A Better Way to Play Fantasy Football? Also, Week 18 Waiver Wire! (12/30 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today – “A Better Way to Play Fantasy Football? Also, Week 18 Waiver Wire!”

Date: December 30, 2025
Hosts: Adam Aizer, Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg
Theme: A deep dive into the inherent luck of fantasy football championships and a comprehensive breakdown of the week 18 waiver wire—including practical strategies, positional priorities, and outlook for next season’s formats.

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Overview

This episode is built around two central themes:

1. Questioning the Traditional Fantasy Format: The crew has an honest conversation about how much “luck” impacts fantasy championships, whether alternative playoff structures make sense, and what practices could better crown the season’s most deserving manager.
2. Week 18 Waiver Wire Essentials: With injuries, playoff restings, and unusual lineups coming in the NFL's final regular season week, the hosts offer detailed advice for last-minute pickups and strategies for managers somehow still competing in Week 18.

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Rethinking Fantasy Football’s Playoff Structure

Luck vs. Skill in the Finals

• Both Adam and Dave express frustration at how much bad luck can impact playoff outcomes (04:32).
  • Adam: “I'm not a worse player this year than I was last year when I won four times as many leagues. … a lot of it is luck.” (06:28)
  • Dave: “Every year… I build great teams, make the playoffs in at least half my leagues, and then fantasy playoffs come, crazy stuff happens and they, they fall apart." (03:51)
• Specific examples include unexpected breakout performances, like Brock Purdy carrying teams (“Who had Brock Purdy in their lineup? ... we couldn't have forecasted that.” 04:36).

Proposed Alternatives to Traditional Playoffs

• Adam’s favorite idea: No head-to-head matchups in the fantasy playoffs until the championship. In early rounds, the top scorers advance, ensuring strong teams aren’t eliminated by one-off flukes (06:32).
• Consideration of “roto” or total points league formats, though acknowledging that “it eliminates teams very early. They have no chance and they stop playing.” (06:54)
• Apex Scoring: Another mentioned format combines head-to-head records with a bonus win for finishing in the upper half in points each week (07:49).

Celebrating Head-To-Head Drama

• Despite frustrations, the hosts note the “fun” of head-to-head championships and friendly rivalries (08:14).

Notable exchange:

• Dave: “Part of the fun of fantasy is the head to head matchup. … I would have certainly relished it for at least a couple of days knowing that I beat Jamie." (08:14)
• Jamie: “Getting rid of head to head is the impetus of the conversation because of the random players that won leagues.” (08:54)
• Adam: “There’s nothing you can do about it. … It’s one week, it’s head to head. You obviously had a good team. It’s just kind of in [the] fantasy gods’ hands…” (09:05)

Rewarding the Regular Season

• Consensus: At minimum, leagues should reward the season’s top scorer or top seed with something—cash, a trophy, or other recognition (14:39).

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Week 18 Waiver Wire Breakdown

[18:23] - Top Waiver Priorities

Running Backs

• Malik Davis (Broncos):

  • Top priority if Javonte Williams is out: “He was the guy with 20 carries for over 100 yards." – Jamie (18:29)
  • Dave: “Malik Davis is, like, eons better [than other RBs on waivers].” (52:13)

• Other Options:

  • Dylan Sampson (Browns): Noted pass game upside, especially if game script turns negative. – Jamie (33:37)
  • Emmanuel Wilson (Packers): Could get bell-cow work if Green Bay rests starters (33:37)
  • Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Audric Estime: Deep desperation plays, both splitting time and lacking upside (32:57)

Quarterbacks

• Tyler Shuck (Falcons): Strong playoff performer, potential even in tough matchup
• Bryce Young (Panthers): “Last time he faced the Bucs, he went for 21 fantasy points…should be a good opportunity.” – Jamie (30:29)
• Cam Ward (Jags): Solid floor, works as a 2QB option (30:29)
  • “Shuck is the only one I would consider as a borderline starter.” – Jamie (32:54)

Tiers:

• Jamie: Shuck, Young, Ward (32:15)
• Dave: Shuck, Ward, Young (48:10)

Wide Receivers

• Luther Burden: Exciting young WR if healthy: “Looks like a future star” (19:41)
• Parker Washington (Jaguars): 20 targets in last two games, high snap share, big role for Trevor Lawrence (35:56)
• Ricky Pearsall (49ers): Another option with big recent performances (52:54)
• Jalen McMillan (Seahawks): “I loved the way Jalen McMillan looked last week…” – Dave (36:54)

WR Rank Consensus:

• Burden #1, Pearsall/Washington next (53:42)
• Dave: “Burden. 1, Pearsall. 2, Washington 3.” (53:52)

Tight Ends

• Jake Tonjas (49ers):

  • “He’s available in 83% of leagues. If he ends up starting … I would go after him, but we don’t know at this point if that’s going to be the case.” – Dave (38:44)
  • If Kittle is out, Tonjas' floor/ceiling is strong; otherwise, pivot to Michael Mayer or A.J. Barner.

• Other TE options:

  • Juwan Johnson, Colson Loveland, Dalton Schultz—all quality streamer/week-winning potential (56:26)
  • A.J. Barner (Seahawks): Trending up, with increased targets and route participation (57:43-58:53)
  • Michael Mayer (Raiders): Worth using over deeper desperation options.

  Notable quote:

  • “Would you start Jake Tonjas over any of those guys?”
  • Dave/Jamie (in unison): “All of them.” (57:08)

DST & Kicker Streamers

• DSTs: Vikings (against likely GB backups), Ravens, Bengals (“ten or more fantasy points in four of their past six games.” – Dave 42:06)
• Kickers: Eddie Pinero, Will Lutz, Andres Boregales (43:01)

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Week 18 News & Notes

[23:31]

• Player Injuries & Potential Restings:
  • Rams expect to play starters but could pull them early if seeding is set (28:01)
  • Chargers to start Trey Lance, sit Justin Herbert; careful with their skill players (24:15)
  • Packers, Bills: Expect possible aggressive resting
  • Possible pulls for Patriots, 49ers, and others as playoff scenarios develop in real-time (27:34; 29:05)
  • If the Bills rest, Ray Davis may be a preferable play over James Cook (27:52)
• Injury updates to skill players: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Luther Burden (quad), Jalen Waddle, Marvin Harrison Jr., Rashid Shaheed, among others—statuses all fluid (25:21)
• Offensive line updates: Tampa Bay and Cleveland among teams with significant OL injuries (26:58)

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Key Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Waiver Desperation:
  • "When I say I like these guys, these are like I'm really stuck at running back and these guys are available and I need A plug and play for week 18.” – Dave (52:00)
• On Accepting Playoff Variance:
  • “There’s nothing you can do about it. … You obviously had a good team. It’s just kind of in [the] fantasy gods’ hands.” – Adam (09:05)
• On Week 18 Lineup Precautions:
  • “If you’re the Josh Allen manager…be prepared in case they have nothing to play for on Sunday and he won’t play a full game.” – Adam (48:33)
• On Tight End Options:
  • Q: “Would you start Jake Tonjas over any of those guys?”
    Dave, Jamie (in unison): “All of them.” (57:08)

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Awards, Championships & Listener Callouts

• Winners in FFT leagues celebrated, including shoutouts to Ryan Van Hoven (“La Porta Potty”), Jamie & Todd Rones, and listener league winners like Cody Smith and Johnny Airport (21:31, 22:34).
• Adam: “Thanks to all of our listeners for being a part of all these leagues. It’s pretty amazing.” (23:31)

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Closing Thoughts & Looking Ahead

• Playoff energy and optimism: While bemoaning bad beats, the crew keeps a light tone and looks forward to “next year” talk and further offseason analysis.
• Reminders: There’s no Thursday FFT show this week, but look forward to Friday’s Start/Sit preview and offseason content about 2026 rankings.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Main playoff structure conversation: 03:30–15:08
• Top Week 18 Waiver Targets: 18:23–24:15 (with updates throughout)
• Team rest/injury news: 23:31–29:00
• Positional rankings (QB/RB/WR/TE): 30:29–59:49
• DST/Kicker streamers: 41:14–43:21
• Listener/winner shoutouts: 21:31, 22:34
• Game recap (Falcons-Rams): 43:01–47:53
• Waiver recap and final Q&A: 47:53–59:49

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Summary Table – Top Waiver Priorities by Position (Week 18)

| Position | Top Targets | | ---------- | ---------------------------------------------- | | RB | 1. Malik Davis (Broncos) | | | 2. Dylan Sampson (Browns) | | | 3. Emmanuel Wilson (Packers) | | QB | 1. Tyler Shuck (Falcons) | | | 2. Bryce Young (Panthers) | | | 3. Cam Ward (Jaguars) | | WR | 1. Luther Burden | | | 2. Parker Washington (Jaguars) | | | 3. Ricky Pearsall (49ers) | | TE | 1. Jake Tonjas (49ers, if Kittle sits) | | | 2. Michael Mayer (Raiders) | | | 3. A.J. Barner (Seahawks) | | DST | Vikings, Ravens | | Kicker | Eddie Pinero, Will Lutz, Andres Boregales |

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Tone: Conversational, witty, a mix of playful rivalry and practical advice.
Overall lesson: Embrace the chaos of fantasy, be proactive on waivers (especially with late-season uncertainty), and consider new ways to make your fantasy leagues more fun and rewarding—despite the ever-present role of luck!

