Start or Sit (AFC): Tyreek Hill, Najee Harris, Calvin Ridley, Justin Herbert and More! (12/05 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today - Episode Summary Released: December 5, 2024

Hosts:

• Adam Aizer
• Dave Richard
• Jamie Eisenberg
• Heath Cummings

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1. Episode Overview

In this episode of Fantasy Football Today, the hosts dive deep into Start or Sit decisions for Week 14, focusing on key AFC players such as Tyreek Hill, Najee Harris, Calvin Ridley, and Justin Herbert. The discussion extends to player rankings, waiver wire strategies, trade evaluations, and listener mailbag questions. The team provides nuanced insights to help fantasy managers dominate their leagues.

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2. Start or Sit Analysis

AFC Key Players:

• Tyreek Hill:

  • Heath Cummings emphasizes Hill's recent performance, noting, "He’s up there with five end zone targets in his last four games." (Timestamp: 64:00)
  • Dave Richard expresses reservations, stating, "He's not Tyreek Hill anymore, based on advanced stats." (Timestamp: 63:41)

• Najee Harris:

  • Jamie Eisenberg supports Harris as a must-start, highlighting his versatility in the passing and rushing game: "If he does both, you're going to get a game like last week." (Timestamp: 25:38)
  • Dave Richard concurs, comparing Harris to James Robinson: "I'm viewing them as must starts this week." (Timestamp: 26:34)

• Calvin Ridley:

  • Dave Richard points out concerns about Ridley's recent performance: "He’s only had two games with a touchdown all season." (Timestamp: 27:27)
  • Jamie Eisenberg remains optimistic, citing Ridley's potential in a revenge game: "I’m starting him because of the opportunity against Jacksonville." (Timestamp: 27:55)

• Justin Herbert:

  • Heath Cummings advises against starting Herbert due to inconsistent performances: "He hasn't been very good lately." (Timestamp: 49:33)
  • Jamie Eisenberg debates the matchup but leans towards starting Herbert over Kyler Murray: "I would start him over Kyler." (Timestamp: 51:44)

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3. Player Rankings and Recommendations

Quarterbacks:

• Tua Tagovailoa:

  • Reigns as a top-five quarterback, with Jamie Eisenberg noting, "He’s playing well and is a top ten quarterback this week." (Timestamp: 05:36)

• Will Levis:

  • Classified as a top-15 quarterback, with Heath Cummings advocating for his high upside despite inconsistencies: "He’s one of three quarterbacks with seven touchdowns in the last four games." (Timestamp: 30:00)

• Jameis Winston vs. Russell Wilson:

  • Jamie Eisenberg prefers Winston over Wilson, citing consistent performance: "I would start him [Winston] over Russell Wilson." (Timestamp: 55:16)

Running Backs:

• Isaac Ordonez:

  • Dave Richard ranks him as a top-12 running back, praising his efficiency: "He’s averaging 5.9 yards per carry." (Timestamp: 06:11)

• Tony Pollard:

  • Deemed a must-start by all hosts, with Heath Cummings stating, "Just start Tony Pollard." (Timestamp: 29:37)

• Breeze Hall:

  • Despite recent low performances, Dave Richard emphasizes his necessity: "If Breeze Hall plays, he is a must-start running back this week." (Timestamp: 30:16)

Wide Receivers:

• DeVante Adams vs. Garrett Wilson:

  • Dave Richard favors Adams, positioning him ahead of Wilson: "I’m ranking Devonte Adams one spot ahead of Garrett Wilson." (Timestamp: 65:04)

• Calvin Ridley:

  • Despite low recent scoring, Jamie Eisenberg supports his start due to favorable matchup: "I’m starting Ridley because of the opportunity against Jacksonville." (Timestamp: 27:55)

• DK Metcalf:

  • Jamie Eisenberg advises avoiding Metcalf in this matchup due to poor performance against the Cardinals: "He has not scored a touchdown in three straight games." (Timestamp: 07:58)

Tight Ends:

• Evan Ingram vs. Dalton Kincaid:
  • Dave Richard slightly prefers Ingram, highlighting his consistent targets: "He’s grabbing five passes every week." (Timestamp: 60:14)
  • Jamie Eisenberg leans towards Kincaid in half-PPR formats: "For me, it is [Otten over Ingram]." (Timestamp: 60:36)

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4. Waiver Wire and Budget Strategies

• Heath Cummings warns against overspending FAB (Flex Action Budget) on high-profile players like Isaiah Pacheco and Isaac Ordonez, advising managers to monitor league budgets to retain flexibility: "Make sure if you spend a bunch of FAB on a player, you still have time to grab another big player that becomes available." (Timestamp: 12:08)

• Jamie Eisenberg echoes the sentiment, emphasizing the importance of budget management to avoid being left without FAB for crucial pickups: "They spent all their FAB and now they have FAB left. Sorry, what the hell." (Timestamp: 12:23)

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5. News and Notes

• Injuries and Suspensions:

  • Heath Cummings reports Trevor Lawrence is likely out for the season due to an IR designation: "Trevor Lawrence is done for the year." (Timestamp: 15:56)
  • Deontay Johnson is suspended for one game, raising concerns about his availability and value: "Deontay Johnson is suspended for one game because he didn't go into the game." (Timestamp: 19:01)

• Team Updates:

  • The Raiders activate Sincere McCormick, affecting their running back depth: "Sincere McCormick is on the active roster now." (Timestamp: 17:42)
  • The Panthers may cut Deontay Johnson, but Jamie Eisenberg believes he remains a valuable pickup: "He’s still going to be somewhat coveted." (Timestamp: 19:36)

• Defensive Highlights:

  • Heath Cummings highlights the Steelers' defense struggles against running backs: "Eight of their last nine games have given up 17.5 or more PPR points to running backs." (Timestamp: 38:25)

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6. Listener Mailbag and Questions

• Quarterback Preferences:

  • Listeners asked whether to start Herbert or Kyler Murray against the Chiefs. Hosts generally recommend starting Herbert, citing his increased play volume: "I would start Herbert over Kyler." (Timestamp: 51:44)

• Wide Receiver Dilemma:

  • A question on choosing between Calvin Ridley and a Jets wide receiver led to a recommendation to start Ridley: "I’m starting Ridley over Juwan Jennings." (Timestamp: 61:37)

• Tight End Rankings:

  • Listeners inquired about Evan Ingram vs. Dalton Kincaid. Hosts recommend Ingram for full-PPR and Kincaid for half-PPR formats: "I would go with Ingram in full-PPR and Kincaid in half-PPR." (Timestamp: 60:36)

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7. Final Recommendations and Conclusions

• Must-Starts:

  • Tony Pollard (RB)
  • Najee Harris (RB)
  • Isaac Ordonez (RB)
  • DeVante Adams (WR)
  • Evan Ingram (TE) in full-PPR

• Players to Avoid:

  • DK Metcalf (WR) vs. Cardinals
  • Isaiah Pacheco (RB) vs. Chargers
  • Calvin Ridley (WR) facing Jacksonville (conditionally started based on matchup)

• Strategic Insights:

  • Manage FAB Wisely: Avoid spending excessively on one player to retain budget flexibility.
  • Monitor Injuries: Stay updated on player statuses, especially key starters like Trevor Lawrence and Chill Metcalf.
  • Leverage Favorable Matchups: Capitalize on matchups where defenses are vulnerable, such as the Steelers against running backs.

• Quotes to Remember:

  • Heath Cummings: "Just start Tony Pollard." (Timestamp: 29:37)
  • Jamie Eisenberg: "If he does both, you're going to get a game like last week." (Timestamp: 25:38)
  • Dave Richard: "I'm viewing them as must starts this week." (Timestamp: 26:34)

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8. Upcoming Segments

• Trade Evaluations: Hosts will grade recent trades and discuss potential moves.
• Waiver Wire Gems: Highlighting undervalued players available on waivers.
• Fantasy Cops: Addressing league disputes and offering resolutions.
• Mailbag: Responding to listener questions and social media inquiries.

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Conclusion

This episode of Fantasy Football Today offers a comprehensive analysis of Week 14's Start or Sit decisions, backed by expert insights from Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath. By focusing on player performance trends, matchup advantages, and strategic budget management, fantasy managers are equipped to make informed decisions and steer their teams toward victory.

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Note: Advertisements, promotional segments, and non-content interruptions have been excluded to focus solely on the valuable fantasy football insights provided in this episode.

Transcript

[Adam Azer]

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[Jamie Eisenberg]

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[Heath Cummings]

Chipotle for at least 15 years and for me, chicken burrito, white rice, guac, salsa. That's my order. But I tried something new the other day. It's Chipotle's Smoked Brisket and I'll be trying it again and again and again. It's so good. Seasoned with Mexican spices and finished with a smoky sauce with Chipotle peppers. It's got so much flavor and it's got spice, but it's not too spicy. Now you trust me for fantasy advice. I give even better food advice. Go get Chipotle's Smoked Brisket. But Chipotle Smoked Brisket is only here for a limited time, so you need to go try it. It's available in all Chipotle restaurants, the Chipotle app or chipotle.com I'm a changed man. I am a brisket believer. Go get the chipotle smoked brisket right now.

