Week 15 Waiver Wire + Bounce Back Candidates | Fantasy Focus 🏈

Summary

Fantasy Focus Football – Week 15 Waiver Wire + Bounce Back Candidates

Podcast Date: December 9, 2025
Hosts: Field Yates, Stefania Bell, Daniel Dopp, Mike Clay

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Overview

This episode of Fantasy Focus Football delivers a pivotal fantasy playoff primer as the regular season closes and managers look for critical waiver wire adds, injury updates, bounce-back hopefuls, and start/sit strategies. Field, Stefania, Daniel, and Mike tackle the fallout of an eventful Monday Night Football, debate quarterback emergencies (hello, Philip Rivers!), analyze key injuries, and break down must-target Week 15 waiver gems and lineup decisions for teams with championship ambitions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. Monday Night Football Fallout & Playoff Drama

[07:01]

• Eagles vs. Chargers game produced more questions than answers for fantasy managers.
• Shoutout to “Cameron Dicker the Kicker” as the highest-scoring player of the night:
  “If you needed 20 fantasy points from Cameron Dicker, you got it.” — Daniel Dopp [07:12]
• Eagles offense flopped in uncharacteristic fashion, with Jalen Hurts suffering an unprecedented meltdown.

Notable Moment: The 4-Point Play

• Jalen Hurts lost four fantasy points on a single bizarre sequence:
  “Jalen Hurts on one play, lost four points.” — Field Yates [11:46]
• Hurts threw a pick, fumbled after the interception was returned, regained possession, then fumbled again. He finished with only 0.4 fantasy points.
• Stefania emphasized the historical oddity:
  “I think I heard last night that was the first time in NFL history that the same player had an interception and a fumble on the same play.” [12:39]

Hurts’ Struggles—Trend or Outlier?

• Lack of rushing production is a mounting concern:

  • Recent games: Mostly under 5 rush attempts and under 35 rushing yards each week.
    “You pull up his rushing numbers from this season, it does not look anything close to a typical Jalen Hurts season.” — Field Yates [13:46]

• Advice: Still a start vs. a weak Raiders defense in Week 15, but expectations are tempered.

Saquon Barkley’s Resurgence

• Barkley’s 52-yard TD highlights his bounce-back potential against a soft playoff schedule:
  “Definitely the best we have seen Saquon look as a runner in quite some time.” — Field Yates [17:06]

• Eagles playoff schedule is juicy: Raiders (15), Commanders (16), Bills (17), Commanders (18).

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2. Quarterback (and Grandpa) Emergency: The Philip Rivers Rumor

[03:04]

• Colts reportedly working out 44-year-old Philip Rivers due to dire injuries (Daniel Jones out, Riley Leonard hurt, etc.)
• Lively banter on Rivers’ candidacy and NFL “grandpas,” with references to his enormous family:
  • “...him and his 11 children lined up. Ah, man. So, I mean, it's a whole squad.” — Field Yates [05:08]
  • First NFL grandpa QB? Brett Favre in 2010 [53:50]
• Field: “This needs to happen. It’s too good for December theater.” [04:36]
• Ultimately, Rivers signing likely wouldn’t change the waiver landscape; more a fun aside.

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3. Injury Updates & Real-Life Implications

[25:45]

• Jaden Daniels (elbow): Likely to play Week 15. “I do expect that we see him back this week.” — Stefania Bell [26:31]
• Daniel Jones (Achilles): Confirmed out for season, surgery imminent.
• Justin Herbert: Played with recently repaired hand (plate/screws). “He took the hits, he played the position, and he really wasn’t totally limited…” — Stefania Bell [10:09]

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4. Show League Playoff Recap

[19:52]

• Cameron Dicker’s MNF heroics catapult Mikey Clay into the playoffs over Field.
• Friendly jabs about kicker value in fantasy:
  • “Mike, who doesn’t even respect the kick.” — Stefania Bell [20:31]
• Field is “not speaking ever again” to Mike Clay after losing on a kicker [20:50].
• Playoff matchups declared; everyone rooting for analytics czar Eric Moody:
  • “Right now, if I just had to go out on a limb for the rest of us, we are team Moody the rest of the week.” — Daniel Dopp [22:09]

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5. Playoff Stash & Waiver Targets (Week 15)

(Presented by Wingstop)
[23:07] - [34:06]

Defenses to Stash

• Saints D/ST (Field’s Playoff Stash):
  Panthers (15), Titans (16), Jets (17).
  “If you have just been piecing it together or you have a team that you’re willing to start this week and then you want to add somebody for the next couple of weeks, the Titans and the Jets. I mean, hello, people. That is very enticing.” — Field Yates [24:40]

QB Insurance for Playoff Teams

• Marcus Mariota (if Jaden Daniels is out):
  “He is the priority add for me. If you have Jaden Daniels, … find someone on your bench that you know you’re not going to start, drop that person, and add Marcus Mariota.” — Daniel Dopp [27:58]

• J.J. McCarthy (streamer):
  “It’s a great matchup. [Dallas] have given up the most fantasy points to quarterback.” — Daniel Dopp [29:23]

RB Stashes

• Blake Corum (Rams):
  “Blake Corum needs to be rostered… not just about adding people to your roster—now it’s about keeping them off of other people’s rosters.” — Daniel Dopp [32:36]
  Tough Week 15 matchup (Lions), but worthwhile stash for RB-depleted managers.

• Jalen Wright (Dolphins):
  “Fast… that’s what his skill set was in Tennessee… an opportunity [but] it’s going to take Achan being out. If you have Achan you should be rostering Jalen Wright.” — Field Yates [34:28]

TE Plug-in

• Harold Fannin:
  “Harold Fannin could be on your roster as a tight end option for the fantasy playoffs.” — Daniel Dopp [37:01]
  Facing the Bears.

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6. From Duds to Potential Studs: Bounce-Back Candidates

[38:01]

Ashton Jeanty (RB, Raiders)

• Quiet in Week 14, but maintains “RB2” value on sheer usage and pass-game work, assuming last week’s dud was more game script than trend.
  • “If you’re going to tell me my running back is basically going to get close to 17, 18, 20 touches every single game, I don’t know how I can take that guy off the field.” — Daniel Dopp [39:53]

Patrick Mahomes

• Struggling to deliver top fantasy value, some even suggest benching:
  “I would rather start Jacoby Brissett than Patrick Mahomes.” — Stefania Bell [41:27].

  • Ranking disclosure: Field is lowest on Mahomes (QB9); Daniel has him at QB11. Mahomes has one or zero passing TDs in four of his last five.

Emeka Egbuka (WR)

• “Under 10 fantasy points in seven of his last eight games.” — Daniel Dopp [44:04]
• Mike Clay ranks him WR30; consensus—start only if desperate.

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7. Pocket Players vs. Season-Long Stars

[47:33]

• Field dissects the nature of fantasy consistency:
  • “We have season long players and we have pocket players...month long stretches can define a player’s season much more than what he is on a points per game basis.”
• Stefania notes: “The problem is, when you get the pocket guy, you don’t know when the pocket starts.” [50:48]

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8. Other Bounce-back & Start/Sit Debates:

• Breece Hall (Jets): “If I can, [I’m] avoiding Breece Hall this week. They play the Jaguars—number one run defense.” — Field Yates [51:01]
• Chris Olave (Saints): Still a start against Carolina:
  “I’m good with Chris Olave in week 14.” — Field Yates [52:53]
• Rushing WRs: Trust in Rashi Rice (Chiefs); caution for DK Metcalf (Seahawks) due to health and Monday game.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Hurts’ disastrous MNF:
  “Jalen Hurts on one play, lost four points.” — Field Yates [11:46]

• On Rivers’ NFL ‘grandpa’ tryout:
  “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” — Field Yates [03:32]

• “If you have Achan, … you should be rostering Jalen Wright. … Not a bad insurance add for those that have Achan.” — Field Yates [34:39]

• On Playoff Roster Strategy:
  “Now it’s about keeping them off of other people’s rosters.” — Daniel Dopp [32:36]

• “We have season long players and we have pocket players.” — Field Yates [47:33]

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Key Timestamps

| Topic | Time | |-----------------------------------------------------|----------| | Sponsors/Adverts Skip | [00:00]–[02:48] | | MNF Fallout, Hurts’ Disaster | [07:01]–[16:23] | | Barkley's Resurgence, Eagles Playoff Path | [16:23]–[18:02] | | Philip Rivers Rumor, Colts QB Woes | [03:04]–[04:36] | | Jaden Daniels/Justin Herbert Injury Updates | [25:45] | | Waiver Wire/Playoff Stash (Field’s Saints D/ST) | [23:07]–[25:01] | | Waiver QBs: Mariota, McCarthy | [27:58]–[30:29] | | RB Stashes: Corum, Wright | [32:04]–[34:39] | | Playoff Show League Recap | [19:52]–[22:54] | | From Duds to Studs: Studs-Bounce-Back Segment | [38:01]–[46:53] | | Pocket Players vs. Season-Long Consistency | [47:33]–[50:53] | | Start/Sit Mailbag: Godwin vs. Fannin, Mahomes/Rice | [54:02]–[56:47] | | Closer/Outro, General Banter | [61:00]+ |

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Final Takeaway

With everything on the line, the hosts urge listeners to stay proactive—waiver moves matter more than ever, injury insurance is a must, and recognizing “pocket” hot streaks over pure season totals could be the edge that wins a fantasy title. Even as NFL and fantasy stalwarts falter (“It’s the fantasy playoffs…[don’t] go into the fantasy playoffs with only one quarterback on your roster” — Daniel Dopp [27:58]), this week’s actionable advice and spirited, good-humored vibes keep managers sharp for the playoff push.