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Notable Ending Quote (on the playoff heartbreak):
Adam: “A lot of it is luck, and you do have to ask yourself, is there a better way to do it?” (06:44)

Dave: “Hopefully next year, we all get a little more luck in the fantasy playoffs!” (60:33)

Transcript

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[Dave]

Ohio this is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. Wanna can you believe this?

[Host Intro]

No, I can't.

[Dave]

It's time to dominate your fantasy league. Off to the races and he stays on his feet. This is gonna go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie and Heath.

[Adam]

And welcome everybody to your Week 18 waiver wire show. And I hope you are in a good mood today celebrating a fantasy championship. Welcome to Fantasy Football today presented by BetMGM. Make it legendary. Yes, we are going to go through week 18 waiver wire. I don't know that we're going to look ahead to next year too much on this show, but we will throughout the rest of the week. What's up, Dave? Richard.

[Dave]

We will throughout the rest of the 2026 year until we get to week one of 2026. So nothing to really worry about there. It's what we do during the off season. And you've got to be a die hard or a sicko in a Week 18 fantasy championship to be watching us or listening to us right now. Thank you for that, Adam. Good morning. I am here for the fantasy football runner ups and fourth place finishers and losers in the fantasy playoffs because I am, I am with you guys. Except I did win one league that was pretty awesome. But other than that, lost a couple finals, including the podcast league to Jamie when he started Jake Tonis and Malik Willis against me. If you had told me before that game that I would have lost because of those guys and maybe a little bit of Bijan Robinson, then I would have said you're crazy. But he did. And good for him. And good for Todd. He shares the team with Todd. I'm sure Todd is the brains of that operation. But I'm, I am still coping with my close losses last week because the teams that I lost with last week crushed this week. And so if I had just gotten six more points last week on two teams, I'd have more fantasy championships and more cash in my pocket. And it's just, it's this weird thing. I don't know if it happens to you, I don't know if it happens to our audience, but every year, and this happens to me a lot, I build great teams, make the playoffs in at least half my leagues, and then fancy playoffs come, crazy stuff happens and they, they fall apart. And I know that that happens to like five out of six people in every single fantasy league and you're playing tougher teams, blah, blah, blah. But it just, it's this strange phenomenon that I'm gonna end up having to study really hard during the off season so that I'm best prepared to rush it in weeks 15 through seven. Oh, you've got the answer.

[Adam]

Yeah, the answer is luck. I mean, come on. Maybe who had Brock Purdy in their lineup? You know, I mean, Brock Purdy carried so many people to championships, we couldn't have forecasted that. In fact, the guy who won the FFT Open, Ryan Van Hoven, team named La Porta Potty, he had dak. He didn't draft Brock Purdy, he drafted Dak Prescott and Justin Fields, I think, and he had Brock and he had Dak Prescott. He went against your rankings, Jamie's rankings, Heath rankings. And he started Purdy over Dak Prescott this week and, and that is why he won the FFT Open. But I mean, look, like I said to you before the show, I played in about 11 leagues, I think each of the last two years. And last year I won four of them. I had my best year ever. This year I won one. And I actually thought I had a better year this year, you know, through the regular season than I did last year. I had a very good year, made a lot of playoffs. I would have liked to make a little bit more. I had some two, I had two teams that were just juggernauts. They both lost in the semifinals. I told you about the third place game that I played and I didn't even realize I was playing. And I actually won it because of Bijan and I crushed, I would have crushed the two teams that played in the finals. You know, if I, I'm looking at the scores, I scored 20 more points than both those teams and I, and I benched Burrow accidentally. So all I'm saying is, yeah, like that team was good enough to win. It just didn't happen. I'm not a worse player this year than I was last year when I won four times as many leagues. It just, a lot of it is luck. And I think I was, I was going to ask you in all sincerity, is there a better way to do fantasy playoffs? So one thing that I really want to do, I think I said it on the mailbag, is no head to head matchups in the playoffs until the championship. So round one, you got your, your two highest scorers advance. You know, you got two teams on a buy. You have four teams playing. No head to head matchups, your two highest scoring teams advance. Same exact thing in round two, your semifinals, no head to head matchups, your two highest scoring teams advance and then head to head in the finals. But you could even make a case for total points. You could make a case for two week championships, although I would never want to play in Week 18. No offense to the people who are listening today's show, but a lot of it is luck and you do have to ask yourself, is there a better way to do it? And I'll float out one other idea as Jamie joins us. Good morning. Jamie is I did not like this format. This was my least favorite fantasy baseball format. But a lot of people play in roto leagues where it's just total points from start to finish. There are no playoffs and you could in theory do that. I hate that because it eliminates teams very early. They have no chance and they stop playing. But I have, look, I love fantasy football. Win or lose, whatever, I don't care. I don't play for a lot of money. But if you are thinking about a more fair way to crown a champion than just have these one week matchups where anything can happen, I think it's, it's worthy of discussion.

[Dave]

But then why would you have a bunch of one week matchups from week one through 14?

[Adam]

You don't have to. Yeah.

[Dave]

And then change it. And some teams, some teams do double. What do you call it when you play a head to head matchup. And if you finish top in the top half in your league and points.

[Adam]

Apex, Apex scoring. So you get a, you get a, get a win if you win your head to head. You get a win if you finish in the top half of so.

[Dave]

Right. So we do that in one of the dynasty leagues that I'm in and that makes it okay. So that way if you just have a little bit of bad luck, you run into the top scoring team in the league, but you're still one of the top five, six scoring teams, then yeah, you go ahead and you get another win out of it. That's okay too. But I, I think the way that you decide.

[Adam]

People fan.

[Dave]

Part of the fun of fantasy is the head to head matchup. So, you know, here we, here I am in the fantasy championship. It's me and Andrew who I'm sharing a team with against Jamie and Todd. Hey, Jamie. Congrats, by the way.

[Jamie]

Thank you.

[Dave]

And it's, it's fun. Like I'm sure Jamie's gonna, I'm sure you love it that you beat me with Malik Willis and Jake Tonjas. And again, I'm not upset about it. Is that the second or third time I've brought it up? I don't know, but it's, I would have certainly relished it for at least a couple of days knowing that I beat Jamie.

[Jamie]

Well, I, I, Is that the point that you lost or is that the topic that we're talking about here, the.

[Dave]

Best way to crown a fantasy championship?

[Jamie]

No, no, I understand that getting rid of head to head is the impetus of the conversation because of the random players that won leagues.

[Dave]

I don't know if it's, if I think Adam's really pointing more to the luck factor.

[Adam]

Dave is sort of saying that he's got to figure out a way to not, you know, fall victim to having a good regular season. No choking in the choking class. Right. But I was saying like there's nothing you can do about it. It's one week. It's. It's head to head. You obviously had a good team. It's just kind of in of the fantasy guys is my opinion.

[Jamie]

Well, obviously you didn't choke. You put your best players on your fantasy team in the lineup. So if they didn't perform to the expectations that you had for them, which I'm sure happened in a few cases. Same thing with our team. It's not like our team was perfect across the board, nor do I think any fantasy team. Every week is perfect across the board.

[Dave]

Really hard.

[Jamie]

So you keep referencing Malik Willis and Jake Tongas, I assume. What if that was Jordan Love and we had not had a good tight end since we lost Tucker Kraft anyway, so we were playing tight end.

