as wide receiver 20 because it's so hard to have faith in like the trust of what you've seen the last handful of weeks. But everything else leads up to such an unbelievable situation. I think starting DJ Moore this week is like the epitome of that Samuel L. Jackson scene in Jurassic park when he's Mr. Arnold and he's going to. They're sitting in the visitor center, they're gonna go reset the power. He's smoking that iconic cigarette just barely hanging on his lips and he says, hold on to your butts. Like that's starting DJ Moore in week 16 in a win or go home matchup.

[Phil Jaetz]

Process is really good here though, right? I mean wide receiver one for an offense, but with a lot of confidence. And I know that there we talked about how the packers defense isn't as good on the road as it is at home. I will remind. I know Daniel and I didn't see this exactly the same at the time. Caleb Williams in the second half against the packers two weeks ago in like freezing weather in Green Bay with Michael Parsons on the field had like 163 passing yards and two touchdowns in the second half alone. So maybe they found something there. I think DJ Moore is very interesting. He's right there, you know, right around. I would consider him a wide receiver too as well. Do we think this is an opportunity for Colston Loveland? Yeah, I mean he's so talented. It's like, yeah, I know that he doesn't get a lot of opportunities and I'm not talking about like the play against Cincinnati where He ran at 59 yards for the house. I'm talking about he makes some stuff that even like 12 yard gains where it's a ball thrown outside of his frame or a contested catch or like this kid clearly has it. He's clearly a very, very talented young player. If ever there was a time for Colston Loveland again, just read the names again who are catching passes. You said D.J. moore and Alameda.

[Mike Clay]

D.J.

[Daniel Dopp]

Moore. Alameda's Akias, Devin DuVernay. Yeah. Colson love. And then Cole Comet was on the injury report to start the week. He's come off full practice. Seems like he will be out there.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah, Cole will probably play. And Cole, obviously, he could certainly have a role, right?

[Mike Clay]

Oh, he will, yeah. I would imagine.

[Phil Jaetz]

I mean, like, he could have a decent day, I should say.

[Mike Clay]

Yes.

[Phil Jaetz]

But Loveland, I think is the more appealing of the two.

[Mike Clay]

Agreed.

[Phil Jaetz]

There's some really good underlying metrics here. He has made his way inside my top 10.

[Daniel Dopp]

And out of all of those people, Caleb Williams should just find his alpha wide receiver. Ideally, it's been difficult over the last couple of weeks, but if it doesn't happen in this matchup, I don't know when it's going to.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think back to DJ Moore when Adunse and Luther Burden weren't there or were behind him, including last year. And he had massive target shares. I don't see why he was wouldn't have that in this game.

[Phil Jaetz]

Different.

[Mike Clay]

It's not just yeah, fair, but it's also not just oduns days out like last week. Now Burden's out as well. That's like we're pushing half the targets in this offense gone. So if More doesn't. If More More doesn't have seven plus targets in this game, I don't know what they're doing. He should be featured in this game. So I am higher than both of you guys. I'm at 13 after removing 13 football players. Yeah. Very high.

[Phil Jaetz]

I have to check my rankings. Maybe I don't have I'm and.

[Mike Clay]

And Loveland. Same kind of thing. Fringe starting option. I have a Loveland versus Joe Farterson question in. In FF now in that league. So I'm. I'm leaning right now toward Colson Loveland in that game. Of course, the Cowboys have the Chargers, which is a tough matchup for that passing game.

[Phil Jaetz]

Patience could really pay off here. If you drafted Colson Loveland, the theory was like, maybe over time he gets better, takes work away from Cole Kametz. And this is a player that I think Ben Johnson thinks extremely high of. This would be a great opportunity to kind of, you know, reach overdrive for Colston Love, naturally.

[Mike Clay]

Zakia's two touchdowns, of course.

[Phil Jaetz]

Exactly. It's going to be Cole Comet, Zakias and then two rushing touchdowns.

[Daniel Dopp]

Is this Ben Johnson doing what the Lions did when they mind you? Totally different position. But when the Lions drafted Jameer Gibbs, they were like, we're going to go out and get the guy that we want no matter what everyone else thinks. Like, they already paid Cole Comet a bunch of money and he was like, I want to go out and get Colson Loveland that early in the draft.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah, I think there's, there's a reason why Colin is a bear, so Saturday night could be an opportunity for him this season on Fansville by Dr. Pepper College football enters into the great unknown. Will the 12 team playoffs bear a new champion? Will conference realignments spark new rivalries? And will Dr. Pepper continue to have one of a kind taste with a unique blend of 23 authentic flavors? Okay, we actually know the answer to that last one and it's yes, most definitely yes. So prepare yourself for more drama, more angry comment sections, and more ice cold Dr. Pepper, because this season, everything is about to change. Stop by your local retailer today to score some ice cold Dr. Pepper college football. It's a Pepper thing.

[Daniel Dopp]

The holidays are rolling in and if your wish list is missing, a little something Manscaped has you covered. From the beard hedger to the lawnmower trimmer, Manscaped's precision tools keep you looking sharp, feeling confident and ready for every event and celebration. Right now at Target, get 20% off the handyman shaver, beard hedger and the chairman plus essentials kit, a must have for a smooth face shave. Hurry though. Offer ends December 27th.

[Phil Jaetz]

Nothing takes game day to the next level like a holiday spread to go along with it. That and knowing your home's security is handled. ADT's DIY home security system is your new defensive play. It'll help protect your home and give you peace of mind so you can focus your energy on cheering your team into the end zone. When every second Counts, count on ADT. Visit ADT.com or call 1-800-ADT ASAP. Don't settle for safeish. Get ADT. And speaking of tight ends, could Darren Waller be in your lineup this week?

[Mike Clay]

Oh, baby. With different conversation if two is in there.

[Phil Jaetz]

Okay, talk about this and just talk about why his name is even being brought up right now. Yeah, the answer is the Bengals. Yes, our producer here. But of course the Bengals. Despite allowing a total of 3.8 fantasy points to Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely last week, they allow more than five fantasy points per game than any other defense to tight ends this year.

[Mike Clay]

Yep.

[Phil Jaetz]

Do you want to venture a guess who is the second worst defense against tight ends?

[Mike Clay]

I think it's a good defense, isn't it? It's not like not Seattle, but like it's like a good.

[Daniel Dopp]

Isn't it the Rams?

[Phil Jaetz]

It is not. It's the Steelers.

[Mike Clay]

Steelers. Oh no, they're not. Never mind. I was wrong. I mean they're giving up like the Most passing yards, completions. They're most what touchdowns to receive.

[Phil Jaetz]

They were good last week.

[Mike Clay]

Yep. Catches in the arm.

[Daniel Dopp]

So Brock Wright you're saying might get in the end zone.

[Phil Jaetz]

Brock Wright vs Darren Waller, the two league winning tight ends this week. So it is about the Bengals here for Darren Waller. He's been back for three games. It's been a weird three game return. Three targets, three targets and then eight targets last week. And a lot of that eight target and two touchdown effort was late in that game when they were playing catch up against the Steelers on Monday Night Football. I guess the best and most important thing that Darren Waller has going for him is he's clearly their favorite red zone option.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, no doubt.