[Dave Richard]

This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

What a play.

[Heath Cummings]

Can you believe this? No, I can't.

[Dave Richard]

It's time to dominate your fantasy league.

[Heath Cummings]

This is gonna go the distance.

[Dave Richard]

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

[Heath Cummings]

Starts and sits for Fantasy Week 14. Welcome everybody to Fantasy Football Today presented by BetMGM, the sportsbook. Born in Vegas, Adam Azer, Jamie Eisenberg, Heath Cummings. Okay, we're excited for tonight's game. We're excited to talk about today's slate. There's not a ton of pure AFC home games. So we've got some AFC teams at NFC teams today we're talking Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Chargers, Chiefs, Jaguars, Titans, Jets, Dolphins, Raiders, Bucks, Bills, Rams, Bengals, Cowboys. But I have a trivia question for you fine gentlemen. Jacoby Myers. And I think you're going to get this, by the way. Jacoby Myers is second on the Raiders in green zone targets inside the 10 yard line behind Brock Bowers. But he's tied for second. He only has three green zone targets. He's tied for second. Who's he tied with?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Trey Tucker.

[Dave Richard]

Green zone. So it's inside the 5, right 10 inside the 10. I'm going to say that he is tied with Alexander Madison.

[Heath Cummings]

Hold on one second. Need to get this. He's tied with Devonte Adams for the second most green zone targets.

[Dave Richard]

Dumb question.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay, today on the show.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Wow. How's Deontay Johnson numbers on the Panthers?

[Heath Cummings]

I'm just, it's just, it's interesting, right? Like it's amazing that Jacoby Myers is the same.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I hope we get more about what Amari Cooper has done with what he played around.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay, off to a great start. We're going to tell you which team is leading the NFL today. It was a joke. It was a fun little trivia question. Which team is leading the NFL?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Talk about Jeremy's fantasy cops again.

[Heath Cummings]

In yards per game since week eight. Which team is giving up the most big pass plays in their last three games? Will Levis has thrown seven touchdowns in his last four games. But what is weird about those seven touchdowns? I'm going to tell you all that in the next hour. All right. Players we love and players to avoid. And then I have a very important fab note for everybody. Okay, very important. Stay tuned for that. But Jamie, who do we love this.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Week to a tongue by low at the start of the week. So I hope he takes advantage of the jets defense. That seems like it's going to be minus Sauce Gardner. So I don't know if that's a plus or a minus based on the year that he's been having, but clearly you'd like to not see that player on the other side of the ball. Tua is on fire in his last three games. You know, some of it's been a little fluky, like what we saw last week against the packers where he had, you know, 29 fantasy points with a lot of it coming in the second half in garbage time. But he's playing well. The numbers are what they are. And the Jets, I know a lot of the production that has come against them from the quarterback spot has been from running quarterbacks, but I think with the way Tua's playing right now, home game, big game for the Dolphins. If they still have any chance of staying in the playoffs, they have to win out. And I think the jets are obviously a mess right now, so I know they did a good job against Geno last week. I think that's more about Gino. I don't think Tua will be slowed down to the point where he's not a top 10 quarterback this week, but I think he's going to be a top five quarterback. So love the setup for Tua in week 14.

[Heath Cummings]

Would you start Tua, who is the number one quarterback in fantasy over the last three games? Ooh, am I? Yes, he is in six point per pass in touchdown leagues. And Tua or Baker Mayfield?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I have two ahead of Baker, but to me, Tua, Darnold and Baker are almost interchangeable.

[Heath Cummings]

Oh, I, I will. I, I look forward to, you know, doing what I do. Playing devil's advocate on that Baker Mayfield take. I was a little surprised at how high you guys are on Baker Mayfield. That's coming up in one question for each game. Heath, who do you love this week?

[Dave Richard]

Isaac Grendo. Like fill in the blank 49ers starting running back. We've seen it for basically as long as Kyle Shanahan's been there. We saw Jordan Mason lead the league in rushing earlier this season. Garndos average 5.9 yards per carry whenever he's got an opportunity. Scored a touchdown just last week. I think he is a top 12 running back this week and a top 12 running back rest of season.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh, you got to Azer stat that one though. Take out the 76 yard run. What's he averaging? Yards per carry?

[Dave Richard]

Like 4.2.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay.

[Dave Richard]

But Azer loves guys who have 76 yard runs. I would never had a 76 yard.

[Heath Cummings]

Run of their problem takes Careem Hunt 12 carries to get a 76 to get 76. Not even more than that. 20 carries get 76 yards. All right. To a tongue of Iloa Isaac Orendo. We love them. Who are we avoiding this week? Jamie?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I would like to avoid DK Metcalf. His history against the Cardinals is absolutely abysmal. He's not 100% whether it's the shoulder injury or more recently as we saw last week, the knee injury. And this Cardinals defense is very good this year and they've been again just good against DK Metcalf over the course of really the majority of his career. But in the last five games he only has one game with a touchdown. I believe it's only one game with double digits in PPR. One game maybe over 10.8 PPR points. So he's not been the, the DK Metcalf we know he hasn't scored a touchdown in three straight games. His last two games has been miserable. I just don't think he's right. So he is a number three receiver still. So you're starting him in three receiver leagues but he is not a top 24 receiver for me in this matchup.

[Heath Cummings]

Can you guys see this on my phone there? But yeah, ah, I don't know. It is a picture. There's A screenshot of DK Metcalf with 4 to 5 yards of separation against a Cardinals cornerback two weeks ago and Geno Smith about to throw a 35ish yard touchdown pass to him and he gets stripped sacks just before he releases the ball spin there. And then last week, I mean I talked about this extensively on beyond the box Score last week he had DJ Reed destroyed him on a route on a double move and Gino threw under through the ball and it should have been a 34 yard touchdown instead of a 30 yard catch holding him back. But Arizona really did a very good job except for that one play on DK Metcalf which ended up being a fumble recovery. All right, so meek Metcalf you want to avoid. I know, but not going to be so easy, right? Is he in your top? Where is he?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I'm sorry, did you mention that he's like 34?

[Heath Cummings]

Oh wow. Even with six play teams on a buy. Wow. Okay, Heath, who are you avoiding?

[Dave Richard]

The Chiefs running backs if I can. Namely Isaiah Pacheco. Because it seems like even though Kareem Hunt played one more snap than Pacheco last week, I think we all have Pacheco ranked higher than Kareem Hunt. I'm just not sure that it's one week and then Pacho becomes the 18 touch guy again. I still think this is going to be a committee. I still think it's very questionable if they have a rush attempt on the one yard line, who that's going to be. And they're facing a Chargers defense that has not given up very many fantasy points to running backs. Now this is even more difficult, I think, than DK Metcalf because there are not 24 running backs that I want to start. But I would definitely like to start Garindo over him. I would start a lot of these guys that we've been like, Rico Dowdle, Tyrone Tracy, Rashad White, Deandre Swift, like, just even Chuba Hubbard, who I don't like this week. I would start all those guys over anybody on the Chiefs running backs.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay, I have to change my one question for each game for that one. So it was going to be about Isaiah Pacheco. Very good. Very good stuff there.

[Dave Richard]

All right.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

My one question for each game has been awesome.

[Heath Cummings]

Oh, yeah? What would it be?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

It's probably why the shows went for an hour and 20 minutes because it.

[Heath Cummings]

Turned into three questions for each game.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

And then we reviewed the game.

[Heath Cummings]

Right, Exactly. Okay, so start to start. Garando, sit. Metcalf. Heath, I'm curious, where do you have DK Metcalfe?

[Dave Richard]

Like, top 20? I was very encouraged. I think Jacob was tweeting about it, too. His first read target share went way back up last week. He had nine targets. He didn't score the fantasy points, but there's been opportunities there. I think the big boom's coming for dk.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay. And the other guy to sit was Isaiah Pacheco. And Jamie, I'm curious, where do you have Pacheco?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

He's in the top 24. But I agree with Heath. It's like there, there's. There's about 17, 18, like really good running backs this week, and then there's about three or four guys that are just a little bit concerning. So I would start Pacheco over some of the guys Heath mentioned. Like, I'd start him over Chuba Hubbard. I just have no interest in Chuba this week. I don't remember everybody else that he said, but that, that's one that stood out to me. But yes, it's not encouraging. I do think that we've seen teams been a. Have been able to run on the Chargers lately, and I wonder how much the Chiefs will commit to that. You know, you can't really look at the first game that these two teams played because so much happened in that game and so much is different from that game. But I wonder if, you know, Pacheco, did he shake the rust off and he's good to go? I did like the fact that he had the long run against the Raiders last week, so hopefully he's back, you know, being 100.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah. The Chargers keep teams out of the end zone, but they do give up 4.6 yards per carry to running backs. All right, so here's what I want to talk about with Fab and he's mentioned Isaiah, Isaac Orando. I'm sorry, I wish I had had talked about this more. I don't even know if I mentioned it at all on Tuesday. Show if you're going to spend a whole bunch of Fab on a player, make sure and there's still time there could be another big player that comes available in the playoffs. Please check the budgets of the other teams in your league. I get all the Fab reports in the FFT open leagues and obviously in the leagues that we're in. And I see teams spending $75 on Isaiah Pacheczek or on Isaac Orendo when the second most second biggest budget was like $40. This is, you know, these are not exact numbers, but you only need to spend a dollar more than the next highest available budget.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

We did, we did mention it briefly Tuesday.

