Beyond the Box Score: Jordan Mason, Rome Odunze, Struggling Studs and More (12/02 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today: Episode Summary – "Beyond the Box Score: Jordan Mason, Rome Odunze, Struggling Studs and More" (12/02 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Release Date: December 2, 2024

In this engaging episode of Fantasy Football Today, hosted by Adam Aizer alongside analysts Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg, and Heath Cummings, the crew dives deep into the nuances of fantasy football beyond mere statistics. The discussion encompasses player performances, strategic roster decisions, injury updates, and advanced metrics, providing listeners with comprehensive insights to bolster their fantasy teams as the playoffs approach.

---

1. Opening Remarks and Team News ([03:08] – [04:15])

Adam Aizer kicks off the episode by addressing the recent performance of the San Francisco 49ers, particularly in the wake of key player absences. He notes, “They are two games out of first place... missing Trent Williams, Bosa, and McCaffrey,” highlighting the team's depth issues. Analyst Dan Schneier echoes these concerns, mentioning his own struggles with a sinus infection and the impact of weather on player performances.

2. Player Performance Reviews

a. Jordan Mason: The Must-Start Waiver Wire Priority ([08:00] – [09:29])

Adam praises Jordan Mason’s consistent rushing yards despite limited receptions, stating, “There's no question Jordan Mason is the number one waiver wire priority.” Dave Richard concurs, suggesting Mason as a Flex RB2 option due to his steady performance, though Jamey Eisenberg believes Mason deserves even higher consideration.

b. James Cook: Rising Star or Temporary Surge? ([09:58] – [12:30])

Jamie Eisenberg expresses optimism about James Cook's breakout season, noting, “He is a top eight running back now,” while Dave points out the inconsistency in touchdown production, positioning Cook as a potentially valuable asset moving forward.

c. Amari Cooper: Increased Production and Efficiency ([12:30] – [14:12])

Amari Cooper’s improved route participation is discussed, with Adam highlighting his season-high 75% participation rate in the first three quarters. This uptick is seen as a positive sign for Cooper’s fantasy value, despite limited fourth-quarter involvement.

3. Advanced Metrics and Quarterback Analysis

a. Caleb Williams: Balancing Optimism and Performance ([25:03] – [28:05])

The crew examines Caleb Williams' performance metrics, acknowledging his lack of interceptions and consistent rushing yards. Dave suggests that Williams has not yet found the optimal system, while Jamie emphasizes his potential regression despite recent solid performances.

b. Rome Odunze: Transition Struggles ([28:05] – [32:34])

Rome Odunze's underwhelming performance is scrutinized, with Dan highlighting his inability to translate college success to the NFL. Adam notes, “He just doesn't seem like a rookie at times,” questioning Odunze’s reliability and suggesting frustration with his development trajectory.

c. Bryce Young: Pressured Yet Productive ([32:37] – [36:05])

Bryce Young's dual-threat capabilities are discussed, with Adam and Dan debating his ability to handle pressure while maintaining productive passing yards. Jamie points out Young’s increasing target volume, suggesting a positive trend despite occasional drops.

4. Fantasy Playoff Strategies ([43:09] – [54:52])

a. Bench or Start? Stud Players Considered for Playoffs ([49:19] – [55:07])

The analysts debate the viability of benching high-profile players like Ken Walker, Jonathan Taylor, and Jalen Hurts during fantasy playoffs. Adam asserts, “I'm going to keep starting him [Jalen Hurts],” emphasizing Hurts’ overall value despite recent low-scoring games. Jamie and Dan discuss the volatility of certain players and the importance of matchup considerations.

b. Wide Receiver Decisions and DK Metcalf’s Role ([55:07] – [61:20])

DK Metcalf’s resurgence upon returning from injury is highlighted, with Jamie noting his impressive catch rates since his return. However, Dan remains skeptical about the Seahawks' offensive cohesion, stating, “There hasn't been much after the catch,” questioning Metcalf’s long-term reliability as a WR1.

5. Team-Specific Insights and Injury Updates ([19:50] – [44:53])

a. Aaron Rodgers and Other Key Injuries ([19:50] – [21:50])

Adam provides updates on Aaron Rodgers, confirming he remains the starter despite speculation about potential benching. The team also discusses other injuries affecting players like Christian Watson and Theo Johnson, impacting their fantasy value and team dynamics.

b. Seattle Seahawks Offensive Struggles ([55:07] – [61:20])

The Seahawks’ inconsistent offensive performance is dissected, with Dan and Adam expressing concerns over offensive line inefficiencies and Geno Smith’s struggles under pressure. Jamie emphasizes the chaotic nature of the Seahawks’ drive execution, attributing it to structural and scheme-related flaws.

6. Listener Mailbag and Twitter Questions ([06:31] – [54:47])

Listeners’ questions from Twitter and other platforms are addressed, focusing on roster optimization, player potential, and strategic pivots for the fantasy playoffs. The crew engages with specific inquiries about player valuations, the impact of injuries, and optimal lineup adjustments under playoff pressures.

7. Advanced Metrics and Film Analysis ([25:03] – [32:34])

The episode delves into advanced statistics, evaluating player efficiency and game impact beyond traditional metrics. Caleb Williams' passing accuracy and James Cook’s touchdown rates are analyzed to determine their true fantasy value, offering listeners a data-driven approach to player evaluation.

8. Final Thoughts and Recommendations ([53:22] – [54:52])

In wrapping up, the analysts emphasize the importance of strategic roster management, particularly during the fantasy playoffs. Dan advises maintaining depth and avoiding overreliance on defenses or kickers, while Adam reinforces the value of sticking with proven studs unless faced with dire matchups.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Adam Aizer ([03:28]): “He’s missing Trent Williams, Bosa, and McCaffrey—still thought there's a chance the 49ers...”

• Dave Richard ([07:22]): “I'm still taking a mid-round when drafting Christian McCaffrey next year.”

• Jamie Eisenberg ([09:30]): “James Cook is due for some regression. I've been too low on him all year.”

• Dan Schneier ([21:19]): “This is the most interesting question yet. Who is to blame for the Dolphins wide receivers not producing?”

• Adam Aizer ([39:44]): “If they upgrade their line significantly this offseason, maybe...”

---

Conclusion

This episode of Fantasy Football Today offers a comprehensive exploration of player performances, strategic decisions, and team dynamics essential for fantasy football success. By dissecting both traditional statistics and advanced metrics, the host and analysts equip listeners with the knowledge to make informed decisions as they navigate the critical playoff period. Whether it's identifying must-start waiver wire pickups like Jordan Mason or evaluating the true value of rising stars like Rome Odunze, the crew ensures that fantasy managers are well-prepared to dominate their leagues.

For additional insights and live discussions, tune into future episodes and stay updated with the latest fantasy football strategies and player analyses.

Transcript

[Adam]

Well, I just downloaded a new game on my phone and it is awesome. It's called Marvel Snap. Marvel Snap is an award winning collectible card game that combines deep strategy, a unique snapping mechanic, your favorite Marvel characters, and thousands of unique card art variants created by renowned artists to collect and use. And first of all, it's just visually appealing. It looks awesome, but the gameplay is what matters. So let's talk about why you're going to love Marvel Snap. The games are fast paced. Each game takes only three minutes. Your objective is to win two out of three locations by having higher total power than your opponent. And as you win, you earn cosmic cubes. I think my favorite part is the Snap mechanic. If you're feeling confident in your hand, or maybe you want to bluff Snap to double the cosmic cubes, or if you're not feeling confident, you can retreat anytime to minimize cube losses. So this is where the strategy component really comes in. I love that there are more than 270 cards in Marvel Snap with over 2000 unique art variants to collect from beloved artists and new cards are released every week. They keep it fresh. Download Marvel Snap now on iOS, Android and Steam to start playing the award winning collectible card game.

[Dan]

You made it through all the starts.

[Adam]

And stops of your tech business.

[Dan]

And when you're with Amex Business Platinum, you can count on a network of benefits to keep going, including access to over $1,000 business and travel value annually. And thanks to five times Membership Rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com you and your plugged in engineers can get rewarded for working in the cloud. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms apply learn [e-mail] AmExBusiness hey everyone.

[Jacob]

I want to share my experience hosting through Airbnb with my brother in Fort Myers, Florida and why you may want to give hosting a try. A while back we realized we could turn our guest house into a source of extra income and it felt like the perfect opportunity to dive into hosting. And honestly, it's been one of the best decisions we've made. Getting started was super easy and the flexibility is a game changer. We can choose when we want to host, which fits perfect around our schedules. One of our favorite parts about hosting is sharing the local spots with our guests. We love recommending the best beaches, our favorite restaurants, and of course all the amazing golf courses in the area. Whether it's a cozy seafood spot with waterfront views or the best pizza in town, it's so rewarding to see Our guests enjoy all the things we cherish about our community. Hosting has not only allowed us to meet great people, but it has also provided a steady stream of extra income. And it's a fantastic way to make the most of your space and benefit financially at the same time. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how [e-mail] host this is.

[Dan]

Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports.

[Jamie]

What a play.

[Adam]

Can you believe this?

[Jamie]

No, I can't.

