Start or Sit (AFC): Rhamondre Stevenson, Steelers RBs, Jaylen Waddle and More (12/25 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today – Start or Sit (AFC): Rhamondre Stevenson, Steelers RBs, Jaylen Waddle and More

Date: December 25, 2025
Hosts: Adam Aizer, Dave Richard, Jamie Eisenberg (Heath Cummings not present in this episode)

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Overview

On this festive Christmas episode, the FFT crew tackles critical “Start or Sit” decisions for AFC fantasy matchups in Week 17. Adam, Dave, and Jamie provide rankings, player analysis, and injury updates as fantasy leagues hit championship week. They discuss players to love and avoid, high-leverage incentives, playoff implications for the Rams and Steelers, and answer listener start/sit questions.

The hosts deliver an episode dense with actionable advice and nuanced situational takes, built around key matchups, incentive-chasing players, injury comebacks, and tricky weather forecasts.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Players to Love This Week

Jamie Eisenberg:

• Trevor Lawrence (Jaguars QB) vs. Colts
  • “Start of the week. Obviously recognizing what he's done for the last five games... Top five quarterback for me this week.” (03:52)
• Stefan Diggs (Patriots WR) vs. Jets
  • Chasing contract incentives (4 catches for $500k, 131 yards for another $500k)
  • “Love the setup for him. Love the setup for Lawrence and both should be great.” (04:38)

Dave Richard:

• Rhamondre Stevenson (Patriots RB) at Jets
  • “Jets have allowed almost 23 PPR points to a lead running back in three of their past five games since they traded away Quinnen Williams.” (05:15)
  • If Travion Henderson sits, Stevenson is a solid RB2/flex.
• Caleb Williams (Bears QB) at 49ers
  • “He’s in a spot where I think he can be a top-10 quarterback this week and come through for fantasy managers.” (06:18)
  • Noted 49ers’ recent struggles vs. QBs.

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2. Players to Avoid

Dave Richard:

• Rico Dowdle (Panthers RB) at Seahawks
  • “I could not be more done with Rico Dowdle.” (08:10)
  • “Seattle’s run defense… not a spot where I feel comfortable with Dowdle.”
• Zay Flowers (Ravens WR) at Packers
  • “Every time I update my rankings I find myself just moving Zay Flowers down a little more each time because of the downgrade at quarterback.” (08:10)
  • Only a flex play with Huntley likely starting.

Jamie Eisenberg:

• Marvin Harrison Jr. (Cardinals WR) at Bengals
  • “Only 29 snaps last week, only got three targets, only the one catch.” (10:18)
• Justin Herbert (Chargers QB) vs. Texans
  • “Since the offensive line fell apart… five straight games, 16 fantasy points or less. This is not going to be a great game for Justin Herbert.” (10:46)

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3. Incentives Watch: Players Chasing Payouts

Notable Mentions (21:24, 22:34, 23:00):

• Stefan Diggs: 4 catches/$500k, 131 yards/$500k.
• Rico Dowdle: 70 total yards/$1M.
• Hunter Henry: 3 catches/$250k.
• Juwan Jennings: 60 receptions or 600 yards/$666k each.
• Khalil Shakir: $150k per next two touchdowns.
• Tony Pollard: 151 yards/$250k.
• Matt Collins: 4 catches/$400k.

Jamie: “This could be a throw to score, run to win type of game for the Patriots where they pass early and run late and get these guys [their incentives]…” (76:15)

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4. Injury & Rest-Related Start/Sit Watch

Rams & Steelers Playoff Scenarios (13:01–17:43)

• Teams could rest starters if playoff seeding is locked.
• Jamie: “Not as of now... you're not going to sit Puka [Nacua] because if Staffer's going to play, obviously Puka's gonna be out there...You're not going to sit Kyron unless we know something...You're not going to sit the Steelers running backs unless we know something.” (13:46)
• Dave recommends rostering Kirk Cousins/Garoppolo for Stafford insurance (16:26).

Key Injuries

• Lamar Jackson: not practicing, could still play Saturday.
• Travion Henderson (Patriots RB): concussion protocol, monitoring status.
• Jalen Warren (Steelers): banged up, could cede work to backup if rested.
• Various OL/DL injuries affecting key matchups, e.g., Texans possibly missing OT starters, Packers WRs healthy.

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5. Game-by-Game AFC Start/Sit Tips

Houston @ Chargers

• Trust: Nico Collins (“You’re going to start him anyway, it’s Nico Collins, for crying…” – Dave, 32:56), Dalton Schultz (top 7–9 at TE).
• Chargers RBs: Omarion Hampton a strong start if Vidal is out – “Relatively high. …If he was running well all the way through, we probably have him ranked somewhere in the top 10.” (35:40)
• Caution: Herbert a low-end QB1, Lad McConkey "poor man's Nico Collins"; avoid other WR/TEs.

Philadelphia @ Buffalo

• Both QBs (Hurts & Allen) are must-starts but expectations lowered due to injuries and matchup.
• Dallas Goddard: “not a slam dunk start, nor should he be in this matchup.” (49:39)
• Prefer Schultz/Juwan Johnson over Goddard; even Colson Loveland if both Mizzou WRs out.

Tampa Bay @ Miami

• Evans: “Top 12ish type of wide receiver, figure he scores again…” (54:15)
• Waddle: Jamie has him WR21, Dave WR29.
• Bucky Irving: back-end RB2; limited passing role but volume.
• Abuka: “Just can’t trust him right now. …Tank job with Evans back.” (56:41)

Jacksonville @ Indianapolis

• Trevor Lawrence: top-5 QB.
• Jacoby Myers: must-start WR.
• Colts WRs (Downs, Pittman, Pierce): Rank after Myers, with Parker Washington/Brian Thomas Jr. in deep-league conversation.
• Brenton Strange: streaming TE for both sides; matchup exceptional; modest target share but strong TD upside.

New England @ Jets

• Rhamondre Stevenson: RB2, love him if Henderson sits.
• Stefan Diggs: strong WR2 via target volume/incentives.
• Hunter Henry: top-8 TE with incentive-based upside.
• Breece Hall: Outside top 24 RBs; “Can't trust Breece Hall right now.” (77:39)

Pittsburgh @ Cleveland

• Steelers RBs: Both Gainwell (in PPR) and Warren are top 24, with preference shifting if Warren’s health is in question. (29:03)
• Browns RBs: If Dylan Sampson plays, could be a low-end RB2/Flex; “Big upside in PPR.” (81:11)
• Passing games: Avoid, unless desperate—John Metchie and possibly TE Tyler Warren.

New Orleans @ Tennessee

• Start: Chris Olave and Juwan Johnson (TE6).
• Sit: Estime (NO RB) and Taysom Hill (tough run D).
• Tony Pollard: Only fringe/low RB2 in PPR.
• Tyler Shuck (Titans QB): Deep sleeper, “Top 15 QB, and I am starting him in a championship.” – Dave (84:01)

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Listener Start/Sit Q&A – Memorable & Useful Moments

• Devonta Smith vs. Bucky Irving: “I have Irving a little bit ahead of Devonta Smith.” – Dave (49:14)
• Michael Carter, Rico Dowdle, A. Buka:
  • Jamie: “I'll take Carter. Even with no catches last week…” (59:30)
  • Dave: “Probably have Dowdle ranked the highest of the three.”
• RB Rankings Amid Injuries:
  • “If Videl played, would Hampton be a top 24 back?”
    “Yes.” – Jamie (41:05)
• Start Both Steelers Running Backs?
  • Adam: “I'm excited, I'm starting both of them in one league now.” – Dave: "That's great." (79:46)
• Breece Hall vs. Dowdle:
  • Jamie: “I'd start Michael Carter over him. I'd start Blake Corum over him. Like, I can't trust Breece Hall right now.” (77:35)

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “You're not here for the Christmas spirit…You're here to kick some ass in your fantasy leagues. That's what Christmas is all about."
  – Dave, (02:53)

• “I could not be more done with Rico Dowdle.”
  – Dave, (08:10)

• “Jets have allowed almost 23 PPR points to a lead running back in three of their last five games since they traded away Quinnen Williams.”
  – Dave, (05:15)

• “If you've got Stafford, see if Kirk Cousins is available…that way if you get to Monday and Stafford's inactive...then you can pivot.”
  – Dave, (16:26)

• “[Stefon Diggs] needs another four catches for half a million dollars, another 131 yards for another 500,000. So he’s chasing incentives. …Love the setup for him.”
  – Jamie, (04:38)

• “If [Jalen] Warren is ruled out for whatever reason, then Gainwell to the moon. Yes.”
  – Jamie, (67:59)

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Segment Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |------------|-----------------------------------------------------| | 02:26–08:10| Players We Love / Avoid (Kickoff, rapid-fire) | | 13:01–17:43| Playoff Scenario Risks: Rams/Steelers | | 21:24–23:00| Contract Incentives Tracker | | 23:41–26:44| Injury/News Roundup | | 25:51–41:14| Game-by-Game Rapid Start/Sit, Listener Q&A Begins | | 44:04–48:49| Eagles @ Bills Analysis | | 54:15–58:32| Bucs @ Dolphins Deep Dive, Waddle/Irving | | 61:08–67:53| Jags/Colts Deep Dive, RB/TE Debates, more Q&A | | 71:33–74:07| Patriots WR Tiers: Diggs / Hollins & Incentives | | 79:34–82:40| Steelers/Browns and Flex Running Back Puzzle | | 83:34–85:37| Saints @ Titans: Avoid NO RBs, Deep QB/TE streamer | | 85:44–86:49| DST rankings, quickfire finales |

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Tone & Final Take

The podcast maintains the crew’s signature casual energy and camaraderie (“That’s what Christmas is all about—kicking ass in your fantasy leagues!”), with relentless stat citations, injury calculations, and start/sit contingency trees. There’s emphasis on contract incentives and player motivations, plus lots of practical advice on how to handle late-in-week uncertainty and playoff clinching scenarios.

Bottom line: Listen if you want every significant AFC start/sit angle explained—especially if you have challenging flex decisions, RB injury headaches, or are tracking end-of-season contract incentives!

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For More Answers

Tune in to the companion NFC episode and Sunday morning live shows for all lineup-breaking news and last-minute start/sit advice.

Transcript

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[Adam]

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[Dave]

Ohio this is Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports. What a play. Can you believe this?

[Adam]

No, I can't.

[Dave]

It's time to dominate your fantasy league.

[Adam]

This is gonna go the distance.

[Dave]

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

[Adam]

Oh hello everybody. Welcome to the show and Merry Christmas. It's Fantasy Football today presented by BetMGM. Make it legendary. Thursday, December 25th a festive show. For those of you who are live watching with us, that's pretty cool. Hopefully you have an awesome holiday. Everybody at home, if you're listening today, tomorrow, we hope this whole week for you is fantastic and obviously bring you fantasy football presence and championships for the holidays. Good morning, Dave, Richard.

[Dave]

Merry Christmas, Adam, Jamie and everybody watching, thank you for being with us. You're not here for the Christmas spirit, though. You're here to kick some ass in your fantasy leagues. That's what Christmas is all about. That's what this week is all about. And it starts today. I love it.

[Adam]

Good morning, Jamie.

[Jamie]

Dave said it best. Let's go.

[Dave]

I might have had some coffee this morning.

[Adam]

Dave said a bad word or a naughty word?

[Dave]

Oh, now I'm the one getting. Getting yelled at or whatever you said called me.

