Players with Big Upside in 2026; Conference Championship Previews and DFS Lineups (01/22 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today (01/22/26): Players with Big Upside in 2026; Conference Championship Previews and DFS Lineups

Overview

On this episode of Fantasy Football Today, host Adam Aizer and analysts Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg, and Heath Cummings dive deep into the 2026 fantasy football landscape. The focus: players with huge upside for next season—across QBs, RBs, WRs, and TEs—plus breakdowns of the Conference Championship matchups, DFS targets and lineup advice for the playoff weekend. They blend sharp fantasy analysis, actionable stats, and plenty of friendly debate for both redraft and dynasty formats.

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News and Notes (01:59 – 04:28)

• Tampa Bay OC Rumors:
  The Bucs are expected to hire former Falcons OC Zach Robinson.

  • Dave: "I'm not super optimistic about it...I don’t know if he did anything that was really special...[but] he will use the good talent that Tampa Bay keeps. But I’m not excited about this." (03:21)
  • Heath: "Good news is it's not bad news. It's basically the same system, same pedigree...very similar things." (03:57)
  • Jamey: "The best hire for Baker was Kevin Stefanski to the Falcons...That’s two games next year we know we’re starting Baker." (04:08)

• Injury Updates:

  • Sam Darnold's oblique will allow him to play, but the Seahawks have questions at left tackle.
  • Broncos get limited early practices from Pat Bryant, Troy Franklin, and J.K. Dobbins.
  • Luke Wattenberg (Denver center) might return.
  • Houston expects Tank Dell back for the start of offseason programs—"which is great" per Adam. (04:18)

• Upcoming Content:
  Heath previews "Dynasty Rookie Mania" and expects 5ish WRs in round one, with most of the talent clustered at the top of the first round. (04:28 – 05:11)

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Big Upside Players for 2026

Heath’s Upside Picks (06:04 – 13:08)

• Jackson Dart (QB, NYG)

  • "He’s got extremely, very, very obvious upside...If he just starts week one and stays healthy all year...could be a Drake May type season where he’s one of the top three fantasy quarterbacks." – Heath (06:04)
  • If he repeats rookie production and benefits from a new OC and Malik Nabers.

• Breece Hall (RB)

  • "He’s freaking awesome and he’s been stuck in a disaster of a situation...If he gets away from the Jets and is on a good offense, this is a guy who could have 2,000 yards from scrimmage...He is a fantastic player who’s been in an awful situation." – Heath (07:49)
  • Dave: "Totally...I think the, the hype train will take off if he does change teams...clear workhorse back. Everyone will buy right back into Breece Hall." (08:11)

• Marvin Harrison Jr. (WR)

  • Heath: "I still think he has elite upside as a player...if he gets a new offensive system, more usage in the intermediate game...He could do what JSN did in the Kubiak system." (09:14)
  • Jamey: "He definitely has huge upside...If he can get to 16–18 points per game, he’s a borderline top 12 fantasy wide receiver easily." (09:57)
  • Dave: "He’s never been a huge target guy. Even with Brissett, he had 7.4 targets per game. I want to believe in Marvin Harrison, but—it hasn’t really clicked yet." (11:01)

• Isaiah Likely (TE)

  • Adam: "In five games with Lamar Jackson, he was on pace for 65/989/14...averaged 11.2 yards per target, 15.3 ypc—that’s what Isaiah Likely did." (12:23)
  • Heath: "If Travis Kelce retires: Kansas City. If Kelce plays: Atlanta. If he gets either one of those spots, he’s probably a top five or six tight end by August ADP." (12:55)

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Jamey’s Upside Picks (13:39 – 25:44)

• Luther Burden (WR, CHI)

  • "You’re talking about what he showed in those two, three games...give you the glimpse of why the Bears like him...He still could be top 20 if everything stays the same." (14:19)
  • Dave: "Burden’s best split (weeks 14–18), he was great...example of how explosive he can be. But it’s a small sample and when Odunze didn’t play." (16:46)
  • Heath: "Burden’s best games coincided with Odunze missing time...Something happened after their bye week...Odunze’s target volume shrunk." (18:23)
  • Adam: "Yards per route run: Puka, JSN, then Luther Burden. He's #3 min 50 targets. More than Puka Nakua as a rookie." (19:05)

• Ken Walker (RB, SEA)

  • Jamie: "If Charbonnet’s out...Ken Walker could be a second round pick...a workhorse, top five fantasy RB upside." (21:01)
  • Heath: "Seattle could be the best team in the playoffs. But their 2026 setup is full of question marks...Kubiak leaving, Darnold at QB, etc." (22:05)

• Emeka Egbuka (WR, TB)

  • Jamie: "If Mike Evans leaves or they restructure Chris Godwin’s contract, the upside for Egbuka is huge. Small sample at the season’s start was incredible." (25:44)

• Garrett Wilson (WR, NYJ)

  • Jamie: "You saw what he could do at the start of the year...if he gets halfway decent QB play, he can be a huge value if going Round 3–4." (25:44)
  • Adam: "First five games—19 points per game, WR6. So it was awesome." (28:21)

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Dave’s Upside Picks (28:58 – 38:34)

• Patrick Mahomes (QB, KC)

  • "Averaged nearly 29 fantasy points per game in first six pre-Rice games...available in mid-to-late rounds, so you can draft huge upside at a discount." (29:01)
  • "But if Rice is suspended and Kelsey retires, and they do nothing at WR...he won’t be as exciting." (30:52)
  • Heath: "He might run for 120 yards total next year—he’ll lose that rushing upside." (31:36)

• Quinshon Judkins (RB, CLE) & Cam Scatteboo (RB, NYG)

  • "Both coming off major injuries. Judkins has workhorse potential in Cleveland; if healthy, could be a volume monster. Scatteboo averaged 19.1 PPR pts in games w/ 30+ snaps, looks like a true workhorse for the Giants if healthy." (34:43)

• Tetairoa McMillan (WR, CAR)

  • "He needs Bryce Young to take step forward and for the team to make him the clear #1. If that happens, could be a top 12 WR by season’s end." (37:23)
  • Adam: "McMillan or Egbuka: who do you draft first?"
    Dave: "McMillan."
    Jamie: "If Evans leaves Bucs, then Egbuka, otherwise McMillan." (38:34)

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Conference Championship Previews & DFS Strategy

Key Matchups & Players to Target (40:33 – 52:57)

Seahawks at Rams

• Ken Walker: Jamie is "playing Ken Walker everywhere...over 25 PPR points last Rams meeting. Monster upside w/ Charbonnet out." (40:33)
• JSN & Puka Nacua: Popular stacking options in DFS.
• Sam Darnold (SEA): Dave prefers a value Darnold stack, expects offensive environment for potential shootout. (43:43)
• Cheap options: George Holani (RB, SEA) and Demario Douglas (WR, NE), Terence Ferguson (TE, LAR). (41:30, 47:44)

Patriots at Broncos

• Rhamondre Stevenson: "Denver’s run D last four: 4.5 YPC, 9.6% explosive rush rate—Stevenson has a great spot." – Dave (42:15)
• Marvin Mims/Lil’Jordan Humphrey (DEN): Viable if Franklin/Bryant are out. (44:55)
• Pat Bryant (DEN): A cheap, viable option as well, especially on FanDuel. (47:00)

Avoids and Cautions

• None of the hosts wanted to stack Broncos entirely, but all see dart-throw upside in cheap DEN WRs if injury opens routes.
• Kyren Williams (LAR RB): "Very tough matchup. Brutal." (49:22)
• RJ Harvey (LAR RB): "No." – Jamie (49:35)

DFS Lineup Structure and Punts

• All prefer stacking Puka Nacua and JSN with Ken Walker (and/or Stevenson), then using cheap WRs/TEs to fill gaps.
• Jamie shares DraftKings builds stacked with Stafford or May.
• Heath gives a "Seahawks stack": Darnold, Walker, Holani, JSN, Ferguson, etc. (52:42)
• Dave: Leave salary on the table to differentiate if playing tournaments. (55:10)