[Adam]

It's time to dominate your fantasy league.

[Jamie]

Off to the races and he stays at his feet.

[Adam]

This is gonna go the distance.

[Dan]

Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.

[Adam]

Welcome, everybody, to fantasy football. Today, it's beyond the box score. We are presented by BetMGM, the sportsbook. Born in Vegas, We've got advanced stats from simple people and advance stats from a sick person that isn't me. How about Dan Schneier? Oh, you're so sick all the time, Adam. And he is under the weather. How you doing over there, Dan?

[Dan]

Not great. A little science. Some kind of sinus infection. The worst part about it, when you get sick is that you can't. Like, it's hard to sleep. Like, I was, like, burning up hot. Then I tried to monitor that, fix that. And then I was too cold. It was just like, a terrible night. But what made it worse, adding insult to injury, was before the show when producer Thomas popped on to talk with us. The guy's wearing a tank top. Like, he's wearing, like, his life right now in Florida. This is why I understand why people move down there. I get it now. Like, when. When I'm dealing with 26 degrees outside. I get it. I can fully understand it now.

[Jacob]

I'm wearing a tank top because our AC went out.

[Adam]

So it's pretty hot.

[Jacob]

It's not as great living as you think.

[Dan]

Okay.

[Adam]

The weather was so nice in Florida, though. I mean, going from Friday morning being in Florida to Friday afternoon being in.

[Dan]

New York, it was just, do you question and miss? Like, do you question yourself and miss living there or.

[Adam]

No, That's a really complicated question with a lot of, like. There's a lot to that. But, no, I don't want to leave New York, but I do hate the cold weather. But I miss a lot about Florida. Yeah. All right. Anyway, Jacob, how you doing? How was your Thanksgiving, Jacob?

[Jamie]

Thanksgiving was good. Chiefs got another well deserved win. Fun week of football. Good to see the fam. Yeah. Everything's good.

[Adam]

Good, good, good. And my first Thanksgiving without leftovers as I said on the show is why? Because I was out of town and I came back. Oh yeah, no leftovers. All right. Anyway. Buffalo 35, San Francisco 10. We'll start with that. We're also going to talk today about the Dolphins offense and what's going on there. How much can we trust Tyreek Hill, which must start players, are we maybe hesitant to start previously must start players, are we hesitant to start in the playoffs? Who's the best Seahawks wide receiver going forward and should you roster two DSTs in your fantasy playoffs or use that roster spot on another player? Buffalo 35, San Francisco 10 Jacob, do you really think there's a lot to take away from this game? Cause it was played in conditions that just almost certainly will not be repeated. Certainly for San Francisco and maybe not rest of season for Buffalo. Is there really anything to take away from this game?

[Jamie]

No, I. The. The pressure rate for Josh Allen was extremely low, 6%. So that was one of the lowest that we've seen for a quarterback in any game this year. So that, you know, speaks to San Fran's defense and where they're at right now with Nick Bosa and then. Yeah, I don't know. Like I've been saying, I kind of think the Niners are done. Like, do you guys have thoughts on that? Like if Purdy comes back in better form after this and better weather?

[Dan]

It's hard to judge based on this game. Obviously we've had decent this injury and he I guess like somewhat practiced and played this week. I didn't really get a good vibe for where he's at now without McCaffrey probably for the year. It does feel like the Niners might be packing it in, but I don't know if I want to make too much yet of this just because of what that weather was like and I want to see what they can look like this coming week. I think they have Seahawks.

[Adam]

Yeah. I think as someone who was sitting here talking about getting their super bowl futures last week because they were.

[Dan]

Yeah, I forgot you said that.

[Adam]

They're only a game out of first place now they're two games out of first place. I still think there's a lot of talent. Keep in mind who they're missing. They're at McCaffrey's out now. Almost looks like it's going to be a season ender or close to it. So we'll talk about Mason, but they were missing Purdy. Now he's back but you know, he missed the game. They're missing Trent Williams, they're missing Bosa obviously Iuke's out, but they're missing so much. I still thought that there's a chance and I still think there's a chance that I don't want, like I wouldn't want to play the 49ers. There's. They're the 49ers, but obviously.

[Dan]

Can I ask a fun, a fun question I think the listeners will enjoy right now. Let's say Christian McCaffrey is done for the season, which seems like it's likely. Where are you comfortable drafting him next year in PPR league?

[Adam]

I think I'd take him in the first or second round.

[Dan]

I think I'm still taking a mid one. And that's like the funny question about fantasy because I know what's going to happen next year. It's going to be just like it was two years ago with McCaffrey where no one wanted to take him. Everyone's like he's injured every year. It's a guarantee he's going to get injured. You know, that rhetoric and that narrative is going to really pick up steam this summer. And I just feel like I'm going to be the odd man out there and I'm going to be drafting a ton of him unfortunately, because I don't really want to take that risk. But I just can't pass it up when he's on the field. He's still going to be the difference maker in fantasy and next year I think that will still be the case. It's just a matter of like predicting injuries which I don't think we do a good job of.

[Adam]

He was off to such a good start too. All right, so let's talk about Jordan Mason. Cause I think it's unfair to judge the passing games here. But let's talk about Jordan Mason. Jordan Mason. Weeks one through eight might surprise you where he ranked among running backs. Remember, he didn't really catch passes. He had 10 catches in eight games and he only scored three touchdowns despite having the fifth most carries and the third most rushing yards. In weeks one through eight, he was on a per game basis, number 24 per game in half PPR, number 28 per game in full PPR. There's no question Jordan Mason is the number one waiver wire priority. Probably a spend all your fab kind of guy. Do you think Jordan Mason is a must start running back going forward? Bears, Rams, Dolphins, Lions. In his next four games.

[Dan]

Bears, Dolphins. Lions.

[Adam]

Bears. Rams. Dolphins. Lions.

[Dan]

Bands. Bears, Rams, Dolphins, Lions. Yeah, really bad matchups in there.

[Jamie]

Did you say he was running back 24 in points per game during that.

[Adam]

Stretch and in full PBR he was 28th because he only scored three touchdowns and only had 10 catches.

[Jamie]

Yeah, that's wild.

[Adam]

Touchdowns are a little unlucky. You know he had again fifth most carries. He also had the fifth most carries inside the five yard line and just didn't score from there. But he is not going to catch a lot of passes I think. You know, I don't know. Maybe when he played Ayuk was healthy so maybe things change there. But it just doesn't seem like Purdy throws to any running back other than McCaffrey.

[Dan]

I mean it just kind of depends on what we think is going to happen with this 49ers offense. Right. Rest of season like no IU moving forward. Debo doesn't look like the same player he was last year. Maybe he's hurt as well. Obviously Jennings we love offensive line not what it was now. No McCaffrey in the passing game opening up things for the run and pass game. So if you're mentioning the touchdowns is a big factor here, especially in PBR leagues because he's not making many. Not making much on the in the receiving side of it. I would say. No, he's not a must start. I would say he's more of like a Flex RB2 option moving forward.

[Jamie]

I think he's like Jonathan Taylor at the high end and then probably more likely he's like Brian Robinson, James Connor, kind of a running back for fantasy going forward.

[Adam]

Okay.

[Dan]

I don't know if I could. I want to put him in that category like and I get it, maybe more of the James Connor side than the Brian Robinson side for me though like on the lower end.

[Adam]

Well Connor though is four targets a game now, right? Robinson not clear what that's going to be with Eckler out. Taylor though is one target a game or one catch a game with Anthony Richardson. Taylor is someone I think we'll talk about a little bit later in the Are you going to consider sitting any studs in your fantasy playoffs because he has bad matchups and he never catches the ball and he's got a goal line for Vulture but we can talk about that later. Over to the Bills side, Josh allen with a 30 point fantasy game. He ran one in he 32.4 fantasy points, ran one in threw one and caught one. He caught a touchdown. That didn't count as a catch and if you asked me it was borderline better play by Mari Cooper then. No, honestly I'm going there. It was a Better play by Amari Cooper. If you listen to the post game interview that he did on NBC where he said that he actually started himself, Josh Allen in his fantasy league, he said it was a bad pass and.

[Dan]

He said it was a bad pass, but that doesn't mean it's a bad play.

[Adam]

It was a great catch that he made and then the presence of mind to flip it to Josh Allen. Josh Allen was, was running there cause he was worried it was going to be intercepted.

[Dan]

Agreed. But let me ask you this question, Adam. How many other quarterbacks could make that play on the ball?

[Adam]

No, it was a great play.

[Dan]

It was awesome with the dive, the extension.

[Adam]

Can we give a little credit to Mari Cooper there?

[Dan]

I'll give credit to him. But you're saying, what's the better end of that play? It's definitely Josh Allen. Is this going back to your whole Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson for MVP debate? Is this like a hidden agenda thing by you? You're trying to get this narrative out there. This wasn't that good of a play.

[Adam]

It was a bad throw. He admitted it. It was a bad throw. It ended up being his signature play of the year on a bad throw.

[Dan]

This thing was an amazing play by him.