[Dave]

Let's say Tucker Craft stayed healthy and Tucker Craft was still your tight end.

[Jamie]

Right.

[Dave]

Well, then in that case I'd be pointing to you picking up James Connor and that you had the good luck charm.

[Jamie]

But you wouldn't have the same feelings, I assume if it was those players.

[Dave]

Well, I mean, listen, I think another reason why our team lost is because DJ Moore had one catch, a Monroe St. Brown had it.

[Jamie]

Right. But you're. You're in a 14 and we were in a tight.

[Dave]

We were in a big hole all year at running back. So you were in a hole all year at tight end. You found your way out of it. We did not have the same kind of luck at running back. We should have probably started Woody Marks, but it wouldn't have made a difference in the final score.

[Jamie]

We, we made, we made a series of trades that in. In for the most part did not help us. Didn't really hurt us because the players we traded away because we traded Amari Hampton. I forget the trades we made, but we acquired throughout the season because we had a lot of good running back depths. We acquired Malik Neighbors who got hurt immediately. We acquired Justin Jefferson who stunk immediately. So we, we. We had a flawed team for a good portion of the season after getting off to I think like a 6 and 1 start. I, I think just in the case of what happens this time of season, including Week 18 for those who still play is you're going to have scenarios where players get hurt. You know, I, I keep seeing a lot of championships and end in week 16. Because of what happened with the Chiefs and what happened with, you know, Brock Bowers and, you know, some of these things. Okay. If these guys were hurt in week six, what's the difference?

[Adam]

Yeah, I agree.

[Jamie]

You know, so to complain about late season injuries or in the case of. Look, the Chiefs clearly are shutting down guys because of their scenario. That's, that's going to happen because of, of, of certain situations, whether it's week 16, 17, 18, or week 5, 6, 7. You know, you don't get the shutting down aspect of it, but obviously injuries are part of what we deal with here. And so to Dave, to your point about, you know. Oh, yeah, DJ Moore was. Had a bad week 18, week 17, and Amara St. Brown didn't have a great game. I mean, he was playing a tough matchup and DJ Moore got bad game script for him because Luther Bird and Colson Loveland took off in that matchup.

[Dave]

So look, that's not bad games.

[Adam]

I wouldn't call that bad game script.

[Dave]

Yeah, yeah. When Your team scores 38 points and.

[Jamie]

You'Re not the right, not the right wording there. But yeah, man, listen, like, I completely.

[Dave]

Understand, like how it works out and it's. It. I think, I think the one other takeaway could be just make sure you're doing the best you can with your lineup, make the best choices. And I told people this going into week 17, try not to change anything. And I don't think you changed a single thing with how you play fantasy football going into week 17. It's not like you started changing your philosophies on who to start and who to say. Your logic for starting Jake Tonjas was excellent. So just going along with that and just staying consistent all year long, I think that's probably the best thing you can do this time of year. And that's what I did. That's the other thing. And sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't.

[Jamie]

I think, though, in the case like this is, this is a weird week because we had five games being played before Sunday. So you knew in a lot of cases what you're either chasing what you needed and that probably altered a few things. I said this to both of you. You know, we went into Sunday with. I'm sorry, we went into Saturday with a. A decent hole because two of our players sucked that we count on. And not a safe quarterback situation or a safe tight end situation where I almost. Which you would have been laughing at me for years. I almost played Taysom Hill at quarterback.

[Dave]

I know.

[Jamie]

And Jake Tonga, you Would have won anyway, though.

[Dave]

You would have won.

[Jamie]

No.

[Adam]

Yeah, he would have.

[Jamie]

Zero.

[Dave]

Yeah, would have won.

[Adam]

He would have won.

[Jamie]

We won by more than 33 points.

[Adam]

You did. You won by 9.

[Dave]

38 and change.

[Adam]

Listen to getting off of this specific matchup. You know, Dave was the points winner in the league. He. He had the most points. He was the number one seed. So I think, you know, as Dan pointed out, which I didn't do in the Dynasty league, Dan said a good commissioner would reward someone for. For first place. This league, this podcast league, is not for money, but you could also do that. You could give someone the points title. You can give them some money, you know, so that at least rewards someone before the postseason even starts. There are things you could do if you want to make fantasy a little. A little bit less about the randomness of the last three weeks. Speaking of the last three weeks, Bijan Robinson averaged 33 fantasy points per game in the last three weeks in the fantasy playoffs. We might have to put him in the MVP discussion, even though he was, you know, a super high pick last year, Jameer Gibbs averaged 32.6 in the fantasy playoffs. So Bijan was a little bit better than that. Unbelievable.

[Dave]

Was he the best 101 that we could have taken this year?

[Jamie]

Oh, it was between him. Him and Chase and Barkley were the three candidates. Those are the right players.

[Dave]

We knew Barkley wasn't going to be that guy, so. And Chase went through that whole spell this year without.

[Adam]

Oh, yeah, no, Bichon was the best.

[Dave]

I think Bijan was the best. And B, I mean, Bichon had a better points per game average than Jamar.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Adam]

And so the other. The last thing. And I just gotta go to break and then we'll start our waiver wire show.

[Jamie]

The.

[Adam]

Here. Here's what I keep thinking about. Right. Who were the two quarterbacks that carried people in their fantasy championships? Brock Purdy and Drake May. Right. They had the best.

[Jamie]

Trevor Lawrence.

[Adam]

Emily.

[Dave]

Trevor Lawrence.

[Adam]

Week seven, sorry, week 17 specifically. But Emily Willis, obviously. But which teams had the easiest strength of schedule? It was the 49ers and the Patriots. That is something I want to look into here because that we knew that going into the year that the Patriots and the Niners had the best schedules in football and they rewarded fantasy managers, for sure.

[Jamie]

I was also thinking about this in terms of scheduling that for the Rams in particular, not getting the. Not winning the NFC west, they're going to now have a third place schedule.

[Adam]

Yep, they sure will.

[Dave]

That's a very good point.

[Adam]

And they have. They are going to play their starters next week and we will tell you what they're saying even though. Even though I'm not completely convinced on all of them. Because if San Francisco wins on Saturday, the Rams will be the 6 seed regardless of what happens in their game against Arizona. Okay. We'll be right back.

[Jamie]

No, but I think there is still a scenario where they can get the five because of points.

[Adam]

I read this morning that they could only get the five if they win and Seattle wins.

[Jamie]

Oh, yes.

[Adam]

I'm sorry, but Seattle. Seattle plays Saturday. Yeah. All right. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football today with our waiver wire show coming up next week. Hey, Ryan Reynolds here wishing you a very happy half off holiday because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited. To be clear, that's half price, not half the service. Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price. So that means a half day.

[Dave]

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[Adam]

Okay, Jamie, who are our top three waiver wire priorities for Fantasy Week 18?

[Jamie]

I think you gotta go. Malik Davis at the top. Just with the assumption that Javante Williams is not playing at this point. So hopefully it, if that is the case, that Malik Davis is going to be the guy and as we saw in the game against the Commanders, he was the guy with 20 carries for over 100 yards. So I'll put him first. I'll go Tyler Shock second. He was great in the fantasy championship week for Week 17. He's been great in the playoffs. 19 or more fantasy points in six of his last seven games. Unfortunately, the one time he did not do that was against Atlanta, who's playing now. But I still think he's gonna have an opportunity for a good game. And then Luther Burton, clearly, based on what he just showed us, assuming that he's healthy, just looks like a future star. And I saw so where I've been gathering and I know we'll show some of them today on CBS Sports Network. Maybe you can show them today on here. I'm not sure. But gathering all of the rankings for 2026 and that content will be on our site on cbsports.com starting next week. But Jacob Gibbs was sort of feels like he was like filling it out a little bit. Is Luther BURTON A top 10 wide receiver for 2026 already?

[Adam]

Yeah, I thought that was a little hasty. I mean, Romo Dunes is not playing right now. You know, we gotta keep that in mind. But hey, look, it could happen. He's super talented. He's the quickest feat. The way he catches the ball and immediately cuts up field and makes guys miss. I. I can't. I mean, I think he might have the fastest. I don't even know how to say it. Breaks or feet or whatever in the lateral.

[Jamie]

Agility.