[Jamie]

I can't believe you would do that, Dave. That's horrible.

[Adam]

You know what?

[Dave]

I've been good at apologizing this year. I'd like to send a heartfelt apology to everybody for my language Christmas morning. I will try and refrain from doing so on this holy day.

[Adam]

Tis the season. All right, so let's get to the players we love and players to avoid two players each. Jamie, you love Trevor Lawrence against the Colts. Stefan Diggs against the Eagles.

[Jamie]

Yeah, Lawrence is start of the week. Obviously recognizing what he's done for the last five games. The last two games over 90 fantasy points. So he's obviously on fire and taking on a Cole's defense. He already scored 23 fantasy points against. They just gave up five touchdowns to Brock Purdy. Should be an awesome game for Lawrence. Top five quarterback for me this week. And Stefan Diggs, he needs another four catches for half a million dollars. Another hundred. I think it's 139 yards for another 500, 000. So he's chasing incentives. Plus good matchup plus opportunity should be there for him, especially if Keisha Booty does not play. He did not practice on Wednesday. Demaro Douglas was limited in practice, so they could be down a couple of receivers, but looks like at least one. And he already went for over 100 yards against his jets defense in week 11. So love the setup for him. Love the setup for Lawrence and both should be great.

[Adam]

I think I said he was facing the Eagles, but he's no longer on the Bills. Stefan Diggs just checked. He's actually on the Patriots now.

[Dave]

He's on the Viking.

[Adam]

And they on the Viking. They're facing the Jets. Okay, Dave, speaking of facing the Jets, Ramandre Stevenson you know, as it look, Trayvon Henderson was limited. He and Jordan Love at least are getting limited sessions in with the concussions. Maybe they have a chance to play. We're treating Ramondre right now as if Trayvon is out. I was almost surprised to see he was only about 15th or so in the rankings. But you like Ramandre Stevenson at the jets and Caleb Williams at the Niners.

[Dave]

I have a hard time moving him into the top 10, but he is 15th for me at running back. I will like him less if Travon Henderson plays. That goes without saying, but he would still be a strong flex play. The jets have allowed almost 23 PPR points to a lead running back in three of their past five games since they traded away Quinn and Williams. This is an outstanding matchup. And remember one of those games last week against the Saints? They didn't allow those numbers to a running back. They allowed him to a tight end. So I think that there's definitely an opportunity for Ramondre with a feature back workload to come through for fantasy managers. And if you had told me after the first 58 minutes of the Bears game last week that Caleb Williams would be on my love list, I would have said that you're crazy. But he put it together in the last two minutes and ended up having a really good fantasy game. But that's not the reason why I'm starting him. I'm starting him because he's taking on the 49ers. They just allowed Philip Rivers to throw two touchdowns against them and have over 20 fantasy points against them. And it should be a high scoring game in San Francisco on. On Sunday. I think the game's in San Francisco. You can correct me if I'm wrong.

[Adam]

It is.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Cool. But bottom line is Caleb Williams is in a spot where I think he can be a top 10 quarterback this week and come through for fantasy managers. Getting a lot of numbers.

[Adam]

I know.

[Dave]

Not having Romo dun, at least as of now it looks that way. That's going to sting. But it didn't sing last week.

[Adam]

It's the game of the week.

[Dave]

Y.

[Adam]

Really just hit the wrong button. But it's the Niners and the Bears Sunday night and it's the game of the week.

[Jamie]

Hey, you want to find Caleb Williams potential milestone?

[Dave]

No.

[Jamie]

He's 600 yards away from 4,000 yards.

[Adam]

No, I don't because I'm pissed that I hit the wrong button. But that, wow, that'd be amazing. That'd be the first ever.

[Jamie]

First time ever. So does. Does you know he hasn't had a 300 yard game this season. His best is 298, so he's sitting on 304, 303,400 yards. It'd be awesome if Ben Johnson just was like effort. Let's just go throw the ball all over the place and see if we can get this done.

[Adam]

That's but the problem is that I'm.

[Dave]

Not sure if they have to do that because the 49ers run defense hasn't been great. They were, they got better last week. Bethune was back and and they'll be.

[Jamie]

Able to run the ball.

[Dave]

We'll talk about that game more tomorrow. But if you're making a line of decision based on something happening on Thursday, I think Swift has a good game too. I really like almost everybody in this game between the Niners and the Bears.

[Adam]

All right, Sunday, don't forget. So listen, we're going to monitor the weather, we're going to monitor injuries. So the things you hear today might be outdated by the time Sunday comes around. So please join us at 11am Eastern until 1pm Eastern for starter [e-mail] fantasy football today we you can ask your questions. We answer a ton of them. We get a ton of them so we don't answer all of them. But please YouTube.com fantasy football today our last Sunday morning episode Players to avoid Dave, you're saying Rico I could not, I could not be more done with Rico Dowdle. He's facing Seattle and Zaf. I'm like I'm mad about it. And Zay Flowers against Green Bay on Saturday.

[Dave]

I don't like the track record of Tyler Huntley's target rates to non receivers when he's played and he's been in the league since 2020. And granted he's a backup so he only has so many starter guys games as a starter. Only twice in his career has he connected with a wide receiver for 15 or more fantasy points. Zay Flowers came close last week and a half or not close. 11 PPR points last week and I think he had another game with him, whereas around 14. That's flex territory. I'm cool with Flowers as a flex, but every time I go to update my rankings I find myself just moving Zay Flowers down a little bit more each time because of the downgrade at quarterback. Obviously if Lamar Jackson recovers, ends up playing in the game, it's a huge game for Baltimore. I'm going to be a big fan of Zay Flowers, but until that happens, he's a flex play at best. And then, I mean, you kind of summarize it with Rico. We're tired of him. He was a 6040 split in terms of carries with Chuba Hubbard last week. Chuba dominated on third downs. I believe he dominated inside the 10 as well, but they just didn't have that many chances. Now it's Seattle. It's a run defense that's been good all the way around. This is not going to be a spot where I feel comfortable with Rico Dowdle having some breakaway runs. I believe Seattle is one of the run defenses that allows the fewest explosive rush rates over the course of. Not just the last four weeks, but over the course of the season. And that makes Dowdle someone that I would try and set.

[Jamie]

That was another guy chasing a big incentive. He's 70 total yards away from a million dollars. I agree with you. Try to avoid him this week, so hopefully he gets it in the next two games for his sake. But, yeah, that's a. That's a big payday if he. If he can get there.

[Adam]

Yeah. Because he didn't sign that big of a contract, so. No, no, that's big. Okay.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Adam]

I recommended Blake Corum over Rico Dowdle, and then I reconsidered because Dowdle at least could get you, like, four or five catches. But that's kind of where I'm at. I mean, they're kind of like the.

[Jamie]

Same guy at this point. Touchdown defendant.

[Adam]

Right. And one of them is. Is averaging, like, almost two more yards per carry, basically, over the last month or so. More than that. Okay, Jamie, you're saying you want to avoid Marvin Harrison Jr. Against the Bengals and Justin Herbert against Houston?

[Jamie]

Yeah. In the case of Marvin, we'll see how much more he plays. Only 29 snaps last week, only got three targets, only the one catch. I'm sure. I know I would a little bit, but I'm sure we all would feel differently if he caught that touchdown. But he's facing a Bengals team that we know has been great against opposing wide receivers. Fourth best in terms of fewest fantasy points to the position. We'll see if DJ Turner stays on him or Wilson or just stays on his side. But obviously HARRISON not at 100%. Who was the second guy? I forgot already.

[Adam]

Justin Herbert against Houston.

[Jamie]

Yeah. Herbert. Look, I wish he could play Dallas every week. That's. That was fun to watch. We saw what Herbert can look like. I. I still think I'm. I'm sure I'm not alone in this, that if they had a healthy offensive line, they may be the best team in football right now. Just defense is playing great. Obviously Herbert's had a fantastic season, but they can't protect him, you know, consistently. And now here comes the Texans number one in terms of fewest total yards allowed, defensively, tied for sixth and sacks for 41. And they clearly did a fantastic job against him in the playoffs last year. Four interceptions, four sacks. It was not a pretty performance against this defense. And so we've seen the track record for him so far since the offensive line fell apart prior to Dallas. Five straight games, 16 fantasy points or less. This is not going to be a great game for Justin Herbert, who is.

[Dave]

The last quarterback to do well against Houston.

[Adam]

Jacoby Brissette.

[Dave]

How did he do it?

[Adam]

Yeah, he threw a ton and he threw it a lot of it in the fourth quarter.

[Dave]

Right. And so I almost think that's what has to happen in order for Justin Herbert to be really good for fantasy. And we've already seen a game this year when, where when the Chargers are trailing, they're just getting blown out. Remember the Jacksonville game, they pulled everybody and so I don't think there's not.

[Jamie]

Getting blown out by the time garbage time.

[Adam]

No, this, these are two of the best. This should be a really, really good game. But maybe not for fantasy.

[Jamie]

Right?

[Adam]

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[Jamie]

They.

[Adam]

I don't think they can get a top three seed, so I think I'm right about that. So.

[Jamie]

Well, they won't be ahead of the AFC west, they won't be ahead of the AFC east, and, and the best they could do is.

[Adam]

Well, I, I don't know, actually they're 9 and 6 and the Jaguars are 11 and 4, so I don't know who would have the tiebreaker. So I could be wrong. If they, if they win out and go 11 and six and the Jags lose out and go, maybe they could be the three or the four. But they. They'd win the division, that's for sure. And then you've got the Rams, who could be locked into a wild card spot if what, The Seahawks and 49ers win.

[Dave]

Yeah, they both have to win.

[Adam]

Okay, so are we making any starter sit decisions based on these scenarios, Jamie?

[Jamie]

Not as of now. I think the, the ones that you worry about, Jalen Warren is on the injury report. And if he's not 100, do they pull back on him and maybe play Caleb Johnson a little bit more in a game that they don't really have to do much to win? Anyway, based on how the Browns are operating, that's one that makes me a little bit concerned. I don't think they're going to sit Aaron Rodgers. Nobody's playing Aaron Rodgers, especially without DK Metcalf there. So that's one you watch for in Pittsburgh. In the case of the Rams, I mean, maybe that's a Blake Corum game more so than a Kyron Williams game. If that's the route they decide to go. Remember, Stafford is still in the MVP race and they're going to give him the chance to go out and get it. Now, what that means potentially is do they pull him in the second half if they're up and don't give him a chance to maybe pat his stats even more? You know, so we've seen them. You know, you go back to the Jaguars game, for example, in London. He goes out and has a big first half. I don't remember if they pulled him in that game, but, you know, he can get his numbers early. What I'm getting at, he can get his numbers early in the game. So if that's going to happen, you're still starting him. I just think the. It's, it's so minute in terms of what you would consider doing at this point. You know, you're not going to sit Pukuk because if Staffer's going to play, obviously Puka's gonna be out there. You're not going to sit Kyron unless we know something. You're not going to sit the Steelers running backs unless we know something. You know, there's. There's not that many guys that we're talking about here. So I Think as of now, Thursday morning, you know, we're still starting everybody.

[Adam]

Okay. But yeah, staffer is always interesting because of where he was drafted or picked up. Then people could have Burrow or Stafford. They could clearly have Lawrence or Stafford. They could have Dak or Stafford. And you got, you guys have Stafford ranked. I think he's one through three for you two and Heath. So I guess I'll just people, you have to see how risk averse you want to be if you want to start someone who's ranked very similar to Matthew Stafford because of.