[Adam]

All right. All right. So again, let's not take too much away from the passing game here. 17 pass attempts, 148 yards. But James Cook, if anybody wants to say anything about James Cook per game, he is a top eight running back now. Seventh per game in non PPR, eighth per game in full PPR. And it's so weird that he has 11 rushing touchdowns in 11 games when he had four rushing touchdowns in his career coming into the season. And Jacob, what do you think about James Cook and the season he's having?

[Jamie]

Yeah, I keep thinking he's due to regress. He's somebody that I've been a little bit too low on all year. I do rest of ranking, rest of season ranking updates in the newsletter and stuff and I keep just being a little bit too low on him. And he's, he's playing really well. The offense is really good. So this could continue. But yeah, he is due for some regression. The one note I had on Buffalo was that Khalil Shakir continues to be like the clear cut. First read target rating for the Bills, 45 in this game. And I think that's a small sample size, but it could be something that like we can continue to extrapolate. Like if there's any takeaways to take away from this game. They seem to Run things through him.

[Adam]

Yeah, Shakir, he's got six straight games with seven or more targets, including yesterday when Josh Allen. What did I say? Through 18 passes. The only problem with Shakir is that he doesn't score. He's got one touchdown this year and he has six red zone targets, which is very low. Zero green zone, one end zone target this year for Khalil Shakir. So it's like, it's weird when I. When I see zero touchdowns and he catches every target he gets or one touchdown. You know, you want to say Jacob, you want to say touchdown regression, but he doesn't get the kind of targets right now that lead to touchdowns. And he doesn't make big plays either.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I mean, I think there's upside for him to create touchdowns like with as a Yakai and the offense just scores a lot. But yeah, the. The role is not there in the same way it is for other guys who have similar target shares like his. He's more of like a high floor play.

[Adam]

All right, one positive for Amari Cooper. In the first three quarters of the game, he had a 75% route participation rate, which would be his season high. He didn't play. I don't think he played in the fourth quarter if he did very little. So his route participation rate end up being 63.2%, but it was 75% in the first three quarters. Okay, what do we got coming up this week on beyond the box Score.

[Dan]

Fellas, this week's beyond the box Court. It's going to be just like last week. Gonna run it on Tuesday. Like I mentioned last week, moving forward for those who enjoy week's episode. We're taking some advice from you guys and we're taking your notes on what you want to hear and what you want us to talk about, but it's going to be a lot of advanced stats like we did last week, potentially a look ahead and then some film review, kind of an extension of this show.

[Adam]

I'm not sure if you saw what I tweeted earlier, Dan, but I did tweet that Lamar Jackson is still my mvp.

[Dan]

See, I knew there was some hidden agenda behind that. Josh Allen take that. You just had to kind of put it all out.

[Adam]

That's not that good of a play.

[Dan]

Did you hear his post game thing that he said? No. It was an amazing play. Josh Allen is in the mix for mvp. I still think Lamar Jackson is the mvp.

[Adam]

Okay. Oh, then you agree with me.

[Dan]

But I was always on that. I think if you look at it on a full season. What Lamar's done.

[Adam]

Yes.

[Dan]

Is better than what Josh Allen has done.

[Adam]

That's exact. Okay. Okay. Then we are on the exact same page. Exact same page. And I.

[Dan]

But I would never use that play that Josh Allen. No unreal play to follow the ball, catch the lateral, have the beastness to extend the ball toward the end zone, not fumble it through the end zone and touched and scored touchdown as an example of a play that was better by the receiver.

[Adam]

Okay, that's fine. You're fair. Fair point. Let's.

[Dan]

And you're still on my my naughty list. Adam, I didn't want to say the other word for just because you like that one. Because you didn't give me. You don't give me enough hype. When I ask you about Cam Ward to the Giants potentially, you're like, I don't like him. I'm not sure about it. I need some hype in my life. I need you to say, you know what? Cam Ward is the next great NFL quarterback and the Giants are going to get him.

[Adam]

I don't believe that. I don't feel like it's true. I'm trying to be realistic here. And the Giants somehow have the third pick in the draft if it started today, even though they're clearly the worst team. Clearly the worst team. And they have the third pick. We'll take a break, come back, give you some news and notes, an update on Aaron Rogers. It's his birthday today. Is he getting benched on his birthday? We'll tell you when we come back on Fantasy football today. Everyone likes to get good new clothes, right? If you find an outfit that makes you look really good, it gives you a nice confidence boost. And that's what I get with Stitch Fix. And while I love getting new clothes, I don't love going shopping. And that's why Stitch Fix is so great. Go to stitch fix.com fantasy football for a special offer. More on that later. With Stitch Fix, you get a stylist who understands your style, size and budget. They do all the shopping for you. It's the easiest way to update your wardrobe this season. I just give my stylist my size, style and budget preferences. I order boxes when I want and how I want. No subscription required. And they send five just for me pieces, plus outfit recommendations and pro styling advice. I keep what works and I send back the rest so I don't have to shop. I get clothes that I love and I look good in and I get help from a stylist. And if you don't love something, just send it back. Shipping, returns and exchanges are always free style that makes you feel as good as you look. Get started [e-mail] fantasy football I know it's not easy to find the right gift for your friends, your loved ones this time of year, but I've got a really great gift for you. One gift that everyone on your list is sure to enjoy. An Aura Digital Picture Frame we just got our Aura Digital Picture Frame about a month ago and it is awesome. I put it in the kitchen so I see a great rotation of family pictures, our kids with their friends playing sports, first day of school. So many of our great memories and I love it. It just makes me smile every time I see those pictures and it's so easy to upload them to the Aura Frame, a really easy app to use. And when you give an Aura Frame as a gift, you can personalize and preload it with a thoughtful message and photos using the Aura app for a limited time, visit Aura frames.com and get $45 off Aura's best selling Carver Matte frames by using promo code FFT at checkout. That's a U R A frames.com promo code FFT this exclusive black Friday Cyber Monday deal is the best of the year, so don't miss out. Terms and conditions apply.

[Jacob]

As someone who just recently got engaged, I can tell you firsthand how exciting and how a little overwhelming the whole process can be. If you're looking back on all the memories you've made with your partner and you're already dreaming about the future together, you're planning on taking the next big step. I recommend sourcing your engagement ring from bluenile.com Blue Nile is the original online jeweler since 1999, offering you a larger, more brilliant piece than you can imagine at a price you won't find anywhere else. That's why they offer a diamond price guarantee they'll meet or beat a competitor's price on a comparable diamond so you can feel great about your purchase. Blue Nile is also committed to the highest ethical standards in sourcing diamonds and jewelry, so you can feel great about that too. They offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee, free shipping and returns, along with lifetime service and repairs. Plus, every order is insured and arrives in discrete packaging, so no worries there. And in most cases they can even be delivered overnight, just in time for that last unforgettable moment in 2024. Right now go to blue nile.com and use code FFT for $50 off your purchase of $500 or more. That's $50 off with code FFT blue nile.com blue nile.com welcome back, everybody.

[Adam]

All right. NEWS and notes so Aaron Rodgers, I guess there was some thought that he might get bench. He is not getting benched. He will stay in there. I swear there was a moment where he was playing well in that game. I swear first first quarter wasn't bad. Trevor Lawrence concussion Baker Mayfield has this leg injury. He's expected to play as of now on Sunday. He may not do a lot of practicing this week. Running back news McCaffrey PCL Dobbins IR Eckler IR I think Connor's okay. Roshan concussion and I think everyone else is okay. Wide RECEIVER NEWS Noah Brown ribs CD Lamb shoulder But he's expected to play this week against the Bengals. Rashad Bateman so this was interesting. Rashad Bateman left with a knee injury. Deontay Johnson did not play a snap right. And then Harbaugh was not really forthcoming about he he was just avoiding the question. Basically he said he wasn't ready to talk about the Deontay Johnson situation, something like that. So something's up there. They have a buy, right? They have a buy this week. So hopefully Bateman can be back. But I don't know what to say about Deontay Johnson anymore. Pittsburgh Neither does Jim Harbaugh. John Harbaugh, Pittsburgh Wide Receiver I knew I was going to screw that up. Calvin Austin, left with a concussion. McConkeys got a knee injury. Haven't heard. Or a leg injury. Haven't heard anything on that. And Cooper cup set the record for the most catches in the first 100 games of someone's career. Nice job. Cooper cup it's kind of a weird stat because that's a lot of games.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Dan]

What would that be the equivalent of almost seven, eight seasons. Seven seasons.

[Adam]

Yeah. I don't know. I wasn't going to do the math. I was just getting. Dallas Goddard the knee injury not expected to be serious for Dallas Goddard. Taysom Hill, though, is out for the season. And Giants tight end Theo Johnson, who had not really been fantasy relevant, but he had been coming on doing some good things. He had four straight games with five to six targets. Theo Johnson, he could be out for the season with a foot injury.

[Jamie]

It's been a sad season for these young tight ends. Him, Eric All, Jared Wiley. Yeah, the note for the deep dynasty sickos. I was starting to get excited about Theo.