Notable DFS Quotes

• "If you're trying to win big money, leave some money out there." – Heath (55:52)
• "Leaving $1,000 on the board...makes you unique" – emphasis on being contrarian/tournament play. (55:10)

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Notable Quotes and Moments

• On DFS Punts:
  "I'll probably go with a Seahawks stack with Darnold and JSN and Walker, and I think you could play Walker and Holani, and I'll probably play Puka, too." – Heath (41:49)

• On Luther Burden's Efficiency:
  "Here are the top three in yards per route run this year...Luther Burden is number three...more yards per outrun than Puka [Nakua] as a rookie. Unbelievable." – Adam (19:05)

• On Injury Risk for Upside Backs:
  "Scatteboo has just proven to be really, really productive and really good for this game." – Dave (34:43)

• On Patriots DST and Denver’s Offense:
  "I just don’t think the Broncos are anything like the Texans D, maybe not even the Chargers right now...not seeing them shutting down really good offenses." – Adam (53:17)

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Timestamps of Key Segments

• News & Coordinator Updates: 01:59 – 04:28
• Heath’s Upside Players: 06:04 – 13:08
• Jamey’s Upside Players: 13:39 – 25:44
• Dave’s Upside Players: 28:58 – 38:34
• Conference Championship Previews & DFS Lineup Building: 40:33 – 52:57
• DFS Player Punts & Strategy: 47:44 – 55:52
• Show closes with DFS advice and game picks: 56:14 – 58:05

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Final Game Picks

• Patriots vs. Broncos:

  • All but Heath: Patriots win.
  • Heath: "Why not Broncos?" (57:28)

• Rams vs. Seahawks:

  • Adam, Jamie, Heath: Rams
  • Dave: Seahawks (57:23)

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Recap

This episode packs a year’s worth of redraft and dynasty upside speculation, injury analysis, deep stat-based arguments, and hands-on actionable DFS roster construction. On top of that, it features healthy skepticism, dissenting viewpoints, and enough data for hardcore fantasy managers and casual playoff DFSers. With numerous cheap DFS targets, cautions about injuries and changing depth charts, and several cross-positional upside deep-dives, it's a must-listen if you want to win your league—or this weekend’s DFS slate.

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For full context, stats, and more lineup variations, check out Fantasy Football Today wherever you get your podcasts!

Transcript

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[Dave]

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[Heath]

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[Jamie]

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[Heath]

This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports. What a play.

[Dave]

Can you believe this?

[Heath]

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.

[Heath]

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

[Adam]

Welcome, everybody. January 22nd. This is Fantasy Football Today presented by BetMGM. Make it legendary. We've got some news items for you. New offensive coordinator for the Bucks. Not official, but expected. We've got some DFS lineups for you, and we've got players with big upside in 2026. Good morning, Dave.

[Dave]

Sup, dude?

[Adam]

Good morning, Jamie.

[Jamie]

Morning.

[Adam]

Morning, Heath. Hey, how's it going? All right, so let's go right to the news and notes. Bam. Here it is. Sam Darnold still got this oblique injury. He'll play, but will he have a left tackle? I assume someone will line up there. Will it be Charles Cross? Charles Cross, left last week's game with a foot injury. Did not practice on Wednesday, two backup left tackles also missed practice and by the way, George Holani appears to be Seattle's number two running back this week against the Rams, the Broncos got good injury news. Pat Bryant, Troy Franklin, J.K. dobbins, they all practice. Doesn't mean they'll play, but they all started the week with a with a limited session and Denver center Luke Wattenberg has a chance to play this week as well, so that's wonderful. Let's get to this, Dave Tampa Bay set to hire former Falcons offensive coordinator Zach Robinson as their new offensive coordinator. How do you feel about Zach Robinson being the new coordinator offensive coordinator for the Bucks?

[Dave]

I'm not super optimistic about it. He had his first bite of the apple as a play caller for the Falcons and I don't know if he did anything that was really special other than doing what we would have hoped anybody would do, and that is lean into Bijan Robinson as a receiver. I'm sure he will find his way to using the good talent that Tampa Bay keeps this off season into next season and those guys will be counted on. But I'm not ready to anoint anybody in this Tampa offense or give them extra hype just because Zach Robinson is the new play caller. I'm not excited about this.

[Heath]

I think the good news is it's not bad news. It's basically the same system, same pedigree. I I think we'll see a lot of very similar things.

[Jamie]

I think the best hire for Baker was Kevin Stefanski to the Falcons.

[Dave]

That's two games next year. We know we're starting Baker, no questions asked.

[Adam]

And then last news item is that Houston expects Tank Dell to be back for the start of the off season program, which is great. Heath, what's coming up on fft?

[Heath]

Dynasty Rookie mania. It's we're moving into that season. I've got the Couch scouts coming on tomorrow. Talk about the 2026 rookies that we think will be drafted in round one of the NFL draft and just how good they will be for Dynasty.

[Adam]

How many wide receivers are we thinking? Do we know we're gonna find that out on Friday?

[Heath]

I think we'll find out more of that out tomorrow. But 5ish really. Just looking at mocks on CBS Sports like you generally see two in the top 12, maybe three in the top 15, and then a a couple of guys in the back half.

[Adam]

Seems like a good year to have picks 11 and 12 in your rookie.

[Heath]

Draft, in my opinion. I you know, I I was on Theo Griminger's show yesterday and we that like all of the bad talk about the 2026 class. The top half of the first round is probably still going to be really great. It's just after that, you might just be willing to kind of give those picks away or if you can get Malik neighbors for them, you have to.

[Adam]

Throw a little bit more, I hear. All right, so today we're going to talk about players with big upside. Four from each of you and we'll start with Heaths and then after the break we'll get. We'll do a couple. We'll do this segment and then second half of the show will be our conference championship previews. Players we love players we're avoiding DFS lineups and predictions. Okay. Heath, you're saying that Jackson Dart, Breeze hall, Marvin Harrison Jr. And Isaiah likely have big upside. Let's start with Jackson Dart, who was terrific as a rookie.

[Heath]

You know, I just didn't really feel like arguing with you. So I figured if I put Jackson Dart at the top, then we would start off on good terms and you wouldn't tell me the guys don't have any upside. But like he's extremely, very, very obvious upside case. If he just starts week one and stays healthy all year and plays similarly to how he did last year, but has Malik neighbors and probably a better offensive coordinator, things could be extremely awesome for Jackson Dart. He could jump up and be like a Drake May type season where he's one of the top three fantasy quarterbacks.

[Adam]

Yeah. So what would. What would make him the next CJ Stroud or Anthony Richardson.

[Heath]

Not doing those things?

[Adam]

Yeah, it's two different questions.

[Heath]

Regressing as a passer, if you're Stroud and the entire offensive line and then a whole idea of the offensive line just falls to pieces which that never happens to the Giants. There's no way Andrew Thomas is going to miss time next year. Or in the case of Anthony Richardson, he. His development is stunted by the fact that he can't stay on the field.

[Dave]

All right.

[Adam]

Jackson dart averaged 22.6 fantasy points per game since from week four through week 18. That made him QB9 per game. That included, boy, that awful game of 0.02 fantasy points against the.

[Heath]

Probably just Azerus didn't take that out. It was uncharacteristic.

[Adam]

You can't. I mean you can't take it out. But 7 of 13 for 33 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, but actually scored 24 or more fantasy points in three of his last four games. Other than that Minnesota game. Bree Hall. Interesting. So why'd you put him on your list of big upside, guys, because he's.

[Heath]

Freaking awesome and he's been stuck in a disaster of a situation and they may franchise tag him and just keep him stuck, but if he gets away from the jets and is on a good offense, this is a guy who could have 2,000 yards from scrimmage. This is a guy who could score 15 touchdowns. He is a fantastic player who's been in an awful situation.