[Heath Cummings]

I thought so. I wish I had hammered it home, though, because people went out and they got Pacheco, but they spent too much and now they have Fab left. Sorry, what the hell.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Those I names are killing you.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, with the o at the end.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah.

[Heath Cummings]

You know, I'm not good with vowels, but people went out and got Garando and they spent all their fab and they didn't need to. So if this situation comes up again and you have Fab left to go get the guy you want. Don't spend it all unless you absolutely have to check the budgets of the rest of your great, great situation.

[Dave Richard]

In the Scott Fishbowl. There are three teams from my division that advanced, but the other two guys already spent all of their fab. So I'm just making $1 ads as many players as I want. They can't get any of them.

[Heath Cummings]

That's great. All right. This holiday season, we've got some great gear for you if you go to shop.cbs sports.com fantasy perfect time to crown your fantasy football champion. Whether you're celebrating a championship or teasing the league's Biggest Loser Fantasy Football Today's new fan shop, powered by Shop Sense has everything you need from trophies to T shirts. We've got the gear to make your league unforgettable. There's also great stuff if you have a fan cave or you just want some sports memorabilia. It doesn't have to necessarily be fantasy football related, but look at this stuff. If you can't see it, we got a I suck at fantasy football T shirt. We've got a draft board. It's got some some really great stuff on this website. Shop.cbssports.com fantasy get everything you need to make this season legendary. We're going to take a quick break. We got news and notes and one question for each game when we come back on Fantasy Football today. This episode is brought to you by Microsoft Copilot PCs powered by Snapdragon. The fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever. Listen to the features that you get with these computers. They are fantastic. They can perform 45 trillion operations per second. And the copilot plus PCs give you access to AI powered co creator, a powerful AI feature to help you sketch even if drawing isn't your strong suit. And I'm tired of running out of battery on my computer, aren't you? Well, the Copilot Plus PCs, they give you up to 22 hours of battery life. That's going to make you more productive whether you're multitasking like never before, working far from power outlets, or sketching your ideas into existence. Power awaits with the new Microsoft Copilot Plus PC powered by Snapdragon, the fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever. Learn more about all new Copilot Plus PCs at windows.com copilot PCs battery life varies by device, settings and usage.

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[Heath Cummings]

Okay. Welcome back. Trevor Lawrence is on ir, so probably done for the season. He could come back for the last game of the season, but Trevor Lawrence probably out for the year. Joe Burrow bought the Batmobile from the Dark Knight or the Dark Knight Rises. He bought the Tumbler.

[Dave Richard]

That's pretty cool, man. Have I been there? Like, things. Something's not going right in your life, and you just need to go find the distraction. Like you binge a TV show or just go, like, do something like Joe Burrows. Man, football sting stings right now. Let's go get the Batmobile.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

You know what he could have done? Bought a defense.

[Heath Cummings]

Probably. I do. We know how much he paid for it.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

$2.9 million.

[Heath Cummings]

That's kind of like less than I expected. That's. That's a pretty cool purchase, I guess.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Is he gonna drive it, though? Or is it just, like, gonna be like something he shows in the garage?

[Heath Cummings]

I don't. You can. I don't think you can go drive it around town, right?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Why not? You've seen. I mean, like, there's definitely been people that drive replicas of the old Batmobiles.

[Heath Cummings]

I was reading the article on cbsports.com about it, and the article, I don't know if it's true or not, said it's not street legal.

[Dave Richard]

But, yeah, that's what I was coming on to say.

[Adam Azer]

It's not street legal.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay.

[Dave Richard]

It doesn't really seem right for him. In Cincinnati, when he died, he hear his hair. He looked more like a Batman villain than anything. And so it kind of feels like Batman's going to show up at his house and take it back.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, but wouldn't a Batman villain paid $3 million to buy the Batmobile. That's a very on brand.

[Dave Richard]

Yes.

[Heath Cummings]

Drew Locke will start for the Giants this week at running back. Alexander Madison was limited. Breeze hall missed practice. And again, I. I was surprised at the rhetoric here. I mean, they're basically not con. Not saying that Breeze hall is definitely going to play, but it's kind of weird since he played last week and they turned optimistic. But right now, I still think you should roster Braylon Allen.

[Dave Richard]

And you probably said this earlier in the week and I just missed it. But also in that Raider situation, sincere. McCormick is on the active roster now. Like, they made. They had to make the move to either choose not to activate him from their practice squad again or to give him an active roster spot. So they've got five running backs on their active roster right now, but he is. They wanted to make sure they kept him.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I would imagine that we may get a Zemir White to IR situation soon.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Which I don't know why it hasn't happened yet. I guess they're holding out hope. I actually like the setup a lot for Amir Abdullah. If the current setup stays at it as it is.

[Heath Cummings]

Oh, okay. And the written. So obviously the 49ers, they claimed Israel. Abed. Yes.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Okay.

[Heath Cummings]

But Patrick Taylor is on the active roster for the 49ers. Bucky Irving missed practice, which is not a surprise, but we'll keep an eye on that. You might want to keep Sean Tucker on your radar. And Roshan Johnson and DeAndre Swift missed practice. Are we taking this Bears situation seriously with both these guys missing practice? They're at San Francisco this week.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Not. Not yet for Swift. You know, Roshan's in the concussion protocol, so I would anticipate, you know, not having him this week at this point.

[Dave Richard]

Swift. I mean, Swift could really get a boost if he's fine and Roshan's not.

[Heath Cummings]

That's true, actually.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Like him this week.

[Heath Cummings]

Travis Homer. Would that be the third guy for them?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I believe he's currently the third guy. Yes.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay. All right, Wide receiver news. Deontay Johnson suspended for one game because he would not go into the. Into the game. Yes. On Sunday. And I was just curious, and I'm going too long on these news and notes, so I'll go faster after this. But they. I feel like they might cut him. They kind of talked it like they didn't commit to keeping him. Should we be picking up Deontay Johnson in case he ends up in a spot where he actually could get some targets?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I would think at this point, you know, with what's left in your fantasy leagues, if you want to try and get ahead of the, you know, five other teams that are going to be in the playoffs, maybe, but it'd be very off brand for them to do that because I always kind of viewed this as. Not only did they want to see what they have potentially in Deontay Johnson, but they're so good at trying to get compensatory picks. Like, they would give that up if a team signs him because. And. And he. You could, you know, speak to this more from a dynasty perspective where he's at at this point, but I still think he's going to be somewhat coveted. He's obviously not Going to get a mega deal. He's not going to get. He's not going to be one of the top, you know, free agent wide receivers, but some team will still give him an opportunity to play. And that's, I think part of Baltimore's MO is they love the compensatory picks.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah. And man, how much has he heard his stock enough yet to where they don't get a compensatory pick, I think would be the. The concern like the. His own. His original team didn't want him, then the Panthers basically just gave him up almost for free, and now the Ravens can't find a place to play him. But I agree with Jamie. It'd be really surprising if they cut him at this point.

[Heath Cummings]

All right, that's Deontay Johnson. Romeo Dobbs is out tonight, lad. McConkey was limited, which is a great sign. The Jaguars signed Josh Reynolds. Cedric Tillman missed practice, which is not a good sign. Hopefully he can get back out there. Calvin Austin. Oh, I. Did he practice or did he miss? He must have missed practice.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Calvin Austin missed practice. Yes.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay. But Jalen Coker practiced in full. Devonte Smith practiced in full. Keon Coleman was limited or listed as limited. DJ Moore and Keenan Allen missed practice. Well, that's probably just resting. And Alan Lazard is practicing for the Jets. He's eligible to come back. Now. Tight end Dallas Goddard missed practice. We're not expecting him. Tight end Josh Oliver from Minnesota, he practiced in full. Does he impact your TJ Hawkinson rankings? Josh Oliver.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Dropped about seven spots just because of Josh Oliver.

[Dave Richard]

Well, I'm gonna pretend like that. What? That thing that we saw over two games when TJ Hawkinson was making his return from an ACL was not real. It might be real again. Josh Oliver did impact T.J. hawkinson in his first couple of games back, but it's TJ Hawkinson and it's Josh Oliver.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Okay.

[Heath Cummings]

And it's more of a playing time thing because his playing time's gone up with.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Are you trying to allude that Kevin O'Connell is the new Arthur Smith?