[Jamie]

Well, that's, that's, that's a totally fair argument. Regardless of sitting him. If they're going to sit him or not.

[Adam]

Yeah, of course. Right. It might be a tiebreaker for you, but it's got to be someone great. I mean, you're not starting Caleb Williams over him. Okay. You, it has to be someone in the top five.

[Jamie]

So we find out. Let's say, you know, Sean McVeigh says, yeah, we're going to watch the game and then we're going to be cautious with our guys. Depending on the score, like you get something that there's maybe a hint of this could happen. So we got that question. I think it was yesterday, who am I sitting out of? Chris Olave? George Pickens? Or maybe it was just those two. So, and we were like speculating, oh, maybe they have JSN Puka or one of these guys. So like if you have those situations and you're that lucky, then maybe you consider something like that there's, there's no such. I don't know about any. I'll speak for myself. I don't have the type of rosters I'm in nine finals. I don't have the type of rosters where I'm sending pooping a cool.

[Adam]

No, no, definitely not.

[Jamie]

But.

[Dave]

And another move you could make if you wanted to is if you've got Stafford, see if Kirk Cousins is available, Kerry Cousins on the bench, and that way if you get to the game on Monday and Stafford's inactive, a report comes out that says Stafford isn't going to play or he's only going to play two drives, whatever, then you can pivot to Kirk Cousins, but Cousins has to be available. And if not, then Garoppolo maybe should be on your bench just in case. But I'll say this team's game plan all week long. It would be very weird for the Rams to game plan and prep for, for Stafford and the whole offense to play. And then suddenly at the end they pull the plug and then it's a bunch of second stringers going in there and play when they didn't prep the same way all week long. So I would guess that the worst case scenario is Stafford sits in the second half because the game goes one.

[Jamie]

Way or another and teams don't want to rest three weeks out.

[Adam]

Right? Right. Exactly right.

[Jamie]

Very fair.

[Dave]

Although if this were week 18, knowing Sean McPhay's history, he would for sure arrest these guys.

[Jamie]

Oh, week 18 is a different conversation. Yeah.

[Dave]

And if and I'll tell you something else. If if it ends up happening where Stafford is a surprise inactive and people and Puka is too and people really get screwed in their fantasy final. You're going to see leagues go back to a Week 16 championship really soon, really fast.

[Adam]

I mean, okay, incentives is the other storyline here and we'll talk about that after we take a little break. We got to talk about Jamie's already mentioned a couple Stefon Diggs, Rico Dowdle. What other incentives do we need to know about going into week 16? We'll be right 17 17. Dave got me all screwed up with the week 16 final thing. We'll be right back on Fantasy Football tomorrow.

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[Adam]

Head over to get started.TikTok.com TikTok ads Jamie, any other incentives to know about?

[Jamie]

Oh, there's a lot between milestones and incentives off top of my head. I can look it up if you want me to.

[Adam]

Yeah, I guess maybe just have it available and when, you know, when it comes to your mind, when it comes up, you know, let us know. I will say that Mike Evans needs to average three, I think 349 yards in his last two games. So we're keeping that in mind to get to a thousand yards. As a joke. Hahaha. He's not going to average that. So anyway, that's, that's what I got now at quarterback. Lamar Jackson still missing practice. They said he doesn't have to practice in order to play. They play on Saturday at Green Bay. Josh Johnson starting in a few hours for the Commanders. His left tackle Laramie Tunsil's out. Philip Rivers is going to start for the Colts. J.J. mcCarthy's out today. Jordan Love still in the concussion protocol, but he remains limited. Right now we're thinking it's going to be Malik Willis against Baltimore. Running back Jordan Mason out today. Aaron Jones is off the injury report. Josh Jacobs was limited with the knee issue. We're keeping an eye on it. Dylan Sampson was limited. So actually in terms of waiver wire running backs, I guess bad news because Sampson came back. Woody Marks practiced in full so I don't know that Sampson's gonna play. He was only limited but he at least he did practice. No Camara at practice. Basil Tootin was limited. That was interesting. I didn't think he'd be back this soon. Might doesn't mean he'll play it this week, but surprised see him practicing. Kamani Videl missed practice and that's a Saturday game. So right now we're thinking no Vidal and Treveon Henderson hopefully making Some progress. He's been limited. He's in the concussion protocol. They play Sunday at the Jets.

[Jamie]

There's really only three big ones offensively, at least. I see. No way. I. I take that back. The three big ones are Sam Darnold, Rico Dowdle, and Diggs. And Diggs. The. What I. What I referenced was he's four catches away from another 500, 000. He's 131 yards away from another $500,000. So his escalators kick in every 10 catches, starting at 70. So he's at 76. So four more gives him another half a million, and then his yardage kicks in at a thousand. Right now he's sitting at 869. Okay. Kendrick Bourne has some incentives. Debo Samuel has some incentives that he's trying to catch.

[Adam]

I mean, Khalil Shakir gets $150,000 for every touchdown for his next two touchdowns.

[Jamie]

So what a great deal by the Bills. Juwan Jennings gets a lot of money for his receptions and receiving yards, so he's. He gets $666,000 for 60 receptions and the same for receiving yards. And right now, 600 receiving yards. Right now, he's sitting at 49 catches and 566 yards. Ooh.

[Adam]

Hunter Henry gets $250,000 if he gets three more catches. He'll get that.

[Jamie]

Yeah. Keenan Allen has a bunch.

[Dave]

Yeah. Also, Pollard's got one for rushing yardage.

[Adam]

Yeah. Tony Power is probably gonna need two games to get his 250k.

[Jamie]

I'll get it.

[Adam]

151 yards. All right, back to the news and notes. Yeah. Keep an eye on Aman Ross. St. Brown. He expects to play today. Devonte Adams may be shut down for the rest of the regular season, according to Jeremy Fowler. Ricky Piersol was limited. Okay. We'll talk about that game in a little bit. Keep an eye on Ryan Flannoy today. Romo Dunes a missed practice, but Luther Burden was limited. So we'll talk about that situation. Still in the concussion protocol that Tampa Bay apparently wants to get a Mecca Abuca more involved. We're previewing that game today. A.J. brown had his wisdom teeth removed. Should be fine. Maybe a little chubby in the face. Christian Watson and Romeo Dobbs both practiced in full. Pat Bryant is out. Rasheed Rice is out for the season. TJ Hawkinson is out today. Brock Bowers. What the hell is that? I was like, what? Brock Bowers is out for the season. Tank a thon against the Giants.

[Dave]

Remember the injury he had in week one?

[Adam]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dave]

It stayed with him all year.

[Adam]

Yeah, it's. Keep that in mind in draft season next year. George Kittle, sprained ankle, may not play. You really need to make plans. Jake Tom just could be an okay backup if you're desperate. Dalton Schultz was limited. David Najoku missed practice. Let's see. So the Giants had two offensive linemen missing practice. Minnesota center Ryan Kelly is out today. Carolina left tackle Ikea Kwanu practiced in full. That's big for them. On the other side of the ball.

[Jamie]

They get Robert Hunt back, too.

[Adam]

Oh, nice. Charles Cross, Seattle left tackle HE speaker, three.

[Jamie]

But they opened the window for him to return.

[Adam]

Tampa Bay left tackle Tristan Worf says any as a toe injury. Jacksonville offensive lineman Patrick McCarry may not play. Isaac Sam Alu looks like he could return for this for the Steelers, but are the Texans going to be without both of their tackles this week?

[Dave]

Yeah. Well, I think Ursary for sure. I don't know about Trent Brown, but there's. There's a legitimate chance they're down both their starting tackles. Yeah.

[Jamie]

Wow.

[Adam]

And Quinn. And Williams is questionable. We still don't know about him. We'll know soon enough. Here's one. T.J. edwards. He's been the key to the Bears run defense. Terrible without him. Great with him. He missed practice with a glute injury. They're at San Francisco.

[Jamie]

I. Okay.

[Adam]

I mean, it's McCaffrey, but. Oh, the Patriots. I think this is one of the biggest injury situations to watch if you're gonna trust Breeze Hall. But they've got a ton of injuries, including defensive tackle Kyrus Tonga and two linebackers, including their leading tackle.

[Dave]

They've been missing a lot of those defensive guys for, like, much of the last three weeks. But Milton Williams might be back.

[Adam]

Yeah. Huge piece of their D line. He has 21 days to be activated. And Denzel Perryman being out for the Chargers is a huge deal as we'll talk about shortly here. All right, one question for each game. Houston is at the Chargers, and I will say that The Chargers allowed 5.1 yards per carry to running backs from weeks one through six with Denzel Perryman out for basically all of that. Dave, do you trust anyone in this game? Houston at the Chargers?

[Dave]

Several people. Nico Collins I would trust. Dalton Schultz I would trust. That doesn't mean I would trust C.J. stroud. Whatever. And then for the Chargers, it's Omarion Hampton. Especially if Kymani Vidal is out. And it's lad McConkey. Endless.

[Adam]

It's funny to trust four people in that game, but I get it. That's the first game we'll get in depth on. Philadelphia is at Buffalo and this is a weather game to watch. Just keep an eye on the weather throughout the week. It might be a little nasty. Jamie, starter. Sit. Devonte Smith at Buffalo.

[Jamie]

Low end, number two receiver, as per usual.

[Adam]

I guess he's probably in there with the tough calls we had Yesterday. The Tele McMillan Zay Flowers Group.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I put McConkey in there too. Same.

[Adam]

Yeah. Hate wide receiver. Tampa Bay's at Miami. Jalen Waddle or Bucky Irving? Dave, who's a better start?

[Dave]

Speaking of wide receivers that you want to hate, I will lean toward Bucky. I guess I haven't learned my lesson yet. However, it is a favorable matchup against Miami's run defense. They got stomped last week and I bet time of possession favors Tampa in this game. And my hunch is that they try and run the ball a lot again second week in a row. So give me Bucky over Waddle.

[Adam]

Jacksonville's at the Colts. I think that the receivers in this game. Jamie, we didn't bring them up yesterday as the tough calls. To me, one of the hardest to figure out at any position, you know, whatever in this slate. Rank the wide receivers in this game. Jacksonville at Indianapolis.

[Jamie]

Jacoby Myers 1. Brian Thomas 2, Alec Pierce 3. Parker Washington 4, Michael Pittman 5, Josh Down 6.

[Adam]

Dave, do you have any strong agreement or disagreement on that order?

[Dave]

The only nitpick would be Pierce over Brian Thomas Jr. I'd rather you're starting two high upside receivers, deep ball receivers.

[Jamie]

Either way, I'd rather have Pierce Thomas's history against the Colts. It's only three games, but it's pretty fantastic.

[Adam]

And the easy one is Myers. First, I did a Twitter poll. Who do you prefer, Brian Thomas Jr. Or Parker Washington? And 56% actually said Parker Washington. And last thing on that because we'll get to it later. The Colts. So Parker Washington is their slot guy And Brian Thomas Jr. Is their deep threat now. So who's got a better matchup? Well, the Colts, they allow, sorry, I think the most wide receiver yards out of the the most receiving yards. The slot wide receivers. Good for Parker Washington, but they also allow the six most catches of 20 or more air yards. Go for Brian Thomas Jr. It's a great matchup in general. All right, one question for each game. Continues with New England at the Jets. Dave, if Travion Henderson plays, would you start any running back in this game?

[Dave]

I'd start Henderson and I'd start Ramon Dre as a flex, would you start.

[Adam]

Andre over Breece Hall?