[Phil Jaetz]

End zone option too. Like it's probably just because he's the biggest guy by a lot. But the red zone opportunities could be there for Darren Waller. Not a lineup lock for me to close. And I think I've come around the Quinn, you. I think Quinn will be fine. Yeah, fine. Yeah, I think it'll be fine. I don't think it'll be a dramatic downgrade.

[Daniel Dopp]

I mean with the way that two has been playing, to have it be a dramatic downgrade would be really bad.

[Mike Clay]

I hear you. But they're averaging two and a half touchdowns per game on offense. I mean it's league average. Yeah, yeah, I know. But my point is like they're, it's not like they, it's not like some other teams like the jets or Raiders where you're scoring one, you're lucky if you get two touchdowns out of them. Again, two or three touchdowns a game. Yours if he's not good, if he plays like a seventh round rookie in his NFL debut, his first NFL start, they might score one or zero touchdowns on offense. So that's, that's really my concern. That's what moves, you know, a two offense that probably is going to score two, maybe three touchdowns to one, that could score zero to two, that moves Waller down, makes him a lot, a lot riskier. And the Bengals defense has been a little better. They're a little more competent over the last. A little better.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, they have been.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

I don't know, I feel like you have too much confidence in what the Dolphins defense would do with TUA under center. Because I just, in watching that offense, it just feels like I, I don't know, it doesn't feel like it could get much worse for me.

[Mike Clay]

Six game winning streak before last week, five game winning streak. I mean, you know what we prime time, we saw A disaster. But before that, they had wheeled off a bunch of wins.

[Daniel Dopp]

The matchup, though, it's like we've been saying, it's like we've gotten to the point now in week 16 where we're going to go home. All season long, the one mantra we've been saying is start all your tight ends against the Bengals no matter what. And now we're finally saying, you need to win this week. Don't start your tight end against the Bengals.

[Mike Clay]

There's a lot of similar options. He's in that long list of, you know, conversations. But also seventh round rookie quarterback making his NFL debut. You know, there's.

[Daniel Dopp]

Where do you have him ranked? Mike can.

[Mike Clay]

I'm at 14.

[Daniel Dopp]

14. I've got him at 12 and Fields got him. Yeah. So we all have him just outside that in that, you know, tight end two conversation because I think we're worried about how the offense is going to be.

[Mike Clay]

I mean, I have him in our dynasty league and I have him or Mark Andrews and I think I have another. Some. Someone else in that conversation. But I was Mason Taylor, but he's out. So I'm probably, you know, I thought I was going to go Waller to start the week, and now I'm leaning back Jordan Andrews and hoping. Either way, I'm hoping they find the end zone.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. Someone just falls in the end zone.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. All right, next one, Michael.

[Mike Clay]

Next one for me is an interesting RB2/Flex discussion. Not a superstar by any means, but he's been one in fantasy over the last month. It's Kenny Gainwell in Pittsburgh who's the. The running back to start from this offense. Do we trust him against the Lions? Let me take you through this a little bit. 80 yards and 13 carries and 46 yards on seven targets on Monday Night Football. Now has 16 plus fantasy points in four of his last five games. He's been terrific. Now he's been good for a month or so. He's been very effective as a rusher. He's playing second fiddle to Jalen Warren in that regard. But 4.85 yards per carry this season and obviously a big factor in the passing game. No lower than seventh in targets, catches and receiving yards among running backs this season already. Career highs basically across the board, and he still has a handful of games to go. But fellas, they're playing the Lions. And the Lions have not only allowed the fewest, second fewest fantasy points to running backs, they've allowed the second fewest receiving yards. That's the part the actual season that's the part. Yeah, exactly. That concerns me a little bit. So for me, I'm at 21 or I was 21. Go. Yeah, I'm at solid 21 on Kenny Gainwell. Not a must start, certainly not a lineup lock. I think if you're looking, you're in a tough spot in that RB2 slot or your flex, you could put him in there and hope he catches a handful of passes. But tough, tough matchup here.

[Phil Jaetz]

I think they need to two things I want to add. I think they don't have a choice. I think they need to play Pittsburgh this game like they played the Ravens game a couple of weeks ago. Remember rogers through for 280some yards and a touchdown. They need that because the Lions are just too good offensively. Like they can't play death by a thousand paper cuts football like they did for a lot of Monday Night Football this past week where it was like Aaron Rodgers at one point was 10 for 10 targeting running backs and tight ends and like 2 for 4 targeting everybody else. They need to play a much more explosive offensive brand on top of that. What I will say is I'm not saying that Kenny Gainwell has been a non factor for the past month, but this past Monday night part of that could be the Jalen Warren was sick that day. Like how much Kenny Gainwell played. I'm in line with you. Like I agree that KG is like right there in that top 20ish running back rankings, but there's a chance that like on Sunday it's like oh, jail. Warren had 18 carries and three targets. Oh, okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think he's got a tummy ache because he realized he might have lost his starting job and he's like oh shoot.

[Mike Clay]

I think, I think it's a committee because it's a month now. I mean by the way, game was playing well too.

[Daniel Dopp]

This is the, this is the highest game on the slate right now. 51 and a half is the over.

[Mike Clay]

Optimistic on the lines. I'm gonna have some of them in.

[Daniel Dopp]

My DFS if there's going to be and I'm expecting that's the one thing for me about Kenny Gainwell. In spite of the fact that the Lions have been so good against running backs and against receiving running backs. If you tell me that there's going to be a high scoring game, I still think that Aaron Rodgers is able to find Kenny G enough to get fantasy managers to where we need to be.

[Phil Jaetz]

20. I just. 20 is fair. I just think there's a chance that like this is A less advantageous match compared to where we were last.

[Daniel Dopp]

Doesn't feel like we could maybe get like running back seven out of this. It feels like that might be a little too high for me. I mean, listen, I'm okay with it though.

[Mike Clay]

Speaking of DFSO 5100@ DraftKings for Kenny G. That's great.

[Phil Jaetz]

That's the value in those, those, those, those numbers set before Monday Night Football.

[Mike Clay]

Absolutely right. Great value. Absolutely.

[Daniel Dopp]

Hey, do you think that we can start Wandell Robinson with confidence here in this week? Do you guys realize how good Wanda has been recently?

[Phil Jaetz]

He has been awesome.

[Daniel Dopp]

Tough matchup. Tough matchup, but let's dive into it. Since week seven, Wandell Robinson seeing 9.8 targets per game. That's wide receiver four. I said since week seven. That wasn't like since two weeks ago. That's like half of the season. He's wide receiver 4 in targets per game over that stretch. He's wide receiver 17 in fantasy points per game, averaging 14.2 over that span. Only players with more targets are Chase Amonara, St. Brown and Michael Wilson. I told you that stat earlier this week. He's getting a ton of volume and generally he has a really safe floor. That is one of the things about Wandell Robinson. Maybe not as much of a ceiling play, but a really solid floor. 10 fantasy points in 7 of his last 9 games. He has 5 games over 15 fantasy points this year, including 2 of his last 3 he has topped 15, which is nice. That's something that you would love here. But Field, you alluded to it when I brought it up. This Vikings defense is no joke. They have allowed the fewest fantasy points to wide receivers this year and it seems like it is going to be another really tough matchup. I think when I look at this though, guys, the volume is too good. With where he's at. I don't have him as a wide receiver one. I'm not ranking him as a wide receiver one. But in Week 16, with how much volume he is getting, I still see him as a wide receiver too. A top 20 play for for managers. But there is some bust potential because of that Vikings matchup.