[Adam]

Yeah, right up there. Quick twitch, whatever you want to say. Yeah, Shuck, man, I would have felt a little bit better about Chuck before last night, but this Falcons defense is on fire right now, man. They've held Jacoby Brissette to 12.6 points and Matthew Stafford to 16.8. But Shuck is also playing really, really well. All right, so Malik Davis at the Giants, Tyler Shuck at Atlanta, Luther Burden against Detroit. Dave, who are your top three?

[Dave]

Davis and Burden are on my top three. I put. I have a tie. It's not really a tie. Jake Tongas is still The a top three guy to add. He's available in 83 of leagues. If you can't get him or if you're worried about Kittle playing in a very important game for the 49ers, then Michael Mayer would be the tight end to go get.

[Adam]

Okay, how about. How about Colby Parkinson said Coming through last night.

[Dave]

I told you 11 points. I mean, it wasn't a huge game for him, but this. This happens all the time.

[Adam]

Yeah, it was cruel. All right, so Malik Davis is the prize.

[Dave]

He wasn't even the best Rams tight end.

[Adam]

It's true. Yeah. Luther Burden is. Is also assuming he plays. We're loving him against Detroit.

[Jamie]

The funny thing is in a couple leagues. Not that one. Because we had to make that decision or I guess maybe we would have. Yeah, no, that was one of the leagues. Ferguson was my backup plan in the leagues where if Kittle was going to play and I didn't have Kittle and Tongas.

[Dave]

Nice.

[Jamie]

All right.

[Adam]

And just some. Some quick winners shout out. I already mentioned Ryan Van Hoven for winning the FFT Open. 288 people. He is the last man standing. Congratulations. Riding Brock Purdy to a win. Second place guy had Blake Corum in his lineup, so that's a tough pill to swallow. The difference was about 11 points, I think in the scores. So he had a chance if. If Corum stayed healthy. In the podcast league, it's Jamie. Jamie and Todd Rones defeating Dave and Andrew. You've heard about it. And in the podcast Leftovers League, shout out to Cody Smith, whose team name was Kansas City and at least they won something this year. Am I right? Cody Smith, Congratulations. Big win for you.

[Jamie]

I got three myself. Unless you're done.

[Adam]

No, I am done. I just want to mention that in our podcast Leftovers league, which is a super flex league, I was so fascinated by. Oh, no, never mind. I'm. I'm lying. I thought one team had like really bad quarterbacks and one team had really good quarterbacks, but whatever. Yeah, go ahead. Who. Who won your Leftovers leagues?

[Jamie]

So that big round of applause. Huge round of applause. Johnny Airport.

[Adam]

No way.

[Jamie]

Oh, wow. The super Leftover leagues one and I gotta change this for next year, but I just was setting these up quickly, trying to get all these leagues organized. I did not do decimal scoring. Johnny beat me in the semifinal. 127 to 126 to advance the championship. And then he easily won the championship. So that was Super Leftover League one. I hope I say his name right. Matthew Fayokovic. The Fighting faos. They won Leftover League two pretty easily. And then left. They were the top seed going into it. And then the third league was won by. I can't say his team name because it's not appropriate. Hopefully his name is on his team. No, Brad Kernet. He also was the 1 seed 1 championship as well. So congratulations to Johnny Airport, to Matthew and to Brad for winning the three super leftover leagues.

[Adam]

Congratulations and thanks to all of our listeners for being a part of all these leagues. It's pretty amazing. We've got no show on Thursday this week. We'll do starter sit on Friday. Every game that we preview will take a look ahead to 2026 as well. Any thoughts on Rams? We'll save Rams Falcons for later. We got to talk a little more waiver wire here. Here are your news and notes. So the Rams are going to play their starters, they said, even though I think you got to keep an eye on what happens on Saturday because if the Niners win, the Rams I think are locked into the six seed. That's what I read. Correct me if I'm wrong. Justin Herbert's going to sit. Trey Lance is going to start for the Chargers. They're at Denver and Denver has everything to play for. They're going for the one seed. So I don't think you're going to start lad McConkey or anybody.

[Dave]

Do you remember what Bo Nix did last year? Yeah, week 18.

[Adam]

Sure did.

[Dave]

The other team had nothing to play for.

[Adam]

It was one of the reasons I, I avoided him in drafts. His numbers were very, very good before that, but inflated by his insane game against Chiefs backups. But I don't know that the Chargers are going that far with it. We'll see. But yeah, he went berserk. Who what else we got here? Geno Smith is almost certainly not going to play. It'll be probably Kenny Pickett against the Chiefs. Malik Willis has a shoulder injury. You don't know what. The packers have nothing to play for. Right. They're locked into the seven and we don't know who's gonna be their quarterback at Minnesota. Could be J.J. mcCarthy playing for the Vikings. We'll see against Green Bay and Marcus Mariota likely out at Philadelphia. Running backs Javante Williams and Blake Corum with injuries. Wide receiver don't know about Amanra St. Brown. He's day to day with a knee injury and they've been eliminated.

[Jamie]

Luther so Dan Campbell said it's nothing. That's a long term concern and if he's okay to play, he will play.

[Adam]

Yeah, okay.

[Jamie]

Right now we're ranking Amara Saint Brown.

[Dave]

Okay.

[Adam]

Luther Burden left with a quad injury. Rashid Shahid has a concussion. They play Saturday in that big game at San Francisco. Jalen Waddle came back with the injured ribs. That's the kind of guy, that's the kind of situation where you wouldn't be shocked to see Jalen Waddle miss the game. And same with Marvin Harrison Jr. Who hurt his other foot in Week 617 and may not play at the Rams. And by the way, I'm pretty sure that while Marvin Harrison was playing, I'm pretty sure DJ Reed was actually shadowing Michael Wilson. I have to go back and look what I did.

[Jamie]

Turner.

[Adam]

Yeah, DJ Turner was shadowing Michael Wilson when they were both on the field. Harrison too. So I got to double check on that. But the place that I actually did look for it, that's what was happening. Harold Fannon Jr. Gonna be questionable with a groin injury. Darnell Washington and Jatavion Sanders suffered long term injuries. And the Bucks had a really rough week. Not only did they lose, not that it really did matter though, actually, because if the, if the Bucks and Panthers play Saturday, the winner of that game wins the division. Unless the Falcons beat the Saints. If the Falcons beat the Saints on Sunday, then Carolina wins the division, regardless of whether they win or lose on Saturday.

[Dave]

It's such a stupid thing.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

And the crazy part of this is if the Falcons had just beat the jets, the lowly jets, they would be in the driver's seat to win a division.

[Adam]

Wow. But unfortunately for the Bucks, one of their starting guards left with a concussion and Hassan Reddick left with a concussion. They're starting Edge and Jamel Dean, one of their corners left in the second half and they have a short week. So they're super beat up going in this game against Carolina.

[Dave]

Tristan Worfs might not play and the guard that got hurt was a backup guard. Backup guard. Michael Jordan. That's something you don't hear very often, but that is what happened. And if, if all those guys are banged up, then I, I don't know.

[Jamie]

How Tampa Bay see from North Carolina comes it.

[Adam]

I don't know. Heard stories about him. Cleveland has a couple of offensive lines.

[Jamie]

From his high school team.

[Adam]

Yeah, exactly. They're at Cincinnati and I will. We'll leave it at that. That's the big stuff. All right. Oh, before I move on any. Which teams are you concerned about resting starters?

[Jamie]

I'm not ranking the Bills players very high. I, I think they're. With Josh Allen beat up and what their team has looked like, I think a week of rest would probably do them some good. So they could also beat the jets with their backups. Anyway. So, like, I have Ray Davis ranked ahead of James Cook. Okay.

[Adam]

So Chargers, Bills, Packers.

[Dave]

Packers.

[Jamie]

I'm. Yeah. I did not rank one Charger Starter.

[Adam]

I'm not sure if the Niners win on Saturday that the Ram starters play their full allotment at the very price. Right.

[Dave]

Could be three quarters.

[Jamie]

Yeah, yeah, right. Right now I have Stafford ranked as my top quarterback and he could go from number one to number 32. Okay.

[Adam]

All right. So it looks like we might hopefully get a decent amount of guys playing this week that we normally count on. And football fans, you got to bring your playoff energy to your pro football bets all season long. This pro football boost pack gives you three ways to boost your payout on a winning bet. Just log into your BetMGM account to receive your boost pack and then place any pro football bet and apply one of the tokens. Make sure to bet up to the minimum stake odds and legs specified on the token. If your boosted bet hits, you'll score a bigger payout. From opening kickoffs to game winning drives, this pro football boost pack is your ticket to to unforgettable moments this season. Don't wait on the sidelines. Join the action with BET MGM Seeing right now that Riley Leonard is expected to start for the Colts.