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Remember: Get those waiver claims in, monitor injuries closely, and keep a keen eye on both your own roster needs and your opponents’—the little moves can be the difference in the playoffs!

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

You're in the six zero one zero. Focus Fantasy.

[A]

Fantasy Focus.

Hello and welcome to Fantasy Focus Football, presented by Wingstop alongside Stefania Bell and Field Jates. My name is Daniel Dopp, here to put a pin on week 14. That's right.

We have made it to the the end of the regular season. The playoffs are on our doorstep. We are going to talk about that throughout the show as well as a bunch of other things, including Monday night Football, a waiver segment, a bunch of different things. We're going to dive into a very fun show today. But first and foremost, last night was a big night for everybody because it was potentially the end of the regular season. Did either of you have any matchups that were determined by that Monday Night Football matchup before we dive in and talk about it?

[C]

Nothing for me was like, win and into the playoffs, lose and out of the playoffs. Except for a focus lead that we'll dive into.

[A]

Okay, we'll talk about that later.

[C]

But you're bearing the lead here, Daniel. Welcome to the gun show, people. Because Daniel and I are wearing these crew neck sweatshirts back.

[A]

That's right, baby.

[C]

We could fit like, you know, another person inside of our. Of our sweatshirts right now.

[A]

It's comfy.

[C]

Welcome to the gun show, though. It's like seven degrees out and when you're Stefania Bell and you have incredible fitness, you show off the guns.

[B]

Fashion before comfort, am I right?

[A]

No, that's it.

[B]

You know, this is important and tis the season. Right? Little green.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Like you're. I'm not sure what's going on over.

[C]

There, but Dijon mustard. Yeah.

[B]

The rest, you know, a little festive. Got like a plaid skirt and the boot, you know, it's Christmasy.

[A]

It is Christmasy, Stefania. Absolutely.

[B]

I feel like there were. There were a lot of gifts handed out in the game last night, so some.

[A]

Yeah, I like it.

[C]

Some positive, some negative. There was some cold handed out as well.

[B]

Coal handed out too.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

That's amazing. I just want you to know that Rosie's Been texting me this whole time. You've been feeling the. The table. If I write, it's because she literally said, I love that you both wore those sweatshirts and Stefania looks fantastic in that. She said the exact same thing that you did.

[C]

So this is why.

[B]

Think of human on the planet.

[A]

A quick shout out to our friends at Trophy Smack. Head on over to trophy smack dot com. Use the promo code focus10 to be able to get 10% off your order over there. And if you want to dive into our YouTube chat today, our friend Eric Moody hanging out as he always does, follow him on social media at Eric and Moody and dive into our chat to ask him any questions. First and foremost, we want playoff questions because you are about to set your playoff lineup.

[C]

Nonsense questions.

[A]

Oh, we always love nonsense questions as well.

[C]

Exactly.

[B]

I was going to say ask. Ask Eric what music he's got queued up today. And let's see if my co host.

[A]

Well, before we dive into Monday Night Football, I want to do one quick news takeaway because I just found out there's not an age limit to play football.

[C]

Wow.

[A]

As apparently Philip Rivers is maybe going to return to the NFL.

[C]

Guys, I think we'll have an answer by tonight at the latest.

[B]

I think it's one of those, it's like a little, you know how you. There's like speed dating. I think it's a little bit like that. Like they're going to go have a workout and they're, they're going to commune and they know each other. There's relationships there between Chain Steichen and Philip Rivers. And then they're gonna evaluate and decide if they move forward together, if they part ways. Friends.

[C]

Yeah, there's a, there's a phrase. It's desperate times call for desperate measures. Now going forward, if this does come to fruition, this Philip Rivers deal, every time that someone says desperate times, desperate measures, we will then think of Philip Rivers being signed potentially by the Indianapolis Colts. Yes, he is 44. Yes, he has not played in five seasons. But the Colts are desperate right now. They're a team that's playoff hopes are clinging by a thread. They're 8 and 5. So they still have a chance. They're I think as if the playoffs began today. They are the eighth team in the afc. Okay. But they have the same record.

[B]

Some of us how we are in our fantasy football players.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

They're right there knocking on the doorstep.

[B]

You've got no Daniel Jones, obviously because of the Achilles tear. And Riley Leonard who stepped in for him and performed ably considering that he, you know, barely had any practice to. With the first team, steps in and finishes the game, but ends up with knee soreness. Now, on the injury reports, there's concern about that. And the only other quarterback they have on their practice squad is Brett Rippon. So there they are.

[C]

And let's. Let's. Let's get the most important part out of the way here. This needs to happen. Like, it's too. Thank you to.

[B]

Is he a grandpa? I believe I heard that he's a grandfather.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

Troy Aikman last night was hilarious. Talking about. They were. I think Van Pelt asked him if he wanted to take. Take a stab at jumping back in the ring. He's like, that's crazy. I can't imagine being out of the league that long and then coming back to the full speed of NFL football.

[C]

And Troy, by the way, famously keeps himself in unbelievable shape. Troy probably could give you.

[B]

He's like, I want no part of that.

[C]

Yeah. No part of it. But yes. So the amazing part is that Philip. The workout that actually took place last night. Jeremy Fowler reported the workout's already taken place is they just sent a camera to Philip's backyard, and him and his 11 children lined up. Ah, man. So, I mean, it's a whole squad. He literally. I think he literally has 11 kids and now has at least one grandchild. It's unbelievable, that house. Maybe he's like, I just need an escape.

[B]

Maybe that's what keeps me.

[A]

That's what it is.

[B]

You know?

[C]

I mean, maybe. I don't know. I feel like I'm getting. I age a month every day with my two hooligans at home, and I can't imagine having 11 of them.

[A]

You know who the other grandfather that played in the NFL was?

[C]

The other grandfather? It's not a military.

[B]

Oh, no.

[A]

Hall of Fame, hall of Famer.

[B]

Oh, he's gonna.

[C]

So he had to have a long career.

[A]

It was a long. It was a very long career.

[B]

Is it a kicker?

[C]

I don't think there's not a kicker yet. I think Ray Guy is the only kicker in the NFL hall of Football hall of Fame.

[A]

So, yeah. Ooh, maybe a good trivia question. How about we ask you guys any trivia questions in the chat? Who do you think the only other grandfather is? Don't look it up on Google. All right? Don't be that person.

[C]

This is not a Kevin Pulsa for.

[A]

No, no, no. There's a. There's a definitive answer here.

[C]

Wow.

[A]

We'll Dive in maybe a little bit at the end of the show.

[B]

Grandfather.

[A]

Grandfather who was a quarterback. That's my last.

[B]

Oh, all right.

[C]

There we go. Last one.

[A]

So, yes, dive into a little bit Monday Night Football. I mean, do we have anything else left on Philip River? I just really want him.

[C]

Yeah, no, I really want it to happen. And I actually. What I really want to have happen is twofold. I want him to sign, but I don't want him to play this week because I want him to play next week. When they play a Monday Night Football on espn, I want a season debut to be much easier.

[A]

Monday Night Football.

[C]

Open Monday Night Football. Let's be honest, Philip. You're 44. You're probably. Even if you feel good for 44 year old standards, you don't feel that good.

[A]

You could use an extra.

[C]

You want to go to Seattle and play the Seahawks defense. Did you see what they did to Max Brosmer?

[A]

No.

[C]

Well, who might be your son if.

[B]

You decide to sign him? You're like, get in there against Seattle.

[C]

Yeah. They're going to need to make a quarterback move one way or the other, but it makes for some good December theater. Let's dive into Eagles and Chargers. Sorry, Eagles fans, we have to talk about it. What a wild game this was.

[A]

Wild game. I want to shout out to our production crew for having Cameron Dicker the kicker on the full screen because he was in fact the highest scoring player of the football game. Yeah, if you needed 20 fantasy points from Cameron Dicker, you got it. Let's talk about the rest of the people here though, because the one thing that I said I wanted to watch. What does one Omari and Hampton look like, my friends when he runs the ball? He looks good.

[C]

Yeah, he does. He does look solid. They didn't get a ton of things going yesterday on the ground, but he averaged a little over four yards per carry. It was interesting. So if you look at the number of carries for him and Kamani Vidal, Videl actually had one more. I think it's obvious there's a component of Vidal being the healthier one and Hampton probably easing him back in. I think that was part of it. I also think, like not trying to take too much away from this young man. Omari and Hampton was having a hard time with the pass protection last night.