[Dan]

Yeah, I know. And he looks, starting to look really, really good, especially in this last game. But just Another unfortunate injury. We'll, we'll, we'll dig deep for next year on that. Jacob. This was supposed to be or this was. I think this was the year where people were expecting these dynasty tight ends and the tight end position and not be strong in dynasty. And we kind of got a little flashes from all those. But now it's going to be a situation where you can get them all really cheap.

[Adam]

And I think, I think Jatavian Sanders could have a nice finish to the year with his matchups and the way Bryce Young is playing, obviously playing better.

[Dan]

Oh yeah, that was a great. I watched all this. I bought the back to back Bryce Young. This game is the first one I watched this week. Bryce Young looked really good in this.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Do you think it was.

[Dan]

I think he had like eight big time throws in one turnover worthy throw over his last four games.

[Adam]

You think the Bucks had a lot to do with that. You think it was Bryce Young?

[Dan]

I think it's Bryce Young.

[Jamie]

I mean, yeah, he just faced it. He just faced the Chiefs and Spagnola before that.

[Adam]

I also don't think he was going to be able to recover that fumble if he had tried to dive on it like more likely he would have just been concussed or something because he's getting a little bit of heat for not diving on the Hubbard fumble. But I only saw, I only saw one replay of that. All right, there's one more quick, quick.

[Dan]

Film take from that.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Dan]

Jonathan Brooks get him on your radar for fantasy. He had there were. He only had a few touches but the reception he had was awesome. Made two sick cuts and understood where to go for to get the maximized yards and he had one run in the red zone area. I think if I remember that just looked really explosive on. And then both times he took on defenders and had some yards after content. I think he's going to be a really good player soon for fantasy.

[Jamie]

We've been waiting. He's been on the radar.

[Dan]

We've been waiting this year four months.

[Jamie]

For a Jonathan Brooks note and finally.

[Dan]

Finally they gave him some touches.

[Adam]

It's. That's going to be a really interesting one next season. If they hadn't signed hover to a pretty lucrative contract extension, you know, you could just assume it's going to be Jonathan Brooks. But what does that contract mean? It didn't mean much for Miles Sanders but. But Truba's had a good year. Let's give him credit. All right. If you haven't signed up for BET MGM yet, use the bonus code Fantasy and you'll get up to a 1500 first bet offer on your first wager with BetMGM. Here's how it works. Download the BetMGM app and sign up using the bonus code Fantasy. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game and you'll receive up to 1500 dollars in bonus bets if your bet loses. Just make sure you use the bonus code Fantasy when you sign up. I'm just going to give a couple of snap count notes because I only have two T.J. hawkinson played 64% of the snaps. I think that's about what he was at last week. That's kind of what he's peeking at. T.J. hawkinson 2/3 or so of the snap. Christian Watson played 94% of the snaps only a second game above 67% this season. You have to figure Romeo Dobbs being out had a lot to do with that. Dobbs did practice or was listed as a participant on Sunday, I believe because they have a Thursday game coming up against the Lions. But if Dobbs is out, I know Watson didn't have a great game, but if Dobbs is out, Watson on the field for almost every snap. That's exciting. All right, Jacob, what do you got in the world of advanced metrics?

[Jamie]

I want to talk about Caleb Williams. His accuracy had been much better in the two games immediately following the offensive coordinator change, but statistically this was his second worst game from a catchable ball rate standpoint. This was the second worst game on Thanksgiving and I'm curious what you guys think about that. If only looking at throws of 15 or fewer air yards, it was actually his worst catchable throw rate performance of the season. I looked at that because he threw deep a lot in this game so I wanted to make sure that didn't affect the overall accuracy number. But even on throws of 15 or fewer yards, the worst accuracy game he's had all year. The Lions of course, like that's a tough matchup. They did get pressure on him 34 of his drawbacks. But I just, I don't think he played it nearly the level that he has the previous two games. I often during this rookie season he's just looked tight and like too amped up. Which is hilarious because he came into the year all like Mr. Cool Guy. Like I never, you don't feel the pressure or whatever. And I feel like he's, he's looked like antsy more than any of the the rookie quarterbacks. 40 off target rate on 35 attempts from a clean pocket in this game. That is the worst rate of the season for him. Do you have any Caleb thoughts?

[Adam]

Yeah, I'm more optimistic than pessimistic right now. He hasn't thrown an interception since week six. Obviously things those streaks will come to an end, but you know, that's impressive. And he's got 33 or more rushing yards in three straight games and he hasn't scored a rushing touchdown even with all these, you know. Does he have one all season? No, he doesn't have a single rushing touchdown this season. So I feel like that could come. Yeah.

[Jamie]

Do you have any thoughts on him as a passer, Dan?

[Dan]

I. I didn't get a chance to watch this game on tape, but I. I mean, I still think that we haven't really found the right system for him. Like this is better for.

[Jamie]

What were you doing on Thanksgiving?

[Dan]

Well, I watched the game, but I'm saying yeah, like if anytime my family watching the Giants was not a fun time. But look, I have to see this game and I have to see a couple. I want to watch all of his cut up from this, from the new system but like. Or from the new coordinator. But I still think they're going to find a better system for him overall. Like to me, the Ben Johnson system is the best play for Caleb Williams given his skill set. Like, let him work within structure, but have that structure. Have him move out of the pocket sometimes. Let him kind of like use his athleticism as a. As a overall player to help him as a passer. So I don't know yet. I'd have to take a look. But he did make some really good.

[Adam]

Throws in this game too.

[Dan]

Like the touchdown he had to Keenan Allen was a really sick throw and then he had a conversion. I just saw somebody break down on Twitter where you kind of saw like that elite arm talent, his ability kind of off script. He's rolling to his opposite throwing shoulder and it just has the ball like this and kind of darts it in there with a lot of velocity and good placement. So I'd have to watch more. I feel like this is probably a situation where we're going to. The best is yet to come for him.

[Jamie]

He's clearly been playing better lately. Like Adam was noting the rushing is huge for fantasy and just helps to like move the chains more often. He looks way more comfortable and confident. I thought in this one he just was a little tight and the accuracy notes really back that up.

[Dan]

Okay.

[Jamie]

As far as the pass catchers, huge volume day for DJ Moore. 16 targets 169 air yards. Both were season highs by wide margin. 80 of those 169 were catchable to the points I was bringing up earlier about the accuracy. So less than half. All three Chicago receivers had over 100 air yards. Just over half of Keenan's were catchable. I think it was like 52 were catchable and only 24 of 113 air yards were catchable for Roma Dunesay, and that's been the story with him all year. Only Calvin Ridley has a higher number of total uncatchable air yards and Odunze has the highest percentage of his air yards which have been uncatchable of any players. So it's been a really frustrating year for him and I do think partially that's been on him. He's his like. I don't know what to like. His, his timing on the routes has been off. It seems like sometimes he's not like him and Caleb are on, on the same page on stuff. Have you guys noticed that? Like, I, I don't know. I thought I'd be more impressed by the like, polish of his game this year, but he's really looked like a rookie at times.

[Adam]

I can't really say I have a strong opinion. I mean, he's more of the downfield guy and that's kind of been a struggle for, for Caleb this year. So I'm not surprised that there are ups and downs. I, I really wanted to start him on Thanksgiving, Roma Dunes, because I felt like there was a lot of passing coming and I'm glad I didn't because he, you know, he just, he didn't come through. DJ Moore did. Keenan Allen did. And quite frankly, I think starting Keenan Allen, well, starting DJ Moore and Keenan Allen and Caleb Williams, it's going to be a tough call for people now in the most important weeks of the season. It's kind of hard for me to trust Keenan Allen. He has had such a horrible year and now he's had two massive games in a row. But it does coincide with a new offensive coordinator and I think better play from Caleb Williams. So I can buy into it a little bit here. Yeah, for sure. I can buy more than a little bit.

[Dan]

I have a bit of a strongish, I'll say, take on Romo Dunesay. I would say of all the receivers I've watched their college tape to the NFL to making that transition, to the speed of the NFL game, Rome has looked like he's fallen off the most. From what I saw on Washington on tape to what I'VE seen. I haven't watched all their tape, but I've probably seen two games of the Bears on tape and then obviously broadcast.

[Jamie]

You're saying like expectations relative to what you saw in college. The disparity is the widest for Rome.

[Dan]

By far, I would say. Besides, I mean like so you could put Worthy in the mix. But the things that have struggled for me with Worthy, I'm talking one specific thing, the speed of the game. Like the plays he was able to make at Washington with obviously the game being what it is at college with the hash marks and nobody more than The Washington coordinator DeBoer like their, their coach. Now Bama coach uses the wide side of the field and the space more like to his advantage. And now that that's been taken away for Rome, obviously the, the rules are completely different in the NFL and then the speed of the game with the NFL DBs versus like the PAC12 DBs. To me it looks like he's just not as fast as he was on tape at Washington. So for Worthy, it's like he's making boneheaded mistakes. He does not have like good awareness of where the sideline is, but he still looks fast out there to me. Worthy, I don't, I don't see it as much with Rome. Like he's the one who I would drop the most of from my pre NFL rankings to now just based on that.

[Jamie]

The per route Data for all three of Washington's wide receivers in the NFL has been atrocious. Jalen, Polka, McMillan and Rome like have all been. Have looked really, really bad in that regard.