[Adam]

Everyone agree with that?

[Dave]

Totally. This was his worst year as far as PPR points per game. He averaged 13, and in the years prior was 16.4, 17.1, 15.1. So he's been pretty close to being a very, very good fantasy running back. I think the, the hype train will take off if he does change teams. Goes to a squad where he's going to get a lot of work, clear workhorse back. Everyone will buy right back into Breeze Hall.

[Heath]

And I think it's worth saying, like, this was his worst year and he averaged 4.4 yards per carry and 9.7 yards per catch. Like, that's, that's his worst fantasy season.

[Adam]

He's got 18 rushing touchdowns in his career. That's how many Jonathan Taylor had this season. All right, Marvin Harrison Jr. Now, this is an interesting one here because I would say, like, what. What is he shown that makes you say Marvin Harrison Jr. Has big upside? Good job, by the way, leading off with Darton hall, you know, because now, now I'm going to disagree with you here. I hope you're right. I hope you're right. But Marvin Harrison Jr. Explained.

[Heath]

Yeah, I think that the hope would be we saw little glimpses at times early in the season of them using him more as an intermediate wide receiver. He gets a new offensive system where he's tr. Like, what if Kubiak goes to Arizona and Marvin Harrison Jr. Gets to play the JSN role?

[Dave]

Boom.

[Heath]

I think he's good enough to do that. Still. I don't, I don't think the. The offense that he's been in and the quarterback that he played with, he didn't play near as much with Jacoby Brissette really gave him the best chance to show that he was worth the draft capital that was spent on him. I still think he has elite upside as a player.

[Adam]

Jamie, do you think Marvin Harrison Jr. Has a lead upside?

[Jamie]

I don't know if I use the word elite. He definitely has huge upside. And, you know, you talk about the games that he played with Brissette, three games where he was healthy, had at least seven targets, average 16.6 PPR points per game in those three games. So I think you look at what Brissette was able to accomplish with Michael Wilson and you wonder if that could ever be Marvin Harrison, because pocket passer focusing on one guy, that guy delivering in just immense ways. And so yes, that could be what Harrison can turn into. But I think this, he definitely belongs in this category, you know, because if he can get to that 16 to 18 point per game range, he's a borderline top 12 fantasy wide receiver easily, you know, so.

[Dave]

Oh, I'm sorry, go ahead.

[Jamie]

I just, I, I think he's somebody that is going to be fascinating to draft next year depending on who the coach is and if they stick with Brissette as the bridge quarterback to eventual younger quarterback, rookie or is Brissette just the guy for the year? And then maybe we get just, you know, the, the uber targets that we were starting to see from him before he got hurt.

[Dave]

How many targets does a receiver need to average for him to get to that 16 to 18 PPR point per game range? I, I would imagine that number would begin at 8 and you know, it only goes higher from there. And that's been the biggest issue that Marvin Harrison I think has had is that he's never been a huge target guy. He'll have games here and there where he does have big target volume, but he's never averaged a huge amount of targets. Even if you take like we, we talked about this just now, like that five game stretch where he was with Jacobe Brissette, there wasn't an injury that he was dealing with. He averaged 7.4 targets per game and 12.6 PPR points per game. I want to believe in Marvin Harrison. I, I loved him coming out of Ohio State just like everybody else, but it just, it hasn't really clicked yet. And I don't know if this with McBride there, Michael Wilson certainly showed us a hell of a lot in the second half of last season. I'm worried about Marvin Harrison ever being a big time breakout wide receiver.

[Adam]

Okay, and then Isaiah likely, Isaiah likely played six games at the end of the 2023 season without Mark Andrews. And you know what, let me go ahead and get rid of, let me get rid of week 18 because Lamar Jackson didn't play that game. So let's look at those five games.

[Heath]

That's just.

[Adam]

In those five games with Lamar Jackson, he was on pace for 65 catches, 989 yards and 14 touchdowns on 88 targets. He averaged 11.2 yards per target, 15.3 yards per catch. This is what Isaiah Likely did. Phenomenal stretch down, down the stretch of the 2023 season with Mark Andrews out and Lamar Jackson at quarterback. So we have seen, we didn't see a ton of volume there, but there's Baltimore. But we've seen, we've seen he's a really good player, Heath. So what are you hoping for for Isaiah Likely.

[Heath]

If Travis Kelsey retires Kansas City? If Travis Kelsey keeps playing Atlanta and they get either one of those spots, he's probably a top five or six tight end by the time we get to August in adp.

[Adam]

Yeah, yeah, let's go. I love it. I'm gonna leave it at that self explanatory stuff. Isaiah Likely is a good player. Give this man some targets. Give him an opportunity. If he departs Baltimore, do we consider Mark Andrews in our top 12? Didn't really matter this year when Likely was out.

[Dave]

Yeah, I just, I feel like Andrews is declining.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Heath]

I can't, I can't believe the play caller.

[Jamie]

Right.

[Adam]

All right. All right, we'll take a break. Jamie's four guys, Dave's four guys with big upside. When we come back on fantasy football today, Jamie says Luther Burden has big upside next year. Ken Walker, obviously, with the Charbonnet injury, a mecca Abuka and Garrett Wilson. So actually, Jamie gave me a big old list with like 12 guys on it. I picked these four. Burden, Walker, Abuka and Wilson. So are you concerned with this Burden? Well, okay, I know what, you probably know what you're going to say, but based on what we've seen the last two games with everybody healthy, Burden hasn't really been, you know, the star that we were hoping. Does that factor in for you when you make this call of Burden having big upside?

[Jamie]

100%, you know, but I think, you know, when we're talking about upside, you're talking about what he showed in those, you know, two games, three games, you know, that started to give you the glimpse of, of why the Bears like him and, and maybe what the upside could be for him. And so it's gonna take potentially DJ Moore leaving the Bears, I think, to fulfill him as an elite caliber player or a must start, week in, week out caliber player. But he could also sort of work his way into becoming at least a top 20 type of wide receiver even if everything stays the same. So, you know, you hope year two, he's healthy. You know, he battled some hamstring injuries at the start of the season. Believe his hamstring at the start of the season didn't really get to, you know, become a full time player until the end of the year. But the targets were still there for him even with Romo Dunze on the field. And I think that's the encouraging thing is that, you know, Caleb Williams was still trying to get him going and obviously Ben Johnson as well. So it's just looking at what the talent is and hopefully applying it to, you know, full time guy, more understanding of his routery, more understanding of his role and sort of taking that lead as the guy that Ben Johnson targeted for this receiving core because he inherited Romo Dunes and DJ Moore. And this is somebody, I think that could be the second guy in terms of targets if Colston Loveland could be the first guy, you know. So still it's the same question we had last year with the Bears, like who's going to be their, their top pass catcher? At least now you have a full year of data and, and performances to sort of go by. But I still think there's a lot of questions because we really didn't see all four guys, if they all still stay in Chicago, all four guys on the field together playing at their best, and we'll sort of see how this shakes out. But again, when you're talking about upside, it's hard to not attach that to a guy like Luther Burton.

[Adam]

Do you think he has more upside than Roma Dunze?

[Jamie]

I do. I think just, you know, looking at the way that he played and, and some of the performances, it wouldn't shock me if Odunze is more of a, scores more touchdowns, you know, and has that type of, you know, I'll make the comparison between like Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, you know, where Evans was always when they're both healthy and playing at their best the last couple of years, you know, Evans was going to be the touchdown guy, God was going to be the guy that gets more receptions and indicate in some cases more yards or at least be close in yards. But yeah, I think Odunze is, is not necessarily going to have as many target opportunities if everybody's healthy and burden does what he's capable of doing. And I don't know if he's gonna have as many catches.

[Adam]

Heath, Dave, who has more upside? Luther Burton or Roma?