[Dave]

I think I might.

[Adam]

Okay.

[Jamie]

I would. Okay.

[Adam]

Pittsburgh's at Cleveland again. This is another weather game. Please check the weather on this one. Jamie, which Steelers run. Both of you, which Steelers running back do you prefer?

[Jamie]

Gainwell and ppr Warren and half and none.

[Dave]

I've got Warren ahead in both. However, if there's a chance that the Steelers may be rest players that aren't 100%. Jamie mentioned it earlier in the show. That would make me flip to Gainwell over Warren. But they're both top 24 running backs.

[Adam]

New Orleans is at Tennessee, a stat I came across I didn't love. Dave, are you worried that Juwan Johnson, because he's ranked really high this week, he only had a 19% target share last week. They threw almost 50 times. Does that concern you at all?

[Dave]

No, not at all. In fact, 19 for a tight end is pretty good.

[Adam]

It is. It is just, you know, people. Oh, Devon Valley didn't play. He got eight or nine targets. Well, they threw the ball a ton, so I just want to bring that up.

[Jamie]

It's also the first game that they didn't have any of their top three running backs to.

[Adam]

Yes. Also, I didn't see Foster Morrow's status. Did he practice? Yes.

[Jamie]

Did not practice. Okay.

[Adam]

All right, let's go to the games.

[Jamie]

Neither did Camaro, by the way.

[Adam]

Yeah, I did say that one. Houston's at the Chargers. This is why you're gonna love this one. Fantasy managers. Since week eight, these two teams are first and second in yards per game allowed. And shockingly, this is. Remember, I brought this up yesterday. The Saints are third. Incredible.

[Jamie]

But damn, there goes my Titans championship.

[Adam]

It's weird. I mean, the Titans offense has been humming a little bit lately, and the Saints defense has been humming lately. Okay. But anyway, the Chargers and the Texas here I mentioned the Denzel Perryman thing. He's. That he's out for the Chargers and they allowed 5.1 yards per carry to running backs. So without him earlier this year. All right, sit, Stroud. But, Jamie, let's talk about the. The Texans running backs here and if you can trust them in what might be a good matchup.

[Jamie]

It might be a good matchup. Well, it is a good matchup because Perryman's not playing. He's suspended. So I, I think just. You have to find. Talk your way into a few things. Got to talk your way into is Woody Marks, still their best running back because what we've seen for the last two games Is Gerard Jordan doing basically almost the identical thing last week that Woody Marks had done the entirety of his stretch as a starter, which is get a lot of work, but not have a lot, not have a great yards per carry and just kind of cobble his way to a good game. But the fact that now there's another guy in the mix, I don't know if they're just going to go back to Woody marks with the 17 carries per game that he was getting in the five games prior to his injury. Will we see now three guys getting touches because of Nick Chub still being there? That's the way I am approaching it and it feels like it's messy. So I think at best, the fact that it's a good matchup, you look at Marks as a flex because the hope would be is that he goes back to his original role, but there's no certainty that that is going to be the case at all. So two tackles, potentially missing offense, coming off a struggling game against a mediocre defense. Now facing a great defense like this just feels like heavyweight boxing match where we're gonna see these two teams. Like you said, if you like two good teams facing each other that aren't gonna score a lot, this is the type of game for you.

[Adam]

Yeah, I'm into it. And then for Nico, I think he's probably one of those players that, you know, you kind of have to start, but you're gonna do it nervously. You wouldn't start like Terry McLaurin over Nico, would you?

[Jamie]

No, they're very close. They're very close. Yeah.

[Dave]

Would you like some names of receivers? I would start over Nico. Yeah. Olave seems easy at this point. T. Higgins, Cortland Sutton, Juwan Jennings.

[Jamie]

I'm.

[Dave]

I'm into Juwan Jennings. I think that's still going to be a high scoring game. I talked about that already. I do draw the line at Mike Evans, Michael Wilson, DJ Moore, Jameson Williams. Williams plays on Thursday. Drake, London, Tedoa. Not those guys. Give me Nico over those guys. But he's more of a low end, number one receiver. That's. That's what the expectation is. You're going to start him anyway. It's Nico Collins, for crying.

[Jamie]

The way he's performed, I. The only one I would disagree with is I would go Evans over him too.

[Adam]

And Nico is the number 11 wide receiver per game. Is this a tough matchup? I mean, we've seen like AJ Brown and George Pickens have huge games against the Chargers recently. It's the offensive tackles being out that that makes. That scares me. Last week was a horrible game for Nico, but that was really on C.J. stroud. He could have had easily 100 yard game against, against the Chargers. Sorry.

[Jamie]

Against the Raiders, this just came across. If you're desperate. Chris Rodriguez was just added to the injury report with an illness. So if Quinn and Williams is out and Rodriguez is out. Merry Christmas.

[Dave]

Build time.

[Adam]

Okay, Dalton Schultz is about seventh ish in the rankings. I think he's seventh for you guys. He's ninth for. For Heath. He's. You know that. The Chargers allow the fifth fewest fantasy points to tight ends. But their last four games, Brock Bowers had a huge game. Dallas Goddard scored almost 16 fantasy points. Travis Kelsey scored 14 PPR fantasy points. Jake Ferguson struggled. But I think if I remember correctly, Ferguson was. Was open for a touchdown. Dak missed him. That didn't seem.

[Dave]

Yes.

[Adam]

So Schultz is a start for us. Over which. How many Saints tight ends would you start Dalton Schultz over? Like rank Saints tight ends and Schultz, Dave.

[Dave]

Juwan Johnson, Dalton Schultz, Taysom Hill, Jamie Same. Yeah.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Adam]

All right. Justin Herbert is 13th for Dave and J for David Heath 17th for Jamie. Try to get away from Herbert. Tyler Shucker.

[Jamie]

Herbert sucked for me.

[Dave]

I believe I have Herbert a couple of spots ahead of Shock.

[Adam]

How about Bryce Young against Seattle or Justin Herbert?

[Jamie]

Herbert.

[Adam]

Herbie Darter.

[Jamie]

Herbert Dart for me. Herbert.

[Adam]

Next up, Chargers running backs. Okay, so I, I gave this stat on beyond the box score. The running backs who have averaged 50 who have had 15 or more touches against the Texans this year have averaged 14.6 PPR fantasy points per game. It's a very good number. However, the ones who have only had 15 to 17 touches have never even scored 12 points per game. So you pretty much need more than that. Hopefully you get that from Hampton. Personally, I thought the Texans run defense against Genti last week was excellent except for the long play. I don't think the final box score like would indicate the Texans run defense quality. Personal opinion. So it's not looking at this as a good matchup at all. But if Fidel is out. Jamie, what's your enthusiasm level for Omarion Hampton?

[Jamie]

I mean, relatively high. You know, you're. You're talking about a guy that in limited snaps for a good portion of last week's game before the Vidal injury and he got injured in the fourth quarter and in the first game that he returned just from a production standpoint when he was in the game, they used him, you know, so the snap count, not great. But when he was on the Field, they used him. And I thought he got to the edge very well last week against the Cowboys, especially late in the game. I think they now see, okay, we can give him a little bit more work because of, A, the injury, but B, he's now, you know, got probably his legs underneath him after the seven game that. Seven games that he missed with the foot injury. And this feels like the way to attack the Texans if you're going to have some success, because throwing on them just feels like a nightmare when your offensive line's a mess and their defense is so good at getting to the quarterback. So when those guys get up field, you know, you. You get past the initial pass rush, you know, and you're dealing with their linebackers. That's not easy, but it's easier than just, you know, letting Justin Herbert stand back there and get pummeled. So I think they're going to try and run Omarion Hampton as much as they can, and I do think that we'll see a spike in the passing game if Money Vidal is not there. So there's two ways that Hampton can win. I love your stat about, you know, the amount of touches because I think that's what he's going to get. You know, I don't think this is a Hassan Haskins, Jared Patterson game. Like, this is a game where you feed Omari and Hampton as much as you possibly can and hopefully he holds up. So if he was running well all the way through, we probably have him ranked or I probably have him ranked somewhere in the top 10. I think you got to be a little bit cautious. Offensive line still a concern, obviously. Great defense. Number two, running back for this week. Okay.

[Adam]

Ramondre or Hampton?

[Dave]

Hampton.

[Jamie]

Oh, Ramondre, if he's the only guy there against Jets.

[Adam]

Right. Assuming both of them are the only guys.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Adam]

It's a good, good little debate. All right, Dave, try to sell me on a One guy's taking on paper.

[Jamie]

Paper.

[Dave]

I mean, here I guess the issue is, is that the Texans and Chargers play on Saturday and we would have to know travion status by that game.

[Adam]

Try to sell me on on lad.

[Dave]

McConkey, short area target, explosive receiver. He can win downfield, too. It is a difficult matchup against Houston. I thought that their secondary was pretty dang good last week against Vegas, but it's Vegas. And the reason why I'm a little bit more bullish on Justin Herbert than Jamie is not to say these. It's up 12 quarterback is because he's just. He has balled out despite the offensive line issues since week 10. It hasn't shown up in fantasy numbers per se, but he's making throws and keeping plays alive and evading the pass rush and he's doing it every week. The offensive line isn't helping him. He's still finding guys open downfield. I don't think he's going to have this kind of time that he had last week against Dallas. That means he's got to get the ball out fast. That helps Omarion Hampton, by the way, who's been a big time target for Justin Herbert when he's been under pressure. McConkey hasn't been quite as big time of a target, but he's still among the tops on the team. He's way ahead of the other wide receivers, for example, so I'm good with him, especially in a week where there are so many questions at wide receiver. And we know that McConkey can just. He can do anything that the team asks. He's overcome the real slow start that he had to the season. I think you trust him again.

[Adam]

But he has six targets in or fewer in seven straight games, you know, and they just don't really throw that much. And I don't see that they would have to throw that much in this game. And it's the Texans.

[Jamie]

He's a poor man's Nico Collins. Like you're starting him because of what you hope he can be. He just has not performed like Nico Collins. So I don't want to start lad McConkey in every scenario, but most likely I'm going to start him because I don't have a lot of better options. That being said, Michael Wilson should have a better game than lad McConkey should have a better game than last. I would start Jalen waddle over lad McConkey based on what I saw last week in his matchup against Tampa Bay. So you start to go down the sliding scale. That's why I would say he's more in that conversation of can you trust him? Or Tedro and McMillan. I'd go McMillan. Can you trust him? Or I forget the entire list of guys that you mentioned. I'd rather start Jacoby Myers than lad McConkey because of who he's facing. And Myers has been better since joining the Jaguars than McConkey has been in that stretch.

[Adam]

Yeah, okay. And we're not going to start any other Chargers pass catchers, right?

[Jamie]

No, you can't. I mean, not with any confidence.

[Dave]

You've got to be pretty desperate to throw Quentin Johnson out. There is A Boomer bus flag.

[Adam]

Or Gadsden for that matter. I mean, Gadsden's just.

[Dave]

Yeah, you can do a lot better than Gadsden at tight end.

[Adam]

You like the DSDS in this game?

[Dave]

Yeah, we're figuring that it's going to be a medium to low scoring game.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I mean, the chart, the Chargers are coming off a pretty impressive stretch, and now you're talking about C.J. stroud struggling and offensive line issues. And then the Texans have just been world beaters. And now you're facing a team that gives up a lot of sacks and. And should be a low scoring game. So, yeah, both these guys, both these defenses are in play.