[Adam]

I, I think that it's, you know, it's interesting you bring it up Dan, because I don't, I don't really see. He hasn't wowed me at all. Yeah, I mean basically, you know what, he had a couple of catches, especially a one on a fourth down in that. Who they lose to on the. In overtime? Minnesota, I think a few weeks ago or maybe Green Bay. He got. Yeah, I think it was the Green Bay game. He had a couple of catches on the game tying drive or I think, I think that was the one where they had the field goal blocked at the end. Sorry, one of their heartbreaking losses at the end. He had a couple of like really nice catches, huge plays to keep the drive going. But for the most part, like it's been a pretty lame season for a dude.

[Dan]

There hasn't been much after the catch or from a speed, pure speed standpoint on like, you know, before the catch. Let's say on a vertical plane. But it like when I watch this tape at Washington, they used him on screens. I feel like he's not going to be used that way in the NFL at all. I don't think his speed is there at all from what I've seen so far. And then like he was at this, his main stat from college was like he caught 75 of his contested catches in his last season at Washington, which is, which was awesome. But like right now that's not really a role. Like they're not, he's not really doesn't have that kind of rapport yet with Caleb. If that's going to happen or maybe that's not part of the offense. I don't see a lot of back shoulders. I don't see a lot of those same plays that I saw Penix throw him.

[Adam]

All right, let's keep, let's move on. Go ahead, Jacob.

[Jamie]

Yeah, let's talk about Bryce Young. The week after facing Spags, he gets Todd Bowles so 40 blitz rate last week against the Chiefs. 58 blitz rate against Carolina this week by the Bucks. He was pressured on 44 of his drawbacks this week. He didn't throw an interception either game. He only has three sacks across those two games. 263 passing yards last week, that was the second highest mark of his career until he replaced it this week with 298 yards. And he's been producing a ton of receiving volume. So on last Tuesday's beyond the Box Score Part 2 episode, I said, like, I think it's possible that maybe only one or even none of these Carolina pass catchers matter because the expectations for the overall like offensive environment are 200 ish passing yards every week. Not that many total targets and stuff because the team struggles to, you know, consistently move the chains that may be wrong. You know, again, this is the Buccaneers defense, so that is worth knowing. But like they've, they've played really well lately. And again in a good matchup like they had here, you can see 41 targets in this game. Four over 400 air yards in this game. So four, four different players saw eight or more targets. So absolutely massive volume in the passing game when everything clicks. Adam Thielen led the way with 10 targets and 112 air yards. I think Jalen Coker, if he is able to get back and get healthy, will take on a large role. But we've seen Thielen, without Deontay Johnson there play a huge role before and that's what he stepped into this week, so he's, he's definitely worth an ad going forward. I don't have accuracy notes for him quite yet, but we'll, we'll get that tomorrow. For, for Bryce. I'm pretty excited to dig into his game more. 29 routes for Chuba Hubbard surprised me. 29 routes for him to six for Jonathan Brooks. I thought that Brooks would be used more in the past game and I think that we might see that more going forward because like Dan said, he made that really nice play on a reception in this game. But for now he's still barely playing. He's not playing like any sort of meaningful, specific type of role. He's just out there as a change of pace guy. It seems like Anthony Richardson continues to see way more designed runs, which is obviously great for fantasy and I think is also good for keeping the offense on track. He averaged five designed runs per game prior to his benching. Since then it's been 10, 8 and 8. Definitely curious to get into the week's, this week's film and see what the data suite has to say about A Rich because he again just has had some brutal drops and that's gonna, that's part of, that's just, that's the nature of the beast with a Rich. Like his average depth of target is higher than anyone else's and sometimes you're going to have drops. But like the A.D. mitchell one this week was brutal, man. Like, did you guys see that? It was a deep ball down the left side. Like easily could have had that. Did you guys have any thoughts on him or have you not watched the Colts yet?

[Adam]

Have not.

[Dan]

I.

[Adam]

That's. I always want to watch him.

[Jamie]

This is, this is game of the week for us. The beyond the box score game that we got Anthony Richardson for strike may. Can't wait to dig into that.

[Adam]

Yeah, I always want to watch Richardson. I've, you know, was, I think if I had faced him, I don't know if I faced him or not, but I would have been pretty annoyed because he was obviously having a nothing game until the last drive. But man, you could say that about a lot of quarterbacks. He put it together when it, when it counted but like, gosh, horrible passing numbers, just awful. So I'm, I don't, I don't know what to say right now about Richardson. I haven't watched it yet, but I will. I always watch Richardson. Basically. I really enjoy it because it's. You just never know what's gonna happen from snap to snap. It is a grab bag that'll be.

[Dan]

A homework assignment for me, Jacob, for tomorrow's show. But I will say this just from the broadcast. The throw Drake May made in the red zone of Hunter Henry was one of the best throws I saw by any quarterback this week. And the how difficult it is to make that throw in that tight, confined red zone space to fit that ball in that window, even attempt that pass was very impressive. What are you saying, Adam?

[Adam]

Gosh, with the Drake May love. I mean, come on, it's like Valentine's Day every day.

[Jamie]

You can't help Drake. Okay?

[Dan]

With the team.

[Adam]

How many interceptions does this guy have to throw? You're gonna talk. Everybody talk about his interceptions.

[Jamie]

Come on.

[Dan]

He's a, he's a baller type. Like he's a gunslinger. Interception will be there mostly his whole career, I would imagine.

[Jamie]

And he's playing one on 11. Like.

[Dan]

Yeah, he's literally playing one on 11 there. That's a great way to describe literally.

[Adam]

Playing one on 11. Okay, let's analyze that comment real quick.

[Dan]

It feels like he's playing one on 11 literally. Should be taken back.

[Jamie]

Let's keep it first game out of the by for the Atlanta Falcons. Season low in playing time for Kyle Pitts. 2 targets, no catches. 16 targets and 188 air yards for Drake London. I haven't got a dig back into this game, but just based off what I saw in red zone, it felt like London left a lot on the field in this game. But massive, massive volume. This was his highest air yardage total across 45 career games.

[Dan]

Do you see the Kyle Pitt stuff? I don't like 40 of the snaps this week. Devastating.

[Jamie]

That's the lowest that he's had all year.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

For Green Bay, which we mentioned, Romeo Dobbs is out. So that was for Watson and Don Tavion Wicks. They led the team in routes. Third was Tucker Kraft. We did not see any role change for Jaden Reed. He did not any routes from two or one wide receiver sets. This is a long term. No, this is a discouraging note for Dynasty. I just don't know when or if we'll ever see him be a full time player in Green Bay. Unless there's like a just whole slew of injuries to guys. They seem to just want to keep him reserved to that slot role. I'm curious if you guys have any thoughts on the packers offensive line. Jordan Love has been getting pressured like crazy lately, even against the Nick Bosa list Niners who just put a 6% pressure rate on the board versus Josh Allen this week Love got pressured on 40 of his dropbacks in three games since the Week 10 by Green Bay has allowed a 41 pressure rate while facing a 22 blitz rate which is low. So yeah, I don't know like what the problem is there, but there's a problem.

[Dan]

It seems like I'd have to watch that. I have to watch some tape on them to see what's going on with their old line. I mean they have good, good players over there. Tom was one of their best draft picks but I'll have to take a look. Jacob, maybe it's, maybe it's something in the interior.

[Adam]

I have no thoughts but that's very interesting.

[Jamie]

Interesting note, Speaking of pressure, C.J. stroud was only pressured on 21 of his dropbacks in Week 13. That's the lowest mark of the season. So maybe there's hope going forward for the line to pull it together. It did not result in much of anything except for Nico Collins of course. Tank Dell had four targets, almost a 30 yard average depth of target and some just frustrating targets because he was just burning guys down the field and just couldn't connect which has been a consistent theme. And yeah, Nico continues to dominate. He's so freaking good. Like his per route data continues to be better than it was last year when it was like historically good. Jacksonville Jaguars Mac Jones produced 303 air yards off of the bench. Nine targets and 124 air yards for Parker Washington from the hands of Mac Jones turned that into 4,467with a touchdown where a guy fell down and he got a walk in. It was. I'm curious if you have any Parker Washington thoughts. I've felt like he could be used down the field more than he has been as kind of a Christian Kirk fill in like a 70, 80 of Christian Kirk type of guy. But they haven't really used him that way. He's been more of a short yardage guy. This is the first time we saw him with big air yardage totals. He left a lot on the field. They use him on a ton of outbreaking routes and there were a lot of 50, 50 balls that he basically just didn't come down with any of them but ended up with a good result. He led the team in first three targets and if he's going to be used down the field more than like maybe there is some juice here to steal a Dan Schneier right there. Do you have any thoughts on Parker?

[Dan]

I would be skeptical. I mean like watching that game. What stood out to me was that our boy Brian Thomas Jr. Is back. If he had any semblance of quarterback play, he would have had like another 130 yards and two touchdowns. He was wide open on that skinny post and just terrible overthrow. And the other one he was open and it was just under thrown. So I'm still struggling to buy into Mac Jones moving that offense rest of season. Maybe they'll get Trevor back. I don't know what's going on on that front obviously after the concussion, but yeah, it's. I don't trust that offense.