[Dave]

Dunze?

[Heath]

Burton.

[Dave]

I'm willing to make the case for Odunze.

[Adam]

Go on.

[Dave]

Let's, let's do two sets of splits, one for Odunze and one for Burton. And this is just going to be what racks in my head for the next four months until we learn more about what the Bears do this off season. But in his first 10 games before he got hurt, Roma Dunese was really good for fantasy. 14.3 PPR points per game, 7.7 targets per game. Now forgive Burden for not having a major role in any of those games. He was a rookie. He was slow to really get up to speed. Ben Johnson talked about that. But Burden's best split on the year came when Romo Dunce was out. It was weeks 14 through 18 and burden was great. It was 15.2 PPR points per game on just 6.5 targets per game. So that's an example of how explosive he can be. But it's a small sample size. It's only four games and these were games that Rome Odunze did not participate in. If Odunze is healthy next year and everything looks almost the same for Chicago, okay, maybe no DJ Moore. I don't. I, I kind of agree with what Jamie was saying as far as like target volume for anybody. And it might be Loveland who might end up getting the most targets for the Bears. This could be a team that spreads it around so much where Caleb Williams is awesome for fantasy and everybody else just kind of has their weeks and you'll draft A, Dunes A and Burden, Moore's number three guys. Loveland might even get overdrafted, but we're still going to start him as a top four, top five type of fantasy tight end to begin the year. I don't think any of these guys are going to suck, but it wouldn't surprise me if we've got a Burden week and then there's a Loveland week and then an Odune week and then another Loveland week and we, we don't get that consistency that we crave.

[Jamie]

Sure.

[Heath]

The only thing that Dave said that I would disagree with was he, he was incredible at Dunes. A week one through four, then they had their bye week and week six through ten he had two good games and three just abominable games.

[Dave]

Yeah, the Cincinnati game is one of.

[Heath]

Them and he averaged like 9.9 PPR fantasy points per game and his target volume shrunk. So I don't think it was just like Odunze got hurt and then he fell out of the picture. Something happened during that bye week to where they started not throwing the ball as much. Jerome Adunce.

[Adam]

Yeah, it was weird. He wasn't getting as many. I remember talking about this with Jacob on Beyond the Box Score. Odunze wasn't getting as many first read options or first read targets. I just want to say for. For Luther Burden. So yards per out run is not a perfect stat, but it's a pretty good one. It combines how often you're targeted and how you're doing with those targets when you're running routes. Here are the top three in yards per outrun this year. Minimum of 50 targets at wide receiver. Puka, Nakua, Jackson, Smith and Jigba. Huge gap. But Luther Burden. Luther Burton is number three. Then it's Christian Watson, Zay Flowers, Aman Ross, St. Brown, Stefan Diggs. So you know Lamb, London Pickens. Not like everyone on here is a guaranteed stud or anything, but incredible. And I'm trying to find the last time a rookie with 50 or more targets rookie wide receiver averages that many yards per route run. I'm guessing it's Puka. He was better than anyone in 2024, including Brian Thomas. Lad McConkey. Nope. He was better than Puka. More yards per outrun than Puka as a rookie. Unbelievable.

[Heath]

The big asterisk there is.

[Jamie]

Rookie was 2023 though.

[Adam]

Yeah, yeah, I'm going back. Puka was 2.6. He was two point. Burden was 2.71.

[Heath]

The, the big asterisk there is that you set the bar at 50 targets because part time players that see 60 targets over a full season are much more likely to have really high yards per route run rates because they're just on. Sometimes their coaches just put them on the field when they want to get them the ball.

[Jamie]

Sure.

[Heath]

And don't want to play them when they don't.

[Adam]

Yeah, that's true. The more targets he gets, the, the worst. In fact, if you just include the postseason, it's down to like 2.3 yards. Yards per out run set of 2.7. But I'm not seeing anyone in the last seven years or so who averaged that many yards per outrun with 50 or more targets. But you're right. Any rookies anyway. Okay, next up we've got Ken Walker. So what do you think the future looks like for Ken Walker?

[Jamie]

I mean he could be a second round pick if you know Charbonnet's out for the start of the season and he's the guy in Seattle if he stays in Seattle. Clearly it's a question mark right now because he's a free agent. So will the Seahawks want to keep him? Will they give him the franchise tag? Will he not want to come back after he, you know, being not necessarily the featured guy? I'm sure that he would have liked and losing some touchdown opportunities. But I think if he sees the path to what he could become on a short term deal or even, you know, becoming the, the, the workhorse guy based on contract situation because of Charbonnet's, you know, knee injury, like this could be amazing. You know, you saw it last week. The, the, the week three game against New Orleans. The, the last time Charbonne missed the game, it wasn't exactly great for him, but he scored two touchdowns, scored 18 PPR points. But I'm just in, in terms of production, like he's got the chance to be amazing. You know, this is still an offensive line. I'm sure it's going to continue to get better. We'll see how the season finishes out for them. But my God, you know, the full time Ken Walker is something that we would be extremely excited about. So second round might be too low. He could just be top five type.

[Heath]

Of fantasy running back as good as Seattle is. And right now they look like the best team left in the playoffs. I think they're a fascinating team. Looking forward to next year just because Kubiak, I think we all probably think is probably going to be going and Is Sam Darnold the same guy? Yeah, it's gonna be really interesting. And we don't know who the running back's gonna be. We just don't know hardly anything about them next year. And right now they look like the best team in football.

[Adam]

And jsn kind of look at his last five games or so. It's kind of, you know, some regression here and it's what I feared all year long with a team that barely ever throws the ball. And I just wonder if he has another disappointing game where he's scoring like 16 PPR fantasy points or something. Do people downgrade him a little bit? A couple spots in their drafts?

[Dave]

But no, because he finished the year with 16 PPR points.

[Adam]

Well, no, because he's, he's been around that. I think I don't have it in front of me in four of his last five games. And it's just like I said, he's had, he's had by far the best year in the last decade of any wide receiver on a team that was bottom five in pass attempts, you know.

[Dave]

And it's no one, no one's gonna, I don't think anybody's gonna ding JSN for having like under 50 yards in the last playoff game against San Francisco.

[Adam]

Dingham. I'm just saying maybe they move him from wide receiver two to four or something like that, but I think it.

[Dave]

Might keep them out of the conversation from being the 101.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Dave]

And that's also because Puka has just maintained this elite level of production all season long.

[Heath]

And to Adam's point, I think he scored more than or 16 or fewer in his last three.

[Dave]

Yeah, yeah, but how many of them were like 10 or fewer? Last week was one, but everything else has been about 14.4 in week 18, over 16 in week 17, 16.2.

[Adam]

It's okay. It's four of his last five. 18.3 or fewer and two touchdowns in his last five.

[Dave]

Look, now tell me how many games he had. 20 plus.

[Adam]

When I think we're kind of talking in circles here. I'm not trying to criticize. I'm just saying if the Seahawks are going to be this, this elite defensive team that's got the, their, I think 31st in past attempts this year, something like that. I can't remember exactly. That's not the recipe for the number one wide receiver in fantasy. Or even number two or number three. That's all I'm saying. But look, they could, their defense could take a little bit of a step back. They could throw more next year. Whatever. That's.

[Jamie]

I guess the question would be is who's replacing him in the top three?

[Adam]

You know, you could go with Lamb.

[Jamie]

I think it's a good argument if Lamb doesn't have picking.

[Dave]

Sure.

[Adam]

Yeah, you're right though it's hard to. I'm on Ross St. Brown I think would be, you know, safe pick. Okay, let's talk about a couple wide receivers before we get to that though. Football fans, bring that playoff energy to your pro football bets all season long. This Pro Football Boost pack from BetMGM 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, minimum stake odds and legs specified on the token. And if your boosted bet hits, bam, you're just going to score a bigger payout. From opening kickoffs to game winning drives, this Pro Football Boost pack is your ticket to unforgettable moments this season. Don't wait on the sidelines. Join the action with BetMGM. All right, Jamie, I'm going to combine your last two Ameka Abuka and Garrett Wilson. Big upside players for you.