[Adam]

All right, let's read some questions from the chat. Flex 1 and PPR. Hampton, Jalen Warren, Michael Wilson.

[Jamie]

Hampton. Yeah, I. I probably have Wilson ranked the highest right now, but I think I'm talking myself on Hampton.

[Adam]

Yeah, but remember, if Videl plays this, the answer is not going to be Hampton. So everything is without Vidal. If Videl did play, would Hampton be a top 24 back?

[Jamie]

Yes.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Okay. Because we're probably not sure that Michael.

[Dave]

Wilson is going to keep up with. He didn't have a lot of targets last week. He certainly didn't have a lot of cats.

[Jamie]

They didn't throw as much as they normally do. We're expecting. I'm expecting this to be 40.

[Dave]

Sure, sure. So. But that's the one thing that's been consistent when Marvin Harrison has been healthy. Michael Wilson hasn't had tons of targets.

[Jamie]

Right.

[Dave]

But neither scares me just a little bit.

[Adam]

All right. Yeah, that's. Sorry. Back to this game here. Start two in standard scoring. Jonathan Taylor, Kyron Williams, RJ Harvey Omari and Hampton Ramondre Stevenson. My goodness.

[Dave]

Harvey and Hampton.

[Jamie]

Harvey and Taylor.

[Adam]

Rank, Joar Jordan, Romeo Dobbs, Quentin Johnston. Non ppr.

[Jamie]

Oh, Dobbs. Jordan Johnston.

[Dave]

That I. Yeah, that sounds about right.

[Adam]

Pick a DST Giants against the Raiders. Cowboys at the Commanders. Chargers or Bucks?

[Dave]

Chargers.

[Adam]

Okay, sit one. Hampton, Bucky. Sutton Pickens.

[Jamie]

Bucky.

[Dave]

That's Bucky.

[Adam]

Now, if Videl played, would you go Hampton or Bucky still Hampton.

[Dave]

I think I'd go Hampton.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Adam]

I accidentally bought gluten free pancake mix this morning. Gotta use it. That's what it feels like starting Woody Marks this week.

[Dave]

Week.

[Adam]

I love it. All right, we're gonna take a break. Philadelphia's at Buffalo. And I hear the kids and my wife are cooking something up in the kitchen right now. I'm excited. We're not gonna be pancakes. I think we got like Eggs Benedict this morning. Oh, I'm fired up. We're gonna end this show in five minutes. We'll be right back. On fantasy football today, Nationwide is so.

[Dave]

Much more than a great insurance company. They're one of America's largest financial services companies.

[Jamie]

Like how I'm more than saquon Barkley.

[Dave]

The NFL's reigning leading rusher. I'm also the NFL's leading husher.

[Adam]

Shh.

[Jamie]

Hush up back there. Wow.

[Dave]

I might have just set the hushing record.

[Jamie]

Well, almost. For your insurance and financial needs, Nationwide is on your side.

[Adam]

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[Adam]

I.

[Jamie]

From the commercial, I used to always love when Knuckles would say, no, no, no.

[Adam]

Philadelphia.

[Jamie]

Buffalo. Montgomery. No, no.

[Adam]

Okay, so the Eagles have allowed 24 or more points in five games this season. And Jalen Hurts has 32 or more pass attempts in four of those five games. That's awesome. But can the Bills get there? Dave, do you think the Bills are gonna put up points because they've struggled sometimes against good defenses. The Eagles have had a really good defense. Looks like they're going to get Jalen Carter back. And you know, I think about the packers scored. The packers and Lions scored, I think less than 20 combined points against the Eagles, for example, so. And Josh Allen is lower than he usually is. He's got this foot injury. He's about fifth or sixth in the rankings. So what do you think about the. The score? The total is only 44 in this game for Eagles and Bills.

[Dave]

And there's weather issues for the game as well. Look, I'm not saying that Josh Allen should be benched this week. And fantasy managers that have Josh Allen like you made it this far, you're going to start him. But I. I think the foot injury impacted him way more than he let on last week. It happened right before halftime. And in the second half, he completed 50% of his passes for 44 yards. 6 of 12. He didn't look good. Didn't really run that much. He dove a bunch and he took a couple of kneel downs, but he. He didn't run like we used to and so. Or that we're used to seeing. And so I'm. I'm a little hesitant about him, especially with Jalen Carter back, especially with the Eagles defense playing how they've been playing. I, I think you do have to lower expectations for Josh Allen, and that's why he's not a top five quarterback. For example, for me, I'd rather start Trevor Lawrence, Brock Purdy. These are famous last words, no question. But I, I think that those guys deserve to have a little bit more confidence than Josh Allen, given his current situation.

[Adam]

Okay.

[Jamie]

And.

[Adam]

And he has struggled at times in tough matchups. He was, you know, great against Baltimore in Week one, and I think they were pretty good defensively, but he was bad at Atlanta when they were good. He was great Houston and last week, for what it's worth, the Browns are a top 10 team against quarterbacks and scored 6.9 fantasy points against them. And the Eagles have done their fair share of good work against good quarterbacks. All right, he is higher than Jalen Hurts, though. So Jamie Jalen Hurts is starter. Sees like, I think eighth or ninth in the rankings. But how do you feel about Hertz this week?

[Jamie]

I think you're going to get a good to moderately great Jalen Hurts game. The Bill's also very good against quarterbacks, too. So, you know, keep that in mind. This is going to be really. Which. Which guy is going to put on their superman cape and deliver the best performance. You know, it obviously could be the running backs because they're very good and they're facing teams that Eagles without Jalen Carter have not been the same run defense, so keep that in mind. You're not benching James Cook. Clearly, the Bills run defense has been bad the majority of the season. They've definitely gotten better in the last month, but still the weakness of this defense. So you should expect Saquon Barkley to have a good game, but we know that that's not always been the case. So I think you just treat Jalen Hurts almost the same way like you treat Josh Allen. You're not benching him unless you're really sold on the other guys. And I agree with the two guys Dave mentioned in terms of Trevor Lawrence and Brock Purdy. Jacoby Brissette is in the conversation. That's another game. You got to keep an eye on weather there as well. So just take that into account. But, like, I have to make this call and I'm going back and forth and they're back to back my rankings right now. Hertz is one spot ahead, so of.

[Adam]

Brissette, for those of you not watching.

[Jamie]

I may flip that myself. So how about this one?

[Adam]

Jamie hurts or bonix?

[Jamie]

I go hurts. You know, it's. It's just one of those scenarios where he's. He's hopefully going to be good enough to stay in the range that he usually is. And by that I mean 23 plus fantasy points. I don't think he'll be horrible. But, you know, we always get those bonuses with the tush push. We always get those, you know, big plays are on the table. I think right now that Jalen Hurts is just good enough. Like we said this early in the week that there's about 10 quarterbacks that we really like this week. So I would start him still ahead of Caleb Williams. I think I have Baker right in that range, too. I'd start him out of Baker. I would definitely start him ahead of Goff and Herbert, you know, just based on their matchups. So not the same spot for Allen and Hurst that they're typically in because these defenses are great. You got to give them credit.

[Adam]

And the running backs, though, you know, this is a great matchup for Barkley. He's. Ironically, he might end up winning you your championship because he's just been really good lately. And finally the schedule lightened up and this is a good match.

[Jamie]

It's funny. So last night, just starting to get the names together. I started putting together the all fantasy teams, the all bus team, et cetera. I think I sent you, Adam, the tweet I sent out about who's the fantasy mvp and Barkley is on the all bus list. But like you said, he could still end up being a league winner. So that's going to be one. I think that's somewhat controversial. A.J.

[Adam]

Brown'S top 12. We talked about Devonte Smith earlier. He's like 24th. Ish, I believe Devonte Smith. So if you have Omarion Hampton, you go with him. You have a Mondre Stevenson, you go with him. But you'd start him over. You'd start devonte Smith over. Like a Woody Marks, I assume, for sure.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Blake Coram.

[Jamie]

Yeah, I go Smith.

[Adam]

Bucky Irving.

[Jamie]

I go Irving over Smith.

[Dave]

I have Irving a little bit ahead of devonte Smith.

[Adam]

What we really want, I mean, he's getting. He gets eight targets, seven, eight targets almost every week now. It's crazy. What we really want is the Bills to score a lot of points. So Jalen Hurts has to throw. Dallas Goddard has the toughest matchup in fantasy. So I think we'd start Dalton Schultz and Juwan Johnson over Goddard, right?

[Jamie]

Yep.

[Adam]

Would we start Colson Loveland over Goddard?

[Jamie]

Definitely. If both receivers are out, if Burden is tracking to play, then that might change things. But Goddard is not a slam dunk start nor should he be in this matchup.

[Adam]

Would we start Michael Mayer over Dallas Goddard?

[Jamie]

No, no. But I would start Tongas over Goddard. If Kittle's out, I would too.

[Dave]

Hunter Henry would also make the cut for me over Goddard.

[Adam]

Any interest in Khalil Shakir?

[Jamie]

No.

[Dave]

Not any higher than a low end flex.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Adam]

All right, let me see what we got in the chat for this game. Brock Purdy or Jalen Hurts? We said Purdy. Here's a good one. Dallas Goddard, Taysom Hill or Hunter Henry. And half ppr.

[Jamie]

Henry.

[Dave]

Hunter Hearst Henry.

[Adam]

We're going. Lawrence over Hertz. Drake May or Josh Allen?

[Jamie]

May.

[Dave]

I think I have Allen like a notch higher than May.

[Adam]

Mike Evans or Devonte Smith?

[Jamie]

Evans.

[Dave]

Yeah. Agreed.

[Adam]

Evans or. Sorry. Gainwell or Devonte Smith?

[Jamie]

Gainwell.

[Adam]

KG and Fanon. Way ahead of Goddard this week, right? I think three or four. All right. Started the dst. Any interest in a dst? Obviously not the Bills, but how about the Eagles?

[Jamie]

I would take all the waiver wire options over the Eagles. So anyone that was borderline or available. Cool. Lions over the Eagles.

[Dave]

For me, I'd stick with Philadelphia.

[Adam]

Would you start the Giants DST over the Eagles?

[Dave]

No, no, not me.

[Adam]

Tampa Bay is at Miami and Baker Mayfield is a guy we talked about a lot yesterday, actually, so I probably won't go too in depth here. We talked about him in the tough calls. Dave is not as high on Baker Mayfield. He has him 16th, Jamie has him 11th. We know the deal. He hasn't been playing that well. Although he's pretty close to having a decent game last week. Mike Evans didn't catch that ball in the end zone. Not that it was his fault. Next play, Sean Tucker runs it in. That didn't happen. You're talking about a 20 point game for him. Miami is putrid right now against the pass. So Jamie's got him 11th, Baker Mayfield. Dave has him 16th, and Bucky Irving. Honestly, we talked about a lot this game yesterday, so I just don't want to be repetitive. Listen to the tough calls. But Bucky Irving is, you know, top 20. Where'd you. Where'd you end up? With him. Jamie at Bucky Irving, like 22.

[Jamie]

I have a tough call in the FFT Open because I want to start McLaurin over him because this is basically a best ball tournament, you know, so you got to maximize your points. And I don't know if Bucky, based on what we've seen from him, has the same upside that McLaren does. If McLaren goes off, which I think he could against this defense. I wish the quarterback situation was better. So. Right. So I put McLaurin in, I took Bucky out, and then I'll see how the weather is in Cincinnati and then I might put Bucky back in instead of Michael Wilson. But that's kind of where I'm at with, with Bucky right now. So you have him in most like I have him in one. One game this weekend where I'm starting him because I don't have better options. So number two running back, but on the back end.