[Phil Jaetz]

Well, sad. When I was working on the game plan for this week, it's a piece on ESPN.com I was doing my pass catchers versus players that cover pass catchers.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, that's Love that article. That's a good one. Good one by you.

[Phil Jaetz]

People consider me one of the trailblazers in the industry as far as that content is concerned. I had Some of the similar vibes that you did.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, that checks out.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, I read the field report.

[Daniel Dopp]

The.

[Mike Clay]

I will say this. Minnesota.

[Phil Jaetz]

That was right there waiting. Yeah, that was good. I went with the game plan.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't even know you were talking about it, so I had to get there, you know, slow burn.

[Phil Jaetz]

It's like when I listen to one of your dad jokes on Sunday.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, that checks out.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Minnesota a little shorthanded with injuries too, right now. Jonathan Granard is out. Josh Metellis is done as well. And that's. That's impactful for Wondale because he often covers the slot. They use a picture of him, among other safeties and of course, a little bit of Byron Murphy in there as well. But that's good news for Wondale. Could free him up for an extra target or two.

[Daniel Dopp]

Absolutely.

[Phil Jaetz]

A conversation that's come up more of a real life conversation than a fantasy conversation is I think, I think maybe spearheaded by our guy, Mike Tannenbaum. We were doing something SportsCenter. It's a small show a couple days ago, and we do this thing called hot tea versus iced tea. Mike gives a take and if I agree with it, it's hot. If I don't, it's ice. And they're intentionally sort of, you know, they are takes that make you think.

[Mike Clay]

Totally.

[Phil Jaetz]

And one of his was that the Giants, if they get the number one pick, should trade Jackson Dart and take Fernando Mendoza.

[Mike Clay]

Wow.

[Daniel Dopp]

Which.

[Phil Jaetz]

That would be pretty. That would be pretty stonesy if they did that. I don't agree with it, but I will say great test here for Jack Snort on Sunday.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, man.

[Phil Jaetz]

Like, Jackson Yard is a passer.

[Mike Clay]

It's.

[Phil Jaetz]

There are not many tests as difficult schematically as a Brian Flores test.

[Daniel Dopp]

Agreed.

[Mike Clay]

Agreed. And he's delivered again. I mean, he had a huge game against the Broncos in Denver.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Oh, yeah, baby. He's beat up on some good defenses.

[Phil Jaetz]

I'm just.

[Daniel Dopp]

And we all know this, but, like, if we can just get Jackson Dart through without having to go into concussion protocol or into the blue medical tent one more time, that would be fantastic.

[Phil Jaetz]

One more topic that came from the. The field pass.

[Mike Clay]

Field pass that we call it field report.

[Daniel Dopp]

He said field report. I like field pass, too. They're all good.

[Phil Jaetz]

It's just a shout out. Honestly, like what a game we have on tap between Atlanta and Arizona with tight ends.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, my gosh.

[Phil Jaetz]

How about the last three weeks? Who's more in fuego than Kyle Pitts and Trey McBride? Nobody. Tight end spy. Let's just go through the numbers here.

[Daniel Dopp]

Nobody nailed it.

[Phil Jaetz]

Kyle Pitts over his last three weeks at tight end. Week 13 tight end 5 week 14 tight end 6 week 15 tight end 1.

[Daniel Dopp]

Did you bring a full screen to the table, Phil?

[Phil Jaetz]

Dang right, I did, Daniel. I outsourced it to you.

[Mike Clay]

I'm slacking today.

[Phil Jaetz]

Trey McBride in Week 13 tight end 2 Week 14 tight end 12 Week 15 tight end 2 Beautiful. Two important notes here.

[Mike Clay]

Yes.

[Phil Jaetz]

One, Trey McBride has not finished outside. Actually he has finished outside the top 12 once all season. Wow. Once all year. That was 20th, which is not a great finish for him. But he's been unbelievable this year. And then for Kyle Pitts, Drake London is back this week. Potentially is potentially. Potentially so he has practiced in a limited capacity each of the past two days. Has Drake London certainly seems like he is going to play on Sunday. Kyle Pitts's splits with and without him are pretty.

[Mike Clay]

You know what they're like. They're like Michael Wilson with him without very similar. And we're asking ourselves the same question on both sides of this game this week is can Wilson deliver with Harrison back if he comes back and can Pitts deliver with London back?

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah, so good question there.

[Mike Clay]

I mean it is tough.

[Daniel Dopp]

Where do you guys just on the. So we're starting both of those times.

[Phil Jaetz]

Starting both of them.

[Mike Clay]

I'm still starting both too. I both top five. I think that Kirk Cousins has also been under center now for a month and that's been part of it with Pitts as well.

[Daniel Dopp]

Even with Drake London back though we still have Kyle Pitts as a tough. Where do you guys. Can I ask, are any of you talking about Drake later on? Where do you have Drake this week with Kirk Cousins?

[Phil Jaetz]

He will be in my inside, my top. I'm just going to leave it. I'll be conservative.

[Daniel Dopp]

Okay.

[Mike Clay]

Top 20 I'm in. He's in my top five right now. I have him. What I'm saying is full go. I mean if he's a full go, he's a full go. If he's not, then so I may have to.

[Phil Jaetz]

The reason why I say that is basically like I say top 20 because the number may not really matter. Like yes, I am starting him as opposed to no, I am starting Drake London. So I have to check the exact number there. But that's my last topic. I look forward to those tight ends combining for eight points on Sunday. Now that we talked.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, naturally. No McBride. I mean he might catch eight passes. He might. That's right.

[Phil Jaetz]

He has an NFL record for tight ends. Sixteen straight games with five or more of receptions.

[Daniel Dopp]

Sixteen street games. Believable. You know what, that includes the game that he was tight end 20 then if it's 16 straight games.

[Phil Jaetz]

That's right. He went five for like 48 or something in that game.

[Mike Clay]

Wow.

[Phil Jaetz]

I almost hesitate to say that. I just like it's kind of a thought experiment. You see that the Jaguars extended Jacoby Myers yesterday. Did see that huge shout out. He's awesome. Has been so underrated for so long, he now makes $20 million a year. No longer underrated. It's pretty wild though that like a solid wide receiver makes more than the best tight end in football. Football.

[Daniel Dopp]

Agreed.

[Phil Jaetz]

That crazy. Like $19 million a year for Trey McBride if we were doing a start from scratch exercise. He's going ahead of Jacoby Myers obviously, right? Not talking fantasy, I'm talking real life football.

[Daniel Dopp]

He's going well ahead of Jacoby Myers.