[Heath Cummings]

Dalton Kincaid was limited, and Jatavian Sanders is trending toward playing on the offensive line. The Giants could be without both starting offensive tackles, and that's already without Andrew Thomas. Left tackle Taylor Decker's out for the Lions tonight. Peter Skoronski, left guard for the Titans, he missed practice. And Saints guards Cesar Ruiz missed practice with a concussion. So I think that means they could be without two guards in this game, but they'll get their center back. But they won't need them against the Giants. On defense, Sauce Gardner missed practice. Jair Alexander, cornerback for the Packers. He's out. Some kicker news. Evan McPherson for the Bengals. He's on IR. Cade York could replace him. And I've been talking, I talked about John Parker Romo, Jamie's number one kicker on the waiver wire. Well, Will Riker could be back for the Vikings this week, so keep an eye on that. You might just want to, you know.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

What the good move actually is, you can pick him up now because he's still IR eligible. So if you have an IR spot like I did this in a few leagues because clearly this has been a good kicking team, you can stash him on IR and then depending on who your kicker is or if you need to buy your play like I, I did this one league last night where I had fair Baron, you know, so I just dropped fair Baron for Riker. And if I have to pick up somebody else, I'll do it. Darius, by the way, I, I do, I did find it funny, you could tell the people that make. Because I do a lot of my leagues on Wednesdays. Waivers run on Wednesdays. The people who do their moves on Tuesdays. I saw about five leagues and I probably do 15 of my leagues that run waivers on Wednesday. The people picking up McPherson.

[Heath Cummings]

Oh, yeah, it's a shame.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah, go ahead.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay. Yeah. Just to finish up the defensive notes. Cornerback Darius Slay for the Eagles, he practiced. Alex Highsmith, edge rusher for the Steelers, a great edge rusher. He's expected back this week. Aziz Al Shire's three game suspension was upheld and the Giants could be without a starting cornerback, a starting their, their middle linebacker, Bobby O'Ke and a defensive lineman in addition to Dexter. I mean, the Giants are not just the worst team in the NFL, but maybe one of the most injured now as well.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

If you missed, Drew Locke was starting, right?

[Heath Cummings]

Yes, I did. If you haven't signed up for Bet MGM yet, use the bonus code Fantasy and you will get up to a fifteen hundred dollar first bet offer on your first wager with Bet mgm. So you download the betmgm app, you sign up using the bonus code Fantasy, deposit at least ten dollars and place your first bet on any game. And you'll receive up to fifteen hundred dollars in bonus bets if your bet loses. Just make sure that you use the bonus code Fantasy when you sign up. All right. Someone's saying that we got a lot of superhero talk since.

[Dave Richard]

Oh yes, I was gonna. That was the one I was hoping you would put up very, very good, good points here.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah.

[Heath Cummings]

So Jamie would be Michael Keaton, Batman. Heath would be Christian Bale, Batman. Adam would be Ben Affleck. And Dave would be Adam West, Batman.

[Dave Richard]

So after I saw this, and thank you, Aaron, for contributing to the show, I just went and searched who was the worst Batman. And the first result that I found said Ben Affleck.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I. Oh, I would say Val Kilmer, probably.

[Heath Cummings]

Who was the one that had the nipples? Remember?

[Dave Richard]

Well, there was George Clooney.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh, Clooney was the worst Batman. Clooney was the worst Batman.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah. Like, I think Clooney may have been the nipple costume. That was like, pretty controversial.

[Dave Richard]

Well, you were the guy that didn't wear a show shirt on the show.

[Heath Cummings]

Yesterday, so that is true. Okay, one question for each game. Cleveland at Pittsburgh starter sit Najee Harris, coming off that huge game.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I would start him. His worst game in his last seven has been the Browns game. But you got to hope for two things here. You got to hope that what we saw in the passing game before the Browns game and after the Browns game, he had five targets, four catches in week 11 and six targets, six catches in week 13. But he did not have that much work in the Browns game in from a passing perspective, was that the snow or was that by design? And then they've given up a lot of touchdowns. So when you look at it, I think if, if I have the number correctly, it's nine touchdowns. It's eight or nine touchdowns when you factor in Taysom Hill. So the rushing touchdowns have been huge here. And they gave the rushing touchdown or the rushing touchdown went to Jalen Warren in that game against Cleveland. So can he score? He's got four touchdowns in the last seven games. Can he be more involved in the passing game? Can he do both? If he does both, you're going to get a game like last week.

[Dave Richard]

I kind of view Najee like I view James. They were terrible the last time these two teams played and they were so good the week after that. I'm just viewing them as must starts this week.

[Heath Cummings]

All right, Chargers are at the Chiefs. I was going to ask you about Pacheco, but how about DeAndre Hopkins, starter City Andre Hopkins.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

13 PPR points each of his last two games. It's not a horrific matchup. It just depends, I think what you have, you know, so I think he's just safe to call a number three receiver the most.

[Dave Richard]

Number three wide receiver. Yes.

[Heath Cummings]

So I know Heath would start Metcalf over Hopkins, but Jamie, how about You.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I was starting Metcalf over Hopkins also. But they're all I, if they're not back to back, they're virtually close.

[Heath Cummings]

Jacksonville at Tennessee. How much faith do you have in the Titans passing game?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

More than I ever have since Steve McNair.

[Dave Richard]

I, I have little Levis I think at QB15, the projections real even with the great matchup. Really don't like Calvin Ridley that much and it's largely because he's not been very good lately. He only has two games all season with a touchdown and he only has one game all season with more than five catches. But it's Jacksonville, it's a revenge game. I'm probably starting Ridley.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I'm starting really also and I do think this is an opportunity if you're stuck to go with Nick Westbrook. Aquina, you know, 61 yards or more on two of his last three seven touchdown, seven a game with a touchdown in seven of his last eight games. A touchdown in seven of his last 8 games. 8 touchdowns over that span, 10 touchdowns on the season. I mean like look there's 6 teams on a buy so he's as good a, you know, streaming bye week option that you could find.

[Heath Cummings]

And what's the thing that Will Levis has done? I mentioned 7 touchdown passes in his last 4 games but what hasn't he done? He has no touchdowns from closer than 15 yards in that stretch. He's one of three quarterbacks in the last four games who doesn't have a green zone touchdown pass. Kirk Cousins and Justin Herbert are the other two and that's just kind of, that's why it's just so difficult to trust is that everything is so just all these deep balls. And that's the thing with Calvin Ridley. He was playing really well but now he's not connecting on the deep balls. He had a step on a guy could have had like a big gain but Will Levis made a kind of a poor throw and that's going to happen when you're having a 20 yard ADOT. So that's this like he's throwing touchdowns. Will Levis but seven, seven touchdowns his last four games and none of them have been close. Like they've all been 15 yards or longer, including 99.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I also think you got to take into account he's, he's not had easy matchups in those games, you know, so that's the hope is that he's not going to see a pass rush like he's seen the last few weeks. He's going to see a Secondary that's bleeding big plays. So this lends itself to what he has been doing. Well, my biggest concern and you know Heath mentioned his name about something we're talking about soon is Tony Pollard. You know like Tony Pollard's potential in this game is massive.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, I have a stat on Tony Pollard too. I'll just give it now. Basically the thing we say about Ramandre Stevenson, you know, we like Ramon Dre Stevenson when it's close, whatever. Tony Pollard is like that but five times better. He when they get blown out, he struggles. When they win or when it's close, Tony Pollard is just awesome. So you shouldn't ask if you should start Tony Pollard. Right. Just right. Heath, just start Tony Pollard.

[Dave Richard]

Absolutely love Tony Pollard this week.

[Heath Cummings]

All right. We, we will probably save some time on that game in a little bit. Jets at Dolphins Is Breeze Hall a must start running back? He scored 12.3 or fewer fantasy points in PPR in four of his last five games.

[Dave Richard]

Ring the bell. Just ring like you ask that question yourself and then just ring the bell because there's not enough good running backs to sit Breeze Hall. Yes. If Breeze hall plays, he is a must start running back this week. If he has another bad game and we get everybody back from by then, then maybe he's not a must start running back next week. Oh wait, they're facing Jacksonville next week. He's still going to be a must start running back.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Las Vegas where is he in terms of biggest bust? There's so many without injuries.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, I, I was actually thinking about that. I, I think off the top of my head I thought Travis ETN was the biggest non injury bust, but hall is probably up there.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I mean when you factor in capital.

[Heath Cummings]

Tyreek is up there too.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah, I, I would say injury, right?

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah. But even when, even when two has been healthy lately, like Tyreek hasn't been that.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

No, he's definitely a bus.

[Dave Richard]

But Tyreek's been worse with TUA than Bries hall has been all season.

[Heath Cummings]

Probably. Is that. Yeah. You know that for sure? That's just a guess.

[Dave Richard]

Well, he was wide receiver 31 with Tua going into last week and he did catch a pass that bounced off of John O. Smith which helped. But Breeze hall is still a top 20 running back, right?

[Heath Cummings]

Probably. All right. Las Vegas at Tampa Bay. Why so confident in Baker Mayfield?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Why don't you tell us why you're not confident?

[Heath Cummings]

Well, it because Bucky Irving's killing him. In the last three games, the Buccaneers have five running back rushing touchdowns. That's the same amount that they had in their first nine games of the season. Their pass rate has plummeted. Their pass rate inside the five yard line has plummeted. I used to joke, Mike Evans is their goal line back. Bucky Irving and Rashad White are there. And Sean Tucker two weeks ago with their goal line back. I can't just say the matchup because the Giants and the Panthers were great matchups and he didn't come through. I know he played well against the Giants. It's simply the touchdowns though. They have transformed into a running team. It's small sample. It's only the last three games really, but that is hurting him so. And he only has one good receiver.