[Jamie]

Oh, that sucks. And by the way, the Patriots may pull their guys too, because they'll be scoreboard watching knowing that the Broncos are playing backups. So I saw a couple of Patriots beat writers suggest this, that they may start to pull their guys during the game too.

[Adam]

Broncos are going to be playing Chargers backups, and if the Broncos win, it eliminates the Patriots from the number one seed and they're locked into the two have already locked into the division.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Adam]

The other thing is that the. I'm pretty sure.

[Jamie]

Well, wait a minute. Can Jacksonville still catch them for the two?

[Dave]

That's what I was about to ask you. Who's got the tiebreaker between New England and Jacksonville? If Jacksonville wins in New England loses, they're both 13 and 4.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I think. I think what the. Right. At least the one writer I saw suggesting this is they'll be scoreboard watching, assuming that they're winning. And I think most people assume they'll be the Dolphins. So if they're. If they're ahead, they'll start to pull.

[Adam]

Guys, I. I'm pretty sure. I wonder what the. I wonder if the Raiders can tank anymore because I think if the Raiders beat the Chiefs, which is very possible, and the Giants lose to the Cowboys, which they've done something like 12 straight times, and Dak Prescott's played, I actually think the Giants will get the number one pick. So the Raiders tanked themselves. Tanked themselves into the number one pick last week, Will they tank even more? Will they sit Ashton Genty or something like that? We'll find out. All right, top three at each position. Jamie, who are the top three quarterbacks?

[Jamie]

Well, Tyler Suck would be one. You know, I. I think you just give him credit for what he's done, even in a tough matchup. Number two would be Bryce Young. Last time he faced the Bucks, he went for 21 fantasy points. And you just listed all the injuries that they're dealing with. It's like eight quarterbacks in a row have scored at least 19 fantasy points. Tampa Bay, the one that did not do it over 20 points was Quinn Ewers last week, and he was like 19.7. So it should be a good opportunity for Bryce Young. And then the third guy for me would be Cam Ward. Not an easy matchup against Jacksonville. You wonder how that game will go from them. If they have a big lead, will they start to pull guys late in the fourth quarter. Cam Wards had some, you know, good performances late of late, but four straight games of two touchdowns, two in a row, three in a row, of 19 fantasy points or more, two in a row where he's been over 20 fantasy points. So he's playing well. I don't think it will be a pretty game for him. But when you start to look at the guys who are in the range of quarterbacks that we talk about, I'm not going to Kenny Pickett or no way. You know, the backup options that we're looking at. Well, I mean, look, Kenny Pickett's facing a bunch of backups for the Chiefs, but, you know, you get the point. Like, I'm not going to the. The, the second tier quarterbacks. I don't think Josh Johnson's worth trusting against the Eagles unless they're going to sit guys. So, you know, you kind of just go on the sliding scale of who's, you know, either playing well or avoiding some of these, you know, real crappy backup scenarios. You know, so Trey Lance is not going to play well against the Broncos, for example. So I, I just think you look at. Even in some tough matchups for Shuck and for Ward, they should still be able to cobble together enough stats that get you in that range. I would have said Malik Willis potentially even in a tough matchup against the Vikings, but it's the Vikings and he's not most likely playing. So I don't think you want to trust that.

[Adam]

Trust CJ Stroud this week against the Colts.

[Jamie]

So he's. He's the one court. You know I still did the the shallowly guys. Yeah and he did not have a good game against the Colts the first time around. And obviously Indianapolis's past defense looked good last week against Trevor Lawrence who did not throw a touchdown pass. But I think you give Stroud the benefit of the doubt. So none of these shuck is the only one I would consider as a borderline starter. Just again based on what he's been doing and how he's performing even in what's become a tough matchup against Atlanta. But Stroud borderline starter, young, more of a 2QB guy. Cam Ward certainly more of a 2QB guy. Okay none of these guys are slam.

[Adam]

Dunks and Dave top three running backs.

[Dave]

To get Malik Davis 94 available. Doesn't look like Javante Williams is going to play. We're going to need to keep an eye on that. But Malik Davis actually looked pretty good and it's a good matchup against your Giants. Jacori Crosby Merit is still out there in 37% of leagues. He would be somebody that I would be mildly interested in. I don't like the matchup. I don't like that he's gonna end up sharing with two other running backs potentially because Chris Rodriguez missed last week's game with an illness. He should be back this week but he's the best of what's left. And then audric estimate 83 available clear lead guy first for the saints last week and I think he'll be the lead guy again this week against Atlanta.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I'll give you two other names that I would take over. A few of the guys they've said Dylan Sampson was the lead running back for the Browns taking on the Bengals last time that it was an eight catch game for him. And then most likely the packers will sit Josh Jacobs if they're going to sit guys because of Jacobs battling this knee injury. Emmanuel Wilson last time he played the vikings he had 28 carries for 107 yards and two touchdowns. And so even though it'll be a lot of backups I think he could be in that flex range. So I don't love estimate against the the Falcons personally and with Crosby Merit if the Eagles are playing their guys like that run defense is going to be too tough.

[Adam]

Yeah the thing is with Samson is that Sanders actually played more snaps than him. He the way it started Samson or Raheem Sanders had six of the first eight running back carries and Samson had one and Travion Williams had one. So they they started the game as with Raheem Sanders as their guy, I guess he wasn't really delivering for them. And then they went to Dylan Sampson, who basically took over in the second half. But Raheem Sanders, they all pretty much ran the same amount of routes. Trayvon Williams was the third down back. Raheem Sanders led them in snaps and he led them in routes run barely. But Samson Sampson was not much of a factor at all until the second half.

[Jamie]

I also don't expect them to have the same game script that they had last week, which was playing with the lead. I think they're going to get blasted by the Bengals. If the Bengals decide to play their guys, that's a team that they may decide to shut things down, too. I wouldn't shock me either way. At this point we're expecting to play, but I think the Bengals offense shows up again and the Browns offense is in usual Browns offense mode. So that's why I like Dylan Sampson.

[Dave]

Right. Remember how last week you wanted pieces of the 49ers offense and pieces of the Bears offense? Like you knew that game was going to be exciting. I don't want pieces of the Cleveland Browns offense and to be honest, I don't want pieces of the packers offense either if it's going to be Clayton Tune at quarterback. So I and I would be nervous about trusting any of the running backs from any team that's resting guys. So we've already talked about a lot of those teams and then running backs on teams that are splitting three ways and don't score a lot of points. That just doesn't seem good to me.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Adam]

Well, it's not. Yeah. It's not a great waiver. There really aren't a ton of running back injuries.

[Dave]

All the more reason to make Malik Davis the number one guy.

[Adam]

Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay, Jamie. Wide receivers.

[Jamie]

So Burton is obviously the top guy to go get and you mentioned him in the news notes. It sounds like he's going to play according at least to the insiders. Patrick Parker, Washington back to back games with just, you know, being the best guy for the Jaguars. And I know we had a lot of questions, understandably so, because what he did against Denver, how that game unfolded, Riley Moss and the missed tackles, it's 20 targets in the last two games, you know, so clearly he's a guy that they're relying on and relying on heavily. And so we'll see if that changes. They want to get Brian Thomas going who dealt with Sauce Gardner, but I still think you look at Parker Washington and then after him really, it's a crapshoot. I think, you know, to Mary dk. He's due because this is every other week of scoring. So he's got three touchdowns in his last now seven games. But every other game he scored touchdowns. So this will be the week that he scores and he's got 10 or more PPR, 10 PPR points or more in four of his last six. So the floor is pretty safe and the ceiling could be decent even though he did not have a great game against Jacksonville the first time around. But again, we're on the every other week situation.

[Dave]

I loved the way Jalen McMillan looked last week and I feel like he's the one that's going to end up replacing and has replaced a Buka in that offense. And if the ball is going to go out quick and they need to get the hands of, they need to get it in the hands of faster people, McMillan is one of those people. I like Washington better. I like Burden better. I would go burden Washington, McMillan as my top three. And I got a weird feeling. Adam, hit the music for. I got a feeling.

[Adam]

Oh, do I? I don't there.