[Phil Jaetz]

So on the one hand people have said like you don't want to take a tight end early because the league has told us they don't value that in the draft. I mean the value that position as much. Right. Like you should go for an offensive tackle because those are $30 million per year players. I might argue that we've seen a quantifiable impact at tight end that is not commensurate with how much they're being paid. Whereas like it's, you know, there are some positions where it's just like, I don't, I don't know, man, like running back really like we've seen teams with like pretty average running backs like still be really good offensively.

[Mike Clay]

So yeah, tight end is evolving too. I mean it just continues to get, become more of an athletic position, more of a two way position. So I agree the top guys probably deserve a little bit more. And by the way, McBride, you know to, you know, he was a second round pick and he barely played his first year and a half in the NFL. So just keep that in mind with some patience with these high pedigree tight ends. Ben Senate is a very fascinating in Washington. Played a little bit more with no Zach Ertz last week. And ironically Zach Ertz was the guy that got hurt and McBride and then they cut him and remember he went to the Lions practice squad and McBride had his breakout the second half of that season. So guys like Senate and even, even Colson Loveland, who's off to a bit kind of a slow start, he's very young, you know, he's two years younger Than. Than Tyler Warren. There's still hope that he'll be an elite player in this league.

[Daniel Dopp]

Dude, how do you know how old Harold Fannin is? Is he super young as well?

[Mike Clay]

I don't think he's super young.

[Phil Jaetz]

I don't know if he's super young.

[Mike Clay]

Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

I was just curious. Just think you mentioned some of those rookie tight ends. That made me think about. I didn't. I. I knew we all liked 21.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah, he is okay. He's a pup.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Fan. Innis.

[Phil Jaetz]

He was one of the younger players in the draft.

[Daniel Dopp]

I guess I didn't realize that. Yeah, that could be another one. I'm interested to see what Fanning can do. Hopefully if the Browns put an offense around him sometime within his career.

[Mike Clay]

Yep. So yeah, no doubt.

[Daniel Dopp]

We'll see how that one goes. Mike.

[Mike Clay]

Last one for me, guys. Washington wide receivers and how we feel about them. Again, these are right in that list of guys who are kind of borderline flex options.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Mike Clay]

Some or don't you? Terry McLaren. Three games since returning in Week 13. Thirteen catches, 206 yards, two touchdowns on 24 targets. That's 50. 15.2 fantasy points per game.

[Daniel Dopp]

It's pretty good.

[Mike Clay]

But he has 14 plus fantasy points in just three of seven games this season.

[Daniel Dopp]

It's not as good.

[Mike Clay]

He's fallen short of 10 and a half in the other four. Very boom bust so far this season. The Eagles have been very good against wide receivers, which is a concern here. They've allowed the second lowest cat train, only six touchdowns. So wide receivers so far this season. And then of course Debo 12 for 134, no touchdowns and 18 targets. It's eight fantasy points per game in the three games since Terry McLaren has been back. But he's actually out targeted McLaren over the last two weeks. So this one's kind of all over the place. In fact, they both kind of had duds last week until McLaren had that late touchdown in that game. Debo had that great start to the season, 17 plus in his first four of his first five. But he's been under three fantasy points. That's not right. Probably under 13 fantasy points. Seven of his last seat. I don't think it's under three typo.

[Phil Jaetz]

That would be amazing.

[Mike Clay]

That would be a typo.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

I love that you caught it so quickly. You're like, nope, that's not. That's. That's not right.

[Mike Clay]

I think it's under 13 and seven of his last eight games. So okay, for me, I think Terry is a guy that's a borderline lineup block. I think I lean toward yes on that one. I probably start him, although he could see a lot of Quinn Mitchell in this game. Again, the Eagles are very good, so if you can find a way out of that and just avoid it, that's fine. Debo little riskier around 30, 31 for me going into Thursday night. So more of a riskier flex option.

[Daniel Dopp]

It was in fact 13 fantasy points.

[Mike Clay]

There you go.

[Phil Jaetz]

There you go.

[Mike Clay]

Michael. Yeah.

[Phil Jaetz]

Brady in seven of his last eight games. We'd probably be talking about him all over the world.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's true. We might not be having this conversation. It's so frustrating and I can only imagine being a Washington fan where it's like you come in with great expectations. Not only did you trade for Debo Samuel, you feel like Jaden Daniel is going to take the next step. You're really excited about all the things offense can be this year. Sort of just feels like a lost year for the commanders.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, I know Jaden was hurt, but this was kind of predictable. They were a little over their skis last year and the defense was not good on paper.

[Daniel Dopp]

No, it was not. They got to fix that.

[Mike Clay]

I would. I thought maybe I would be wrong on them because like Dan Quinn is great and I thought he coached them up and obviously he's taken over play calling for that. But with the injuries to Jaden and the kind of regression to the mean and the defensive holes, just, you know.

[Phil Jaetz]

Okay, we have an entire off season ahead of us, plus, you know, three more weeks in the playoffs. Is there anybody right now that you're like, I know everything is going great at this moment, but they might be a prime regression candidate.

[Mike Clay]

Good question. I need to think through that. I probably. No, I almost went 49ers. But they're going to be healthier next year. They'll be in better shape than they are right now. I don't know if I have a good answer for you right now. I need to think.

[Phil Jaetz]

There's not. There's not a guarantee to have one of those every single year.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Do you guys.

[Mike Clay]

I don't have a good answer right now.

[Daniel Dopp]

Do you have a take as to whether or not you think that Jakory, Crosby, Merritt is going to be the starting running back of this team or do you think they will go out and find a new starting running back for next year?

[Phil Jaetz]

I think they'll probably up upgraded that position, but I think he'll be the starter for this week and next.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, for this week and next Is absolutely.

[Phil Jaetz]

Now Chris Rodriguez is going to return. He's been practicing in full this week, but I still think it behooves them to get a look at Bill.

[Daniel Dopp]

I agree with that.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Yeah. I hope so.

[Daniel Dopp]

Speaking of, let's dive into the Week 16 practice. Report a couple of injuries that we got to talk about here.

[Mike Clay]

Okay.

[Daniel Dopp]

We're going to start with Rashi Rice. Questionable. Did not practice on Thursday. Still going through the concussion protocol. It's something you really need to monitor here because there is a decent chance he doesn't go.

[Phil Jaetz]

I think at this point he can be removed from the projections.

[Daniel Dopp]

You think so?

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah, I think about how fast you'd have to escalate to get back to practice and clear concussion protocol by.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, it's tricky with these guys that are really on the high end. Like, he's not a borderline. This is a high impact player. So if he clears today, I would expect him to play. But I. Yeah, I've kind of taken it. I'm gonna keep. I'll make that decision today, basically.

[Phil Jaetz]

Right.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Phil Jaetz]

Or the other. Yep.

[Mike Clay]

Then I'll leave him in, if not.

[Daniel Dopp]

And these symptoms came on later, like, they didn't come. It wasn't in the game.

[Phil Jaetz]

Remember, you got checked during the. He took a big hit. He reported them the next day. It's a team without a starting quarterback that is in some ways thinking about the future here. So I'd be surprised if he plays. And as we have said, Xavier Worthy, this is your opportunity, potential top 20 option. If Rashi Rice is out.