[Jamie]

All of BTJ's production came with Mac Jones. BTJ had 210 air yards on the day. That was his highest throw of the year. So yeah, I'm definitely excited to get in and watch his film.

[Adam]

Yeah. But at the same time in Mac Jones, I know he had a good game. The Texans have been a cupcake, a cake matchup with a very injured secondary. True. The previous two games for Parker Washington he had with Mac Jones he had a combined one catch on three targets. So I mean, look, we're talking to deeply guys maybe, but I. Parker Washington's not going anywhere near my fantasy playoff lineups. Not yet.

[Jamie]

Sure, sure. Yeah. No, he's available in dynasty leagues even, you know, like where there's no one available and he's a young guy and in those two games that was prior to the buy, coming out of the buy, they used him in a different way. So I thought it was interesting to highlight that on the BTJ note, it has just been unbelievably dysfunctional as we're alluding to here with the Mac Jones slander. And still he has a yard per out run rate that is, you know, above basically anybody other than a select. Like 10 guys in terms of wide receivers under the age of. This is. This is under the age of 23. So this is a lad mcconkie tweet that I made and BTJ is actually 21.0.9 going into the year. So he's. If I did just under 22, it'd be a list of like five guys. But just absolutely insane data for him. And it's just so crazy that it's come in this offense. Like I, I don't know, I keep highlighting that. I wanted to, I wanted to get on lad McConkey as well. Lad did get banged up, so hopefully he comes back. But he had a 61st 3 target share in this game that was higher than anyone in the NFL this week. This is it. Like this is what Dan and I have been like hoping could come to fruition where he could really step in and be a target hog and we saw it over 100 yards in the the first half in a game where the passing offense really struggled and now his yard per out run rate on the year is up to 2.39. And yeah, if you look at this tweet it's, it's right up there with like rookie or year two of Monorail St. Brown, year two Chris Alave, year two Justin Jefferson, rookie Puka Nuku, a rookie Jamar Chase above rookie Mike Evans above year two DeAndre Hopkins.

[Dan]

It's pretty crazy, like a foolproof list right there basically.

[Adam]

Yeah, I think it's important right now to remind everyone that I traded Dan, Stefan Diggs and Mitchell for lad McConkie in a dynasty league.

[Dan]

So yes, and I think it's important for me to remind everyone that I am headed toward likely the finals and winning that dynasty league. And I see that. I see a face already from Thomas in the background. Producer Thomas is my competition in that league and Adam is toiling away at the bottom barrel of that league with a quote unquote rebuild. That's one more year more, many more years.

[Adam]

One more year. We're good. All right, Jake, you got one more here. We are running out of time.

[Jamie]

Yeah, that McConkey is a great start to a rebuild. A couple running back notes real quick. I wanted to see if you guys any thoughts on the Karen Williams Blake Corum split. This is the first time we've seen a split 15 to 8 in terms of carries and two thirds of snaps went to Kyron one third. Decorum Thakurum looked pretty good. Do you think there's any change here or.

[Adam]

No? I mean, Kyron had 15 carries, 104 yards and a touchdown. Sean McVeigh was effusive in his praise for Kyron Williams after the game. I feel like we've had a few times this year hasn't been quite like this where people have kind of thought, oh, here comes Blake Corum and it never materializes and I don't really see a reason why it should unless he's wearing down. But I am not taking it seriously. I'm treating Kyron Williams as another guy that I am nervously going to call a must start because he doesn't catch passes. He has zero or one catch in I think five of his last seven games since cup came back and Nakua came back. But you know, he's, he's good and he scores. So you know he's he's like a better version of Jonathan Taylor to me. But yeah, yeah, that's why I was.

[Jamie]

Bringing it up is just because like the what he's been doing has been on kind of fragile usage because he doesn't get the target. So if the RB rush share does diminish, then like, that maybe drops him to like, you know, RB2 status. The last guy wanted to highlight was Bucky Irving. There wasn't a huge change in his usage. It was just an amazing performance and, you know, has to be expected against Carolina. 60 snap rate, 53 route rate in the first half. That was basically right in line with last week's role. But he got banged up hip injury in the second half. Did you guys see that video of him limping to the locker room? It did not look good.

[Dan]

Did not see.

[Adam]

Yeah, I saw. Well, I saw him on the sideline. No, I didn't see.

[Jamie]

I saw his hip walk into the locker room and like it's. He is gingerly, like not hardly moving and that, that's something to monitor going forward. For sure. He played through it, but I don't. We'll see once the adrenaline's not there.

[Adam]

Okay, Yep, that is definitely one to keep an eye on. All right, we're going to take a break and get to our big topics when we come back on fft. Listen, I don't care if your fantasy teams won, if your favorite team beat its arch rival, your football Sunday isn't going to be good enough if you don't nail the food aspect of it. If you're not using Hellman's Real Mayonnaise, what are you doing? Come on. Hellman's Real Mayonnaise is a rich, creamy mayonnaise made with real simple ingredients. Hellman's can be used to bring out the best rich, creamy, delicious flavor in a variety of dishes. Dips, sandwiches, deviled eggs, sauces, salads, and more. Look, if you're having people over to watch the game or you just want to have good food by yourself, consider this little tip from me. My wife makes the best Buffalo chicken dip. The key ingredient, Hellman's Mayonnaise. It brings it to another level. It's probably my favorite snack on game day. So let me finish by imploring you to step up your mayonnaise game with a series of puns. Mayo game day, be delicious. Mayo dip, be creamy. And your fantasy team be dreamy. And how about this for a fantasy team name Drake Mayo. You get the point. You can purchase Hellman's at your local Walmart, Kroger or grocery store and use it to add extra deliciousness and creamy flavor to your game day dishes. This football season.

[Dan]

When you're with Amex Business Platinum, you have the card that helps you do more of what you love, like a flexible spending limit that adapts with your business. And with five times membership rewards points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com going the extra mile for your business is even more rewarding. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Not all purchases will be approved.

[Adam]

Terms apply.

[Dan]

Learn [e-mail] AmExBusiness why get all your holiday decorations delivered through Instacart?

[Adam]

Because maybe you only bought two wreaths, but you have 12 windows.

[Dan]

Or maybe your toddler got very eager with the Advent calendar. Or maybe the inflatable snowman didn't make it through the snowstorm. Or maybe the twinkle lights aren't twinkling.

[Adam]

Whatever the reason, this season instacart's here.

[Dan]

For hosts and their whole holiday haul.

[Adam]

Get decorations from the Home Depot, CVS.

[Dan]

And more Instacart and enjoy free delivery on your first three orders. Service fees and terms apply.

[Adam]

All right, welcome back. So we've got our four big topics. The first one comes from Rubens Wright on Twitter. What studs do we need to be ready to bench in the playoffs? You guys have I came up with three just to discuss. Okay, One was Ken Walker, one was Jonathan Taylor and the other is Jalen Hurts who has now scored fewer than 20 fantasy points in three straight games. And if y'all remember, Jamie was saying like I think he asked last week who's on the all, I would not bench them no matter how much they're struggling team. And I said, well Jalen Hurst will go on there if he has another game under 20 points. I'm not going to bench him. But I do think you're looking at a team that their defense is so good. I mean it is unbelievable how good this defense is playing. And he throws. Where's past temps last 19 pass attempts yesterday 22 the week before, 28 the week before that 20242014 at the Giants. So if he doesn't rush for touchdowns, you're seeing some pretty bad games from Jalen Hurts. I don't think it's ridiculous to think about benching him if you have like a red hot bo Nick, see what he does tonight. If the ma. You know it's not even about the matchups because for the Eagles they just don't need to throw the Ball.

[Dan]

Right.

[Adam]

So. And with Barkley playing the way he's playing, you know, I tend to believe that a player like Jalen Hertz, no matter what happens, like you just start him because he is that he is so good. We've gone through this before with oh, I remember with Dak Prescott a couple. A couple years ago, maybe a year ago. Like, oh, they're not throwing. Their defense is good. They're not throwing. And then like that was just stupid. It was like a small sample size. That's where I'm at on Jalen Hurts. But I. It is frustrating and it's just worth pointing out they are throwing the ball so little and now they have the best running back in football, an MVP candidate. That hasn't been the case before. So it's not a great situation for Jalen Hurts. I'm going to keep starting him. Taylor. Of the three in a full PPR league, Taylor is the one I fear the most. He has difficult matchups going forward. He just, he just needs to score now. They are going to get Ryan Kelly back after the buy important offensive lineman for them. But those are the three that I thought of that I would consider a little bit for Walker. Definitely consider for Taylor and not there yet with Hertz.

[Jamie]

Yeah, those are good ones. I'm kind of struggling to find and I like Terry McLaurin. What do you got, Dan?