[Dave]

I got a feeling about Cooper cup because that's another game that I think I'm going to want pieces of especially for Seattle against that defense. Not going to be a priority for me to pick up Cooper Cup. But if Burden's gone, Washington's gone. You're not feeling Jalen McMillan. I wonder if Cooper cup can get you a solid floor type game in ppr.

[Jamie]

Yeah, there's another guy in that offense I'd rather have besides Jason.

[Dave]

Oh, which one? Barner? Yeah, it's a different position.

[Adam]

Yeah. So with Parker Washington, I wanted to mention he played, he ran about 91% of the routes or something like that. It was way up from his previous two games and he's had seven games Parker Washington where he's had 89% route participation rate or better. And in five of those seven games we're looking at, I want to say eight or more targets. So seven or more targets. So basically that was the big change. He turned into a full time player the week before. He played something around like 60 of the routes. That was huge. And if they're going to continue to use him that way, it's obvious that Trevor, Trevor Lawrence likes him. He even said that he should have just made a better throw to Parker Washington in the end zone when Lawrence was intercepted in the end zone. So yeah, exciting development there for Parker Washington. Dave, top tight ends.

[Dave]

The top tight ends first, do a double check for Colson Loveland, Juwan Johnson, Dalton Schultz. Those guys are going to be available in about a quarter to a third of CBS sports leagues. Jake Tonjas is available in 83% of leagues. He's probably already rostered in a bunch of leagues that played last week, but who the hell knows? Maybe he's out there. If he ends up starting for the 49ers, I would go after him, but we don't know at this point if that's going to be the case. If he does not end up starting, if George Kittle ends up being active, then you just pivot and you go to Michael Mayer or you go to AJ Barner, previously mentioned by Jamie those guys will be out there on the waiver wire. You can probably pick them up on Saturday. If if we find out that George Kittle is questionable for the game and 90 minutes for kick up George Kittle's active. That means Jake Tonjas is dead and you can go and get Mayor or Barner.

[Jamie]

Okay, you got the the Steelers situation that both tight ends were heavily involved. Ten targets combined for Friarmouth and John is Smith and now there's no Darnell Washington on top of DK Metcalf being out. And then you have a preference. I know just because more downfield. Johnny Smith does too much near the line of scrimmage, but he'll get some carries too. If that's the way. Right.

[Dave]

That's. That was the deciding factor for me.

[Jamie]

Arthur Smith will operate. And then you mentioned it. Colby Parkinson, he's still available, at least the numbers. I didn't have him in the column yet because I have to update it from last night. But as I think you alluded to 11 PBR points in that game, we don't expect Devonte Adams to play again. And so that's a guy in a great matchup that you can pivot to. And the Cardinals, as we know, stink against tenants.

[Adam]

Yeah, Adams is interesting. I don't know if you saw the sideline report during the game, but he's really close to coming back.

[Jamie]

He's.

[Adam]

I would if based on what he said and the way he was running pre game I would guess he's probably going to be healthy enough to play. But it would not surprise anyone if they err on the side of caution with Devonte Adams. Okay.

[Jamie]

Ferguson would be at best, I think the third guy to go get just based on if Tanja starts and Mayer is locked in. Mayer's now played three games without Brock Bowers and in two of Those games, he's been fantastic.

[Adam]

Now it's time for coverage you can count on sponsored by Nationwide. Just like your fantasy roster is more than just your offensive starters, Nationwide is a great insurance company and a great financial services company. So don't forget about the defensive side of the ball and remember, Nationwide is on your side. Jamie, give me a DST to stream this week.

[Jamie]

It's the Vikings, without question. You know, the packers are going to. Most likely. They haven't said this yet, but most likely rest their guys. I can't imagine that with Jacobs fighting through this knee injury. The offensive line and some of the things they've been dealing with. Zach Tom, for example, you know, battling injuries. Jordan Love coming back from the concussion. Will he play if he doesn't play? Malik Willis with the shoulder injury. The Vikings defense has obviously been fantastic. So I think that's the easy route to go. They have top five upside.

[Adam]

Okay. The other DSTs that you have in your column of the Ravens at Pittsburgh on Saturday and the Chargers, which is so risky because they definitely could sit some guys, but they're. They've been.

[Jamie]

Yeah, the Chargers, I need to update. I think I had that before the Herbert. I. I updated the Herbert stuff in the top of the column. I didn't update the dst, so that'll be updated.

[Dave]

Would you consider, and this goes against something that I believe in, but they've been playing well lately. Would you consider the Bengals against the Browns?

[Jamie]

Yeah, for sure.

[Dave]

Ten or more fantasy points in four their past six games. They're just in time for the end of the year. The Bengals defense under Al golden turning it around.

[Adam]

And then the Jaguars are interesting. They're 70% roster, they're playing very well. But now they get this matchup that stinks all of a sudden. Although you did get a touchdown from the Saints DST last week, but one now. It's one pick in his last eight games for Cam Ward. But the Jags 70% rostered. They're not quite. They're too rostered for the column. But keep an eye on them as well. That was coverage you can count on. Sponsored by Nationwide. Nationwide is so much more than a great insurance company. They're one of America's largest financial services companies, too. For your insurance and financial needs, Nationwide is on your side. Nationwide INVESTMENT Services Corporation MEMBER FINRA Columbus, OHIO how about kickers, Jamie?

[Jamie]

The top kickers are a lot of the same guys we talk about. Eddie Pinero again. Dave said it, you know, could be high scoring game there. He's just been so consistent for for San Francisco. Andres Boregallas taking on the Dolphins. They gave up a lot of fantasy points to the position and Will Lutz at home against the Chargers. That should be a lot of points for Denver. So a good opportunity for him anytime he's at home.

[Adam]

We're going to take a break. We'll talk about last night's game and score the waiver wire one more time for you on fantasy football today. Marriott Bonvoy is the official hotel partner of U.S. soccer. Join Marriott Bonvoy today to get closer to the game with exclusive perks, unforgettable experiences and benefits that go beyond the pitch. Springhill Suites, part of Marriott Bonvoy, offers complimentary hot breakfast and spacious all suite accommodations perfect for the whole team with room for up to six guests. Make your next getaway a win. Learn more at springhillsweets.marriott.com okay, the Falcons with a 2724 win over the Rams and Stafford had a bad game through three interceptions. One of them returned for a touchdown. Almost no. Oh yeah, yeah. One was right. There was a pick six and there was almost two right. He scored 16.8 fantasy points and Kyron MVP. It's probably Kyron had a good, good game but not great game especially considering Blake Corum left but you know he, he had a lot of total yards and then Puka, I mean one of my leagues, not my game but was decided. I'm sure a lot was decided on that late Puka touchdown and he had a bad game. So by his standards and yeah.

[Jamie]

Anyway, you almost had the most ridiculous catch you'll ever see in your life.

[Adam]

Oh my gosh. Would have been incredible. I'm so sad that it didn't count because that was insane. And his touchdown catch, that was called back too. That was a great catch too. He's just amazing. I don't know.

[Jamie]

I think we all have across the board him as the number one receiver next year.

[Adam]

Do I or do I have shade? I. Okay. And you could definitely make the case for Chase. But yeah, Puka's insane.

[Jamie]

They make the case for jsn, you can make the case for Puka. You make the case for Jason.

[Adam]

JSN's the one that is like there's. I can't put him ahead of those other guys because the Seahawks, I think when we go back, we look at the stats on jsn, it's going to be. He can't repeat this. I think it just, it was too good.

[Dave]

Oh, but he could.

[Adam]

They have to throw more.

[Dave]

He's a very good receiver.

[Adam]

Oh, he's amazing.

[Jamie]

I think.

[Dave]

I don't think he's got the same type of upside as Puka and Chase do.

[Jamie]

The the fascinating part of this is what Sam Darnold did for Justin Jefferson last year and what he's doing for JSN this year.

[Adam]

Well, I said it on the show on Sunday, he's one of five quarterbacks with back to back 13 win seasons.

[Dave]

And the I'm going to give you my biggest worry. Does Clint Kubiak get a coaching job?

[Jamie]

Oh, he's definitely gonna get consideration.

[Dave]

Yeah. But if he gets a job, it's a third OC in three years for Seattle and I don't know if we can count on that system to be as good with somebody else. I don't know who somebody else would be, but that's something to think about with Jackson, Smith and Jigba still an awesome going to be a first round pick, all that stuff, but really hard to make the case for him to be the 101 or the top receiver, either of those things.