[Jamie]

I mean, you saw it in small sample sizes at the beginning of the season for 2025. For Wilson, it was, you know, I, I still think we would Say questionable quarterback in terms of, you know, what he played with. I think it was four of the five games were with Justin Fields or five of the six. I forget what it was, but one game where, you know, feels not played, but in any event, not still great quarterback play or at least the quality of play that he could hopefully get. If there is somebody else in place in 2026 and maybe the jets find their long term answer, you know, hopefully soon. But I think you just saw what Wilson could do taking that step forward. It was kind of reminiscent of what he was starting to do in 2024 before the Devonte Adams trade. And so if he stayed healthy this year, we probably would be saying, can he do it again? And so I, I, I'm hopeful that, you know, Garrett Wilson is going to be that type of player that you get at a good cost. He's not going to be a Chris Olave type of draft pick because I, I think based on what we've already seen with the early ranking list, at least that I compiled that are on the site, Garrett Wilson's in the top 12 for definitely two of us, maybe three of us. And so there's already that, that part of the conversation. But I mean if you can get him in maybe round four, I think round three is probably where he'll end up settling. That's pretty good value for what he, what he hopefully will do again. And in the case of Abuka, there's still a lot of question marks with, with Tampa just because will Mike Evans decide to come back? What will his role be? Clearly, when nobody was, when everybody was injured at the start of the season, it was unbelievable. And then we just kept ranking him in the top 10, top 12, starting the slide, the, the slow sliding scale. So he ended up being a disappointment by the end of the year, especially when Evans and Godwin were healthy. But if one of those guys leaves and they may decide to restructure Chris Godwin's contract. But in the case of Mike Evans, if he does decide to either retire or maybe go chase a ring somewhere else, then the upside for Mecca Buka is huge. So again, it's just looking at what these guys, it's, it's kind of, you know, just another name I put on the list was Christian Watson. You know, you saw in the small sample sizes of what they were and hoping to see that over the course of a 17 game season, okay.

[Adam]

Garrett Wilson was surprisingly only the number 10 wide receiver per game in his first six games of the year before his injury. Now he Had a.

[Jamie]

Don't you. Ezra, stat that one and take out the game. They left.

[Adam]

He left pretty late in the. No, actually he left at halftime. You're right. I was going to say he scored only four.

[Jamie]

He left.

[Adam]

Yeah, he left.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Adam]

All right, I'll take it out. And it was Denver, so he was getting sir tanned. So in the first five game that.

[Jamie]

He came back and played. I think if you saw that one out, too.

[Adam]

I'm not talking. I'm just. On the first five games.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Adam]

19 points per game for Garrett Wilson. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 6. Wide receiver, 6 during that stretch. So it was awesome. All right, let's. Let's take a break and. No. Nope. Wrong. Let's go to Dave's. Dave's. Four. Four guys I took from your list, the big long list. Patrick Mahomes, who was. I don't. Top three quarterbacks, certainly when he left with injury, although he was struggling a bit. And Quinshon Judkins, coming off a serious injury. Cam Scatter Boo, coming off an injury. Tedroa McMillan. So Mahomes, Judkins, scatterboo McMillan.

[Jamie]

Dave.

[Adam]

Why does Mahomes have big upside?

[Dave]

Well, we saw it in the first half of last season, and I mean, I consider 28 fantasy points per game from a quarterback to be really, really good. He averaged that in his first six games without Rasheed Rice. That's amazing. And then when Rice came back, there were two more games where he was awesome. His average actually went up to 28.8. And then offensive line injuries started to hit Kansas City pretty hard, and it fell apart. And from week nine on, 16.6, he costs a lot of people a fantasy playoff run. And of course, he got hurt, had surgery right away. Everybody is. I don't know if everybody's expecting him to be ready for week one or certainly ready for training camp, but when it comes to quarterbacks coming back from acls, I. I feel like there's a decent chance that he'll be ready to go. I would imagine that that receiving core will be okay, if not great. We don't know what's going to happen with Rasheed Rice. We don't know what's going to happen with Travis Kelsey. But we do know that Kansas City will spend the off season bulking up that offensive line, making sure that it's as deep as they can make it. And so if they do incur an injury or two, they can overcome it. And Patrick Mahomes can still be good. But on top of that, we've been Doing our mocks. No one's taking Mahomes anywhere near where we were taking him for like the last six years. So if he's going to be available with a mid to late round pick, okay, I guess I'll just take Patrick Mahomes and I might even take him with a second quarterback late. Someone even like Justin Herbert, who people are reluctant to draft. I would love to begin my season with those two guys on my fantasy team because they both have top five upside. Especially now with Herbert, given Mike McDaniels being there in, in, in LA. That's awesome. I love that fit and those two guys. Mahomes certainly has mega upside. Anytime you can draft somebody with huge upside in the back half of a fantasy draft, you do it.

[Jamie]

So do you like Mahomes? If Rice is suspended again and Kelsey's retired, I'd like out there.

[Dave]

Tell me more about what that receiving core looks like. Are you telling me that they're going to do absolutely nothing and that they're going to roll?

[Jamie]

I don't, I mean, A, we don't know if Rice is getting suspended. B, we don't know what the length of suspension would be. So if they're not going to make a splash of receiver, let's just say they bring back the same cast characters and we're starting the year with. I mean, obviously it could be Isaiah likely, but let's say it's Noah Gray and it's Marquis Brown, Taekwond Thornton and.

[Dave]

Yeah, no question.

[Jamie]

And then Mahomes is, is coming off an ACL tear. I don't disagree with the sentiment of taking him late. I just don't know if there's a ton of upside here for what.

[Dave]

Yeah, he won't be, he won't be as exciting if the receiving core is as, as vanilla as you just made it out to be.

[Heath]

I think the bigger problem for me with Mahomes upside is like he's got 300 yards rushing each of the last six years. Yeah, he's averaged probably three touchdowns per year in that stretch too. And we might see a season where he runs for like 120 yards.

[Jamie]

Right.

[Adam]

I was going to say that, yeah, he averaged 30 yards rushing per game last this past season, 20, 25. That's by far a career high and he might have a career low next year. So that takes.

[Dave]

Yeah, I would, I would bet that he doesn't average 30 yards rushing until December.

[Jamie]

And.

[Heath]

And somebody's asking about Rice in the chat. I think a lot of people are probably like, as far As I know when I was trying to look into it, this is. There's no legal implications at this part, right?

[Jamie]

Nope. No, there's nothing yet. But, you know, suspended once in code of conduct and whatever the NFL can decide they want to do. I do think the interesting thing for Mahomes, his best years came with Eric Bien as the quote, unquote, offense coordinator. You know, now he's back. Yeah, there was just a social media post from Tyreek Hill saying he'd be back in, in Kansas City. You know, so is that somebody. If he's let go, does he go back to Kansas City and maybe that's the, you know, second half type of guy that can make some plays. I don't think anybody's going to be excited about him too much as a fantasy option at his age, coming off a significant injury as well. But, you know, he'll, he'll get. I'm not talking about his fantasy value, but what he does for, for the passing game there, like, there's the, There's a lot of different ways to go. It really could, really, could be great.

[Heath]

I don't. I, I just can't imagine the Chiefs could deal with the media coverage of bringing Tyreek Hill back in the midst of the Rashi Rice stuff because Hill's had a ton of allegations in the last year also.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I, I would just think that a. If there's a team that can handle it, it's a team like that. The media cover is clearly not the same as it is and, you know, most, most major markets and.

[Heath]

Yeah, I don't think it'd be the local guys that would be the problem. I think it'd be every national show.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I don't think they care.