[Daniel Dopp]

Do you think that Xavier Worthy would be more involved in this passing game than Travis Kelsey? Like, do you think that Rice last year.

[Phil Jaetz]

I mean, Rashi Rice was out for a lot of last year. And Xavier Worthy at the end of the season, target machine, he was huge.

[Mike Clay]

I mean, he was.

[Phil Jaetz]

He was doing the. The Xavier. He was doing the Rashi Rice roll. It was just basically like all this short at or near the line of scrimmage stuff. It was voluminous.

[Daniel Dopp]

There's a part of me that feels slightly different than you guys. I think it would be a bigger Travis Kelce week than. And I just don't have all the confidence in Xavier. I know, I know. I'm really trying to turn.

[Phil Jaetz]

I'm trying.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm trying to turn a new leaf here, guys.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. By the way, Tecuant Thornton, probably. If Rice is out, he might be as well. He's also in the protocol, so. See, it looks like Hollywood Brown's back. So it'll be Worthy Hollywood juju, Smith, Schuster. Maybe I'll take a look at Jalen Royals now.

[Daniel Dopp]

Noah Gray, all the. All the guys. Come on. We're gonna bring everyone out.

[Mike Clay]

Who's the starting tight end for the Chiefs next year?

[Phil Jaetz]

Noah. Fifty shades of gray.

[Mike Clay]

It's Noah Gray. Jared Wylie, my better bet. Yeah, I don't want Kelsey to retire.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yet anyways, really quickly.

[Daniel Dopp]

Another one. T. Higgins, questionable, did not practice on Thursday. Dealing with a other concussion as well. To dnp, we got a tweet from Ben Baby. Potentially we're going to throw up on the full screen because Ben Baby had this. Bengals wide receiver T. Higgins concussion remains limited at practice. According to the team's injury report, he has not been a full participant since reporting concussion like symptoms following the team's Dec. 7 loss to the Buffalo Bills. That's been a minute, guys. Well, days later, it has been a minute.

[Phil Jaetz]

So he's doing better soon.

[Daniel Dopp]

In case you have T. Higgins, just make sure that you have another plan just to be safe and he's another guy. We'll probably find out today.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, we'll make a call on that today. But projections wise.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yep. Josh Jacobs, questionable as well. Did not practice on Thursday. Nursing his knee injury. Yep. And trying to keep that swelling down. It feels like a lot of this is. Is just. Can he play through it? Can he get his body in a situation to be able to play through that injury? If he plays, we all have him basically as a top 10, top seven running back.

[Phil Jaetz]

He's.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

If he doesn't play, Emmanuel Wilson goes where in the projection if Josh Jacobs.

[Phil Jaetz]

Is what, running back six. Emmanuel Mills would be like, what, maybe a running back? 15 or 11.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

12.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. In that area. I think Chris Brooks has played more since that game. Jacobs missed where Wilson stepped in there. Before that it was like all Wilson. After that, we've seen more Chris Brooks mixed in even now with Jacobs healthy. So I think you'll see a little more even. It wouldn't shock me if they're trailing for it to be 60, 40 in favor of Brooks, but certainly Wilson would be a front end. RB2.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah. You got to think there's a party that's like. It's so obvious Josh Jacobs is going to play on Saturday night. And I know people like, they need this game. That's right. They need. They definitely do need this game. On the other hand, it's like if he is basically like running up against the clock and a week would. Would buy him an extra month, maybe you do need that. Right. Like you're you're still a team that wants to play deep into. They want to play into February. It's a tough one there. He's obviously a very tough guy. But we have seen DNP all week, I think once before with Josh Jacobs, and that was the game he did not play.

[Daniel Dopp]

So we'll see how that one works out. If he plays. If. If we find out he's going to play. Like I said, we're starting them. There's no way we're not. If not Emmanuel Wilson, would you move Chris Brooks up into the consideration? Or you still think Emmanuel Wilson would.

[Mike Clay]

Be more like the flex option? My point is just like I don't think this is a one for one. He just slides into.

[Daniel Dopp]

Not like last time when he was out.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, I just think we'll see more Brooks and that would. Again, that would align with the last month, but also last season, too, because Wilson and Brooks shared number two. The number two job throughout last season. They were just kind of. Kind of back and forth. So I would anticipate both guys having a role in this game.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think that's a great note because the last time Josh Jacobs was out, it was the Emanuel Wilson show. And I think people could just be like, well, let me just plug him in again. It's gonna be the same thing.

[Mike Clay]

I'm not saying don't do that.

[Daniel Dopp]

No, no.

[Mike Clay]

You could certainly plug him in your lineup. I just wanted all that context is. We're just talking about where we're absolutely.

[Daniel Dopp]

Another running back unfortunately feels you asked about him earlier in the show. Woody Marks, questionable. Did not practice on Thursday. Hasn't practiced all week, to be honest, since leaving last week with an ankle injury. It seems like this week is potentially in question with Woody Marks. Nick Chubb, by the way, fully back at practice. So it seems like he might be.

[Mike Clay]

The guy that's disappointing for one reason, and that's Jawar Jordan. Over 100 yards last week. I'd like to see a little more of him. Kind of an older. As he was undrafted last year, drafted last year. He's 27. I believe he's like an older.

[Phil Jaetz]

Definitely owner prospect.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. Yeah. So I'd like to see more.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah, yeah, agreed.

[Daniel Dopp]

I would love to have Woody roster this week.

[Phil Jaetz]

Week. Yeah, we'll see on that one.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm not getting great feelings with him not practicing all week after leaving the game with an injury today.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah, this will be a big one for Woody Marks. Does that influence your thoughts on how much they throw the football on Sunday? If they have no Woody, would they.

[Daniel Dopp]

Just give the ball to Nick Chubb to be inefficient up the middle backs.

[Mike Clay]

In that case, if Mark is out of here too? No, he'll be involved in passing situations and then Nick Chubb probably lead ball carry and then they mix in Jordan, so. But by the way, they. The coaching. I forget who said it exactly, but after the game the thought was he wouldn't miss any more time. I know. So Ryan's was the one who said Mika Ryan said that. Okay. So I'm curious to see if he comes back and practices today if that's the case. Like maybe they just gave him a couple days and he'll practice today. But yeah, we'll make a call on that today as well.

[Daniel Dopp]

The old veteran rookie rest for the week, you know what I mean?

[Mike Clay]

Hey, he's been 28 touches last week.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, he touched the ball a bunch. I've got him as he'd be a top 20 play if he plays this week. And then if he doesn't play this week, we're not starting any of the Texans running backs.

[Phil Jaetz]

I'd be hesitant.

[Daniel Dopp]

The other one that I have here, Dalton Kincaid, questionable. Did not practice on Thursday. Just something to be able to note in case you were trying to throw a dart on the tight end position there because Dawson Knox time, baby. We may be back to the Dawson Knox. Well, I'm not starting Dawson Knox, but there's a chance that he becomes involved in this one.

[Mike Clay]

That guy that just can't get over the top.