[A]

He was.

[C]

And the Eagles with Nicobi Dean, they were just blitzing up the gut. They showed a couple of different reps where Kamani Vidal just basically put himself in in front of Nakobe Dean to deter him for literally half A second. And it actually, it worked. It helped. So I think Hampton's usage will only go up in future weeks. I think last night's workload was part easing them back in, but part also the circumstances of being blitzed like crazy.

[B]

Definitely, to your point, that's what I was going to say was that even though that looked like sort of an even split in the backfield in terms of touches on third down, Kamani Vidal, 12 snaps, Hampton, three snaps. Speaking to that. So kind of the very similar number of routes run for the two of them. But listen, from a health standpoint, what I saw from Amari and Hampton when he ran was very reassuring.

[C]

Yes, definitely. And he had the touchdown catch as well. It was the only touchdown of the night for the Chargers. Completely bizarre night. So just to running backs going forward, I think Hampton, low end RB2 for next week, they play the Chiefs. Tough matchup. And we're still going to see some from Kamani Vidal. Everybody else flopped for the Chargers besides Cameron Dicker. Like, if you're looking for production from lad McConk, he had one catch for 12 yards. Remember, we spent that time to begin this. We were like, which Chargers receiver is it? The answer, truth be told, was that really none of them.

[A]

None of them?

[C]

None of them, surprisingly, really none of them were the answer this season, at least consistently. Ladd maybe was the best, but you could also make the case that Quinton Johnson's apex was the best. For those first four to five weeks of the season, Johnson went once again for just one catch. But I think truthfully, the story of the night for was really not the Chargers as far as fantasy.

[A]

It was the turnovers on the other side of the ball.

[B]

Before we. Before we get there, I do want to acknowledge that Justin Herbert played with that broken hand, that he had stabilized with the hardware, the plate and screws. We learned from Laura Rutledge, having spoken to Justin Herbert, that it was the third metacarpal. So right below the middle finger, shout out to Laura, who put an X on her hand and showed on camera so you could see it.

[A]

I feel metacarpals are in your hand, metatarsals are in your feet. Yes, you wonder.

[C]

Common knowledge.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

This is this. That's why I love you guys.

[A]

Appreciate it.

[B]

But the point being that we were looking for things like, uh, would he take any snaps under center? He did. Uh, would he be able to hand the ball off? He was. So, you know, you have to at least appreciate that Justin Herbert's healthy and going forward. That hand will continue to heal while he continues to play. So I thought for fantasy purposes, you know, it was maybe not his night, but he took the hits, he played the position, and he really wasn't totally limited on offense like people thought he might.

[C]

He's one tough homebrew, that much is for sure. And they play the Chiefs next week. So a tough matchup again for Justin Herbert, who again, it's what, seven seasons into his career, six into his career, he has really established himself as like a better real life quarterback than fantasy quarterback. He will have some boom weeks throughout the course of the season, but this guy is just way better in real life than he is in fantasy. 12.16 fantasy points last night. He's going to end up probably in most weeks somewhere between, like quarterback 12 and quarterback 16. But I love watching him play. Let's get to the Eagles because, guys.

What on earth was that play last night? Great question for those that maybe missed it. And I think if you're listening to or watching the show, you may well have seen it. But there was a play last night where Jalen Hurts. Yep. Threw an interception and fumbled. Well after the ball was picked off, the Chargers defender was running it back.

[A]

Sean Hand.

[C]

Sean Hand, who is a big man, number 91, not comfortable with the football in his hand. He gets stripped as well. Yes. So the ball is now up for grabs. Jalen Hurts manages to recover the football.

[A]

That's great.

[C]

And he reestablishes possession. So as far as the game book is concerned, the ball goes from Philadelphia to the Chargers, back to Philadelphia's hands. Jalen Hurts is then stripped again of the football. Jalen Hurts on one play, lost four points.

[A]

That's unbelievable.

[C]

He lost four points on one play. Tyrod Taylor was like, dude, that's amazing. How did you do that?

[B]

It's almost like he should get. Because it's quite remarkable to be able to have four fantasy points.

[C]

Jalen Hurts. This is zero. Going out on a limb. Jalen Hurts will never, ever, ever, ever have a game with 0.4 fantasy points again in which he actually plays the entirety of agree 21. For 40240 passing yards. He had 8 rushing yards. He had 5 turnovers. 5, 5. 4 interceptions and a fumble. A fumble on one of those interceptions.

[B]

I think I heard last night that was the first time in NFL history that the same player had had an interception in a fall.

[A]

I think they.

[C]

1978.

[A]

Yeah, they changed that after the.

[B]

Yeah, after I was born.

[A]

Exactly, Stefan.

[C]

Yeah, I think it's one of those where we only have game data in such detail all the way back to 78. It might be the first time a quarterback has both been intercepted and lost a fumble on the same play. A couple of years ago, Lamar bobbled a snap and the ball went back like 20 yards against the Giants and then he threw pick. But two separate turnovers on one play is very uncommon. Disaster night for Jalen Hurts. I feel awful for somebody out there and if somebody out there has this circumstance or like all I needed from Jalen was something just needed to show.

[B]

Up, complete the game.

[C]

You're like points from Jalen Hurts. All I need and I'll be good if you got less than two fantasy points. And that was the difference between making the playoffs or missing the playoffs. My goodness, I got to tell you. So Jalen going into week 15 they play the Raiders. It's definitely a get right opportunity for this Eagles offense.

Little scary how little Jalen Hurts is rushing the football.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

You pull up his rushing numbers from this season. It does not look anything close to a typical typical Jalen Hurts season again. Four carries yesterday for eight yards. They did not have a tush push opportunity. Their two touchdowns scored yesterday. I'm sorry, their one touchdown. They had a ball. They had the ball at the two yard line. Saquon Barkley was stuffed on a carrier to the right side of the line. And then after that they had a touchdown pass thrown to A.J. brown. But there was a hold on that play on Jordan Mylotta that's taken off the board. So no tush push opportunities for Jalen Hurts. But Daniel, you have his rushing queued up right now.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Give me some recent rushing attempts here from Jalen Hurts.

[A]

Rushing attempts from Jalen Hurts. I'm going to go back to. I'm going to start in week seven. Okay. Two weeks before the buy four rush attempts for negative ten yards. Four rush attempts, four rush attempts. Then a buy then five rush attempts. Ten rush attempts. Love ten. You'll be able to get.

[C]

We'll take that.

[A]

Seven rush attempts and then four rush attempts. Four rush attempts. So you're talking about five of the last seven games. It's five or fewer rush attempts.

[C]

And how are we doing as far.

[A]

As yardage is concerned there Every single game he has been under 35 rushing yards. Not a single one over 35 and many well short.

[B]

My one of my questions was how many rushing attempts were tush push situations.

[A]

Great question.

[B]

And you're not, you're really not getting any yardage. And also I think the tush push attempts have Been lower overall because they just haven't found themselves.

[A]

I even attempted to push, push when you can just fake it and give the ball to Saquon Barkley for maybe.

[B]

That actually is the play to do because that resulted in what, a 52 yard rushing touchdown for Saquon Barkley.

[A]

So that was pretty.

[B]

You know, they did because nobody saw it coming. They're like, oh, of course.

[A]

Do we need to apologize to people? Because I think we said coming into this, like, listen, we know what the Eagles are at this point. Jalen Hurts is the safest play. The rest of the guys, a lot of volatility. We'll see what you get. And then Jalen Hurts with this unbelievable dud that we didn't expect.

[C]

Think about coming into the season. The core five quarterbacks, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson.

[A]

Yep.

[C]

Jaden Daniels, Jalen Hurts and Joe Burrow. Because of injury or struggles. I think you can make the case that at least four of those guys have underperformed. Josh Allen, I think is back in his quarterback 1 total points this season. But Josh Allen has had some clunkers this year as well.

[B]

Nobody's had every week deliverable, solid goodness since the buy.

[A]

Jalen Hurts, right?

[C]

Value was Kobe Brissette at quarterback.

[A]

Dude, seriously. All right. Since the buy. Last thing. I'll say last, last one. 12 fantasy points. 14 and a half fantasy points, 30 fantasy points. So you love that. And then 16.3 and 04. So basically four of his last five games under 17 fantasy points. Not even getting to that 18 level that we and I, you know, we.

[C]

Talk about comfort zone for us.

[A]

It just doesn't feel good right now.

[C]

Probably have to start him next week because he plays against the Raiders. Last thing on this game. So AJ Brown, since he told people to cut him in fantasy, has been on a heater that continued again last night. Six catches for 100 yards. He's amazing. Devonte Smith up and down. That happens. Dallas Goddard actually got involved. But the story for Philadelphia was Saquon Barkley who actually. So here's the bad news. For the first time in his career, he's gone back to back games without a catch. Saquon Barkley has, but he rushed the ball more than efficiently enough yesterday is he had a 52 yard touchdown. He had 16 carries for 122 yards in that score this season. He now has 21 carries of 10 or more rushing yards. Four of those, so nearly 20% came in week 14's game alone. So definitely the best we have seen Saquon look as a runner in quite some time comparisons last year he had 46 carries of 10 or more rushing yards. So I don't think this Eagles offense is anywhere close to the level that it was at last year. No breaking news there. But a reminder, let's talk Eagles upcoming schedule here.