[Dave Richard]

This is the thing about like touchdowns. The fact that they were only scoring passing touchdowns for the month before the last three weeks was not predictive of what was going to happen the next three weeks. So I'm not sure the fact that they're only scoring rushing touchdowns right now means they're only going to score rushing touchdowns moving forward.

[Heath Cummings]

Well, how about the fact that he's throwing, you know, 31ish times per game lately? He's not giving you those 40 plus pass attempt games anymore.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah, I don't think he needs 40 attempts against the Raiders. I've got him projected for 30 to pass attempts in this game.

[Heath Cummings]

And you guys have him like top seven, right? Baker Mayfield, top four, five.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I mean you could still see a scenario where they, they put up 40 as a team and everybody eats.

[Heath Cummings]

Let's go. Baker Mayfield. Buffalo's at the Rams. How are we feeling about Khalil Shakir? Is he still, you know, just like the gonna get you 12 PPR fantasy point guy or do you think anything different? They're just who he is every week.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Khalil Shakir, I'm throwing out last week, like still had seven targets in the snow.

[Heath Cummings]

No, me too. Yeah.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Prior to that he's been so consistent.

[Heath Cummings]

Right.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

You know, so the good games are probably 15 PPR points unless he scores, then it's higher. The bad games are like 11 or 12, you know, so that's a, that's a good number three receiver. You know, especially six teams on a buy. It's hard to get away from him. So he's a lot worried about too much against the Rams.

[Dave Richard]

He's a lot higher in the projections than he is in my rankings. I've tried to pull back on him a little bit, but it's because like you said it, Adam, he scores 12 fantasy points every week without a Touchdown.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yep.

[Dave Richard]

He hasn't scored a touchdown since week three. I think one's probably coming especially since he plays with Josh Allen. So I think he, he could be a top 15 wide receiver and it shouldn't really surprise anybody.

[Heath Cummings]

91 wide receivers have 35 or more targets. Khalil Shakir has the lowest adot among those 91 wide receivers. 3.9 yard a dot. Last is Cincinnati at Dallas Starter sit Rico Dowdle start.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I mean almost a must start if Logan Wilson is not there. They are. You know Rankin's also missed last week's game. Must last two games I think with an illness. So who knows if he's able to return. Sheldon Rankin's one of their defensive linemen but if Logan Wilson's out like that was abysmal. You saw three running backs have success. I think three guys scored eight or more PPR points against them with from the Steelers last week with Corduroy Patterson, Jalen Warren and Naji Harris. And Naji just did whatever he wanted to in that game. I mean he was running free. Six catches like Rico Dow's coming off great game. You know first 100 yard game for the Cowboys since week three of 2023. It's, it's. There's a lot to like about where he's at especially in what should be a high scoring game.

[Heath Cummings]

What if Rankins and Wilson are both.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Back then just given the week he's still a starter but like he's, he's borderline top 15 for me. You know I love the setup. Rico Dotto those guys don't play. Today's gonna be a big down injury report for that game. Specifically you got Jake Ferguson in the tight end situation to monitor there for the Cowboys. Obviously CD Lamb to see what's happening with him if he's going to practice. This is their first practice day because their game's Monday. And then for the Bengals it's a lot of the defensive players if they're interrupt.

[Heath Cummings]

Oh, this is a pretty funny line from Matt Walters. I've got a fever and the only prescription is more Dowdle. That's not bad. That's not bad. Dowdle or Pollard. Okay, I saw Dowdle or Garrett Wilson from the chat.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

If, if Logan Wilson is out it's easily Rico Dowdle for me if Logan Wilson's in is close I would probably go well Garrett Wilson and pbr.

[Heath Cummings]

Now it's time for the workhorse to watch segment brought to you by Microsoft Copilot Plus PCs powered by Snapdragon the fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever. In this segment, we'll identify a player whose battery just doesn't seem to run out. Similar to Copilot plus PCs and Heath. We've already talked about Tony Pollard, but why don't you tell me? Because we love him. This week against Jacksonville, who you would start Tony Pollard over almost everybody.

[Dave Richard]

He is a top 12 running back for me. Has been a true workhorse this season, averaging a career high 16 rush attempts per game, also catching 3.1 passes per game. I think people might look at last week against Washington and see that he only had 12 touches and think, well, yeah, Taije Spears came back. Look what happens. Taije Spears played 14 snaps and touched the ball once. Tony Pollard was still a workhorse last week. They just didn't have a lot of play volume. They didn't have a lot of running back touches. I expect they will this week. They're actually a favorite against Jacksonville, who has been one of the worst teams at giving up fantasy points to essentially every position. Tony Pollard will be a workhorse. He will be a top 12 running back. You should start him.

[Heath Cummings]

That was the workhorse to watch segment brought to you by Microsoft Copilot+PCs. Whether you're multitasking like never before, working far from power outlets, or sketching your own ideas into existence, you can do it with the new Microsoft Copilot plus PC powered by Snapdragon. Battery life varies by device and with usage and settings. First game is Cleveland at Pittsburgh. I said at the top of the show, which team is leading the NFL in yards per game since Week 8? Why? That would be the. Which team?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

One of these two.

[Heath Cummings]

Which? Guess.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Steelers.

[Heath Cummings]

No, it's the Browns. Almost 400 yards per game in their last five games. However, they're terrible in the red zone and. Or bad. I'll say in the red zone and terrible and goal to go conversion rate. So they're only 16th in points per game in that stretch, despite number one in yards per game.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

But you say that though last time these two teams played, didn't Nick Chubb have two goal line touchdowns?

[Heath Cummings]

He did. And yet they're still struggling. They're 25th in goal to go conversion rate.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Well, I mean, you're just looking at matchup, though, and he's, he's intriguing because they give, they give up a rushing touchdown every week.

[Heath Cummings]

The Steelers do. Yeah, they do. Yeah.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

It's. It's seven weeks in a row that running back scored against.

[Dave Richard]

Is it, is it going to be Nick Chubb or is he gonna get benched for a quarter?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Again, I just wonder, you know, if it was like the last time when they played the Sunday going into the Thursday night game. Right. They were caught. They, Kevin Savansky said it. He goes, we were limiting Nick Chubb snaps. Did they do something similar knowing that it was a Monday going into the following Sunday?

[Heath Cummings]

Right. They were limiting his snaps on a Sunday because they were playing on Thursday. Do they limit his snaps again? Because it's a short week of, you know, previous week. So, yeah, it's a running back of score. This is insane to think about the Steelers defense. A running back has scored 17.5 or more PPR fantasy points against the Steelers in eight of their last nine games. And that includes Nick Chubb. But who did we talk about? Oh, Pacheco or Chubb?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Pacheco. But they're similar. Like there, there's, there's three guys that I kind of view very similar this week. If the situation in Carolina holds like we saw last week, because if you're not getting passing downs work from Chuba Hubbard against the Eagles, he's basically worthless. So it's, it's Hubbard, it's Pacheco, and it's Chubb. And the only reason to buy into Nick Chubb is because of the situation with the Steelers that they just give a touch. He's. He's nothing if he doesn't score, like throughout the, the receiving touchdown last week, you can't even count on that by any stretch. He's averaging Your favorite stat, 3.0 yards, 3 yards per carry since he's come back from the knee injury. So he's not going to do anything on the ground. But if he's going to get 20 touches, if they're in contention in this game, like, he'll have a chance to fall into the end zone again. Six teams on a buy. It's not awful.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah. All right. And Jerome Ford's a number three running back if you need him. Which quarterback do you like better in this game?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

James.

[Heath Cummings]

James, does it bother you at all that the Steelers allow the fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yes, absolutely.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay, so where's, where's Jameis in your rankings? Heath?

[Dave Richard]

I believe he's right around. QB10 would probably be a top five quarterback, honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that the Steelers have been so good against quarterbacks. I just, I really am hopeful. And Jamie said it like, last game, we got all those touches from Nick Chubb and we got the two goal line carries because it was a close game and neither team could really score that Wasn't a good weather game. Right. This is supposed to be a good weather game. I'm. I'm hopeful that both these teams get up and down the field a little bit. It looks like that Denver game, I would start Jamis over Kyler Murray over Patrick Mahomes and over the two quarterbacks tonight.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay, Jamie, two quarterbacks tonight.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Or Jameis, I believe I have love Jameis golf, but I probably would play it safe with golf, depending on what my team looks like. But I think there's more upside with James. I would start him over Kyler. I would start. I would start Mahomes over him, though.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, you go Mahomes 7, love 8. Winston 9, golf 10. Heath goes Winston 8. I see him at 8. Maybe he's 10, but.

[Dave Richard]

Yes, that's right.

[Heath Cummings]

Winston 8, Kyler 9, Mahomes 10, golf 11. Love 12. All right, so we talked about the running backs. How about. Let's just get David Najoku out of the way. He's a must start. Yep.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yes.