[Daniel Dopp]

I know.

[Mike Clay]

There he. It seems like he's close early this year. Yeah. First month or so you're like, all right, maybe this is happening year three after a disappointing sophomore season. But. But just hasn't happened yet.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think what you're describing is literally every Bill's pass catcher. The Bills have been trying to get anyone. Didn't you just give the Bills a pass catcher in your latest mock draft?

[Phil Jaetz]

Did Denzel Boston from Washington?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Phil Jaetz]

Good memory right there.

[Daniel Dopp]

Thank you, my friend. Thank you. But they need somebody. Of course. Sorry.

[Mike Clay]

Yes.

[Phil Jaetz]

Jerk.

[Daniel Dopp]

They definitely need someone, man. They've been waiting and waiting and waiting. So we'll see how that one works out.

[Phil Jaetz]

Anything else in the injury report?

[Daniel Dopp]

That is it for me. As far as the injury report goes, unless you have anything else you want to add. Those were the big ones. I wanted to make sure people were.

[Phil Jaetz]

Aware of Marvin Harrison junior's return to practice. Sounds like he's going to be able to play on Sunday.

[Daniel Dopp]

I didn't bring up anyone that was limited. I basically stuck with the DNPs that were the big ones. Obviously we may get a downgrade late in the week. We'll continue to monitor it and if we find anything we'll talk about it on fantasy football now on Sunday when Field and Stefania diving.

[Mike Clay]

By the way, we agree that we could start both Cardinals receivers in this matchup. I am matchup against Lana. Right. So Harrison we're going to plug in. And Wilson, I feel comfortable because of the matchup using him as a wide receiver.

[Daniel Dopp]

Three great dfs play this week. If you want to think about Jacoby Brissette being only $5,300 at the quarterback spot.

[Mike Clay]

Strong candidate. I think your your guy Jared Goff's a candidate there. Agreed.

[Daniel Dopp]

Couple of good options there. All right, let's dive into our starts of the week. If you believe teamwork wins games, you're already thinking like an Arc Raider. In Arc Raiders, you and your squad brave the face of a future earth where killer machines known as ARC roam the surface and they always shoot on sight. Rely on your squad, fight the ark and extract before the time runs out. As a Raider, you'll build your loadout, then loot the Rust Belt for materials and treasures to grow your stash and level up. But it's not just you guys up there. Other raiders have their eyes on the same prize. Every run is pressure, every decision is a play call. Do you push forward or extract while you're ahead? Team up, trust no one and make the right call when it matters most. Arc Raiders is on sale now available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S and PC. Rated T for Teen as you know.

[Phil Jaetz]

Managing maintenance, repair and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back. From professional grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly. Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-granger click grainger.com or just stop by. So good, so good, so good. Give big, Save big with RAC Friday.

[Mike Clay]

Deals at Nordstrom Rack.

[Phil Jaetz]

For a limited time, take an extra 40% off red tac clearance for a total Savings up to 75% off. Save on gifts for everyone on your list from brands like Vince Cole, Han, Sam Edelman and more. All sales final and restrictions apply. The best stuff goes fast, so bring your gift list and your wish list to your nearest Nordstrom rack today.

[Daniel Dopp]

This is going to be a fun one. Yeah, we'll figure out how it starts. Do we have a punishment to pay off?

[Phil Jaetz]

Eventually we'll putt, putt, putt, putt.

[Mike Clay]

This has gone long enough. Get outside. And right now it's warm out today.

[Daniel Dopp]

It is warm out.

[Mike Clay]

It's 58 today.

[Daniel Dopp]

A little drizzly. It was really. It was pouring 2 inches already this morning.

[Phil Jaetz]

There was snow last night when I went to bed and there was no snow.

[Mike Clay]

Can you imagine if it. If it was cold right now with this rain coming down? We'd have a massive snow.

[Daniel Dopp]

Black ice tonight. That'd be bad. Yeah, real bad. All right, Mike, we're going to start with you for starts of the week. Why don't you give us your four players?

[Mike Clay]

All right, I'll give you my four players. My quarterback is aforementioned Jared Goff. I like it actually. Yeah, this is where I like him start of the week this week is his pricing. 6300 and DF.

[Daniel Dopp]

It's not a bad price.

[Mike Clay]

It's fine.

[Daniel Dopp]

Him and JMO together is not a bad stack.

[Mike Clay]

Gets the Steelers but they've been. You could throw on on the Steelers so not too scared of that link off. And next up we have actually I've got QB6. So I'm. That's why I went with him because you guys have him outside your top 10 for the most.

[Phil Jaetz]

Wow.

[Mike Clay]

Very high in him this week. Why I'm going with him running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. Like guys that are juniors but guys he's been awesome. His last three healthy games. He left one a couple weeks ago injured but his last three healthy games, 18 plus touches and 16 plus fantasy points in all of them. All three games. Yeah, he's been really good.

[Daniel Dopp]

He's.

[Mike Clay]

He's the Vikings. We're not too scared of that. Them against running backs this season. Wide receiver. What? My wide receiver. Of course. Obvious one here. DJ Moore. Yeah, yeah. Way, way higher than. Than you guys on him. Huge game last week. Four for 69 and two touchdowns with Odunsia audience the packers and then my tight end is my wild card this week. He helped me out last week. He got me the W. I'm. Do it again. Dallas go there commanders.

[Phil Jaetz]

I was gonna make you say it in French if you didn't say my.

[Mike Clay]

Favorite way out in front of you. 7070 and two touchdowns last week in Washington. Top five and fantasy points allowed to tight end. So I use one of my tight end wild cards. You know we get two per each. I think I have a quarterback and a receiver. 1.

[Daniel Dopp]

I haven't used many tight end wild cards because I don't feel great about.

[Mike Clay]

Trying to use quarterback and tight end because you're just moving up like a few spots. Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

But anyway, I like your Delos Godare call there. That'll be a good one. We're doing the French version, guys. Come on.

[Phil Jaetz]

What an idiot.

[Mike Clay]

All right, who's up?

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, do you want to go next?

[Mike Clay]

You want me?

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah. My quarterback is Jared Goff.

[Mike Clay]

All right, so a good pick.

[Daniel Dopp]

A lot of Lions fans on the show.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah, there are.

[Daniel Dopp]

Love it.

[Phil Jaetz]

My running back here, we talked about him earlier on this week. We still have concerns, but the possibility of him playing a lot. That being said, he might turn 12 carries into 72 yards and two touchdowns. Marianne Hampton, I tried that last that.

[Mike Clay]

Way, but I thought you guys were tipping off, you were going to go that direction. So I wanted to like that pivot by you.

[Phil Jaetz]

My wide receiver, Saturday Night Football, Christian Watson, he's been red hot of like it. Yeah, he is, I think going to play on Saturday night as well. Bears secondary still leave something to be desired, especially with this speed. And my wild card at tight end is Dalton Schultz, who has just been rock steady. Touchdowns haven't been quite as frequent throughout the season, but he got one last week, didn't he, against the Cardinals?

[Mike Clay]

He did, yeah. Yeah. And that's been the thing. He's been missing the touchdowns. He's had the volume. Yeah.