[A]

So good.

[B]

Juicy, right? Because you already talked about the Raiders.

[C]

Raiders next and the last four games. Raiders Commanders at Washington.

[A]

Yep.

[C]

And then the Giants to wrap things up. If you even play into week 18. But for the next week 18 is.

[A]

Washington again, I'm sorry.

[C]

So the Giants the following week that made it to your fantasy 16 for the Giants.

[A]

Week 15 they play the Raiders. Week 16 they play the Commanders. Week 17 they play the Bills. Week 18 they play the Commanders.

[C]

Okay, my bad. Double Commanders. But Commanders is a great that's a great matchup now. So there actually is some hope here that Saquon for the rest of the season can be a difference maker as opposed to sort of the guy that's holding your roster down, which is where he was for much of this year.

[A]

You know, it's going to be an interesting conversation because Jonathan Taylor has been so good up until this point of the season and we've started to see some cracks right now with the way that offense is played. The matchup is going and now it kind of almost feels like him and Saquon Barkley are doing like potentially two different things passing in the night at the right time for certain fantasy managers.

[C]

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[A]

All right, let's talk about our show league really quickly because you go to the bathroom, guys.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

It was not.

[C]

Back in eight minutes.

[B]

Daniel. ISO. Go.

[A]

I don't even want to talk about this, guys. I got crushed.

[B]

I know.

[A]

So because you beat me 167 to 135.

[B]

What point for what? To show that my team had a pulse.

[A]

Didn't you? That was my question.

[C]

For what?

[A]

I needed that to get in the playoffs.

[B]

I didn't try. Sorry. My team was not. They were Rebels didn't listen to me all year.

[A]

We really had one matchup of consequence, unfortunately. It was Field Jates taking on Mike Clay basically for the very last playoff spot. And Miller Light Mike happened to have Cameron Dicker the kicker last night.

[B]

Mike, who doesn't even respect the kick.

[A]

He doesn't.

[B]

That is not fair. Well, yes, but we knew that.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

You know, but he has the nerve. Field. How, how are you going to let him beat you? Well, I, the kicker. Are you going to have to. I hope you give him a hard time.

[C]

I kicked him this morning.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

I saw him in the hallway and I was like, hey, just one more kick in the. You know what? After you did that to me last night with Cameron Dicker. So, yeah, we're not speaking ever again. Not just for the rest of this week or this season.

[A]

So I don't blame you.

[C]

Yeah. Mike, I, I, I'm also. I'm not going to your Hal holiday party. Those eggs on your garage door. You're welcome. Yeah. Besides that, we're all good.

[A]

Other than that, it's great.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

That next year when he's like, I don't care about kickers. I'm not drafting a kicker. I get whoever. Be like, you stole a playoff spot from that attitude.

[C]

He is sweet. Cameron Dicker, Mike is not sweet.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Let's take a look at the final standings because the playoff field is set. Six teams. Congratulations. Have made it, including a pair of buys standing.

[A]

Yes. A pair of buys for our buddy Zach, our producer, as well as trophy Smack feels like Trophy Smack is just a built in buy. It's like written into the contract down though right now. Yeah, we'll have to see how that one works out. And then our producer, by the way, our buddy David Presley, not here this week. Doing some special things.

[B]

Mysteriously not here.

[A]

Yeah. So we want to give a big shout out to our buddy David Presley. And then our producer Tyler Kiss the baby. Also making the playoffs with Eric Moody, obviously because he gives you all the good information in chat. And Miller Light Mike, unfortunately bringing up the rear last playoff spot. So we'll see how that works out for us. I think right now, if I just had to go out on a limb for the rest of us, we are team Moody the rest of the week.

[C]

We are. I mean that's. That's not.

[A]

I want Eric Moody to win the championship.

[C]

Yeah, I. Moody did text me this morning. He celebrated last night with a glass of wine and some Doobie Brothers.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

He was listening to one of his favorite bands. Yep. Yes.

[A]

Listen to the music, my friend. Why not listen to the music.

[B]

Exactly.

[C]

I don't want to get.

[A]

Oh, I like it. I like it. All right, let's do the playoff bracket really quickly. Last thing here for our fantasy focus show league to see who we are going to be playing. Our producer Zach and Trophy Smack both have buys. Eric Moody.

[C]

Both of those.

[A]

Agreed. Agreed. Eric Moody the five seed taking on our producer Tyler, the four seed.

[C]

Yeah, whatever.

[A]

And then Miller Light Mike, the six seed taking on the three seed, David Presley. Definitely rooting for David Presley in that one.

[C]

Definitely.

[A]

Yeah. We'll see how that one works out.

[B]

Saying.

[A]

All right, just in case you are still in your fantasy playoffs though, you need someone that maybe you're going to stash down the stretch. Field Minister Yates. And this one's going to be playoff stash presented by Wingstop.

[C]

All right, Daniel, let's do it. The playoffs are here and I know you're saying to yourself, am I really going to do that much roster tinkering for a team that made it to the postseason?

[A]

I really going to do that much roster tinkering for a team.

[C]

I'll answer that question for you and I'm going to give you a. A curveball here.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

My playoff stash.

[A]

You ready for baseball thing?

[C]

Yep. Curveball. I'm going to give you a. Hey, who's like the least accurate quarterback in the league? I'm going to give you a pass from.

[A]

Well, J.J. mcCarthy there.

[B]

He's going to say pre week 14.

[C]

Listen, I'm not saying I'm just saying. I did tell you JJ is a playoff stash dude.

[A]

Right? You did. Hey, good call, you guys.

[C]

All throwback comments were insane.

[B]

And you did clarify that. Stashment. Stash until, you know, playoffs.

[A]

That's right.

[C]

About everything until the playoffs. They get the Cowboys on Sunday night. My curveball or knuckleball or something. It's the Saints defense. Whoa. All right, so the Saints defense, they play the Panthers this week. It's not that I am super optimistic there, but I don't hate it either. But how about the Saints matchups in Week 16 through 18 for those that do play into Week 18?

A matchup you like there, but also for the next two weeks, Week 16, the Titans. Week 17, the Jets. The Jets. Jets. And this Saints defense played well last Sunday against Baker Mayfield and the Bucks. Like, if I told you, which team do you fear the most between the Bucks, Panthers, Titans, Jets, Falcons. I think we all agree it's probably the Bucks, right?

[A]

Definitely would say the Bucks.

[C]

They held their own against the Bucks last week. I think the Saints team is playing with some confidence.

[B]

Who do they play this week?

[C]

They played the Panthers.

[A]

Panthers.

[C]

So I'm not like frightened by the matchup this week. I. I think there are other potentially superior options. But if you have just been piecing it together or you have a team that you're willing to start this week in your defense spot and then you want to add somebody for the next couple of weeks, the Titans and the Jets. I mean, hello, people. That is very enticing.

[A]

I like that. Also, if I had to just like guess which version of Bryce Young we were going to get this week, I would guess the 185 passing yard one, not the 397 yard passing one. But it is. Anything is possible. I love this call field for your playoff stash. Presented by Wingstop. All right, let's dive into the Week 15 waiver wire. My friends, we got a handful of things here. First week of the fantasy playoffs. First and foremost, I want to start with a couple of quarterbacks we already know for a fact. No. Daniel Jones. Stefania, you laid that out for us yesterday.

[C]

I. I'm not sure I'd stream Philip.

[A]

Rivers, but please, we'll talk about it the other.

[C]

Is that your first quarterback?

[A]

That is not my first quarterback, no. I do want to ask you one more time though. Have we had any updates? And I realize it's only Tuesday, but Jaden Daniels is someone I'm going to continue to monitor.

[B]

I thought you were asking about Daniel Jones. I would say on Daniel Jones just confirmation that he's headed for surgery in case anybody was still wondering because maybe the last time you heard was the suspected Achilles. A lot of what happens on Monday confirmation now making decision about surgery obviously done for the season. And then Riley Leonard with the knee injury there as well. Which is why we brought up Phillips Rivers potentially joining the team. Jaden Daniels had a scare with his elbow, took a hit to it. Obviously it's still sore after being dislocated several weeks ago, but nothing major structurally wrong. It sounds like he could have gone back into the game, was cleared to do so. But Dan Quinn said let's not take chances. There's no no point in this game and having him come back. I do expect that we see him back this week.

[C]

Okay. And for yeah to to only buoy Stefania's confidence. The team must submit. A quarterback is going to speak to the media for a while. When Jaden was iffy and ended up not playing, I said here's Marcus Mariota. Yeah, Yep, tomorrow it's going to be Jaden. So make that what you will. But it certainly seems like the team is planning on him playing this Sunday against the Giants.