[Heath Cummings]

All right.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Even though he was bad against them last time, too.

[Heath Cummings]

He was. He was. But he has scored 17.1 or more points in four of his last six games. David Najoku. All right. How do we feel about the wide receivers for Cleveland Heath with and without Cedric Tillman?

[Dave Richard]

I. I can't sit Jerry Judy, like. And I think that's the other thing as we talk about Jameis going up against the Steelers defense and the number one defense against quarterbacks. You know, the number one defense against quarterbacks was last week.

[Heath Cummings]

Yes, I do. Denver.

[Dave Richard]

The Denver Broncos. So, like, if. If the Patrick Certain matchup can't shut down Jerry Judy, I'm just going to start him as a top 12 wide receiver. He might fall to, like, 13 or 14 if Tillman plays. I'm viewing Elijah Moore as a very good number three without Tillman and a low end number three with Tillman. And I would say Tillman, if he plays, is probably in that 26 to 28 area of the rankings.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah. I just wonder, maybe Tillman doesn't play and this doesn't even matter, but I wonder what happens after these two huge games in a row for. For Jerry Judy, because with Winston on the field and Tillman on the field, Tillman had one more target than Jerry Judy. From weeks eight through 12, everything changed once Tillman got hurt. But up until the point Tillman got hurt a couple of weeks ago, Judy had two catches on two targets with Tillman on the field, and then all of a sudden, bam, he just had a 31% target per route run rate after that. And then last week, obviously you said.

[Dave Richard]

Week eight through 12, right?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah.

[Heath Cummings]

With the middle of week 12. Yeah.

[Dave Richard]

Okay. I was gonna say week eight through 12. Jerry Judy was wide receiver eight per game with 17 fantasy points per game.

[Heath Cummings]

But Tillman was really good too, you know, like we were. That's the thing. This is really a knock on Judy, but I'm just wondering if we're forgetting Tillman a little bit because he was super involved when, when he was there. So, so anyway, like, how does it affect if Tillman plays? I know Judy's gonna be the top ranked one, but where would Tillman and. And more be for you guys?

[Dave Richard]

I think, I think I answered. So I'll let Jamie.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Tillman would be third. I would still have more second.

[Heath Cummings]

All right.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

He said it best yesterday. We, we. We got three career games for Cedric Tillman.

[Heath Cummings]

Yes.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Is that sustainable?

[Heath Cummings]

It could be. Okay. Sorry. Russell Wilson, starter situation.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

He's a low end starter. You know, I think you, you start to look at from the James group on down, you know, of the rankings you just read, he's in that mix. And look, we're sitting here and saying Jameis Winston had a bad game in the snow. Well, Russell Wilson not scored him in the snow. Russell Wilson's coming off a 400 yard game. Russell Wilson's facing the better opponent. You know, it's like there, there's probably more logic to saying Russell Wilson's in a better spot than Jameis Winston, except for the fact that volume is most likely going to favor James. So that's, I think, where you sort of hang your hat on here. But look, Russ has played very well. He took advantage of a bad defense. Browns are still a little bit beat up defensively. You saw Miles Garrett limping through that game last week. You know, if he doesn't play for whatever reason or has to leave that game, that's even better for the Steelers. So I think there's just not as much upside with Russ as there is with with Jameis. But I wouldn't necessarily be making a panic move to drop somebody to pick up someone else and bench Russ. This is a game where he can still get 20 fantasy points.

[Heath Cummings]

And a question from the chat. Russ or Kyler Murray?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Russ.

[Heath Cummings]

He's gift Kyler, right?

[Dave Richard]

Yep.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah.

[Heath Cummings]

Russell Wilson, not only did he throw for more yards than or have a better game than Winston two weeks ago in the snow, he was 21 of 28 for 270 yards in that game. Like that's really impressive. Only one touchdown. Are we talking.

[Dave Richard]

I think that like there was one number there that you said that is the problem and it was 28.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, but that was a snow game.

[Dave Richard]

Every game except for last week has been 28 to 30 pass attempts.

[Heath Cummings]

I think he, unless I wrote it down wrong, he threw 36 passes against Baltimore. Is that wrong?

[Dave Richard]

Maybe he did. Maybe I was wrong with that.

[Heath Cummings]

No, I could have, I could be a typo on my end. That would be two of the last three games with 36 or more passes.

[Dave Richard]

I did throw 36 for 205 yards, zero touchdowns and interception.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, not, not a great game for him there. Cleveland's bad again. Cleveland's past defense is terrible and they give up a ton of big plays. So this could actually be pretty high scoring game. It'd be great. We talked about Najee Harris earlier. Jalen Warren could be, could get you those like 10ish fantasy points like he usually does. Start George Pickens. That's it for Pittsburgh wide receivers, I assume. And then starter. Sit Pat Friarmuth. Anyone want to start Pat Friarmuth?

[Dave Richard]

Not really.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

He's not bad. You know, given again the circumstances of the teams on a buy like I like him better than Kyle Pitts this week. I think, you know, when you're looking at what he's done the last two games, you know, targets have been somewhat up. He had 4 for 59 against the Browns in the first meeting in the snow. Calvin Austin may not play and so he's been sort of the, the middle of the field option for Russell Wilson when he decides to go there. So coming off the game that he just had and knowing that he's got a chance to be a playmaker here. Yeah, he's not bad.

[Heath Cummings]

All right. And the Steelers dst. Dave has them eighth. Jamie and Heath have the Steelers DST top three. Next up is the Chargers and the Chiefs. So before we do that, next up is a commercial break. We'll be right back on fft. Hey everyone. Ready to level up your game time? Check out Chumba Casino. It's all about nonstop fun. It's totally free to join, no strings attached. Enjoy reels of casino style games anytime anywhere. With exciting new games added on the reg. Play for your chance to redeem serious prizes. And don't forget your free daily login bonus. It's yours to claim every single day. Whether you're kicking back at home or on the move. Get in on the action and play for a chance at some awesome prizes. Don't wait. Jump in and start playing today at Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group voidwear prohibited by law 18/ TNC supply. If you're a regular listener to the show, you know that I get sick a decent amount of times, right? I've got young kids, they go back to school, they bring home a cold, and eventually I catch it. And I know I'm not alone. I know a lot of you deal with the same issue here, but now I use Zicam. As soon as I start feeling sick, if I sneeze, if my throat is sore, if I'm sniffling, I go get the Zicam. I always have Zicam in the house because it shortens the cold. You don't want to deal with a cold for a week. You want this to be over as quickly as possible. So that's why I use Zicam. And they've got rapid melts, medicated fruit drops and a bunch of delicious flavors. That's my choice. Nasal swabs and a nasal spray. So you can choose from a variety of options. Feel a cold coming on at the first sign? Reach for cold shortening products from Zycam, the number one cold shortening brand. For best results, use at the first sign of a cold and continue to use until symptoms completely subside. Pick up Zicam in the cold and flu aisle or visit zicam.com to see where to buy online. We're back. Chargers at Chiefs and your stat of the game. This is another one. It is at the top of the show. The Chiefs have allowed the second most completions of 20 or more yards and the most completions of 20 or more air yards over the last three weeks. Some teams have had a buy and the Chiefs haven't. But they are struggling a bit against the pass. Which quarterback do you guys prefer in this game?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Mahomes by a good margin right now will be an absolutely significant margin of LAD. McConkey does not play.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah, I. I think I put this in the quarterback preview. But like Justin Herbert's QB19 for the season, QB22 for the last month. I don't want to start Justin Herbert.

[Heath Cummings]

He was hot. He scored a 21.8 or more points in four straight games and then two stinkers in a row against Baltimore and Atlanta, which are fantastic matchups. Yeah, I think we might have to reevaluate Baltimore that gotta. They've been pretty good the last three weeks and it for Atlanta. What happened against Atlanta? Well, he barely threw. He threw eight passes in the second half. He threw 23 passes for the game, but fair enough. We're not going to start Justin Herbert.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I do think that there's two things that you're looking at here. This is now like you, like you said, you threw out last week's game because the, the Falcons offense was terrible. The Chiefs offense is obviously playing much better lately. So this has the potential to be a little bit more of a back and forth game. They can't run the ball right now.

[Heath Cummings]

Right.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

You know, that's fairly evident what we saw in just a one game sample size. And we know Gus Edwards has been mediocre at best this season. Commandee Vidal may or may not be an answer, but they didn't give him an opportunity to do so. So it's now on, on Herbert. And so you go back to that first game. Herbert was not running. So I think that was a byproduct of the foot injury that he had coming into the season. He threw at that point a season high, 27 attempts. This could be a 40 attempt game for him. And he's probably gonna have to run, which he has run for. I think it's like what, 29 yards or more in four of his last five or three of his last four, something like that, you know, prior to the Falcons game. So his, his rushing numbers I think will matter here. And if you look at the Chiefs, they've given up some big games lately to some crappy quarterbacks. Gardner Minshew played well against them. O'Connell played well against them. Bryce Young played well against them. Bo Nick's got a 20 point game in Kansas City. You know, so it's, it's a, there's a potential here for Justin Herbert to have a big game. You know, I agree with Heath, like his, his overall season has been disappointing. I think it's. You almost got to break it up into two halves. You know, it could be foot injury, not foot injury. It could be McConkey's development. You know, there's a lot of things you can, you know, sort of put into play. New offense coordinator finally feeling comfortable. But I do think he is with six teams on a buy in the conversation to still be a starter.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay, I'll read some questions here. Herbert or Kyler Murray? I think you guys are gonna go Kyler.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

No, I would go Herbert.