[Phil Jaetz]

As you guys can tell, I have some optimism in this Houston offense against the Raiders.

[Mike Clay]

All right, who's your wild card? Is it Schultz? Oh, Schultz. Okay. I didn't remember where he was ranked. Got it.

[Daniel Dopp]

My starts of the week at the quarterback position. I can't believe you guys don't believe in J.J. mcCarthy this week.

[Mike Clay]

What? Come on.

[Phil Jaetz]

I thought about him. I thought about it.

[Daniel Dopp]

This is the thing because we talked about with starts of the week, like if I got a guy higher, I love Jared Goff, but like if I got a guy, I got JJ McCarthy a lot higher than the rest of you guys. So I decided to plant my flag on it and go with it. So I'm in on J.J. mcCarthy hoping for a third straight 20 point fantasy game. My running back against my Detroit Lions, Kenneth Gainwell. I'm going to go there. Running back, 23 this week.

[Phil Jaetz]

Biting your tongue earlier, while we were.

[Daniel Dopp]

Talking about it, I wanted to talk about it. I'm going to buy the high scoring game and him getting some receiving Game work. In this one, I'm leaning into that narrative. My wide receiver is DJ Moore. He's my wide receiver 20. Consensus wide receiver 23.

[Mike Clay]

I'm way higher than you guys.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah, I know. So we all actually. You said you're way higher. You're at 13 fields at 17. I'm at 20. I think we're the three highest at ESPN consensus, even our wild card.

[Mike Clay]

So you guys must have changed because he was, like, buried. He was like, 40th or something. He was buried because I think it.

[Daniel Dopp]

Took a little bit of people.

[Mike Clay]

Took a. A lot of people didn't have a dunesday. That's why I felt comfortable doing it. I thought everyone was just like, no, it's more like we're not trusting him.

[Daniel Dopp]

No. Anytime you can trust DJ Moore in week 16, you got to take the shot.

[Mike Clay]

Like, we're cheating a little.

[Phil Jaetz]

You guys are bending.

[Mike Clay]

You know what?

[Phil Jaetz]

I overrule. You guys have to play Herman Moore and not DJ more.

[Mike Clay]

This.

[Phil Jaetz]

Fine with that.

[Daniel Dopp]

I'm good.

[Mike Clay]

I love that.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, I loved Herman Moore back in the day. All right. And then my tight end, we sat down in the locker room, we addressed our beef. We're ready to crush week 16. Travis Kelce.

[Phil Jaetz]

Welcome to the team, baby.

[Mike Clay]

Wild cards.

[Daniel Dopp]

That's my wild card.

[Mike Clay]

I'll use tight end wild cards. Is this week even playing field?

[Phil Jaetz]

Wow.

[Daniel Dopp]

Love it.

[Phil Jaetz]

You love Travis Kelsey.

[Daniel Dopp]

That'll be fun. Yeah. So J.J. mcCarthy, Kenny G, D.J. moore, Travis Kelce. Yeah, we'll see how that one works out.

[Mike Clay]

If.

[Daniel Dopp]

If Rashi Rice plays. I feel like it could be a different conversation. If he doesn't play, I would expect.

[Mike Clay]

Both of, by the way, finish both.

[Daniel Dopp]

Him and Xavier worthy to be able to get a nice uptick in volume.

[Mike Clay]

Was there no punishment today?

[Daniel Dopp]

I think I was supposed to have a punishment, but I'm not totally sure because. We're listening. I had to spin the wheel, right? What did I spin the wheel on? That's a great question.

[Mike Clay]

Remember what you got?

[Daniel Dopp]

It wasn't hot sauce. It wasn't word inspo. Oh, you guys got to do something for mine, right?

[Phil Jaetz]

That's right. I have to take something away from you.

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, my gosh.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. What do we have to do? I can't run.

[Phil Jaetz]

Hold on. Go grab the thing.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

Winner tweets from loser.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yes.

[Mike Clay]

That's what it was.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

All right, so we could do that.

[Phil Jaetz]

We can do that right now, or no?

[Mike Clay]

I don't know.

[Daniel Dopp]

You can just take my phone. You want to do it right now?

[Mike Clay]

We forgot to Prepare for this.

[Phil Jaetz]

We're supposed to consult.

[Daniel Dopp]

Why don't we. You know what, why don't we ask Chat Chat. We're going to take a couple questions from you right now. If you got a couple fun things you think these hooligans should tweet out Lions related.

[Mike Clay]

What do you think? I'll text you while we're taking.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, let's take a couple of questions from our chat. Big shout out again to our buddy Eric Moody, making sure to hang out with our community every single day. Follow him on social media at Eric N. Moody. And let's dive into our first question from our YouTube chat today. This one's going to come from Joe Dirty Hampton or Swift to rally from being puka this week. If you got puka, which one do you think has a bigger upside, Hampton or Swift?

[Phil Jaetz]

Hampton does.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Phil Jaetz]

I don't think other one of those guys has like incredible upside.

[Mike Clay]

But I do think Hampton or who? Swift. Yeah. Taylor to be clear. Yeah, I guess.

[Phil Jaetz]

I guess Hampton. Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

I have to him a little. I have him a little ahead as well. Feels like more likely to have a two touchdown game.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think that Hampton when I because we talked about him earlier in the week, right. You looked at what he's done with his production. Only touching being on the field for 33% of the snaps and all that volume and production that he's still getting. I just like that more than I like the Swift Manungai backfield battle that they have. So I'd go with Hampton as well.

[Mike Clay]

And Hampton at times has been very involved as a pass catcher where again Swift has eight targets in his last four games in a knockout.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, next question that we have from our chat. This one comes from chapologist who wants to know Michael Wilson, Wandell Robinson or Jacoby Myers this week. Couple of decent options.

[Phil Jaetz]

My wife tweeting in the chat.

[Daniel Dopp]

That'S really good.

[Mike Clay]

I have won. Dale. I would go Wandale.

[Daniel Dopp]

I think it's Wandale with Harrison. I was going to say if Marvin Harrison.

[Phil Jaetz]

I'm going Mike Wilson. Michael Wilson. Give it to me, baby.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, so Wanda consensus. Yeah, Michael Wilson consensus.

[Mike Clay]

Realize I had them 17 and 8.

[Phil Jaetz]

What do you got?

[Daniel Dopp]

I think I've got. Oh, you know what I'm going to say Michael Wilson. I'm buying Michael Wilson. I'm buying the production. I'm buying the matchup against the Atlanta Falcons. Jacoby Brissette over like yes. Give me, give me Michael Wilson.

[Mike Clay]

Wilson has how many games with double digit fantasy points with Harrison active Mike.

[Daniel Dopp]

I didn't ask you. No one asked.

[Mike Clay]

Zero.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah. So that's.

[Phil Jaetz]

I'm gonna.

[Mike Clay]

I'm stick with Robinson, especially with the injuries for Minnesota, but it's a close deal. I'm hoping. By the way, I'm hoping this is a legit year three breakout for Wilson and they continue to feature him even with Harrison. Like he's just unlocked now and doesn't go away. But we haven't seen it yet. Literally zero times.