[Jamie]

He's, he's one of and I don't have the entire list in front of me, but he's one of a few offensive coaches that are going to get consideration because most of the top candidates this year are the defensive guys. Because you have Shulo is going to get consideration, Minter is going to get consideration, Flora is going to get consideration. You know, those are the top, you know, candidates that are, you know, being mentioned at least right now. And then Naggy's kind of being tied to Tennessee, which is weird, but he's not really the clearest guy. You worry about leaving Kansas City.

[Adam]

What did you guys think of Drake, London and Kyle Pitts putting up duds?

[Jamie]

I mean pits. I just chalk it up to a bad game and, and clearly the run game was working so well for the Falcons. London, I'm worried, you know, I don't think you can start him in week 18 with any confidence. No, he's not ranked as a top 24 receiver for me. You know, so the fact that he had the poor game last week and then just no opportunities really this Week or Week 16, Week 17 if you're still playing at this point. Like, you know, Heath has been talking about this quite a bit, comparing it to the Brock Bowers injury, you know, same PCL sprain that it took Bowers several weeks to get back and then as we find out whether accurate or not, you know, that he's not 100 to close the year which you could probably see in some of the way that he was performing London, you know, give him credit for coming back. I think just the opportunity to, to have him was encouraging for fantasy managers. The production clearly was not. So you can't start him if you're still alive.

[Adam]

All right, let's go to the waiver wire and look at quarterback here. C.J. stroud is the shallow league guy that Jamie put in there. Do you like Stroud better than Shuck or Young or Cam Ward?

[Jamie]

No, I go shuck, Stroud, Young, Ward.

[Dave]

Dave, Chuck Stroud, Ward Young.

[Adam]

Okay, so you like Ward better than Young, but you like Shuck better than Stroud. Both of you. Jamie has Young ahead of Ward. Dave has Ward ahead of Young. Okay, that's not confusing at all. Yeah. And so if you, if you're the Josh Allen manager, I think if you're the Matthew Stafford manager, you just might want to be prepared in case they have nothing to play for on Sunday and he won't play a full game. Who else? Herbert, obviously. He's not playing. They're going to play Trey, Lance, any, any quarterbacks? Yeah, Pat Jordan, love.

[Jamie]

Right.

[Adam]

They got Minnesota. So at least are there any quarterbacks that have really tough matchups that you're trying to avoid this week that you might stream shook over?

[Jamie]

I mean Baker, you did shock over Baker.

[Adam]

Okay, I probably.

[Dave]

Baker's got a tough matchup. Baker's just not playing well.

[Adam]

How about golf at Chicago? It's not a tough matchup, but it's like outdoor cold weather game.

[Dave]

Yeah, I would start shuck over golf.

[Jamie]

I would start golf over shock, especially after what the Falcons looked like last night. But that's close.

[Dave]

I'd like to know what the Lions offensive line looks like.

[Jamie]

Well, first off, if St. Brown does not play, then there's no way you're playing golf.

[Dave]

Yeah, that's true too. But if, if Decker's out, Sewell's out, the guards don't come back. Like that's an easy one to get away from golf. That was the number one reason why he was terrible last week, was his protection was the worst it's looked in four years.

[Jamie]

Yeah, and the Bears are playing for the two seat and that game.

[Adam]

By the way, just looking at the 10 day weather forecast, you know, because you could get horrible weather in January in Chicago. Doesn't seem that bad. Like a high of 31, some chance for precipitation, but that's definitely something to keep an eye on. Especially since we're saying look for Colson Loveland, Luther Burden's a priority. We want to make sure there's decent conditions there. All right, so those are your quarterbacks again. They're Tyler Shuck, Bryce Young and Cam Ward for Jamie. Tyler Shuck, Cam Ward and Bryce Young for Dave. Just one more name. What do you guys. How do you feel about Jacoby Brissette at the Rams? Who? You know, I keep mentioning. They say they're going to play their starters, but we'll see how long. Seems like the magic might be gone a little bit with Brissette. Came through with a super late touchdown, I think against backups at Cincinnati. Really struggled the week before against Atlanta. Dave, how do you feel about Brissette this week?

[Dave]

I like him, but I can name 12 quarterbacks I like more.

[Adam]

Okay, fair enough at running back for me.

[Jamie]

You said it. The Rams may not be playing their guys, so. And they're going to probably start to pull guys at some point during the game no matter what because they'll probably have a lead if they are going to do that. So I think Brissette still comes through.

[Dave]

Are we. Are we hoping for a backdoor garbage time touchdown to help Brissette get to like 20 or 21 fantasy points? Are we thinking that that could help him get that extra touchdown to get in the neighborhood of 30 fantasy points?

[Jamie]

I mean, if you tell me he's getting 20, that's basically the neighborhood where Shuck lives. That's where hopefully Bryce get to. That's where Stroud is going to be. That's probably where golf will be. That's probably where a lot of those other guys will be. So I think Jacoby Brissette's not a slam dunk. He's not like we must start him. But I mean, he's got one game under 20 fantasy points and 11 starts. Like that's a pretty good track record. However he's gotten it and believe me, a lot of these he's gotten with some fourth quarter garbage time scenarios along the way.

[Adam]

Okay, and let's go to the running backs. Malik Davis gets the Giants. They've been lights out the last two weeks now. They've been better though against Aaron Jones and Ashton Genti. But still an amazing matchup from Blake Davis. Jamie likes Dylan Sampson and Emmanuel Wilson. Dave likes Audric Estimate. And who is your third guy?

[Dave]

Audrey Sma. And ahead of Audrick Estimate is Jacori Crosky. Merit.

[Adam]

Right.

[Dave]

But when you. When I say I like these guys, these are like I'm really stuck at running back and these guys are available and I need A plug and play for week 18. And Malik Davis is, like, eons better.

[Adam]

Yeah, man, Malik Davis. Is he in the top 12? 20. Top 20. Okay. He's like this week's Ramandre, But. But Javante's. We're not thinking Javante will play as of now.

[Dave]

Obviously, that changes if Javante is healthy and they roll him out there.

[Adam]

Okay, let's see if there's any other names. Jamie, we talked about Devin Singletary, I think, on beat the waiver on early waiver wire yesterday. Any interest there?

[Jamie]

Desperation play.

[Adam]

All right, wide receivers. Oh, here's an interesting one. Ricky Pearsall. He's got 96 and 85 yards in his last two games, but, man, Seattle is a different. A different story.

[Jamie]

Not for him.

[Adam]

Well, he was good against them.

[Jamie]

100 yards.

[Adam]

That was. That was three months ago, basically, right? That was a long time ago.

[Jamie]

Yeah, but that's only like two games ago for him because he never played. That's true.

[Adam]

You like him better than any of the waiver wire guys, than any of the Luther Burdens of the world.

[Jamie]

He would be second. So Burden is one. Piersol would be two. Just. Again, you said at the last two games, Brock Purdy's on fire right now. So I know the Seahawks defense is clearly much better than the 49ers defense. Nobody's questioning that. But you throw out defense, I think, at this point. And so they'll slow down San Francisco. They'll make things uncomfortable for San Francisco. They will not perform. Purdy will not perform at the same level that he has been the last two weeks because of who he's playing. But I think Kyle Shanahan's in his bag right now, and Brock Purdy is just dealing.

[Adam]

Okay, so Luther Burden is number one amongst the widely available guys. Jamie would then go Ricky Pearsall, then Parker Washington. Dave, how would you rank those three? Burden?

[Dave]

Exact same way. Burden. 1, Piersol, 2, Washington 3.

[Adam]

All right, Washington has a great matchup. Tennessee's been really bad against wide receivers. Chimray, DK at Jacksonville, Jalen McMillan, who Dave likes better than DK. You could also look at Kyle Williams. He led the patriots with an 86% route participation rate, which is good and bad. It's good, but also means he was playing with the backups late in the game.

[Jamie]

Well, I mean, they're so beat up at that position. Yeah, he also first time for career high in targets for him.

[Adam]

The Dolphins might get Minka Fitzpatrick back this week, by the way, but the Dolphins, who the Patriots play, they've allowed a hundred yards or a touchdown to seven wide receivers in their last three games. It's Berserk. And then Trey Tucker.

[Jamie]

Five guys in the last two weeks have gone for 13 half PPR points or more.