[Dan]

Well, I don't know if I would bench McLaurin at this point, but I have to look at the matchups. I would say like a lot of name brand guys that are probably not considered studs, but just under that are guys that and are makes for a tough decision in your lineups for that final like wide receiver three or Flex or whatever it may be. CD Lamb, he's on my list and now he's injured again. He's gonna be playing injured the rest of season. Jacob and I have talked about this for three weeks now. There just doesn't appear to be any real upside when it comes to Lamb unless you're in PPR leagues and even then he's basically playing the Wandell Robinson role in a similar type situation with Cooper Rush at quarterback. And the Cowboys have found some success in the run game lately. Debo Samuel, another player in a similar situation, big name, you expect to have to start him just like Lamb. I don't think I'll be starting him unless the situation is right and the matchup is right. And something else has to kind of click I think for that offense. These dead offenses, these, you know, become you Know, increasingly dead offenses are the ones where I want to bench stud players for my fantasy playoffs. I don't want to just lean on the name. I'm going to be looking at the matchup and basically the health of the offense as we head into these final weeks.

[Adam]

And we also have to consider that not everybody plays in PPR leagues because it's easy with a guy like Lamb. And I'm going to throw Malik Neighbors in there, even though he's probably going to jump on the podcast and tell me how wrong I am about Malik Neighbors. But if you're not in a full PPR league, then you're pretty frustrated. Okay. And you're frustrated anyway because he's borderline top.

[Dan]

He has no touchdown since week three.

[Adam]

It's, you know. And does he have any big plays? He's not doing anything after the catch.

[Dan]

No. And by the way, this is, this, this is going to end up. When we look at his final stats, my initial prediction from league neighbors is going to end up being pretty damn close, that he would be like Jalen Waddle rookie season. Four touchdowns. Jalen had his rookie season. Malik has what, three? Three so far?

[Adam]

Yep.

[Dan]

He might get another one if they're lucky.

[Adam]

Yeah. So I, I, I think you could, you know, I don't like, I can't imagine necessarily that I'm starting a guy like Jameson Williams over Malik Neighbors. Too much volatility there. But obviously Cortland Sutton has moved past Neighbors and probably Lamb as well. I would, I think Jameson Williams over Debo Samuel makes sense. Although, Although I do think the McCaffrey injury could really help Debo Samuel. Just all the targets that, Interestingly enough, I didn't go over this when we talked about the, the 49ers game. If you look at Brock Purdy's wide receiver target rate with McCaffrey on the field and off the field, it's almost exactly the same. What's actually changed with McCaffrey on the field is the tight end target rate Kittle.

[Dan]

Right. Yep.

[Adam]

One of those games Kittle missed, but he averaged five targets per game in two games with McCaffrey. So I don't know. You know, again, I don't know how that gets distributed now, but I do know that Brock Purdy is going to throw fewer passes to his running backs. That should help Debo a little bit. All right, anyone else we want to bring up here? Okay.

[Dan]

For studs that could double half the bench. I don't know if anyone else comes to mind immediately for me.

[Adam]

All right. If anyone in the chat has. Yeah. Like Josh Downs or Malik neighbors. I'm gonna go neighbors there. I'm usually gonna start him over downs.

[Dan]

With the volatility of Richardson, I think you have to.

[Adam]

Yeah. Cause it's not like Richardson's throwing a lot of touchdowns. And I do sort of agree with this comment. I mean it'd be close. AJ Brown would be wide receiver one if you're playing on a higher pass volume team. He'd be right up there.

[Dan]

I think so.

[Adam]

Right up there. He's so good. Mahomes. I don't, I mean I don't consider him a must start necessarily, but he obviously has been playing pretty well before the Raiders game. He's a good start. He only see his matchups but yeah.

[Dan]

That could be matchup based. When it comes to my homes, there's so many quarterbacks that are in, you know, in play each week.

[Adam]

Chargers, Browns, Texans, Steelers. And probably not start him against the Steelers on the road.

[Dan]

Is that in Cleveland? I might not start him there in Cleveland. Yeah.

[Adam]

Cleveland's got a, like a real bad defense these days.

[Dan]

It could be real cold in that game. But yeah, I don't think they're going to need to throw it much at all in that game.

[Adam]

Oh, Joe Mixon. Yeah, Joe Mixon is the, is the one. Oh, right. Like he's got the worst playoff matchups.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Although okay, like obviously Tennessee.

[Dan]

I'm not benching him though. I know that. I can't bend somebody with that role.

[Adam]

It's Miami. So Miami, you're gonna, you're gonna sit him this week. He's on a buy. You're going to start him against Miami, Kansas City and Baltimore the next two games.

[Dan]

Buffalo. Yeah. Or ball. Yeah.

[Adam]

Yeah. That's tough.

[Dan]

I'm playing him no matter what though. He's not.

[Adam]

I'm going to play him too. But it's like I wish. I wish you had better matchups. Okay, let's go to our next topic. Here it is from Good boy. Troy is JSN Wide Receiver 1 in Seattle Rest of season.

[Jamie]

I'm frustrated about this one. I dropped an F bomb on the timeline today about this one.

[Adam]

Really?

[Jamie]

Yeah. What are we doing?

[Dan]

Adam drops F bombs on there.

[Adam]

Never.

[Dan]

Never. That makes sense. Adam drops them when we're on air.

[Adam]

I've never done that. Never done that.

[Dan]

The tape will tell a different story, but yes.

[Jamie]

47 first read target rate for DK Metcalf in week 13 and he guess what? Jackson, Smith and Jigba's was 8%.

[Dan]

I can't guess because I've already seen this tweet.

[Jamie]

11%. Metcalf caught 4 of 9 targets for 66 yards. That's. That's great. That's one of his best efficiency games in a while. Jason caught all four of his targets for 74 yards. Led the Seahawks in receiving first downs. Since Metcalf has returned, he has caught 20 of 21 targets. One of those games was a short adot game. The other one was normal, like 7. This one is average depth of target was 15 yards.

[Adam]

Wait a second, wait a second. Since Metcalf return, JSN has caught 20 of 21 targets.

[Jamie]

Yes.

[Adam]

Yes.

[Jamie]

Led the team in receiving yards. Of the team in receptions. Led the team receiving first downs really has been the reason that they won two of those games. The Niners game and this past game. Yeah, just huge plays. Fourth down, they need five. They go to Jason. He gets 30. He's just been so freaking good. But yeah, since Metcalf has returned 38 first rate target rate for him, 24 for JSN. So like, is he the wide receiver one? Maybe in our dreams. Maybe in like talent and hypothetical land. But that's not how they're. That's not how they're treating him.

[Dan]

Right, Jacob, Maybe for dynasty purposes. That's how I'm looking at what I'm seeing from, from jsn. He's a player who I loved his evaluation coming out of Ohio State, really good film. Last year was a struggle. There were times where it was bad. He's in a system that's better for him, I think. But ultimately I didn't watch this game on tape. But last week for beyond the Box, where we watched this game versus Arizona, Seattle from last week and I saw so much dysfunction within this offense. I saw offensive line breakdowns consistently. Yeah, don't know what's going on there. I saw issues with the scheme and with the play calling as well. I'm not sold on this offense translating from college to NFL just yet. There are moments where it looks awesome and there are moments where it looks hectic. So ultimately I think I have not enough faith in this offense to say that Jason can be a wide receiver one moving forward.

[Adam]

Did you notice? Because I watched the tape of the last two games of Geno Smith's drop backs and watch I did. And I watched Ken Walker too. So I've watched pretty much every Seahawks offensive play over the last couple of weeks. I don't. I thought that the Cardinals, who they play again this upcoming week, did a really good job Double teaming DK Metcalf, I don't know.

[Dan]

Yeah, that was their game. Yeah.

[Adam]

Yeah. So they did a really good. And the jets did too. But I thought the Cardinals did it, did a great job of it. I'm a little worried about Metcalf this week because he does as Jamie outlined, has terrible history against the Cardinals throughout his career. But I would say just based on the tape, he looks super fast. He looks great. Jacob talked about the first three targets he's had. He's been open for deep touchdowns in two straight games against the Cardinals, Geno Smith, he didn't wait till it was a good play by the Cardinals defensive end. Whoever got him, it was a strip sack. Metcalf had a deep touchdown and against the jets was an under thrown ball. He just put a great double move on DJ Reed. So that a 34 yard touchdown under thrown ball ended up being a catch for a 30 yard completion. I would say DK Metcalf is, if we were in that part of the year is a great buy low based on what, you know, what the trends we're seeing. I'll also point out. But you know, I'm a little concerned about this upcoming week. But I think good things are ahead for him. I'm a little concerned about the past volume though. They're throwing about 30ish times a game. They were one of the most pass heavy teams in football. They had the highest pass rate the first like 7ish weeks of the season. Sorry, I don't have these notes in front of me. And now they're 13th in pass rate. But they're just not throwing nearly as much. But as long as they don't throw to Lockett at all, it really doesn't matter because it's all going to Metcalf and, and jsn and the other thing I noticed. I don't know if you felt this way. I. I don't think Geno Smith's playing very well.

[Dan]

He's not playing very well within the system right now. And I think part of that is the offensive line just not.

[Adam]

Yeah, it stinks. I really wanted to come away from the Ken Walker review. Just kind of being done with Ken Walker because he's such a frustrating player. He. So yep, you know, where are my Walker notes?