[Adam]

Yeah, it hasn't been really.

[Dave]

This is the same franchise that dumped Kareem Hunt for domestic violence and then brought him back and kept him and sent him to a contract, another contract.

[Jamie]

Well, he rehabilitated himself quite a bit.

[Heath]

Yeah, he did.

[Dave]

And that's good. And I think the opportunity could be there for these other guys. Say, well, I don't know if it'll happen so quickly for Rice, but again, we don't know if there's a suspension coming for Rice. So far, it's only been allegations on social media. Hopefully it's not true. If it is, I'll say it again. This is the franchise that cut Kareem Hunt for domestic violence. I would imagine they'd consider something similar for Rice if, If this is all facts.

[Adam]

Okay, Dave, we'll take a look at the rest of your list after this break and when we get done with that list, we'll talk about this weekend's games. We'll be right back. Yeah, so you've got two running backs coming off major season ending injuries as big upside guys Quinchon Judkins and Cam Scatterboo do the man the scat. The the Judkins injury really kind of scares me a little bit. I don't know about the upside there, but I don't know. How do you feel about those guys?

[Dave]

The the hope is that they spend the off season rehabbing and getting themselves back into the type of player that they were pre injury. Sounds like the Giants are pretty optimistic that Scatterboo will be ready for off season workouts. That's great. Judkins got hurt late in the year. I don't think we'll hear a report on him anytime soon about him being ready for the start of off season activities. He probably won't even partake in those. And then training camp. When when I think about Judkins, I think about how he's a workhorse back. Things are changing in Cleveland. They've got a ton of issues on both sides of the football that they need to address and they've got some salary cap concerns too. So I would imagine that they're not going to throw a lot of resources to try and improve their run game and they're just going to hope that Quinshon Judkins is able bodied and ready to handle a solid workload. And I thought we saw a lot of good things from Quinshon once he got rolling in Cleveland this year. As for Scatterboo, we definitely saw some great things for him. My goodness, he averaged almost I think it was over 19 PPR points per game during his stretch as the lead running back. I I have it somewhere. 19.1 in six games where he played 30 plus snaps. Small sample size but I think if he's right he will be counted on to do more than play just 30 snaps. We saw how crazy John Harbaugh went when he got Derrick Henry and and that's a obviously not the same type of running back as far as like legendary crusher versus a guy who's only played one year but physical running back who can certainly be a factor in the red zone and get a bunch of goal line carries, score a bunch of touchdowns, help our fantasy teams win. Plus Scatter Boo has the added benefit of being a good pass catcher, has that chemistry with Jackson Dart. I I am really hoping that we hear nothing but great news on Scatter Boo. All off season long, he was drafted. I think he was a round three pick in our full PPR draft. Last pick around three. I said this after the draft. I think it's really easy to draft Scatter Boo in that range. Maybe round four would be a little bit better, of course. But if you get him and then whoever his backup is, that's a pick closer to the double digit rounds. And, and your role with the Giants RBs as, as your number two option on your fantasy team this year, I, I think that'll pay off, especially with the offensive line good this past year. Probably going to get better. I'm gonna like what this coaching staff ends up delivering and, and Scatterboo has just proven to be really, really productive and really good for this game.

[Adam]

All right, last one for you is Ted McMillan. Yeah. Do you have enough faith in Bryce Young? Does he even need Bryce Young to be. Take a step forward for McMillan? Realize his upset does.

[Dave]

Yeah, I mean, he, he needs Bryce Young to take the step forward and he needs the team to wake up and realize, all right, we've, we've got to feed this guy the ball. Like he's one of the best young receivers in the game because he is one of the best young receivers in the game. He 10 games last year with seven or more targets. He only had 15 PPR points or more in four of them. That needs to improve. And I think part of that is going to be all right. Is Carolina going to dedicate themselves to making McMillan a bigger part of the offense? And, and I think they don't have a choice. I think they have to because Coker's great. Their, their running backs are a huge question mark right now. We don't know what they're going to do there. I think their offensive line is good. I think it can get better. I think Bryce Young can get better. But I think Tedro and McMillan is going to be the biggest piece of that offense in 2026. That, that helps them try and be more explosive, more productive. Just helps them, you know, put points on the board. That's really what it's all about. And they need to feed him the ball and he needs to be a little bit better with those targets because some of those targets that he got from Bryce Young, they weren't catchable, they weren't great. And I think once Bryce Young and he really got on the same page, I could see it being, I could see Teddy Row McMillan being a top 12 receiver by the end of next year.

[Adam]

All right, let's go. McMillan or Abuka, who you guys drafted first?

[Dave]

They're back to back for me. I'll take McMillan first.

[Heath]

Let's see who's on the Buccaneers 100.

[Jamie]

Right now it's McMillan. But if Evans is gone, it's a booker.

[Dave]

Okay, that's fair.

[Adam]

You ready for some football this weekend?

[Dave]

Yes, very much so. I've never been more excited to watch Jarrett Stidham play. Shame.

[Adam]

I'm not gonna lie. I'm not all that excited for the games, but, you know, it's. Obviously, I'm gonna be watching usually. This is.

[Jamie]

Oh, man.

[Adam]

Love this weekend.

[Jamie]

Over. Under one and a half naps for you during the day.

[Adam]

I don't usually take two, so I'll go. I'll go under, but we'll see. Three o', clock, Patriots at the Broncos. Patriots are four and a half points.

[Jamie]

Like 30 seconds. That considered a nap?

[Adam]

30 seconds? Yeah, I think so.

[Jamie]

Like, you catch yourself like. Oh my God.

[Adam]

No, no.

[Dave]

If you.

[Heath]

If you fall asleep at like 9 o' clock and miss the end of the game and then wake up and go to bed, was that a nap?

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Heath]

So I think that's how you could get to two. Take one. Take one in the middle of the day and then you fall asleep at the end of the day and then on the couch and have to wake up and go to bed.

[Adam]

Okay. Challenge accepted. Patriots of Broncos. Patriots are four and a half point favorites, total is 42 and a half. Then at 6:30pm Rams at the Seahawks. Seahawks are two and a half point favorites, Total is 47 points. Last time those two teams played was a classic that the Seahawks won in overtime. They were a little bit lucky to win with that two point conversion in regulation, but nevertheless, that game, hopefully both games are great. Honestly. Let's not count out the Broncos. They know how to play defense. And Drake May's been a little sloppy in his two playoff games so far. So, Jamie, do you have any players you love this week?

[Jamie]

Yeah, the. Every lineup that I've done so far, it's Ken Walker and figure out the rest in two games against the Rams with Charbonnet, he has absolutely destroyed them at over 25 PPR points in the last matchup. And so now without Charbonnet. You saw it last week and just how good he could be against San Francisco. Clearly there's a step up in defense, but not that much of a step up in defense based on what the Rams or their. Their lack thereof and stopping their own lately And I just think that Ken Walker is. No matter the price, I'm playing Ken Walker everywhere. I don't care. Everybody else will. It's just, you got to deal with how good he can be. And again, this kind of speaks to what, you know, we were talking about earlier in terms of upside. Like, this could be an absolute monster for however many games are left for them in the season and for whatever happens next year in terms of where he's playing and if it's in Seattle and Charbonnet is going to be slow to start the year.

[Adam]

Heath, you have any players you love?

[Heath]

I don't know about love. If George Holani is going to be the number two running back in Seattle and he's $4,000 on FanDuel, I'd probably have him in a lineup.

[Adam]

Yeah, there's another running back. Just real quick. That's. That's, I think, same price on FanDuel, and it's JK Dobbins. So if he ends up playing, I think he'll be a good way to save some cash. Go ahead, Heath.

[Heath]

I think demario Douglas, who scored a touchdown last week and will not have to face the outside corners of the Broncos, somebody that I could see throwing in a lineup. Terence Ferguson, a cheap option. I'll probably go with a Seahawks stack with Darnold and JSN and Walker, and I think you could play Walker and Holani, and I'll probably play Puka, too.