[A]

So I love that. I want to say with that being said, if he's out, it's the fantasy playoffs. So you should not go into the fantasy playoffs with only one quarterback on your roster. A quarterback that has been banged up without a second option on your bench just in case something happens. So even though we expect Jaden Daniels, I would go out absolutely. The best replacement is his actual replacement. It's just Marcus Mario to roster and 11% of leagues in his last start. Put up 23 fantasy points against the Denver Broncos. Has three games over 18 fantasy points in spot duty taking over for Jaden Daniels when he has been hurt this year and he has the best matchup that he's going to see all season long because the Commanders take on the Giants and this is the matchup that you want to be able to have as a backup quarterback filling in again. They've allowed the second most fantasy points to the position. They've allowed seven different quarterbacks to hit at least 20 fantasy points, including Jaden Daniels all the way back in week one. He is the priority AD for me. If you have Jaden Daniels at the quarterback spot and you want to make sure that you're not left without a quarterback once you get into this first week of the playoffs, find someone on your bench that you know for a fact you're not going to Start, drop that person and add Marcus Mariota.

[C]

I think, by the way, as an aside, I think Marcus Mariota is a starting quarterback somewhere next year. Ooh, he's going to be a free agent. This draft class is tbd. We've seen some of these second, third, fourth act. I think in Marcus's case, it might be like the sixth act of quarterbacks kind of find their footing somewhere. Marcus has played well this year, as you noted, not just in fantasy, but in real life.

[A]

Oh, absolutely, absolutely. And by the way, they had both of their pass catchers this last week, which was great. It's a lot nicer for him to be able to have the full compliments.

[B]

Terry McLaren looks good. Yeah, he looks good. Like, he looks definitely better after the second. The second iteration of Terry McLaurin post missing time injury is much, much better.

[A]

It'll be a bummer to not have Zach Ertz there. That's always a nice safety blanket. But still, I like Marcus Mario this week. If for some reason you can't grab Marcus Mariota because he's already been rostered and you are a Jaden Daniels or Daniel Jones manager, you got to have a second option. The second option that I would go with is the guy that Field already talked about, J.J. mcCarthy. He had the first of three easy assignments last week against the Commanders. Had three passing touchdowns, completed almost 70% of his passes, which is great for J.J. mcCarthy. We love to be able to see that. You might have thought he had a lot of rushing attempts. He had six carries, which was the second most of the season. But he had a kneel down at the end of the first half and then three kneel downs at the end of the game. So four of those were actually not real rush attempts. But he gets the Dallas Cowboys here in week 15. It is another really good matchup here. They have given up the most fantasy points to quarterback.

[C]

Sure have. They'll be attacking J.J. mcCarthy. Matt Eberflus, the defensive coordinator for Dallas, he did not play against JJ McCarthy last year when he was in Chicago, but certainly knows a little bit about the game, having played in the same division but. And they scouted all those quarterbacks last year, so. Yeah, I hear you on jj. It's a great matchup. Yeah, it's a great matchup.

[A]

He's probably going to be in the QB 12 to 16 range for me because you don't have anyone on a buy this week. However, it's a great matchup.

[C]

Laughed at me, but here we are.

[A]

Here we are. Here we are now Have a feeling.

[B]

This is going to be. J.J. mcCarthy and Justin Jefferson are going to get it done in this game against the Cow.

[C]

I would. I would.

[B]

This is the one.

[C]

Literally pay money for that.

[B]

Just. I know. It's just so interesting listening to Kevin OConnell's conversation about him talking with Justin Jefferson, all of that. I mean, that's navigating a whole lot in that locker room right now. But I do think this was a big confidence builder for JJ and let's hope it's a big turn forward for him. But I really think this is a good chance for him and Justin Jefferson to get this right.

[A]

Oh, let's hope so.

[B]

Time for your fantasy playoff.

[A]

Let's hope so.

[B]

Will you start him, jj?

[C]

I am. I mean, I. I guess it would take pretty unique circumstances. I do not have any circumstances with my playoff teams where it's like, yeah, I got to consider benching that guy. So probably not.

[A]

How about we talk about the running back position? Because I think we're at a spot where we got to stop believing that Blake Corum is the only running back that needs to be rostered in this Rams backfield.

[C]

But.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

What is. What did I say?

[C]

Yeah, he does need to be rostered.

[A]

He does need to be rostered. Guys. I meant Kyron Williams, obviously, because Blake Corum only rostered in 22% of league still. And we've been talking about this for a couple weeks now.

[B]

Yesterday. Yes.

[A]

Second week in a row averaging over 10 yards per carry. We don't expect that to continue, but the dude has been legit. Last week, 12 rushes for 128 yards and two touchdowns. It kind of feels like Sean McVay just realized this is something that a coach could do. Like, wait a minute, we can just play two running backs and they can both stay healthy. Like, it feels like this is finally happening.

[C]

They're playing for February.

[A]

They really are. And we talked about that. They are. You field. When I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I think it was last week, I talked about how it seems like you've seen a lot of splits and you were like, they're. It's series. You know, Blake Corum's getting a series.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Iron Williams is getting a series. They're just going back and forth. So when I see that, I still feel like Kyron Williams is the better running back. He's probably the 1A, not the 1B. But I also can't say, given the fact that both of these guys are basically touchdown dependent, neither one of them are big pass catchers. That the touchdown is going to come on a Kyren Williams series.

[C]

Yeah, I think it's. So here's the caveat. Here is it's week 15 is the fantasy playoffs. In case you missed the first 18 mentions of it throughout this show.

[A]

Tough matchup too.

[C]

If you've made the playoffs, you might very well have two capable running backs. Yes. I don't think what you're suggesting is upsetting the apple cart and benching somebody that has gotten you to the playoffs in favor of Blake Corum. But if you're a team that made the playoffs in spite of your running back position, Blake Corum is certainly a name to know even in a tough matchup when he probably needs a touchdown to pay off.

[A]

Also, I feel like because we're in the playoffs, it's worth me saying that you adding people to your roster is not just about adding people to your roster.

[B]

It's keeping them off.

[A]

Now it's about keeping them off of other people's rosters. Because in the fantasy playoffs, I want to make sure that I'm like impacting other people's teams. If I can starve you of a resource, that's a, that's a net win for me. So Blake Corum can be one of those guys. I don't want Blake Corum on someone else's team down the playoff stretch just in case anything happens. So mind you, really tough game this week against the Detroit Lions. I'm not going to have them inside my top 30 because of that. The Lions have allowed the fewest fantasy points to running backs this year. Only two running backs have hit 20 fantasy points against them. But I do believe he needs to be on your roster for the fantasy playoffs. Blake Corum needs to be rostered another running back. And I'll be really quick about this one because I don't have as much confidence here. But do we have any updates? Stefania on Devon Hn with the rib.

[B]

Injury that happened, do we know that he underwent an MRI and there was nothing that scared the Dolphins to the point where he's likely to miss this week?

[A]

Okay.

[B]

The expectation is he won't practice a whole lot and you can understand that. Again, we, we, we've talked about this before. With rib injuries. It's not just the contact. You could put a guy in a non contact jersey. It's, it's every movement. It's twisting, it's turning, it's even deep breathing. So you don't necessarily want to run a guy a lot who's got a rib injury. Because all of that is painful and you're trying to control the pain and trying to get that to settle down before you play. So it sounds like they're hopeful for him this week, probably won't see him as much in practice, might wear some extra protection when it comes to game time. But right now I think there's some hope, cautiously optimistic as we like to say here, that Devon Achan could play this week.

[A]

Okay, if Devon Achan plays, then we don't have to worry about it. We're not really talking about this player. However, if he doesn't go feels like Jalen Wright was shown to be the next man up, which there's not a lot in his career field. He was a fourth round pick last year out of Tennessee. We haven't seen a big sample size of what he can do. Is he a good pass catcher out of the backfield? Like what is the skill set that this guy has because we've never seen him in a starting role here.

[C]

Fast.

[A]

He's fast.

[C]

That's what his skill set was in Tennessee. Just remarkably fast Player who the Dolphins traded a third round pick in a future draft to get Jalen Wright to be their number two back.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

They drafted Ali Gordon a year later, number two back and now he's back to number three. But yeah, it's an opportunity it's going to take HM being out if you have hn you should be rostering Jalen Wright. If you don't have Achan, if there's any level of question mark he's going to I think he's going to play like let's just be clear as Defiana said, like I agree sounds like we totally expected on Monday night but not a bad insurance ad for those that have Achan if something happens during the week and he wakes up on Thursday and feels like crap or something or.

[A]

Again just one more time defense if you have an empty roster spot yeah at the end of your bench and someone that you're going to play has Devon HN grab Jaylen Wright just in case he can't go right.

[B]

And also because it is a Monday night game it might be even more worth it than insurance policy. No matter how good the news sounds.