[Adam]

We didn't mention Trey Tucker. Does anybody want Trey Tucker this week against the Chiefs?

[Dave]

No. No, sir.

[Adam]

How about one of the Jalens or the. Or what? The Jalen or Jaden on Houston?

[Jamie]

So Higgins is interesting. He had 11 and a half PPR points in the first game against Indianapolis. And I would guess that if Sauce Gardner is going to follow anybody's following Nico. So, I mean, you saw the big play potential fragrance last week. Yeah.

[Adam]

Yeah. All right.

[Jamie]

He's a good number three receiver. He's not anybody. I think you start with any confidence. So, like he's closer to DK than he is the other three guys that we talked about. Pearsall, Washington and Burton.

[Adam]

Okay, two more names to throw at you. Well, I guess this is three names in one. Marquez Valdez, Scantling, Adam Thielen, Scotty Miller, and then Brandon Cooks.

[Dave]

Dave Pass.

[Adam]

Okay, tight ends.

[Jamie]

I think if you're looking at mvs, he's just another Adnai Mitchell type player. They're going to be a lot of targets. Who knows how good they'll be? Who knows how good the player will be? But I mean, MVS got nine targets against the Browns. Almost had a couple touchdowns.

[Adam]

Yeah, no, that sounds like mbs. Nine targets. Pretty impressive. Scotty Miller had seven. And the Ravens have been like the Dolphins. The Ravens have allowed 110 or more yards to a wide receiver in five straight games. Brandon Cooks. Yeah. Okay. You're not interested in him, so let's go to the tight ends. Let's look at these tight ends and tell me, the shallow league tight ends, how much do you like them? We got Juwan Johnson at Atlanta.

[Jamie]

Love. Love.

[Adam]

Okay. Colson Loveland against Detroit.

[Dave]

Also love.

[Adam]

Dalton Schultz against the name. Yeah, Dalton Schultz against the Colts.

[Jamie]

Love.

[Dave]

Not bad.

[Adam]

Brenton Strange against the titans.

[Dave]

Like top 12.

[Adam]

All right, so how would you rank them? Juwan Johnson, Colson Loveland, Dalton Schultz, Brenton Strange.

[Jamie]

You did.

[Dave]

I agree.

[Adam]

Would you take Jake?

[Dave]

But there's a gap for me. There's a gap between Johnson, Loveland to Schultz and then a wider gap to Strange.

[Jamie]

Schultz had a great game against the Colts the first time around, and they've been really bad against tight ends.

[Adam]

And would you start J ton just over any of those guys?

[Dave]

All of them.

[Jamie]

All of them.

[Dave]

All of them.

[Adam]

Okay. But of course, Kittle Might play. So keep that in mind.

[Dave]

In which case, I would start Tonjas over nobody.

[Adam]

Would you start Michael Mayer over any of those guys?

[Jamie]

Mayor over Strange.

[Adam]

Mayor over Strange, but not over Juwan Johnson or Colson Loveland or Dalton Schultz.

[Jamie]

No.

[Adam]

And then there's AJ Barner, who is coming on strong here with some touchdowns. And he had only three targets this week. He had six the week before. He had been running the previous two weeks.

[Jamie]

He had six. Yeah.

[Adam]

And you know what the thing about those two weeks with six is? He had been running more routes, and it had coincided with Elijah Royal getting hurt. But last week, Arroyo was out and the routes went down. But two of the last three games, the routes have been up and the targets have been up for A.J. barner, and San Francisco has allowed 10 touchdowns to tight ends up Chico conquo.

[Dave]

Happen to have the route participation rate after Rashid Shahid got hurt?

[Adam]

No, but it was. It was pretty low for the full games. Like 60%, I want to say.

[Dave]

But I wonder if it was, like, even lower. Like, did Seattle try and go three receivers?

[Adam]

I don't know.

[Dave]

And. And then once he got hurt, they just pivoted back to using Barner and multiple tight ends, and that could have given him the opportunity to block less, run more routes.

[Adam]

You know, when Rashid Shahid got hurt. I think it's pretty early.

[Jamie]

It was early in the game. Yes.

[Dave]

Was it? Okay, so it probably doesn't make a difference. I can look into it.

[Adam]

Warner ran 44 of the routes in the first quarter, so.

[Dave]

And then the next three.

[Adam]

Let's see, in the second quarter, it was, well, just 71% fourth together. Yeah, 71 in the second. And then for the rest of the game, it was 64 total.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Adam]

For second, third and fourth. All right, that's. Oh, Chico conquo He's playing well. He's got six to eight targets in three straight games. Plays the Jaguars, who have been better against tight ends. They had that one game where they gave up 30 something point or like, more than that to Brock Bowers, and they've been better since then. But Okonko is playing well. You got Pat Fryermouth, 15 targets in.

[Jamie]

His last two weeks for Okonko.

[Adam]

Yeah, I think it's 21 in his last three. 21 targets since last three games.

[Jamie]

They are doing him a service by sending him into free agency with a good resume.

[Adam]

You got Pat Frymouth. Dave prefers John.

[Jamie]

Who?

[Adam]

Smith, because he'll get some carries. Jamie prefers Pat Frymuth, and then I.

[Dave]

Prefer to, like, not start either one of them.

[Adam]

Yeah. And Parkinson is.

[Dave]

Give me all the other tight ends that we've talked about ahead of the Steelers.

[Adam]

One more name. Dawson Knox against the Jets.

[Jamie]

I don't think they play their guys very much. All right.

[Adam]

DSTs are the Vikings and the Ravens kickers are Pinero, Will Lutz and Andres Boregales. And I think we can all agree Ohio State beat Miami last night on CBS Sports hq. In case you didn't see that, they got the number one recruit in the country for 2027. That was a punch to the guts. So, Dave, we have some. Some payback to. Oh, yeah, that's.

[Dave]

That's what we have payback for losing a recruit.

[Adam]

The number one recruit. Well, he's like top three, but arguably the number one recruit in the country. And that happened 23 years ago.

[Dave]

Yeah, that's exactly what it comes down to.

[Adam]

Excited?

[Dave]

Very.

[Adam]

Dave will be at the game. Happy New Year.

[Dave]

Hopefully.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

All right. It'll be me.

[Adam]

What's that?

[Jamie]

When are you leaving?

[Adam]

Soon, as someone said. Is the. Is the. You going to cover the nine and a half points? I think.

[Dave]

I think so.

[Adam]

Do you know. Do you know the most amount of points the Buckeyes have allowed this year?

[Dave]

No.

[Adam]

16. That is insane. No team has scored more than. How are they going to beat them? 16 points. That's amazing.

[Jamie]

But what was the score of Texas, your game in Texas Tech?

[Adam]

10 3.

[Jamie]

I'm sorry, Texan, Texas A M. Yeah.

[Adam]

Super windy game. A lot of missed field goals.

[Jamie]

10 3.

[Adam]

10 3.

[Dave]

Yeah, but it's still like, even if, like, some of the field goals counted or you give a team a touchdown when they settled for a field goal, I don't think either of those teams would have scored 21.

[Adam]

No, but the game's going to be indoors. Miami's front. Front four is going to give them some. Give Ohio State some problems, but I think they'll cover. I don't think they'll win, but we'll see.

[Dave]

That would be heartbreaking.

[Adam]

It's okay. You know, it's been a good year. Ohio State's terrific team. I hate them. We will talk to you tomorrow with our New Year's Eve extravaganza.

[Jamie]

1Pm today.

[Adam]

Oh, that's right, 1pm today. So 1pm it's gonna be fun. We're gonna do half. We're gonna. Each segment's gonna be half. Waiver wire. And we're gonna be. And the other half is gonna be our top five at each position. So. Yeah. Join us 1:00pm at CBS Sports Network. See you later.

[Jamie]

Paramount Podcast.

[Host Intro]

What'S up everyone? It's the Counselor of Cash, See and ajad from the Early Edge, a daily sports betting show powered by Sportsline and part of the CBS Sports Podcast Network. If you're looking for the best bets, picks and analysis for the day in sports, we're your one stop shop. We're locked in every day with NFL bets and player props, college football picks and so much more. Download and follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere podcasts are found. Subscribe to the SportsLine YouTube page to watch us live at 10am Eastern Time every weekday. Make sure to turn on those notifications so you don't miss a single pick all season long.

[Dave]

Good luck.