[Adam]

Yeah, you know what? I'm, I am, I'm gonna take a look at my Bucky Irving team and see if anyone cares about this. But I might have better options. So not really. I would have to start Michael Carter over him. I'm not going to do that. And I would start Emmanuel Wilson over him if Josh Jacobs were out. That's where I'm at with, with Bucky. I just wish he would catch the ball. I mean, I could deal with the goal line stuff and he'd be a confident number two back if he would catch the ball. He's getting 15 plus carries and three year catches. Okay, then you got a floor. But he has one catch in his last two games.

[Dave]

I'd rather have the touchdown role.

[Adam]

What's that?

[Dave]

I'd rather him be the goal line guy.

[Adam]

I, I think so. But that's, you know, you don't know if they're going to get down there. It's a little less. But either one. If he had either one of those roles, let's say that Dave, he honestly.

[Dave]

Based on what he did last year and what he's capable of doing, he should have both of those roles.

[Adam]

Yeah, he's.

[Dave]

I think. And that's what's making him very frustrating and why he's just the number two fans. Along with his inefficiency, you got to say that he's just not the same type of back as he was last year. And he's playing through injuries and other things and that's what's slowing him down. But against Miami, I, I wish that he had the goal line rule. I'd feel a lot better about him. Certainly wouldn't have him at like 19 in my running by ranking right.

[Adam]

Okay, Dave, how do you feel about the Bucks wide receivers? Mike Evans has had a 37.5 target share in each of his two games since returning to injured from injury stud.

[Dave]

Top 12ish type of wide receiver. Figure he scores again he's taking on Miami. It's a pretty favorable matchup. I don't want to jump right back in on a Mecca Buka just because the coaches are saying yeah, we need to get him more involved. They've been talking about building up his confidence it feels like for a month now. And I don't know if giving him more targets is necessarily going to result in anything different than what we've seen since mid October. November, let's call it November. So I, I feel like he's no better than a flex. I would rather start guys like Troy Franklin, Khalil Shakir, Jalen Wall. I'm not as high on as Jamie is but I would easily start him ahead of a Mecca Buka Godwin's real close in in my rankings to a Buka. I think they're back to back and so to me it's Evans as the slam dunk. The other guys, if you're kind of.

[Adam]

Desperate and Waddle is the second best receiver in this game, it's a tough call. But I see questions about a Booka and it's. They said they want to get him involved. He ran 50% of the routes. To me he's like Rico Dowdle. I, I just couldn't even consider. I mean, I guess he'd be like the gluten free pancakes. You have to do it. But I couldn't consider.

[Jamie]

I don't think you do.

[Dave]

I don't think you do.

[Adam]

I mean if, if you have. I'm sorry, if you have to do it then, then it is. But that's the. You'd have to be in a situation like I have no choice but to start a Mecca.

[Jamie]

Well, I'll tell you, I, I got to one championship in a three super league where my running backs are carrying me and I'm benching him for Brian week. I just think there's more upside for Thomas at this point based on what Abuka has shown us since Evans has come back. And the funny thing is about, yeah, we want to get him more involved. Well, you go back to the stretch of games before Evans was there. He was basically getting eight targets per game and he was doing nothing with them. So there was that four game stretch before Evans came back, they were trying to get him involved now, now the quote is you're taking a portion of it. They said they want to get him involved early in the game.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Jamie]

So maybe some early opportunities and that leads to a big player too. And the fact that the DOT like this could blow up because the blow up in my face. I'll say because the Dolphins secondary has been bad since Mika hasn't been there and this is a, a chance for a big time get right game for the Bucks passing attack because of how the Dolphins have looked in the last couple of weeks. But you just have to go based on Abuka's struggle. So he may have a big catch, could have a big touchdown catch. I hope he does for people that are still starting him to your point, Adam, but I just think the, the numbers bear it out that you just can't trust him right now when everybody's healthy. We just have not seen that with Evans back on the field.

[Adam]

Let's go to the Dolphins here start HN and Waddle. So he had nine targets last week, five catches for 72 yards. Did a nice job getting open against D.J. turner. And when the Dolphins have to throw, you know that's his target share is usually good. They've just been so run heavy. But I don't know that that was because they were winning a ton. I don't think they're going to win. They're five and a half point underdogs here so that plays well and I feel like viewers did fine.

[Jamie]

You know he was, yours did, yours did much better I think than anybody anticipating. Mike McDaniel was talking about this, that he missed. He said, I heard one of his quotes yesterday, said he missed. He missed Waddle on what would have been an explosive play. You know he said he, he said he talked to Quinn. He wish he had that throwback. But clearly there's the effort to get Jalen Waddle involved here and that's the best part. Whenever he's been involved, he's been productive. And I think to your point Adam, they're going to be chasing points. Have to throw. Not that you're getting away from HN because he's just amazing. But this could be another game where we see close to 30 plus attempts from their quarterback and that's just been. I think the biggest problem for Waddle was Tua is not throwing the ball. And if you heard their offense coordinator, I think it was our office coordinator was saying the difference between Tua and yours, it really came across like a huge insult. But he kind of qualified. It was. When the ball leaves their hands, it gets there differently. Yeah. You know, and. And that's just, you know, he said Tua has to anticipate more, you know, Quinn can get the ball there a little bit faster. And so I think that's a plus for Waddle. I was, I was impressed with Jalen Waddle last week. I thought that was one of his best games since Tyreek has been out. And I was not anticipating that at all. Because of D.J. turner, because of Quinn Ewers. And I'm. I'm excited for. For Waddle for this week. Not as a, you know, top 10 guy where we were ranking him for the most part after Tyreek went down, but chasing points. Good matchup. I think he comes through with a solid day.

[Adam]

21St for Jamie, 29th for Dave. Can you give me 30, 30 seconds or less on Waddle?

[Dave]

I'm nervous that he's not going to get the same type of. Of opportunity and workload that he got last week and that maybe they do try and spread it around a little bit more against Tampa because Tampa Bay's defense is so bad. And it just, it I. He had nine targets. He had 12 PPR points. Now if you're saying that that's the floor for Jalen Waddle, okay, then he's a flex for sure. But I do, I really think he's going to come through with the upside. I'll be honest, I haven't looked at it as much as I should have at this point, but he's probably somebody who's just safest as a flex.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Adam]

And Darren Waller, you guys do not have ranked that highly. He only had seven fantasy points against the Bengals, but, you know, three catches for 40 yards on five targets. Let's read some questions. You guys have him 18th and 16th. Heath likes Waller though. Abuka Dowdle or Michael Carter. PPR.

[Jamie]

I'll take Carter. Even with no catches last week, I.

[Dave]

Probably have doubt will rank the Highest of the three.

[Adam]

But not Abuka. Pick two. Evans, Sutton, McLaurin, Jennings.

[Jamie]

First two Evans son. Yeah.

[Dave]

I might take Juwan Jennings with Sutton.

[Adam]

Okay. A book. Does the Ricky Pierce all thing change anything that he might play Dave?

[Dave]

It would change something. Sure.

[Adam]

No Abuka or Tracy in ppr.

[Jamie]

Tracy. Just keep in mind that Pearsall may play and Kittle might not. So that's.

[Adam]

That's true. Let's see. Waller, Tyler, Warren or Breton. Strange.

[Jamie]

Strange. And that's another tight end. I would start over Goddard as Well.

[Adam]

Okay, here's a tough one. Waddle, Pitts, Swift or Gainwell ppr.

[Jamie]

It's got to be pits.

[Dave]

I think it does have to be Kyle Pitts. Does it?

[Adam]

I mean, Gainwell has what, six or seven catches and like four straight games or something?

[Jamie]

I mean, yeah, that's a tough call. I. I'd love to know. Go back to it. I'd love to know I got rid of it.

[Adam]

Oh, no, here it is like Waddle, Pitts, Swift, Gainwell.

[Jamie]

I'd love to know if Jeff is in a non tight end starting league. You know, Lee, we don't start tight end like you're playing pits as a flex because unless you have McBride at this point or Fannin or Kittle like you know, you're should be playing copets.

[Dave]

The, the connection with Kirk Cousins at this point is undeniable.

[Jamie]

Pitts is tight end. Two total points on the season. Wow.

[Adam]

Okay, let's go to Jacksonville at Indianapolis. How about this?

[Jamie]

The.

[Adam]

The Jaguars. This is what kind of made me because I was sitting there really struggling about the Colts wide receivers. The Jaguars are number one in points per game allowed in their last six games. Third in yards per play. No, you per game. Second in yards per play. They have faced some bad offenses, but they were great against the Chargers. They were okay against the Cardinals, Tennessee, Indianapolis, jets and at the Broncos. Only one of those teams has scored more than 20 points. So the Jaguars renaissance has not just been Trevor Lawrence, their defense has played a lot better too. All right, Jamie talked about the, the wide receivers and Dave as well in one question for each game. Jacoby Myers is the guy to start.

[Jamie]

Myers or Wild Lewis and ruled out already. I don't know who Jordan Lewis?

[Dave]

I'm not sure. I'll, you know, I'll look at the.

[Adam]

Injury report and see Jalen Waddle or Jacoby Myers?

[Jamie]

Kobe waddle for me. All right.

[Adam]

Trevor Lawrence is top six. He's fourth for both of you guys. You know, if you have a question about you could start him over. Josh Allen. We like Trevor Lawrence this week. Travis Etn is top 10. He's actually not running very well. Yards per carry has been pretty low basically every week, but he has scored 15.7 or more points in seven of his last eight games. If Basil Tutin plays Jamie, would you drop ETN out of the top 12?

[Jamie]

Would I drop ETN out of the top twelve?

[Adam]

Tenth?

[Jamie]

Probably not. I mean, it's just he was great with Tutin, you know, and I don't know how much work Tootin's gonna get. So I don't, I don't think that that's a huge factor here. And the only thing I think you should be concerned about with ETN and it didn't really materialize in the jets game. Now granted Tootin was hurt in that game is a blowout and does ETN get pulled so well?

[Adam]

I think you'd have to worry about that with Lawrence too. This team is 27th in pass rate in their last seven games. They typically don't throw that much and they've been winning a lot and they're six and a half point favorites. So. All right, that's just something to consider. They haven't needed to throw that much. Myers is the must start guy. He's the only must start wide receiver in this game. We'll look for some chat questions about the other wide receivers that might help contextualize it a little bit. Dave, your thoughts on Brenton Strange. Jamie's got him ninth, but you're a little cautious. You got him 15th. We thought strange against the Colts.

[Dave]

Yeah, just. I understand that the matchup is great. I'm nervous about what his role will be in the game. There are some comforting factors I think fantasy managers might like about Strange. The fact that he's had basically a 70% route run rate in each of his past four games. It's been almost 75% in three or four and the numbers have been pretty good. How much throwing do they do? How much pressure will Trevor Lawrence have? I feel like a lot of the connection between Strange and Lawrence comes certainly in the red zone and that's always a possibility no matter who they play. But also, whenever Trevor Lawrence is under duress, he's trying to get the ball out quick. I think that's part of the reason why Strange and Washington had the games that they had last week. Another reason why Washington had it, just as an aside is because the Broncos just couldn't wrap him up anyway. I think he's a good low end tight end. Not a great low end tight end for this week.