[A]

Jalen Wright would I believe only sounds like a one worth one week rental if you were to add him and play him here in week 15. So so have him and then one last player. Harold Fannin Jr. We talked about him a bunch of times at the tight end spot. I don't really know what to think other than We've seen him do this a number of times. Six games with at least 10 fantasy points this year. This last week with Shador Sanders, I don't expect that to be the, you know, what's the word? The. Not the rule. The exception. Not the rule. I'm trying to say the opposite of that. However, Harold Fannin absolutely can be a starting tight end. And if you need somebody right now, I'm just going to say it one last time. Harold Fannin could be on your roster as a tight end option for the fantasy playoffs. Getting the Chicago Bears here in week 15. Those are my week 15 waiver wires. Not a lot of people to be able to choose from, to be honest, because you have the entire slate at your disposal. Yeah, you don't need to go out and go out of your way to find somebody just because. And we didn't have a ton of injuries. The guys that we did, we sort of talked about here. So pretty thin waiver wire week, but I think we're going to be starting the guys that get used to that. Week 15 brought you to the championship. Hey, college football fans, you know that feeling when your home team takes it to the house? Well, this season, Eckrich, the official smoked sausage of the College Football Playoff, is letting you score big right along with them. Here's how it works. Just watch the 2025, 2026 College Football Playoff first round games on December 19th and 20th. And when the home team scores their first touchdown, check the game clock because whatever time is shown on the scoreboard becomes the official take it to the house time. Then head on over to www.eckrich.com tickettothehouse and enter the exact time for your shot at winning tickets and a trip to the 2026 College Football Playoff national championship. So keep your eyes on the clock in Eckrich in your game plan, because it's almost Take it to the House time.

[B]

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[C]

Phew.

[B]

Find a Marshall's near you. Every holiday shopper's got a list. But Ross shoppers, you've got a mission. Like a gift run that turns into a disco snow Globe throw pillows and PJs for the whole family.

[C]

Dog included.

[B]

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[C]

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[B]

Ross, work your magic.

[A]

All right, let's do a playoff push from duds to studs in week 15. That is the question talking about a couple of guys that had big duds in week 14, whether or not they can become studs for your fantasy lineup in the first week of the playoffs. We're going to start at the running back position. Ashton Genty, 5.8 fantasy points last week against the Denver Broncos, second fewest points this season. Now takes on this Eagles defense that we just saw last night. Field, I'm going to start with you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

How are you approaching Ashton Genty off of the dud that happened last week in RB2?

[C]

For me, the key here is the Raiders have had two absolute egg laying games this season. You're probably saying to yourself, only two.

[A]

Only two.

[C]

Yeah, there have been many others that have been close to egg laying games, but they played the Chiefs and ran 30 plays. They played the Broncos this past weekend, had the ball for like three plays total. It felt like in the first half, not great. Genti had 10 carries. It was Raheem. Most are late in the game. The thing that we have to talk about here is the passing game utilization. In the three games prior to this past Sunday, Ashton Genti had exactly eight targets in each of them. If you could tell yourself if you were guaranteed to get eight targets on Sunday, yeah, you sign up for it and you'd say, hey, even if there is less upside because the offense is just unbelievably pathetic. Yep, you still take it. So it comes down to whether they're going to involve him in the passing game. It's not a terrible matchup against the Eagles, right? We watched the two running backs last night for the Chargers look just fine against this Eagles defensive front that is still playing without Jalen Carter. So Ashton Genty for me is an RB2, but they have to have to lean into him as a pass catcher.

[A]

I feel the same way. Only four games this year under 17 touches. And if you're going to tell me that like my running back is basically going to get close to 17, 18, 20 touches every single game, I don't know how I can take that guy off the field. Even if it's not beneficient. He's just going to be in that RB2 category like you're saying field. So I see it exactly the same way. Probably going to be a top 15 to 20 guy.

[B]

For me, there's so many backfields where there's at least the threat of somebody else taking some of that work away. The opportunity actually matters more when you get to the fantasy playoffs.

[A]

By the way, if you can make it a couple weeks in these first two matchups, I mean, like you said, Eagles don't scare you. Next weekend's the Texans you don't love. But the week after that, where they take on the giants in week 17 and championship week, that'd be a great matchup for Ashton Genti if you gotta get there.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Stefania, what about Patrick Mahomes? Because we've seen a lot of different versions of Patrick Mahomes this year. We've seen him be unbelievably good return to that superstar that we thought we had in fantasy football a couple years ago. And then we've kind of seen him, you know, be the dud that he was last year.

[B]

I know. And this is what is making it really difficult is the, the recency bias. Bias is strong in my mind from this last performance because if you thought. But the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes has been at his best when the Chiefs have failed around him and he's needed to make things happen. And we saw some of the rushing was forced because he wasn't running that much initially, but when they were under threat, the rushing started to emerge later in the season. This week was a week that they needed everything to win to keep their playoff hopes alive. I mean, I suppose technically they still are by a thread, but it's, it was, it was not a great game. So I would be awfully nervous about starting Patrick Mahomes in fantasy for a championship round when I could probably still get. I'd. I would rather start Jacoby Brissette than Patrick Mahomes.

[A]

That's a tough one. They're taking on a Texas.

[C]

Probably not this.

[A]

That's going to be a big one.

[B]

But maybe every time we have said maybe not for Jacoby Brissette, it hasn't really mattered.

[A]

That's the defense.

[C]

However, if you want to do it.

[A]

I was going to say Texans have been like the one defense that it's like I said to you last week, unbelievable. Texans, right? Like that's. You think top 12 again? You think you can do top 12?

[B]

I think he can do top 12. I think he can do top 12.

[A]

Dot let's do it.

[B]

Let's. Let's do the board. And I, I, he has been fairly defense agnostic in terms of being able to produce yes, no matter the threat. And who knows, might be a little trap game for the Texans, who are Cardinals. We got this.

[A]

I mean, he has brissetted his way to fantasy. Do we change it now? Is it still borders?

[C]

Bortles.

[A]

His way sounds better.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I just love Blake so much. It'll always be Bortles.

[A]

Okay, good. That's. That feels good. Well, Stefan's fine.

[B]

Quarterback. Quarterback, any quarterback. But I find Patrick Mahomes very hard to trust. It would be hard for me to have him as an auto start.

[A]

I. Let's do the board bet and then we will finish the Patrick Mahomes thing.

[B]

Stefania, I believe that Jacoby Brissette will finish as a top 12 quarterback in week 15.

[A]

I say Jacoby Brissette finishes outside the top 12 of quarterbacks in week 15. Put it on the board.

[B]

What do I get Close enough when I win?

[C]

So you get.

[A]

You're the only one that made the call. Yeah, you. You get the best analyst of the week award.

[C]

There you go.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

That's big.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So just to go back to Mahomes here for a second, I am the lowest of our rankers on Mahomes this week, so I'm in line with Stefania's lack of confidence. I'm his quarterback. Nine though, so he's still. You're inside that top 10, are you lowest?

[A]

Is that what it says on the screen?

[C]

You're six and Mike is four.

[A]

Oh, I'm 11.

[B]

Do you know where he finished this week?

[C]

Like 30th?

[B]

Yeah, it's so low down you can't even count that far.

[C]

I mean, in his defense, Jalen Hurts was like, dude, that is an amazing performance with 6.3 fantasy points this past week. That being said, it was a tough week for my homes against the Texans. It's a nasty defense who, by the way, we saw last night. So I am lower than our consensus ranks. Daniel is even lower than me at quarterback 11.

[A]

Yeah, it looks like my rankings didn't take. I see that it says six years. So that's on me, not on anybody else. However, I have Patrick Mahomes at QB11 this week, and part of that is because he has had zero or one passing touchdown in four in four of his last five games where he's at right now.

[C]

Let's move on to Emeka Abuka, who I think can be a fairly straightforward conversation as well.

[A]

I gave you all the numbers yesterday when I talked about emeka Abuka. Under 10 fantasy points in seven of his last eight games. Mike does not have them projected for the first time inside the top 25 at wide receiver. In fact, he's got him projected as wide receiver 30, which to be honest, that's about right. That just feels appropriate to me.

[C]

He's a great player who could certainly have a game where he goes off. That being said, it's hard to have a lot of confidence here in Ameca Abuka. The only thing I want to. So we're online here, right? I mean, the Falcons, they play on Thursday night. Mike Evans could be returning and Jalen.

[B]

McMillan could be returning, which is crazy to me given the severity of his injury. But it just adds to the mix. You're talking about potentially two additional receivers, so the volume's not guaranteed.

[C]

So if you had to guess, where do you think a Mecca Abuka checks in in terms of targets this year?

[A]

I can't guess. You know, I know. Well, I know the answer.

[C]

So I eighth in the NFL in targets.

[B]

I was going to say it's pretty high because the targets have still been there in many of the cases where he hasn't had the best games. Yeah, but his efficiency was very high in the first part of the season.

[A]

I do not want to start him. And there are a number of wide receivers that I will start over in. But I'm not a lunatic. Like, I have a. I have a league in which I have a Mecca abuka. Here's where I'm choosing between my flex a Mecca Abuka, Jim Ray dk, Troy Franklin and Zach Charbonnet. Like, I'm not a lunatic. Yeah, I feel like a Mecca abuka is the option there. But you could give me a number of different scenarios in which I would choose someone over a Mecca abuka. This.