[Heath Cummings]

Oh, okay.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

If McConaughey plays, I go Herbert. I, I don't like the matchup for Kyler at all. Seattle's defense played really well. Herbert or Russell Wilson again with McConkey? Herbert without Russ.

[Dave Richard]

Yep.

[Heath Cummings]

All right. Listen, if McConkey doesn't play Sid Herbert, but let's approach this game as if McConkey's going to play. You have him ranked and he was limited in practice on Wednesday.

[Dave Richard]

I think you approach it that way. But also like I've. You got to be a little careful tonight with McConkey. I'd start Jaden Reed over him. I'd start Jameson Williams over him.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay, fair enough. And then you guys are going to start Baker Mayfield over Herbert. So let's move on. How about this question, Mooney or McConkey?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

McConkey.

[Dave Richard]

I am pretty sure that I have McConkey higher. That's a Sunday night game too, isn't it?

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah.

[Dave Richard]

So hopefully we get a little bit more. Assuming that McConkey is cleared, I'll start McConkey. But they're close enough that if he's got a questionable tag going into that game Sunday night, it'll be Mooney.

[Heath Cummings]

I'm pretty fired up for this game, actually. This is a great week. I'm excited for some games this week. Okay, so McConkey's the only wide receiver that we're start. Really? I mean, he's the only must start wide receiver in this game, right?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yes.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah. And we already talked about Hopkins. He's a number three receiver. It's tough to trust Quentin Johnston right now. Will Disley or Noah Gray.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I mean, if Disley had a better game last week, you'd be saying Will Disley or Travis Kelsey. But yeah, Disley over Gray.

[Dave Richard]

I have Disley over Gray, But I would prefer a couple of streamers and really like Bowers was incredible against the Chiefs last week, but there's been some pretty bad tight ends against the Chiefs in the second half.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, like we had a great matchup. We wanted Dawson Knox. He had 4 for 40 on six targets. Jatavian Sanders is actually pretty good. He had 49 yards on 18 of the snaps.

[Dave Richard]

But Bauer's first game against the Chiefs, he had, yeah, five for 58.

[Heath Cummings]

All right, so you guys like Mahomes? Jamie has Mahomes seventh. Heath has him 10th. He has the most pass attempts in football in the last six games. And if he would just stop missing guys wide open in the end zone like Travis kelsey in week 10 and DeAndre Hopkins last week, he'd be unbelievable right now. So you guys like Mahomes and we talked about Pacheco. He's a low end, number two starter. You might have to start him. But we don't, we don't love Pacheco. And Kelsey. Yes. And Hopkins maybe. And Xavier Worthy. Try to avoid if you can. Right.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yes.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay. Dsts. You like dsts in this game?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Chiefs overchargers. But I'd like to avoid Both again. Unless McConkey's out.

[Dave Richard]

Not. Not a great week for DST. I would start the Saints over both.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Okay.

[Heath Cummings]

Not a great week at all. But I see, like, the Jaguars and the Titans projected kind of high. Would you start those team? They're facing each other. They're our next game, actually. Would you start the Jags or Titans over the Chiefs?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

The Chiefs. No. The Chargers. Yes.

[Dave Richard]

I wouldn't over either one.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay. Jacksonville is at Tennessee and. Okay, I had one. I've basically gone through both of my stats of the game about Will Levis throwing a bunch of long touchdowns and about how good Tony Pollard is when he gets work and when they're in competitive games. And I'll tell you this. Six straight running. I hope he didn't mention this. Six straight running backs lead. Running backs have averaged five yards per carry or better against Jacksonville. Whoo.

[Dave Richard]

I did not mention that.

[Heath Cummings]

Yes. Okay, if you're going to take a flyer on a quarterback in this game, which one's it going to be?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I mean, Levis by a mile.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah. All right. Yeah, I'm just asking.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Levis or Herbert McConkey in? McConkey out.

[Dave Richard]

Levis either way.

[Heath Cummings]

Wow. Okay.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah.

[Heath Cummings]

I mean, it's such a good matchup here. So who's the best wide receiver in this game?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Brian Thomas Jr. Young Calvin Ridley.

[Dave Richard]

Better is better than old Calvin Ridley. Yes.

[Heath Cummings]

That's Brian Thomas Jr. How do you feel about Travis ETN and Tank Bigsby?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh, boy. I would rather start Nick Chubb over both. I would rather start Pacheco over both. As much as I dislike Tuba Hubbard this week, I would start him over both.

[Dave Richard]

So I've got ETN over the Chiefs, over Chubb over Tank etn, I think.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Has not scored a touchdown since week two. And I don't remember the last time he's been over 50 total yards.

[Heath Cummings]

Maybe once last week.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah, once in his last. Whatever games. It's been.

[Heath Cummings]

It's been a. It was a long time before. The last time he did it was against the Colts. I don't even know when that was.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

We're hoping for 50 total yards at this point.

[Heath Cummings]

Get hopefully three catches at him. Heath, are you expecting more than like 12 fantasy points for Travis etn?

[Dave Richard]

Oh, no, no. I just don't like. I only. I said it's tough. I have 24 running backs projected for more than 10 fantasy points, not Travis Etienne's not one of them. It's just, it only takes eight to get into the top 30 at running back this week.

[Heath Cummings]

Jamie, actually I'm going to come back to you. I have to look something up here before I re asked the ask this question, but how do you feel about Parker Washington coming off a huge game, six catches, 103 yards and a touchdown on 12 targets and he's not really playing in the slot anymore. He's kind of an out wide air yards guy now.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I think he's, you know, boom bus number three wide receiver. You know, you don't want to chase one game but it was the first game without Gabe Davis. They're coming off their bye week. So we had said this in the waiver wire conversation for three weeks, you know, going into their bye week, coming out of their bye week, this was a guy to pick up and he delivered. And so I can't see a scenario where they have success running the ball. I know the Commanders ran all over the Titans last week, the three weeks prior to that they shut down Joe Mixon, Aaron Jones and J.K. dobbins. Those guys are all clearly better than Travis Etienne and they don't have a running quarterback to threaten them like the Commanders did with Jane Daniels. So if they're going to be 40 plus pass attempts here for really three guys, he's got a chance, you know. So I think when you're talking about, you know, named wide receivers like he's in the conversation, if you're willing to do this over Jalen Waddle, over debo Samuel, over DeAndre Hopkins potentially, like that's where Parker Washington is right now, you know, off of one game, just given the role and given the matchup, I.

[Dave Richard]

I would start all those guys over him.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

But he's, and I agree, but I'm just saying like that's where he's, you know, if you're considering benching guys, you're considering benching guys that have been struggling or you know, not necessarily the most trustworthy.

[Heath Cummings]

Did you mention him with Nick Westbrook, Akin.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So again I, I would. If I'm looking at those two guys, I'd play the matchups and I'd go with Nick Westbrook, Aquina, but they're very similar. You know, it's just, you don't want to, you don't want to expect that many targets again, that much production again from a guy that's just never done it before. But if he does do it again, then we're talking about a very favorable schedule moving forward, so he should be rostered.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay. Yeah. The reason why I didn't hear everything you said is I was looking at. You keep talking about how much you don't like Chuba Hubbard. He didn't have any targets last week. I just want to know if it changes your mind that he ran 30. Chuba Hubbard ran 30 routes last week and Jonathan Brooks ran six. He was on the field for almost every third down. So maybe it was just kind of a fluky game that he didn't get a target.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah. It's also Philadelphia though. That's why I don't like him. That's just the role in the passing game is just a part of it.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay. All right. Evan Ingram is a top seven tight end for you guys. He remember he came back from injury and he had 102 yards at Chicago since then. He's averaging 37.5 yards per game in his last six games. Are we sure Devin Ingram. Should Heath make the case for Evan Ingram?

[Dave Richard]

He's a tight end and a lot of the good ones are not playing this week. And there. There's no bigger gap for a tight end between non ppr, half PPR and full PPR rankings. But Evan Ingram basically catches five passes every week. He's going to give you eight and a half fantasy points as a floor and that's without a touchdown. He absolutely has the role to produce one of these stupid 22 point days just out of nowhere because he happens to score a touchdown.

[Heath Cummings]

Right.

[Dave Richard]

So he's. He's pretty much a must start. There's not like John is the only guy I think who was drafted behind him that I would start over him.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

We just got a good question in the chat from Paul that I have struggled with my rankings and it's to guys that are getting opportunities but struggling with them and so. Yep. So I like Otten slightly better than Ingram.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, you guys both have them back to back actually. Heath has otten one spot ahead, Jamie has in one spot behind. But if it goes to half ppr, is it easily otten over Ingram?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

For me it is. And to be honest, the tiebreakers quarterback, you know, one guy's got somebody I trust one guy some got somebody I don't half ppr.