[Jamie]

I think you just look at matchup is fantastic. Had six targets in the first game, just didn't score a touchdown. So when you start to look at who's got good matchups and who's going to get opportunities, I believe they didn't throw the ball very much in that game either. That was the game where Daniel Jones got hurt, so his target share must have been fairly good.

[Dave]

Well, I got. I'm pulling it up right now. Let's take a look.

[Adam]

It was three weeks ago, it was 19.4% that he's. He's pretty much never going over 20% target share, Brenton Strange, it's not a great target share. It was 20% last week. It was 19.4% three weeks ago. So that's good. Two of the last three weeks. But typically it's. It's 16% or so for Brenton Strange. And you know, and remember, he hasn't played barely any game. There'll be in two games, actually where Parker Washington and Brian Thomas Jr. And Jacoby Myers were all playing. So we don't have that much of a sample. In fact, ironically. Was that the first Colts game? No, I don't.

[Dave]

Yeah, the first Colts game, there were four different Jaguars with at least six targets. Strange was one of them. He had three catches for 27 yards.

[Adam]

Yeah, it's the, the target. The matchup is great for both of these passing offenses. Just the target share is what you worry about there. All right, don't start. Philip Rivers. All right. Hey, Jonathan Taylor, he's not the best running back in this game, according to you guys. Heath still has him fifth, but he is the number 22 running back per game in his last five games. And these are all bad matchups.

[Jamie]

I sent out the all fantasy teams last night, the first three teams, and I have Taylor as the flex over a chan and I got a little pushback on that because it's. What have you done for me lately? Obviously, and HN has been much better. But it's like, how do you not reward the guy for the first half that he had, which was. I mean, he was an MVP conversation.

[Adam]

Yeah, but, but look, we said it. We saw the matchups coming up are really bad, one after another. And it's played out exactly as we. As what your worst fears would be. So I don't. I mean, to even the guy, Dave, who was so bad against Jacksonville last time out, I mean, is that maybe it's a little bit of a stretch, but 11.4 fantasy Taylor was so bad against Jacksonville, 11.4 fantasy points. He was bad. Sorry.

[Dave]

Yeah, he had a fumble.

[Jamie]

21 carries that game out, though, because Jones got hurt in that game. And then it was Riley Leonard, like.

[Adam]

All right, he's still over the last five games, number 22 running back in PPR.

[Dave]

He's not nearly as explosive of the runner as he was earlier in the year. I do like that Philip Rivers is going to continue to throw to him, though. And that just adds that floor that you were talking about earlier in the show Adam, that you were wishing for Bucky Irving. Well, Jonathan Taylor's got it and all it takes is for him to break one or two long runs and then his efficiency looks good again. It is a tough matchup, but I don't see how in the world you get away from a running back with this kind of upside, getting this much work week to week. So is he a top five running back? No. Is he a top 12? Is running back at worst. And you might be inclined to go with one of the rookies. You know, there's Harvey, there's Genty, there's Hampton, especially if it's full PPR ahead of Jonathan Taylor. But it's not going to be by a lot. And I wouldn't get cute and start Ramandre over him. I'd still rather start Taylor, but it's. It's not going to be it. This isn't going to be a game where I think he goes out there and it's 20 carries, 150 yards and three touchdowns. That would surprise me.

[Adam]

Yeah, but would you start the Steelers running backs over him?

[Dave]

No, I'd start Taylor.

[Jamie]

If Warren is ruled out for whatever reason, then Gainwell to the moon. Yes.

[Adam]

But if he's not, which we're not expecting him to do, you'd start Taylor.

[Jamie]

Yeah. Okay.

[Adam]

Okay, so let's see if we have some questions here about the wide receivers. Well, first of all, Lawrence or Stafford?

[Jamie]

Man, that's close. But I go Stafford.

[Dave]

I, I have Stafford ranked ahead of Lawrence. If you're squeamish about the Rams sitting Stafford for any part of their game on Monday, because I'll have nothing to play for then, I think you have to go with Lawrence.

[Adam]

Okay, pick two, Lawrence. Stafforder, Burrow Burrow and Stafford.

[Dave]

Those are my top two quarterbacks this week.

[Adam]

Brian Thomas Jr. Justin Jefferson, Debo Samuel, Troy Franklin. Pick two.

[Dave]

Those are not my top four wide receivers this week.

[Jamie]

I would go Thomas and Jefferson, reluctantly.

[Adam]

I.

[Dave]

It's. I think it's easier to do both of those receivers in this instance. You know, it's funny, like, the upside for Franklin is. Isn't bad. The upside for Debo's real bad. I. Even though he's playing Dallas, I have a tough time with Debo Samuel.

[Jamie]

You look at that. That team, that's obviously a super flex team and you're like, man, those quarterbacks are awesome.

[Adam]

Yeah, I know, right? Purdy or Lawrence? Lawrence Trevor Parker Washington or Luther Burden? If he plays.

[Jamie]

I probably go Burden. But it's tough just because we don't know what his status will be for Sunday night.

[Dave]

Agreed.

[Adam]

Tyler Warren, Brenton Stranger, Colson Loveland.

[Jamie]

Strange.

[Dave]

I have worn the highest of the three.

[Adam]

Tyler. Lauren. Tyler. Warren or Dalton Schultz?

[Jamie]

Schultz.

[Dave]

Dalton.

[Adam]

Tyler. Warren or Taysom Hill?

[Dave]

Warren.

[Jamie]

Warren. But that's close.

[Adam]

Tyler Warren or Theo Johnson?

[Jamie]

Warren.

[Dave]

Yes. Warren.

[Adam]

Warren or Colby Parkinson?

[Jamie]

Warren.

[Adam]

Warren or Darren or Darren Waller? Warren or Dallas Goddard?

[Jamie]

Warren. I'll.

[Dave]

I'll take Goddard.

[Jamie]

All right.

[Adam]

If you want to be encouraged for Warren, he has a 23 and 25 target share in two games with Philip Rivers and the Jaguars. DST is absolutely in play. They've been really good lately. They are 10th for Jamie, six for Dave, 11 for Heath. All right, guys, got three games left. Let's see if we can knock them out in about 10 minutes here. They're the easiest games. There's Drake May, though, and Drake.

[Jamie]

Keep in mind with. With the Colts, Rivers is doing a great job of avoiding sacks. He's going to ball it so quick.

[Adam]

It's true. New England's at the jets, so Ramandre Stevenson, we.

[Jamie]

We love.

[Adam]

He's 15th. Ish. We're playing this with. As if Trayvon Henderson were not in. I've already asked several questions about what, you know, would be the case if he were in. So please listen to the one question for each game.

[Jamie]

Please play.

[Adam]

Yeah, I know. I feel you, man. All right. Drake May is seventh for both of you guys. He's fourth for Heath. He's just ahead of Jalen Hurts. He's behind Trevor Lawrence. He's been really good in blowout wins. And this game is actually kind of close. Last time for at least three quarters. But when they've blown teams out, he scored 27 or more fantasy points several times. He's been really, really good. So start Drake May, but he's not like top five. He's just outside Diggs. Jamie, you love Stefan Diggs. Well, you like 20th, Davey. I'm 23rd. Heath has him 26th. I mean, what. Go ahead. I think you said. I'm sorry because you said it earlier today. Jamie at the top of the show, but in 30 seconds. Why do you like Stefan Diggs this week?

[Jamie]

May not have case on booty went over 100 yards against this team the first time. This defense sucks. He's four yard, four catches away from half a million dollars. He's 131 yards away from another half a million dollars. Like he's. He's going to get his chances to make that money.

[Adam]

If Dave. If Keisha Booty were To play. Would you move Diggs down even 23rd?

[Dave]

Not much.

[Adam]

Okay.

[Dave]

Because I think Jamie's got a good point about Stefan Diggs and what his motivations are at this point in his career.

[Adam]

This is going to be the week where like Diggs stinks and Colby Parkinson's great, you know, because they both were so opposite of what we expected last week. And then we're going to buy it.

[Dave]

There's been a lot of weeks like that lately.

[Jamie]

I think in the. Just in. I know. We'll talk about tomorrow. Parkinson is facing the defense that gives up the least amount of touchdowns to tight.

[Dave]

Yeah, McBride.

[Adam]

Yeah, but look. Yeah, but Elijah Higgins.

[Jamie]

Well, because they allowed Elijah Higgins to make those plays. They were not allowing Trey McBride to make those plays.

[Adam]

Yeah. Okay. Matt Collins. Matt Collins or a wide receiver, how would you compare him to the non Jacoby Myers wide receivers in the Colts Jaguars game? Jamie Mack Hollins, who's.

[Jamie]

I have him right there with Washington and Pittman and Downs. I think, you know, once you get past for me, Myers, Thomas and Pierce, based on what they've done and should be able to do. Holland's based on his target opportunities are definitely in the conversation for these other guys. So in the two games that Keisha Booty missed, he scored at least 10 PPR points in both. He had 15 targets in those two games. And then you look at the last two games, he has, I think it's 13 combined targets in those, in those matchups with Booty on the field. So we're leaving, excuse me, leaving the game last week. But he's a guy that Drake May leans on. It's one of these, you know, players that you're never going to feel comfortable starting. But if you're completely stuck, you know, if you were to get word that this team's resting or that team's sitting, guys like you can kind of pencil them in for around 10, 11 PPR points if he scores. You'll be thrilled about that. So matchup is good. Opportunity will be there if Booty's not there. But there's. That sounds funny. There's. There's a chance for him to be a starter in three receiver leagues, so I wouldn't overvalue him. But I do think like, oh my God, I'm stuck. Matt Collins is a good plug and play.

[Dave]

I think a 10 ppr point expectation is realistic. He also has a contract incentive. He's four catches away from $400,000.

[Adam]

Okay, that's, that's Matt Collins. He's better than Adonai Mitchell.

[Jamie]

He's safer than that. I. Mitchell, there's not much upside, but.

[Dave]

Right, right. I had not. I would rather start, but it's really close.

[Adam]

I think there. Look, I think there's plenty of upside just because Drake May completed 7 of 10 passes of 20 or more air yards last week. Obviously Kyle Williams had a big one, but that could always be Matt Collins. Okay, Hunter Henry is seventh for you guys. We like him. He's just kind of solid. You know, he rarely gives you a bad game. It has to be a bad matchup for a bad game. Scored 8 1/2 fantasy points against the jets last time and The jets are 21st against tight ends and they've struggled recently against a Kyle Pitts and Juwan Johnson on the other side of the ball. And Taysom Hill.

[Jamie]

Yeah, just take the receptions.

[Adam]

Taysom Hill had three of his six targets out of the backfield where he's lined up as a running back. So it's a little deceiving. But he did have three catches otherwise, which is kind of a lot for him. Or at least three targets.

[Jamie]

All right, four catches, six starts.

[Adam]

But no overall we have Taysom Hill.

[Jamie]

Last week had six targets and four catches.

[Adam]

Okay, so it was a high for him.

[Dave]

Like we'll talk about that when we get to that game.

[Adam]

But he only had one catch as a tight end last week.

[Jamie]

That's fair.

[Adam]

Three of them were his running.

[Dave]

Hunter Henry's three catches away from 250K and eight catches away from another 250K. So within the next two weeks he could make half a mil just by catching the football. I would say that you do have to be a little bit worried about the upside of Henry Hollins and even Stefan Diggs if Travion Henderson's active because that means that the. The Patriots can lean into their run game that much more because they'll have two good running backs that they could use against this terrible jets front and it might take away pass attempts from Drake May.