[Jamie]

Oh, wow.

[Adam]

Ambitious, Dave. Players, you love.

[Dave]

Denver's run defense in their last four games, not including week 18, so throw that one out. Have given up 4.5 yards per carry and a 9.6% explosive rush rate. Ramandre is healthy. He's looked good, he's played well. He's getting the lion's share. I don't know about lion's share, but he's getting a slim majority of work, or at least snapshot ahead of Travion Henderson. And while he's not cheap, it's crazy. Like on DraftKings, Ramandre is just a little bit less than Walker. Walker is obviously someone that's got more upside than Ramandre, but I like the matchup for Ramandre, and I could see him having another good game. So I've built a couple of lineups with him in it, hoping that he comes through for a touchdown and kind of maintains that rushing presence for the Patriots. I like him quite a bit. I. I think Nakua is really easy to go with. I think JSN is really easy to go with. But if you're going to start loading up on, you know, two running backs that have a high salary and two wide receivers have a high salary, where do you take the chance? You take it at quarterback. And I, I have found myself gravitating toward a Seahawks stack, which means I'm starting Sam Darnold, which really doesn't sound ideal, but I don't mind how he ended up in that second game against the Rams. And it wouldn't surprise me if this ended up being a little bit of a high scoring game between the Rams and the Seahawks. And so Sam Darnold's kind of the quarterback I prefer, given that he's not one of the most expensive guys on the board.

[Adam]

So if you think the Rams are going to score 20 or more points, and I think that's a safe bet, look, the total is 48, 49, whatever I said it was, let me double check on that.

[Dave]

47.

[Adam]

Sorry. So they should probably score 20 or more points. Sam Darnold, when his team has given up 20 or more points in five games this year, he scored 21.7 or more fantasy points and six point per passing touchdown leagues in three of those five games, including that one game against the Rams. But that was a little bit lucky. Obviously he was playing pretty poorly until overtime. Basically he scored 23 and a half in that game. So that's not bad. Though 60% of the time when his team is allowed 20 or more points. Sam Darnold's come through with a good game. You know, it's obviously contrarian to play Broncos. Does anybody want to play any Broncos? I don't know that like Jared Stidham might be a solid backup quarterback. He had some sports a few years ago. He's not, he's not like a bum, right?

[Jamie]

No, he's not.

[Heath]

I didn't think he was cheap enough.

[Adam]

No, I don't want to start him, but I don't know that you have to get away from every, every Broncos receiver, basically.

[Jamie]

Well, I think the injury report's going to be telling because if both Bryant and Franklin are out or if one of the two are out, you saw what Marvin Mins just did. You saw a little Jordan Humphrey have the chance for two touchdowns. He scored one. So Sutton is probably the one you want to avoid just based on his cost. And that's probably where Gonzalez goes. So if you're looking at it just logically, like take some chances on the other guys, like, you know, Dave said, you know, playing the, the running backs, like I have a Lineup, actually, with Puka, JSN Walker and Stevenson. And you got to be a little creative. And so doing that, I'm playing little Jordan Humphrey, you know, just because, again, I think he'll still be involved to some extent, and if those two guys are out, he'll be involved in a big part of the game. So I don't know. I think the. The other guys there, I have another lineup where I have Marvin Mims in it, you know, so it's just, you know, you take chances on the cheaper options for the Broncos and just kind of hope for the best.

[Dave]

What's the pivot if both Franklin and Bryant are active for the game?

[Jamie]

Still the same. I mean, I said this last week, like, not really factoring, you know, Humphrey, but I think we've seen from Denver certainly throughout the course of the season, you know, that we had the pocket of the Troy Franklin games, we had the pocket of the Pat Bryant targets. He really wasn't producing, but he was involved. And so with Sutton struggling, he's really been bad the last month. And now facing Gonzalez and with a backup quarterback, I always think, because we see it whenever you get a backup quarterback. Who's he been working with on the scout team? Well, you know, it's not Sutton. And then who has it been that's probably seen the most time over there of these guys? To me, it's probably Humphrey. And so that's a guy that I like a lot. Marvin Mims is always going to be an opera, give you an opportunity for a big play, and so he's worth using also. And so with the other two guys being less than 100, I just would avoid them now, again, could be wrong. Could be the wrong way to go, because if they are healthy, they'll still get opportunities. But I think you just look at it, this Patriots defense is really good. There's not going to be a ton of, I think, confidence in these guys. It's a matter of can somebody make a big play or two, can somebody find the end zone? And that's the kind of guys that you're hoping for. And then you start to look at just what the price is.

[Dave]

Oh, man.

[Adam]

Since Christian Gonzalez missed a few games earlier in the year, since he came back, man, they. They have been so good against wide receivers. So that's why Sutton, even if they had Bo Nick Sutton might not be a great play. And by the way, on FanDuel, Pat Bryant is actually cheaper than little Jordan Humphrey. And Bryant's in my lineup right now. Just because you need some Cheap players with a two game slate. He's in the concussion protocol. When a guy gets a limited session in, on Wednesday in the concussion protocol, that's a pretty good sign. But if he doesn't play, I would just go to little Jordan Humphrey in my lineup. So that brings us to Heath. Some cheap players. You mentioned Terence Ferguson. Were there any like other. I need to get this. I need, I need some cheap players. Are there any good ones that you want to recommend?

[Heath]

I think I mentioned three. I mentioned Terence Ferguson, I mentioned George Alani and I mentioned Demario Douglas.

[Jamie]

Yeah. Okay.

[Heath]

Those would be the three cheap players that I would probably play.

[Jamie]

I'll give you a couple on on each site on DraftKings. Cooper Cups 3, 800 is coming off a strong game. The ultimate revenge game against the Rams would be to knock them out of the playoffs and go to the Super Bowl. So if we're going to see another maybe somewhat disappointing game where a lot of coverage rolled to rolled toward jsn. Rashid Shahid did nothing in the passing game last week. Not that he needed to. He was clearly, you know, making a lot of plays in special teams. But if Cooper cup is going to get opportunities, he's cheap. Little Jordan Humphrey on DraftKings is 3, 400 and Colby Parkinson is 3, 500. It's really not a great tight end slate because of what the tight ends are looking like right now. So Hunter Henry I believe on both sides, the most expensive I think Parkinson's in a second. But you can go Ferguson if you want to as well. Targets were certainly there from last week. He just didn't produce. And if you want to go, you know, really, you know, different, you can go Higby also, you know, so all three guys I think are in play. All have been involved since Higby's return and then Ferguson's return and then on DraftKings again you look at really almost all of the receivers after JSN and Puka. K Shawn Booty, $6,000. Marvin Mintz 50, 900. Hunter Henry, a tight end if you want $5,700. Again, he's expensive. Cup on that side is 50, 800, you know, so you can get creative with some of these Ross these, these lineups and not necessarily have to spend big. But again I did one lineup where I spent big on Puka and JSN and Walker and Stevenson and just kind of figured out the rest and then a little bit more balance on another.

[Adam]

I'm gonna throw out some player names. Tell me if you like them. Kyron Williams.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Heath]

I. I don't think I'll probably play him at cost on FanDuel.

[Jamie]

No.

[Dave]

It's a very tough matchup. Yeah. Brutal.

[Adam]

And how about RJ Harvey?

[Jamie]

No.

[Dave]

Also no. And that'll be an easy one to get away from if Dobbins plays.

[Jamie]

Sure. Hunter Henry Williams healthy? They've been absolutely dominant against the run.

[Adam]

Hunter Henry?

[Jamie]

No.

[Dave]

Nope.

[Jamie]

Yes.

[Adam]

Henry's my tight end. Titans are terrible on FanDuel. Parkinson is actually the most expensive. He's 6, 000. Henry's 5700. There's not a tight end that you're like, oh, can't wait to start this guy. But Terence Ferguson is a thousand dollars less than Hunter Henry if you want to go that route.