[C]

I'll give you one that I'm dealing with for a Mecca abuka. It's him or Brian Thomas Jr. Where you're like, oh, yo, you know, like how do you choose between those two guys right now? Not that btj, he was better last week, but are you really confident that he's going to go off? By the way, can we the playoffs?

[A]

Are we with the people that now we're comparing a Mecca Abuka to. A couple weeks ago we said rookie of the year at the wide receiver. It feels like it's firmly now in the Tedro McMillan camp. Right.

[C]

It's definitely trending that way. He is the favorite over at DraftKings Sportsbook to be offensive rookie of the year or right there near Jackson Dart as well. The only thing that I want to ask and this Is actually, it's not really a question, it's just kind of a thought. Maybe Chat can chime in and share thoughts amongst themselves on this. As I was thinking back to preseason rankings of a Mecca Abuka.

[A]

Yep.

[C]

And where was the right place to rank a Mecca Buka? Because when we get to the playoffs and for the past what like three to four to five weeks, he's been largely unusable, right?

[A]

Yes, literally unusable.

[C]

But he had a five or six week stretch where he was dominant.

[B]

Dominant to the point that he may be part of the reason that you're in your fantasy playoffs. If you had him and you, you may have been moving him around in the last few weeks.

[A]

What's the difference between him and Quinton Johnston? Like when you look at the idea of like we had a couple of, couple of weeks and then they disappeared, I think.

[B]

Well, I, I feel like. And I'm not looking at the numbers right now to back me up, but Mecca Buca was volume. Quentin Johnston was always a big play guy.

[C]

Actually Abuka early in the season was like just crushing the efficiency. The volume has increased of late and now he's been worse.

[B]

Yeah, that, yeah, that's what I, that's.

[A]

What I, what his ADP was, you know what Abuka's adp, give or take where you think it was?

[C]

Well, it spiked late already one amongst wide receivers.

[A]

Oh, I mean you're saying of wide receiver. I mean overall. Yeah.

[C]

So wide receiver 31 maybe like I.

[B]

Feel like was he going to win the seventh, eighth round?

[A]

He was a 10th round pick drafted with the 90th pick overall.

[C]

So that, that's, that's.

[B]

I think he was going higher in some of our leagues because we were starting to hype him up.

[C]

I think what it really brings me back to is something that I know that I talked about during the preseason and I think sometimes people just don't want to acknowledge this dynamic in fantasy football analysis is we have season long players and we have pocket players.

[A]

Yes, right.

[C]

Season long players are guys like Christian McCaffrey who have been good from start to finish and you expect them to be good from start to finish when you draft them.

[A]

Right.

[C]

Devon Hn like guys that whatever you draft them to be, we expect them to stay, if not right at that level, really darn close to it for the entirety of the year. Then we have players that are pocket players. Right. In the same way that Abuka fits into that category. Quinton Johnson fits into that category. Michael Wilson fits into that category. Right.

[A]

Franklin fits into that category.

[C]

Franklin fits into that category. A lot of these receivers can get hot at the right time and then cold at the right time. There were people that had Justin Fields as a top 10 quarterback coming into the season. Week one looked amazing. He had a couple of big games because he's Justin Fields. Does that mean they were right or wrong? You know, so the bottom line is that fantasy analysis during the preseason becomes very much just like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, all the way down to 50 at wide receiver. When we are reminded every single year just how important it is to acknowledge that like month long stretches can define a player's season much more than what he is on a points per game basis.

[B]

Indulge me for one moment. Moment. I want to tell you who the top 10 wide receivers were this week on a critical week for everybody making the playoffs. And you tell me how many of them you would have picked to be top 10 wide receivers. You know thinking when you're talking about this, like the players you look at across season. Number one, Michael Wilson.

[A]

The aforementioned.

[C]

Nope.

[B]

Pukanuku at number two.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

Okay. We all know that Jackson, Smith and Jigman, number three.

[C]

He was like more like 12 to 15. Agreed.

[B]

But it's plausible with the potential, the upside, we thought he. Yep. T. Higgins, number four.

[A]

Yeah, sure. Yeah, it's in there.

[C]

Three to one.

[B]

Ryan Flournoy, number five.

[A]

Ryan Flournoy is not one. No.

[B]

Christian Watson, number six also would be.

[A]

A no for me.

[B]

No. Because most people thought maybe not even draft him because of the injury. DK Metcalf, number seven.

[C]

I think he's like a little lower than than JSN. But plausible. Right. His DK Met.

[A]

Plausible. Yes. Zay Flowers number eight also may be plausible. Yep.

[B]

Tim Patrick, number nine.

[A]

That's a big no.

[B]

And then CD Lamb was number 10.

[C]

Yep. So six in the category of yes. Four in the category of no change.

[B]

Right. So that 40% like and guys that you really wouldn't have thought a couple who you wouldn't even have drafted.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Like in Christian Watson for sure. I think it just a reminder that you have to stay active and recognize when enough. Some of them are Darth Rose, Brian Floroy, top 10. Nobody's picking up that. But Michael Wilson. You saw that starting to happen. You had to get active on him in recent weeks. Especially when you saw the Marvin Harrison who. Marvin Harrison is probably one that we would have thought would be in that top 10 and then that didn't work.

[A]

Yeah, that's like a one to one replacement. With the Michael Wilson one right there. The one thing I do want to say, Field, is I appreciate what you had just said as well, because I. Earlier this season, I had talked about. We did a full screen about both Cortland Sutton and Troy Franklin. And Troy Franklin had scored more fantasy points than Cortland Sutton. However, he only had two games in which he was even a top 20 wide receiver, whereas Cortland Sutton had a bunch of usable games. So it's like, yeah, you can see the pocket. You can look at the box scoring at the end of the season, be like, wow, they were the same player. But in fantasy, they very much weren't. And that's one of those conversations that you always got to figure out.

[B]

Problem is, when you get the pocket guy, you don't know when the pocket starts.

[A]

You never know when the pocket happens.

[B]

You jump on the Troy Franklin bandwagon and then you play him one week too long.

[A]

Well, let me ask you this question. You think we can find a pocket in week 15 for Bree Hall?

[B]

A segue.

[A]

Thank you.

[C]

I do not. Who do the jets play this weekend? Do you guys know? Jaguars. Who has the number one run defense in the NFL? The Jaguars.

[B]

Apparently.

[C]

The Jaguars are very stingy. They took care of business against Jonathan Taylor this past week.

[B]

They looked good. Again.

[A]

They've allowed one running back to get to 20 fantasy points. So I see your guy, Christian McAffrey.

[B]

Yeah, well, you know, he.

[C]

The receiving upside for CMC. That happens. I am, if I can, avoiding Breece hall this week.

[A]

I agree. Not only have they only allowed one running back to hit 20 fantasy points, only five running backs have topped 13 and a half fantasy points against him, which is a low number.

[C]

If they play Brady Cook again this week at quarterback, I mean, could the jets get shut out? I'm probably not.

[A]

But, like, it kind of feels like the NFL should think about doing one of those little league rules where after the seventh inning when a team is up by so much. Yeah, they just like, guys, let's just. Just leave the field. We'll have orange slices after the game.

[B]

Nothing.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And you're out.

[A]

I don't like it. I guess maybe Breeze hall is a flex play, like in the running back 25 range. Because he's still Breeze Hall. Right. And. And we. You need good running backs. 20 to 25, maybe, but I can't feel good about it.

[C]

You feel good about it at all?

[A]

What about Chris Olave? Can I ask you guys about him? Because he's taken on the Panthers this week and for Me, I feel like this is one of the. One of the only guys on this list where it's like, I think I'm still starting them no matter what.

[C]

Yeah, I'm actually okay. I'm okay here. Think back to the weeks prior to week 14. They played Tampa last week and it was insane weather. Like, it was raining the entire game. I'm actually okay here. So three games prior to week 14, he had 28 total targets. 7, 8 and 13, which the 13 obviously boosts the total number a little bit, but still a minimum of seven targets and three straight games prior to the rain fest last week. I'm good. Here he is despite, despite those back spasms, playing a lot, playing a high percentage of snaps. So I'm good with Chris olave in week 14.

[B]

I was just going to say that, you know, he's been playing through something and he's still seeing a ton of volume. And also, Chris Olave, for a team that has been underwhelming in terms of offense. He has been the lone bright spot and teams know, they know that he is going to be the wide receiver one on that team. And he's still been productive. All of that. Super impressive. I'm still starting Chris.

[A]

I am starting him as well. A borderline top 20 wide receiver for me. And you said it, Stefania. The way that it feels to me is he's the only weapon on this team. The team has a few. Only a few options, period.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And he's the only weapon of the options that are available.

[C]

Other weapon. They got Tyler. Shucks. Legs, baby. Wow.

[A]

Okay, you're right. I bury the lead. You're right.

[C]

Good. Last week.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, shucks. I should have missed. Oh, that was on me, guys.

[B]

It.

[A]

All right. You want to do some mailbag questions?

[B]

I want to hear. Do we have. Do we have an answer to the question?