[Jamie]

I don't think that's the wrong thought. However, this feels like especially Mike Vrabel is a former player and knows what those incentives mean and even go back to the days when, I guess that was in Tampa Bay when that happened with Gronk. But I imagine Robert Kraft is not going to be upset if they come out and try and get those guys their money.

[Dave]

Sure.

[Jamie]

Especially with the season that they're having. So this could be a throw to score, run to win type of game for the Patriots where they pass early and run late and get these guys especially. They're the ones that are chasing. They're so close to all these, you know, incentives. It's not going to take much, you know, digs for the. The second half, a million, you know, 131 yards. That's. That's a big ask for him in one game. But not out of the realm of possibility against the Jets. But what'd you say? Henry's two catches away.

[Dave]

He's three cats three catches away.

[Jamie]

Matt Collins three and eight.

[Dave]

Three and eight.

[Jamie]

Matt Collins is so close. Diggs is four catches away. Like he. They're gonna get this this week.

[Dave]

All right, guys, and that's fine. But they, they could also get them next week. This isn't the last game of the year.

[Jamie]

Oh, but they may be resting guys next week.

[Dave]

They might play a half and finish off whatever incentives they need. Or Robert Kraft can say, I'll just give you the incentive. Go ahead and rest easy.

[Adam]

Now, listen, this could be a bad run defense right now for the Patriots, especially if they don't get Milton Williams back. But it's hard to trust Breeze Hall. He's outside the top 24. He's 24th for Heath, 26th for Dave, 29th for Jamie. He's just not playing well. Brady Cook hasn't been throwing to him. The jets are an absolute mess and they are going to have most likely a bad game script here. So I rego Dowdle as someone I can't stand right now, but would you start Dowdle or Breeze Hall?

[Jamie]

Dowdle.

[Dave]

All right, I'm. I think I've got Daddle higher, but I'm not.

[Jamie]

I start Michael Carter over him. I'd start Blake Corum over him. Like, I can't trust Breeze hall right now.

[Adam]

All right, here's a question real quick.

[Jamie]

Every fear I had from the beginning of the season is playing stuff up Dak Drake May.

[Adam]

Josh Allen, pick two.

[Jamie]

I'm sitting. Alan.

[Dave]

I'm sitting May asm now.

[Adam]

Okay. Diggs or jmo?

[Dave]

I'm starting Jameson Williams.

[Jamie]

So I, I moved Jameson ahead of Diggs after just thinking about the receivers can still get their numbers despite Jared Goff not scoring touchdowns, but that is very close.

[Adam]

All right, guys, two more games. Seriously, I think we can do these ones pretty quickly. Pittsburgh at Cleveland and New Orleans said.

[Dave]

That before we started last.

[Adam]

It didn't really work for the Patriots game, but we'll try it for Pittsburgh or Cleveland. The only Steelers that we're considering here are the running backs and we like them quite a bit. But for the Passing game. If you were gonna gamble on one guy, Dave, in their passing game, who would it be?

[Dave]

Adam Thielen.

[Adam]

Okay. Not Friar Muth or anything like that.

[Dave]

Definitely not Fryermouth. I would probably go with John. Who before Friarmouth.

[Jamie]

Okay.

[Adam]

This, by the way, like the Cleveland Browns at home. They lost by one of the Bengals. They beat the Packers. They barely lost to the Bills. They destroyed the Dolphins. This is kind of a sneaky trap game here. Okay, but this.

[Jamie]

Unless Baltimore loses. If Baltimore wins, then.

[Adam]

No, either way, it's a trap game.

[Dave]

Right.

[Jamie]

Well, I mean, if. If Baltimore loses, then the Steelers don't give a. Excuse me.

[Dave]

And that was accidental. That wasn't even.

[Adam]

Yeah, I'm in the Christmas spirit. I'll forgive you. Yeah, but. Right, but then it would be a tough game. All right, so Warren. So remember we talked about that at like 15 minutes in the show, if you want to hear our thoughts on the clinching scenarios. But you guys, like. I'm sorry, you like Warren or Gainwell better? I forgot the answer in ppr.

[Jamie]

I go game. Well, just because the. The receiving core being what it is.

[Dave]

This Browns run defense is so bad that they're both going to do well. But I'll take Warren.

[Adam]

All right. Yeah, I'm excited. I'm starting both of them in one league now.

[Dave]

That's great.

[Adam]

If Trayvon Henderson plays, I might. I think I might still start both of them, but that's going to be a tough call. It would be Warren versus Travion for me, but we like these guys. Would. Would you start any Brown fan and is like tight end? Three or four? Jamie, would you start any other.

[Dave]

He might be tight end too, by the time we get to Sunday with Kittle. Yeah.

[Jamie]

Yeah.

[Adam]

Jamie, any other Browns, like the running backs, for example?

[Jamie]

I'm. I'm excited that Dylan Sampson's practicing, you know, so hopefully he's out there for two reasons. One, I think he could be a decent flex this week, so he would be my favorite Browns running back if he does play. And two, I want to see what this looks like because we don't know when Quinshawn Judkins will be healthy next year coming back from this injury. You know, it's going to be very difficult for him and hopefully he's 100 by the time training camp starts. But Samson has looked good at times. Certainly has been very good as a pass catcher. And again, you script this game out while chasing points and, you know, being involved. Last week, Travion Williams had four catches. I think Samson could Be a poor man's Kenneth Gainwell this week, you know, so six plus catches would not be surprising or six catches would not be surprising and hopefully, you know, 60 to 80 total yards. On top of that, there's. There's a good desperation play here. If, if he's the guy. I'd be a little bit nervous to trust the other two because I don't think Raheem Sanders is going to run very well against Pittsburgh and I don't want to trust Travion Williams in this role just because of what he did last week. So I'm hopeful for Samson.

[Dave]

I'd be a little nervous about Sampson at the goal line, but otherwise everything else is spot on. Cosign agree. Might even crack the top 24 if we know he's for sure going to play.

[Adam]

If he plays, would you start Dylan Sampson or Breeze Hall?

[Jamie]

Samson?

[Dave]

Yeah, like I might take the chance on Samson.

[Adam]

Michael Carter or Dylan Sampson?

[Dave]

Samson.

[Jamie]

I probably would go Carter just because I, I think you know what he's going to do versus questioning what Samson will do. But there's more upside with Samson for sure.

[Adam]

Samson or the commander starting running back.

[Jamie]

So you got to make a call on this today versus waiting out Sampson. So if, if Rodriguez is your best option, then you start him. I would probably see if you can pivot like so what I would do, honestly, if you really want to wait out Dylan Sampson, play the pass catching running back for the Browns, whether it's him or Travion Williams and just give up on Rodriguez.

[Dave]

Drop Rodriguez before the game.

[Adam]

Oh my gosh. Starting Travion Williams in your fantasy championship feels like.

[Dave]

Yeah, that's that.

[Jamie]

I'm sorry Chris Rodriguez has been such a slam dunk, but you don't even.

[Adam]

Know that he's going to be the. What you're saying if you had both Sampson and Travion Williams.

[Jamie]

That's what I'm saying.

[Adam]

Yeah, I so risky. But.

[Dave]

Well, there might be somebody else at running back that you could pick up besides Travion Will.

[Adam]

No, you're right. I mean Rodriguez in a PPR league could get you five points.

[Jamie]

Here's what I would do. If Quinn and Williams is out and Rodriguez plays, I'd play Rodriguez over Samson. If Quinn and Williams is in, I would not play Rodriguez and I'd wait out the Browns pass catching running back. If Chris Rodriguez is out. You have your answer.

[Adam]

All right, let's go to our last game here and it is the Saints at the Titans and Tony Pollard or Dylan Sampson.

[Jamie]

I would go Sampson.

[Dave]

Wow. It's definitely possible with Samson. Just knowing the role and the opportunity that he could have is going to.

[Jamie]

Be better than Pollard, but only in ppr. Not half, not none, only full ppr.

[Adam]

Okay.

[Dave]

Yeah, I'd agree.

[Adam]

Pollard, we talked about yesterday as a tough call. The non tough calls in this game are Chris Olave and apparently Juwan Johnson. Olave is obviously a start. Juwan Johnson is sixth for Dave, Jamie and Heath. So good stuff there. I don't think we want it like the Titans run defense has been so good and they've gotten healthy. They're dominant right now, so you don't want to start estimate. And it also affects Taysom Hill. He's not going to be able to run that effectively. Probably on Tennessee.

[Dave]

This is the number one run defense in yards per rush allowed, 10 yard rush rate, defensive total rush EPA over the last four weeks.

[Jamie]

Wow.

[Adam]

Well, and it's not a coincidence. It's a health thing. They've gotten healthy and they're really good.

[Dave]

It's a Jeffrey Simmons thing.

[Adam]

It's also what is Tavandre Sweat is.

[Dave]

That Andre Sweat is like a giant. Like he would be like the champ in WWE if he were a wrestler. He's just so huge.

[Adam]

Dave, who would you start Tyler Shuck over?

[Dave]

I would start Tyler Shuck over Baker, Darnold, Dart Stroud, Bryce Young and then all the other crummy quarterbacks that could pop into your head. Top 15 QB for me. And I am starting him in a championship.

[Jamie]

Wow. As am I over Jared Goff. Oh, man.

[Dave]

Yeah. I wouldn't do that. I'd go golf. I think golf has more upside. I, I, I lost my homes. It's a deep league. I was desperate. Shuck is who I'm rolling.

[Adam]

You know, you're lucky because if you started my homes today, he'd be horrible. So yeah, if you were playing, if you were playing, we'll see. Boy, is that going to be fascinating to watch. And anyone on the Titans in the, in the passing game, Cam Ward or, or Chimney DK or Chigo conquo I.

[Dave]

Mean, I think Okonkwo might qualify as a sleeper. I just don't know like how desperate you'd have to be at tight end because he's got six or more targets each of his past two games. He's been getting red zone targets. Four of those in his last two games. He's. This isn't a great stat. It's just. Okay, maybe you think that this is the floor form when he's had five or more targets this year he's had eight and a half or more PPR targets most of the time, five of eight games. So. And he's playing a decent amount. He's not bad at tight end. I think Breton Strange is better. I am not coming out on Taysom Hill being more of what we saw last week. I think last week was an isolated thing and I would. I think I'd rather lean toward Okonkwo than I would taste some Hill.

[Adam]

Okay, so Saints dst. We got some questions here. Saints or Chiefs?

[Dave]

Saints for sure. Saints.

[Adam]

Saints or Browns?

[Jamie]

Saints.

[Dave]

It's the Saints. Unless we find out before right. The game on Sunday that the Steelers are going to arrest everybody.

[Adam]

And I agree with those answers, but I just a cautionary tale for the Saints. They had eight sacks last week, which is impressive, but they're typically not very good and the Titans have been the last three defenses that have faced them. I'm sure we've recommended all of them.

[Dave]

Yeah, of course.

[Adam]

Cleveland, San Francisco, Kansas City. They were all terrible. One interception in their last seven games. They've scored 24 or more points in four of their last five games. So I understand if you have to start the Saints, but you know, they're not that great of a start, I don't think. All right, that's it for today's show. Merry Christmas everybody. And yes, definitely start the Patriots over the Saints. For you asking in the chat. Merry Christmas. We'll talk to you tomorrow with starters sit for the NFC home games. Enjoy the games today and let's go next. See ya.

[Jamie]

Paramount podcasts.

[Adam]

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[Dave]

The longer days are brutal. TV.

[Adam]

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