[Daniel Dopp]

I love that you were so definitive. How many touchdowns does he have? You have Wando Robinson at 17, Michael Wilson at 18.

[Mike Clay]

You have like Field always talks about. Is it a tear? It's a big tier.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yes. That big gap in the tier. Yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Between.

[Daniel Dopp]

That checks out. All right, another question here from our YouTube chat. This one comes in from Alphonse wants to know Quin Judkins or Travis Etn Jr. I'm assuming it's Travis and not Trevor.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yes.

[Daniel Dopp]

For the second running.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yes. I'm going to try etn.

[Daniel Dopp]

I would go with etn.

[Mike Clay]

I'm concerned about this.

[Phil Jaetz]

This Browns offense against the Bills. I know it's a good matchup.

[Daniel Dopp]

Have you seen what Judkins has done the last two games?

[Phil Jaetz]

Really?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

After the last two games.

[Mike Clay]

Great matchup. Still no Sampson. He'll be involved more as a pass catcher as he was last week. Great matchup against the Bills. And ETN gets Denver a tough one.

[Daniel Dopp]

Samson get put on ir?

[Mike Clay]

No, no, no. But he is still was out of practice, so I think he's. I don't think he'll play.

[Phil Jaetz]

He's been removed from the projections.

[Daniel Dopp]

Chances that Raheem Sanders gets in the end zone this week.

[Phil Jaetz]

It would. If that happens, I think we shut.

[Daniel Dopp]

The game down at that point. Yeah. It's like we started with a. With a Sanders touchdown. We end it with a Sanders.

[Mike Clay]

He used to get some run though. Trayvon Williams, right?

[Phil Jaetz]

Is.

[Mike Clay]

Or. Yeah. Wait, who's on the. That's correct.

[Phil Jaetz]

Travion Henderson of the Patriots.

[Mike Clay]

No, no, the other one. They added one of those like old Bengals they brought back the other week or something.

[Phil Jaetz]

Jonas Johnson.

[Mike Clay]

That's it. Yeah. They had dear.

[Phil Jaetz]

Those guys all like Trayvon Williams, Dernes Johnson.

[Mike Clay]

We got like all them guys.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, let's do another one. Let's see how much else we got here from Chad Chat's trying to be able to get some good lineup advice here, guys. Is that Jerry O. Jerry O. Jere Jero, Jerome. All right, thank you, guys. Jerome wants to say you starting Brenton Strange versus The Broncos or Juwan Johnson against the Jetson? I do, too. I would go with third and Juwan as well. You gave a big update on how. How positive you felt about Tyler Schuck this week.

[Mike Clay]

Optimistic about him. And Devon Vale is out for this one. Did I get it that time?

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah. But there's also no Alvin Camara, no.

[Daniel Dopp]

Kendrick Miller, no Devin Neal, no any running back. They don't have a single. They're going to start Taysom Hill. It feels like.

[Mike Clay]

I feel like Vale is like the big one as far as it goes for Johnson. It just frees up more target volume there. Yeah.

[Daniel Dopp]

With you on that. All right, couple more questions here. Let's keep it rolling. Keith wants to know dart or Herbert this week?

[Phil Jaetz]

Bear, but yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mike Clay]

Herbert against the. The Cowboys.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yes.

[Mike Clay]

It's such an appealing matchup.

[Phil Jaetz]

That's my.

[Mike Clay]

I do like dart, but it's Herbert.

[Phil Jaetz]

Yeah, Herbert for me, too.

[Daniel Dopp]

Yeah. I think he's just. You can't say no to that matchup. Also Jackson Dart taking on Minnesota, a rookie quarterback going up against Brian Flores. I've seen enough blind Brian Flores defenses. I don't love it.

[Phil Jaetz]

It's covered in the field pass.

[Daniel Dopp]

Love.

[Mike Clay]

Glad it's in. I'm glad it's in New York, though.

[Daniel Dopp]

Like that I love. By the way, we should have some more field goals where we're able to like, figure out things that we want field to be able to do in.

[Mike Clay]

The future, you know, to pay off his board. B.

[Daniel Dopp]

That is our field goals.

[Mike Clay]

Absolutely.

[Phil Jaetz]

Your house.

[Daniel Dopp]

All right, One more here from our chat. This one comes from Brandon. Dude, it's my first time in the chat. I usually only listen to the podcast. Love the pod.

[Phil Jaetz]

Let's go. Thanks, Brandon. Haw.

[Daniel Dopp]

Appreciate that, baby.

[Phil Jaetz]

Brandon, too. That's awesome. Yeah, the chat is really fun, brother.

[Mike Clay]

Very fast.

[Daniel Dopp]

I love that.

[Mike Clay]

That's.

[Phil Jaetz]

Remember him?

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, I do.

[Phil Jaetz]

Former sixer.

[Mike Clay]

Yeah, he was. Yeah, that's all I know about him. End of list.

[Daniel Dopp]

End of.

[Mike Clay]

That's it. That's it.

[Daniel Dopp]

Awesome. Hey, thank you so much. Honestly, to anybody but Brandon. For real. Being able to come over, hang out in the YouTube chat, do the whole video thing. It's a lot of fun for us to be able to make sure that we interact with you guys live. And another quick shout out to our buddy, Eric Moody. Being able to be a part of.

[Mike Clay]

The community for all this, son is social.

[Daniel Dopp]

You want to post on my social now? You want to let me know what it is or do you want to post it? And then I just Find out afterwards.

[Phil Jaetz]

Daniel has to re download the app.

[Daniel Dopp]

No, I've got.

[Mike Clay]

I won't be with you guys till after Christmas.

[Daniel Dopp]

Seriously.

[Mike Clay]

Are we here Wednesday? We're not here Wednesday, right?

[Daniel Dopp]

Oh, yeah, that's right. Next week is going to be a truncated schedule because of the holidays. We will let you guys know about that on Monday as we get through some things. So. So that'll be very fun. Make sure that you follow me on social media so that you can see whatever Mike and Field are about to do because I'm sure I'm gonna get in trouble for it. Danieldopp on Twitter and we'll just sort of have some fun with us. I'm gonna let these guys do their thing. Today's show was presented by Wingstop. Don't forget to love each other. I'm saying that to you guys right now. Don't forget to love each other and be kind to yourself. You deserve it. We love you guys. Come hang out with us on fantasy football now on Sunday morning and have fun. Make sure you set your Saturday line up Saturday. Don't forget. We'll see you guys.

[Mike Clay]

Interesting post from Daniel Dot. Oh, wow.

[Phil Jaetz]

The NBA is happening. Christmas day. Five games, one unforgettable lineup. That's what Christmas is all about. Buckets for breakfast, breakaways for dessert. It's the holiday tradition. Christmas is all day with star power.

[Daniel Dopp]

From across the globe. The stars, they are going to be.

[Phil Jaetz]

Out the best gift. You don't even have to unwrap it.

[Daniel Dopp]

We want to say merry Christmas and happy New Year.

[Phil Jaetz]

NBA. Christmas day begins at noon eastern on ABC and espn.