[Dan]

Biggest issue for me is the role in the passing game didn't evolve as I hoped it would throughout the year.

[Adam]

Well, he had his lowest route participation rate of the year last in yesterday.

[Dan]

Yep.

[Adam]

But in his last eight games he's averaging 3.2 yards per carry. But I think they have one of the worst offensive lines in football. That was my big takeaway. It's not all on him. Their offensive line has been terrible. Jacob, I think you wanted to add on to that.

[Jamie]

I think all of this ties back to the line. Why are they passing less? Because it's negative plays when they pass. Why is Gino rattled? Because Charles crosses embarrassingly bad right now at left tackle. Why is Kenneth Walker so inefficient? Because he's rattled. He's trying to make big plays out of everything. Because it's not the lanes that are supposed to be there. Like, it's. I don't know. It's just been messy. Like, we were watching red zone yesterday, and I'm like, literally every time they've shown this game, it has not been the Seahawks. I haven't seen the Seahawks all day. Yeah, because their. Their drives are so disjointed.

[Dan]

Like, yeah, it was a good idea to try to bring this offense to the NFL. And I can see, like, at moments it works well, but ultimately it's just so different running this kind of offense in the college with the hash mark rules than it is in the NFL. And there's just not a lot of. And those safeties can close that gap fast. Much faster than you think. And I don't know. I don't love this offense moving forward.

[Adam]

Personally, but I do think if they. If they upgrade their line significantly this off season, this maybe.

[Dan]

Yeah, that's what you need. Well, that's what you need. Right? Like, that's what Washington had. College Washington.

[Adam]

Right. All right, let's go to our next topic here. It's from Warshack. Who is to blame for the Dolphins wide receivers not producing McDaniel Tua, Tyreek's wrist, Johnny Smith, and will they get back into form during this final stretch?

[Dan]

This is the best question. This is the most interesting question yet. Jacob, you look like you had some.

[Jamie]

Let you start first on Tyreek. He had a 13 first retarget share in week 13 per the fantasy points data suite. That's his lowest rate as a Dolphin ever in a game. His rate has been below 20%. He's had less than 20% of the first three targets in six of 12 games this year. Prior to this season, his rate was below 20 in one of 33 games with Miami. What's the problem? Like, is it just that they don't want to go to Tyreek? By the way, Jalen Wattles was 8% this week. I think that it's Mike McDaniel, like, because, you know, sure, maybe Tyreek's not full health, but Waddle certainly looks like he is. He's been amazing these last two weeks. His film has been like, one of the most explosive receivers in the NFL lately. And, like, they're not getting him the ball. It's all going to John who. It's all the short stuff and they can't run. They can't run the ball at all. And so it's become this weird, like, version of the offense where they're doing all this short target stuff as like an adaptation of the run game. And, like, that's it. And it's not working very well. I don't. It feels like it's Mike McDaniel and it's just kind of broken. I'm not maybe smart enough to completely diagnose what's going on, but that's where I'm at with it.

[Dan]

I think you nailed, personally, from my opinion at least, I think Jacob nailed that. They're using the pass game as an extension of the run game because last year they were able to pull off chunks in the run game with the space that was created ultimately from defenses being, you know, concerned about those intermediate and deep levels of the field because they were getting torched there. They're not getting torched there. They're not able to run the ball either. And so it's kind of turned into this version of the offense that doesn't really take advantage of what to. His best skill set is as a quarterback, which is anticipatory throwing and his ability to accurately put balls into space and let receivers run under it. When, in my opinion, when you have this, like, extension of the run game, pass game, you're not. You're taking that all away from TUA because anyone can kind of throw some of these passes that they're completing underneath. So I don't think it's great for the offense, but I don't know if it's going to change now. I want to be clear. There's probably going to be some good weather games coming up, which give them a chance maybe. So I don't know if I want to totally bail ship just yet, like, based on them playing in Green Bay and in that freezing weather, but it doesn't look great.

[Adam]

Well, I got to tell you, I agree with your diagnosis. I disagree with your conclusions, doctors, because everything you're saying about what they're doing is right, but you're kind of making it sound like it's not working. And actually it is working really well since Tua has come back. In their last six games, they are averaging the fifth most points per game in the NFL. Six.

[Jamie]

Wow.

[Adam]

Six months.

[Dan]

What does that say about the NFL?

[Adam]

They've scored 27 or more points in five of those six games. They've scored 23 or more points in every game. It's not obviously working like it because we're not seeing the splash plays. But if you look at what they're doing, it is working. And who have they lost to in that stretch? They lost by one point, I believe to Arizona. I think they lost by a field goal to Buffalo and they lost in a freezing weather game to Green Bay. I think they're actually playing pretty well and I think they want to keep their defense off the field. They said this, they said this during the off season. We've talked about this. They didn't want to be so reliant on the big plays because they got into these games where they weren't getting big plays and they had nothing to fall back on. So this is by design. In those six games, since two has come back, they are dead last in air yards per pass attempt. But this is by design and quite frankly it's working for them. And here's another thing, like I hate low adot teams but we have to maybe reconsider because here are the just in that, you know what, why don't we do season long. Here are the five lowest ADOT teams in the NFL. The Chiefs, Bucks, Raiders, Dolphins and Jets. But so that's not like a great stat. But Chiefs and Bucks, those are obviously good offenses. In the last six weeks it's the Dolphins, Raiders, Bills, Bucks and Lions, four good offenses. There teams are making it work with this low ADOT garbage that I hate. Maybe it's not good for wide receivers, but it's working for their offense. I will say that.

[Jamie]

I will also say that three of those games where they put a big totals were against the Patriots, Raiders and Rams defenses. And against the Rams I didn't really feel like they actually played all that well. They had a negative EPA per drop back in that game.

[Adam]

I don't think they played that well against the packers either. Right. I mean they had kind of some garbage time and Tyree Hill got lucky with that touchdown. But I agree. But they are sixth in points since. Since TUA got back. Something is working for them. Like you said, that's all going to John who but it's also going to Achan and he's making, he's doing some really Good things he's got. How many catches does he have in the last six games? Probably 30. I don't know. Something crazy. All right, last topic here is from Nat. Late in the season, is it better to roster two defenses and or two kickers to play the matchups or should you use your bench and continue stashing running backs for depth and injury upside?

[Dan]

I think the latter. I feel pretty strongly about this. I was in a 10 team league where this week I had an extra roster spot and Jordan Mason was available. I picked up Jordan Mason. Now that could change my whole playoffs. Would that have happened with the defense or a kicker? Maybe, if you get lucky. But sometimes the matchups don't even work out in your favor. Sometimes the team that has the worst matchup scores more. It's defense, it's kicker. There's a lot of volatility to both positions. I would much rather play the potential league winning stash.

[Jamie]

I think the only way you're, you're doing the former is if your team is really like set. If you've got priests and presale engineer Gibbs or something like if you are in a shallow league or something where like you know, if, if, if you're thinking about this then that tells me like your team is probably set, right? Like I don't know because most people aren't. You're talking about Min maxing your like defense and kicker and stuff during the playoffs. Most of us don't have that luxury. I, if I, unless I'm completely set of running backs, I'm doing what Dan said and I'm stashing and hoping for a lottery ticket hit.

[Adam]

Completely agree. And remember when you're in the playoffs there aren't that many teams competing on the waiver wire.

[Dan]

Right.

[Adam]

So it's easier to get a DST you like if there's a running back that comes available. You know, every team that's, that's left in the playoffs is going after that same guy. It's not necessarily the case for a dst so I, yeah, I wouldn't do it and I certainly wouldn't do with two kickers. But it's a good question. I would get that question a lot. I just think, I just think you're going to be able to find DST1 on the waiver wire if you need to go that route in the fantasy playoffs. All right guys, good show. Looks like Jalen Coker could be back this week. Jacob, don't you? Like I was concerned that he was not going to play because, because thielen was going to take his role. You're not concerned about that?

[Dan]

I'm concerned with Thielen for sure being the the receiver to own to roster rest of season there.

[Jamie]

Yeah. At this point. But like I thought it was totally possible that Coker had enough momentum that if the there wasn't like if he just missed one game and came back that they would just rotate.

[Adam]

But.

[Jamie]

But now that we just saw this huge game from Thielen, it wouldn't surprise me if Kobe's just like in the mix mixing in with David Moore because the week before David Moore played really well too. So it wouldn't surprise me if those two kind of mix in and out.

[Adam]

Thanks for thanks for the questions and for the help on the show today, everybody. We will talk to you tomorrow. Be on the Box Corps tomorrow with Jacob and Dan Waiver Wire tomorrow with Jamie, Dave and myself. Have a good one.

[Dan]

Paramount Podcasts the NFL on CBS streams.

[Adam]

Live on Paramount plus all season long. Oh my goodness.

[Dan]

Catch your local CBS game every Sunday on Paramount plus right through the AFC Championship game.

[Adam]

You can't do it any better. Your Paramount plus subscription also gives you.

[Dan]

An All Access pass to 20 for.

[Adam]

7 NFL content for breaking news, fantasy advice and more. Incredible is right.

[Dan]

Another great season of the NFL on CBS is here streaming live on Paramount plus.