[Dave]

What's Henry's price? One more time on DraftKings.

[Adam]

Oh, on DraftKings.

[Jamie]

Sorry.

[Adam]

Go ahead, Thomas. I think you have the DraftKings up.

[Dave]

Or, like, how much more expensive is he than Colby Parkinson? Parkinson's 3, 500. They're about the same.

[Adam]

Oh, I don't know. Sorry, Thomas.

[Jamie]

I thought.

[Adam]

Do you have the tight ends on DraftKings?

[Dave]

Does anybody know how to get to DraftKings website?

[Adam]

All right, let's see the tight ends. Henry's. Sorry. Henry's a lot more expensive. My bad. 4, 800 for Henry. Parkinson's 3500. So Henry has.

[Dave]

Henry has a 16 target per route run rate against man coverage. Denver plays a bunch of man coverage. He's always been more efficient against zone. I. I'd rather go cheap and play Parkinson versus Henry.

[Adam]

Yeah, I agree. Except on FanDuel. Parkinson's more expensive. So Henry's going to be my tight end on FanDuel and Parkinson's going to be my tight end on.

[Heath]

I'd much rather just pick a cheap tight end that I can pray scores a Touchdown.

[Dave]

How about A.J. barner?

[Heath]

I think that's what you're doing with the expensive tight ends, too. Barner's the second most expensive tight end on DraftKings.

[Dave]

Really? That's weird.

[Adam]

Yeah. And he's up there on FanDuel, too. I think he's the third most expensive.

[Heath]

Well, it's weird if you think of it as AJ Barner being the second most expensive tight end. It's not weird if you think about the guys that are behind him.

[Jamie]

Yeah. It's a terrible slate.

[Adam]

It is. Okay, so let's just. Let's just break down some lineups, I guess, then. Who's got lineups?

[Jamie]

I have two.

[Dave]

Hit me.

[Heath]

I gave mine already.

[Adam]

You gave the Whole thing, huh?

[Jamie]

You?

[Adam]

Nah.

[Heath]

Okay, I'll do it again.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Heath]

Go ahead, Jim.

[Jamie]

Go ahead, Jamie. This is a DraftKings lineup. Ramstack, Stafford, Walker, Stevenson, Puka, JSN, Cooper Cup, Colby Parkinson, Little Jordan Humphrey in the Patriots defense.

[Adam]

One more time.

[Jamie]

Stafford at quarterback, Walker and Stevenson at running back. Puka JSN and Cooper cup at receiver, Lil Jordan Humphrey at flex, Parkinson a tight end and Patriots DST.

[Adam]

That's DraftKings. Okay.

[Jamie]

Your other lineup, it's more of a Patriot stack. So Drake May quarterback, Walker and Stevenson at running back again. JSN again, K Sean Booty, Marvin Mims at wide receiver, Henry at tight end, cup at the flex and the Rams defense.

[Adam]

Heath, what do you got?

[Heath]

I've got a Seahawks stack. Darnold Walker, Holani JSN with Puka, Demario Douglas, Terence Ferguson, Travion Henderson and the Broncos defense.

[Adam]

So you both are getting Puka and JSN in lineups.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Dave]

I am too.

[Adam]

Excellent. So I have a Patriots stack on Vanduul. I have Drake May, Stefan Diggs and Hunter Henry, and I have the Broncos dst. So that doesn't really sound great.

[Heath]

Makes no sense at all.

[Adam]

I didn't have quite enough money for the Patriots dst, but I wanted to get them. I could go with any DST other than the Patriots. But I mean, look, you get some sacks, get turnover or something like that. But still, I think Drake making have a good game. You look at just talking about the Patriots in general or Denver's defense. This is why what I said the other day, I. I just don't think the Broncos are. Are anything like the Texans. I'm not even sure they're. They're the Chargers defense right now. Prove me. Maybe they'll prove me wrong. But The Colts scored 29 points. The Chargers scored 23. The Cowboys scored 24. The Chief scored 19. The packers scored 26. The Jaguars scored. Oh, more than 24. I have 24 here. But they scored more than that. Oh, I don't know. Yeah, and the bill scored 30, so I just. I'm not seeing them shutting down really good offenses here. I like the way the Patriots are playing. The only thing that's prevented Drake May his last two games have been against the Chargers and the Texans. Two of the toughest matchups. The only thing that's prevented him from having, you know, big games are the fumbles, the turnovers in general. Clean that up and he can have a nice game here. So I have made Diggs, who's playing running just about every route lately and he'll play in the slot and Keisha Booty and Hunter Henry. Okay, I forgot about Booty so I have four Patriots so can't start their defense.

[Dave]

How could you forget about Booty?

[Adam]

May Booty digs Henry, Ken Walker, Blake Corum, Pat Bryant and Puka Nakua. Forgot about him. He's my flex and I guess I'll put the probably put the Rams DST in there. But yeah, May Walker, Corum Diggs, Pat Bryant, Keisha Booty, Hunter Henry, Pukinakua at flex and the Rams. I have a thousand dollars left, so can I upgrade? Oh, so close to be able to being able to get Ramandre in there. So if I if I got away from Hunter Henry, I could get Ramandre in there.

[Heath]

A good statement after Adam's little internal dialogue there. It's, it's a really good idea if you're playing in a tournament and trying to be contrarian to not spend all of your money because there's going to be very few actually unique lineups and there's going to be even fewer unique lineups that are within 3 or $400 of the salary gap. So leaving a thousand dollars on the board. Now I know Adam, you're probably playing in like a play a dollar you can win a nickel if you don't finish last. But and that you wouldn't want to do that. But in if you're trying to win big money, leave some money out there.

[Adam]

I am playing in a 5050 so.

[Jamie]

I will but the weird thing is you're doing against yourself. I don't know how you, you know.

[Adam]

If I win $4, I will send some your way, no problem. But all right. It looks like the only offense that we're just not going to stack is the Broncos.

[Jamie]

Right?

[Adam]

I mean you guys seem fine with the Patriots.

[Dave]

Well, unless you're going to go contrarian could do that. Which that's kind of what we're getting at. And what you can go contrarian and not spend all of your money. I can try and whip up something real quick on what that might look like. But I, I, I honestly believe Sean Payton when he says we're gonna let Stitty rip it and there. I don't think they changed their game plan one bit just because it's sit him. I think they've got a lot of confidence in him and would expect him to throw a decent amount of passes.

[Adam]

Man, it's just such a tough defense. I mean the last no question, no.

[Dave]

Question we'd be saying the exact same thing if Bo Nix were okay.

[Jamie]

Right.

[Adam]

Well, good luck, everybody.

[Dave]

He's not that far off. If you take his numbers from his starts in 22 and 23, he's not that far off from what Bo Nix did this past year. He's not that far off statistically than what Trevor Lawrence did this year. And remember, it's the whole year for Trevor Lawrence. It's not just the second half of the season. But, like, sit him is okay. As backup quarterbacks go, he's okay who wins.

[Adam]

Make your picks.

[Dave]

Well, not Jared Stidham's team. I'll take the Patriots. And I'll take the Seahawks.

[Jamie]

Patriots, Rams.

[Heath]

Why not Broncos?

[Jamie]

Rams.

[Adam]

Patriots. Rams. Okay, next time we speak to you, you'll know who's in the Super Bowl.

[Jamie]

That's it.

[Heath]

Not me. I'll talk to you tomorrow on FFT Dynasty.

[Dave]

And I've got FFT Express.

[Adam]

Yeah, there is FFT Express.

[Dave]

Okay.

[Adam]

A couple times from now when we speak to you, you'll know who's in the Super Bowl. Thank you for watching and listening, everybody. Talk to you next time on Fantasy Football.

[Dave]

Today.

[Jamie]

Paramount podcast.

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