[A]

I have an answer for your poll.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

The other grandfather that played in the NFL. Sorry, we have the mailbag up here, but the other grandfather that played in The NFL was 2010, when Brett Favre became the first grandfather to play in the NFL.

[B]

I wouldn't have guessed that. I did not realize he was a grandfather.

[A]

All right, first question for our mailbag comes from Alex. Fantasy wants to know, can I start Chris Godwin on Thursday or should I go with someone else like Harold Fannin?

[C]

That's a reasonable CO right there. I have no issue with starting Chris Goblin on Thursday, but if you don't want to potentially stare at a bad game for three days and pivot to Fannin on Sunday. I'm fine with that. These guys are close. I mean, I would. My lean would be Harold Fannin slightly, but good either way. I mean, it's not like I'm telling you, you can't start Chris Godwin.

[B]

Yeah. Godwin looked better in this last game than he did in the one previously. And if you're thinking, could Chris Godwin be Chris Godwin?

[C]

And.

[B]

And if Mike Evans comes back, does that help Chris Godwin? Maybe a little bit.

[C]

I'll stay up Harold Phantom for myself on this one, but it's close.

[A]

Yeah, I think it's closest. It's tough for me to start a tight end over a wide receiver in the flex, but I know the way.

[B]

Fan has been playing offense, I'm probably going with Godwin.

[C]

Okay. You want to break tie, Daniel?

[A]

I don't. I think I'm probably going to go with Godwin too.

[C]

Okay. Two to one for Chris Godwin.

[A]

Dang it. All right, we'll find out. Alex. Fantasy. Which one of us was right? That's right. Another question here.

[B]

That helped me. Not at all.

[A]

That didn't help me at all. Let me just ask Eric Moody, Stanley.

[B]

We have the same. We have the same. We're. We're working through your angst in terms of how. Who to start. There's arguments to be made for either one.

[A]

It's true. It's true. All right, let's go with another question here. Speaking of angst, this question comes from Andrew C. Wants to know, should I be nervous about my Mahomes and Rasheed Rice stack? I really hope the Chiefs start playing insane for the rest of the season.

[C]

I think half of the stack.

[A]

You're to worried about the Mahomes side.

[C]

Yes. I'm less concerned about rush by the way, adjustments going forward.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And Daniel was right on this a while ago. I was during Southern high football intros as they're going through the Chiefs starting offense.

[B]

So. How do you say his name? Patrick Mahomes.

[C]

Ticks. Tick. That was a terrible impression. I'm working on it. I'll have a better by tomorrow. I got to be froggier the next day.

Rashi Rice.

[B]

Rashi.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Smu remember like when he came back, Daniel was like, yeah. So Chiefs wide receiver Rashi Rice comes back and I was like, dude, welcome to planet Earth. Rashi.

[A]

Yeah. So thank you. I mean, you're welcome, I guess.

[C]

Yes. Yes. Daniel. I'm telling you, this is the year of Daniel never being wrong. Only being.

[A]

Only being early. I like it. I like that feel. Jeez.

[B]

Rashi. Or was it Rashi?

[A]

No, Rashi.

[C]

Rashi.

[B]

Yeah, Rashi.

[A]

It's almost like there's a dash that's like Amon Ray melting it.

[B]

Like a little hyphenated versus like. Like Rashi. Not that.

[A]

Also I have.

[B]

Every time I say it, it's like.

[A]

I can't not think of Rasheed Wallace. So it's like a little bit of Rasheed, you know, Rashi Rice going forward.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

I am good with Rashi Rice going forward. Not just this week, but all matchups beyond that.

[B]

He's really been the. He's been, I think their best offensive player.

[C]

Absolutely amazingly compelling schedule the rest of the way. They're obviously 6 and 7. They need to win out and have some things go. Their favorite Chargers this weekend. If they lose this weekend, it's over. Take a fork in them.

For the Broncos on Christmas. Can you imagine if there's a game on Christmas featuring the Chiefs? That is meaningless.

[A]

Wow. Oh, wait. The Chiefs play on Christmas too.

[C]

The Chiefs will play. I mean, maybe not next year. Every holiday.

[B]

Yes. Game that you could imagine. Well, no one, no one saw this coming when the school was being made.

[C]

And also, you know, like, even. Even if they do miss the playoffs this year. Well, on top of that is who's the most recognizable player in the league. League.

[A]

Jared Goff obviously.

Stole my thunder there.

[C]

I was going to go a different direction.

But. But well done. I was thinking like, you know, Jackson, Smith and Jigbur, something like that.

[A]

Let me just say this really quickly, like Christmas Day slate. We got Cowboys and Commanders, Lions and Vikings, Broncos and Chiefs.

[C]

Well, you can't win them all NFL.

[B]

But you know, like half of those teams are really good. Like a half in each matchup.

[A]

I think we thought Detroit, Minnesota was going to be better than what it is at this point.

[C]

The problem is just that there's a chance. I wouldn't say it a guarantee by any means, but there's a chance. Like the Cowboys are basically eliminated by then. The Lions are. We're going to be hanging on by a threaded best and that the Chiefs are not in the mix.

[A]

There is at least the Broncos could.

[C]

Be competing for the number one seed. The Broncos have a tough their next three games. Packers this weekend. Great game between those two teams. Jaguars and the Chief for the next three for the Broncos. So good slate for them coming. And then they play the chargers in week 18.

[A]

I can't even remember what I had for breakfast. And field knows all of the playoff schedules for everybody.

[B]

I'm trying to worry about who's playing this week.

[A]

That's right.

[C]

So here's the question. Is the topic important?

No. And I know about it.

[A]

Then you know what it is. Okay.

[C]

Some would say you want to ask about, like how to invest your money. We know the current state of events in the world.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Got nothing for you.

[A]

No, nothing.

[C]

Nothing. But when I believe it's 2029.

[A]

I don't know where Ben Skaronic went to college.

[C]

Notre Dame. That's an easy.

[A]

That's an easy. Obvious. Everyone knows Notre Dame, by the way. Speaking of Notre Dame, I saw some news yesterday. Boy, this is not a college football show. But we'll talk about some more football stuff later.

[B]

Miami making the play.

[A]

Oh, Stefania. All right.

[C]

Notre Dame bypassing a bull. I just picked a scab through a scrap.

[A]

I see that.

[B]

My gosh, we have blood in the studio. Don't hurt your eyes.

[A]

By the way. Is the NFL the only sport where when blood comes out on the playing surface, they don't make you stop? Because I feel like in the NBA, it's like. It's like they shut it down. It's like a full on contamination.

[B]

Josh Allen got the bloody and it was like, gosh.

[A]

Yeah, it's just a.

[B]

That was like. He didn't even want to come out.

[A]

No, no.

[B]

But then he couldn't breathe, so.

[A]

A little different. Yeah.

[C]

Those that are wondering, I basically have a tourniquet on my arm right now.

[B]

Got a paper. And we are. We are handling it. Don't you worry.

[C]

I picked a scab through a sweatshirt bump.

[A]

How'd you do that?

[C]

I don't know. I'm strong.

[B]

This is why we tell not to pick skins.

[A]

That's a nice.

[C]

I wasn't. I wasn't intentionally picking it. That was just a.

[A]

That's it. One more question here from our fans before we get out of here. This one comes from. Izzy wants to know, can I trust DK Metcalf this week? Trust isn't the word I would use. You might be able to start him. I'm okay with starting DK Metcalf.

[C]

I think if he plays, you start him.

[A]

I agree.

[C]

And it's. He obviously stayed an extra night in the hospital in Baltimore. Baltimore. Here's the best part about DK Metcalf. Status. We will know what it is from Mike Tomlin.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

He'll come out and say, hey, we expect him to play. We are not expecting him to play. Whatever the Steelers clarity is. Everybody in the entire world will know it.

[A]

Also, it is a Monday Night Football game. So you have a little bit of extra time to make sure that you are.

[B]

You may not know until a little bit later in the week, but you all know.

[A]

Just in case you don't have an extra option for DK Metcalf, make sure that you grab one off the waiver wire right now on Tuesday, given that it is waiver wire.

[B]

Yes. And just before we go, make sure you have a replacement for T. Higgins back in the concussion protocol. Decent chance you might need to replace him this week.

[C]

Indeed.

[A]

All right, that's going to do it for us here today. Today's show was presented by Wingstop on behalf of Field and Stefania. Don't forget to love each other and be kind to yourself. You guys. You deserve it. We love you. Enjoy the night. Make sure you get your waiver claims in for week 15. And we will see you on Wednesday to talk about out the playoffs in front of us.

[C]

Sa.

[B]

Hi there. Surprise.

[C]

30 for 30 presents. Booyah. Can I get a witness from the congregation?

[A]

You can't stop authenticity.

[C]

Booyah. Stuart was exactly like you saw him on camera.

[A]

Off camera, he dialed it up 10%.

[C]

Can you imagine the impact of young black boys and girls looking at that.

[A]

Going, I feel seen? He changed the culture. He changed sports.

[C]

Booyah. Presented by modelo. Premieres on December 10th at 9pm Eastern on ESPN.