[Dave Richard]

I would go Otton just barely over Ingram. I do think there's a pretty big difference in ppr. Like Otton's basically seeing five targets per game with Mike Evans. Ingram catches five passes per game, but Otten does have a much better Chance of scoring a touchdown.

[Heath Cummings]

All right. Will Levis is a top 15 quarterback. Tony Pollard is a must start. Calvin Ridley is a top 24 wide receiver. Nick Westbrook, Akin is more. More of a number three wide receiver. So would you start Calvin Ridley or a Jets wide receiver?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Both. Jets.

[Dave Richard]

Both Jets.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay. Would you start Calvin Ridley or Juwan Jennings?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Ridley.

[Dave Richard]

So I think this is one where the projections say Jennings and I'm just kind of faking Ridley up there to just ahead of Jennings.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay. And Chico Conquo and the Titans DST is in play, but they're not. They're not in the top 12. The jets are at the Dolphins. Tua Tonga by Loa is our start of the game. Here's a useless stat of the start of the week.

[Dave Richard]

Sorry, starting this is also the start of the game.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah.

[Dave Richard]

Well, I guess Devon HM would probably be the start of the game.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, maybe. Here's a useless stat of the game for you. In the last six games since Tua has returned, Jalen Waddle is averaging 11.1 yards per target. Tyreek Hill is averaging 8.8. Jalen Waddle is averaging 14.4 yards per catch. Tyreek Hill was averaging 11.6. I just really wanted to tell you that I'm not going to make any fantasy analysis off of it.

[Dave Richard]

Gibbs had a Twitter thread earlier this week. Like it's. It's all bad for Tyree Kill when it comes to looking at advanced stats. It's a good matchup. Another guy who I'm just ranking much higher than I project. But if you wanted to make a case that Tyree Kill is just not Tyreek Hill anymore, you could use almost any of the advanced stats that you would like to. He doesn't get the same first read target share. He's not doing the same with targets when he receives them. He had an awful game last week after an awful month, but garbage time and a deflected touchdown saved him. But it's the jets and I'm starting him too. He's at home.

[Heath Cummings]

It is so funny that we say this. It's the Jets. They are. They give up the fewest fantasy points to wide receivers. We're not expecting as of now soft Gardener to play, but also just. They haven't done it against. I've talked about this a lot. They don't do it against good receivers. They just had an easy schedule and they stink. They're just. They just stink. However, they did pretty well against DK last week. Right?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

And I just don't think DK's right. I also don't think Geno Smith is at Tua's level.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, Geno's played poorly. Like I. Like I said, DK could have a better game. All right, so Tyree Kill then is. Where is he in your rankings, guys?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Borderline top 12. I mean, there's, you know, maybe you're starting Judy and Jacoby Myers over him, 24th. Wow.

[Dave Richard]

I think he's 36 in the projections.

[Heath Cummings]

I. One thing I like for Hill Heath is that he has five end zone targets, seven red zone targets in his last four games.

[Dave Richard]

Are we counting the ball?

[Heath Cummings]

The touchdown he caught last week, it actually did count.

[Dave Richard]

That was not a Tyree Kill target.

[Heath Cummings]

That's fair. But that's still four end zone targets in his last four games, which is good. He's. He needs to score.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah. I mean, it's. It's Dolphins at home. It's a defense that we think probably has quit, but I just. He's not. I don't. I'm not sure he's Tyreek Hill anymore.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Do you have you had the numbers on TUA in terms of being the best quarterback the last three weeks? Do you have everybody for the last three weeks, the quarterback spot?

[Heath Cummings]

No, but I could get that, you know, pretty quickly.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

All right, give me the. The total points for quarterbacks last three weeks.

[Heath Cummings]

All right, well, talk about something else for about 10 seconds.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

The jets receivers. Heath, because I'm struggling with these guys based on what they have and have not done, it felt like Garrett Wilson could have had a monster game last week because Aaron Rodgers just missed him and missed him and missed him, but he's obviously struggling and Adams is getting targets. A lot of conversation about these guys coming back. You know, what's their motivation in terms of Adams and Rogers? Like, how do you feel about the.

[Dave Richard]

Chiefs receivers, the jets receivers? I am ranking as number two. Wide receivers, Devonte Adams one spot ahead of Garrett Wilson. I agree it's been a little fluky that Garrett Wilson's not been. Has been that he has been as bad as he's been. And I, I would. I'm mostly just starting both of them everywhere.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah.

[Heath Cummings]

I just want to bring up a stat that I brought up yesterday when we talked about Garrett Wilson. The last three games have been particularly bad for him. The first three games with. With Rogers and Adams were fine, but Rogers, like. All I. All we need from Rogers is for him to not be completely terrible because in his first nine games of the year, he averaged 234 yards per game. His last three games he's been at 151, 184 and 185. Just. I'm not asking for a lot here, but just get me 215 passing yards or something like that. These guys get more than half the targets, so we just need him to not be awful. All right. Your top quarterbacks over the last three weeks.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

No, no, I just want the numbers. How many guys have been over 60 fantasy points in those three games?

[Heath Cummings]

Oh, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 12, 13.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So John who Smith would be a top 13 quarterback?

[Heath Cummings]

I believe he would be 11th.

[Dave Richard]

Well. And if you're talking per game, Josh Allen and Bryce Young would both be over 20 per game.

[Heath Cummings]

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 Quarterbacks have scored 21 point, averaged 21.3 or more fantasy points.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Pretty incredible.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah. All right, so start John who? Smith. I. Can I just say, like, can I just say this about John New Smith. He has had really easy matchups lately. Disclaimer. I'm starting Jonas Smith not even questioning it. He's had really easy matchups lately. The jets actually have been pretty good against tight ends. And I said I looked. Travis Kelsey had three game stretches like this each of the previous two seasons and he slumped immediately afterwards. Just hard to hard to do this. Three straight games with more than 21 fantasy points.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So if he gets 12, is that a win or a loss?

[Heath Cummings]

It's a win. But. But what did he have the three games before he had six, 9.6 and 7.5. Yeah.

[Dave Richard]

Since Tyree Kill returned, Jono Smith has a 21.5% target share.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

That's two hour return to a return since.

[Dave Richard]

Yes. Which is better than Tyreek hill. It's like 50% better than Jalen Waddle. He is the number one option in the Dolphins passing game.

[Heath Cummings]

John Smith or David Najoku is the question here.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Jono China.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay. All right.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

There's only two tight ends. I start over him this week. McBride and Bowers.

[Dave Richard]

Breeze hall hours is the only target I have had.

[Heath Cummings]

Him Breeze hall or Tyree Kill?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh, boy. Battle the bus. Jon Snow is good. That one I would go with. With Tyreek and ppr, it'd be hall for me.

[Heath Cummings]

Hall's coming off a bad game, but he has 83 or more total yards in five of the last six games since Devonte Adams was acquired. That's pretty good. I mean it's not amazing, but it's pretty damn good. Okay, and that's it for this game, actually. Dolphins. Dst. Do we like them like Dolphins or Chiefs?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Dolphins.

[Dave Richard]

I don't have any idea. I have the Dolphins one spot higher.

[Heath Cummings]

I think we have two. Oh, we have three games left. All right, maybe we'll save one.

[Dave Richard]

Man. Is it like you're just. You wanted to make Jamie feel better about the last couple of Fridays.

[Heath Cummings]

I knew this was a long show. All right, we've got Las Vegas at Tampa Bay, so you could start in O'Connell if you need to. They're facing a team that gives up the second most points to quarterbacks, but he's not ranked as a starter.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I do think two of the more fascinating quarterbacks this week are Aiden O'Connell and Cooper Rush because their matchups are so good, but they are so untrustworthy.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, but I want to know why you like Alexander Madison? I'm sorry? Why you like Amir Abdullah?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So the Bucks are tied for the top three in most receptions allowed to running backs. And I did this with the Broncos. It almost worked out to similar numbers. So I raised a little bit just because the. So it was 6.8 PPR points with just receiving totals alone for the Broncos, and they had done that eight times. A running back had done that eight times going into that game for Amir Abdullah. He was the ninth guy to do it with just receiving totals alone. The bucks have allowed 10 running backs on the season to get seven or more PPR points with just their receiving totals. Loan. So slight bump up. I was actually 12 with at the 6.8 number. But you're getting that as a floor for a guy that's been so involved in the passing game lately that that's a pretty good place to start. So if Madison, and most if it's Madison's out because it really. I don't think it's a mere white. If Madison's out, then. Then Abdullah stays in his role in the passing game. And I think he could get that floor. As he told you, eight could get you into the top 30, 10 could get you in the top 24. He's got 10 or more since the guy started getting hurt in two of.

[Dave Richard]

Three games in my. In the projections. And I've. I've ranked him a little lower than this. And after hearing that, I may just move him back up to where he's projected. I've got amir Abdullah at RB23 ahead of the Jags, the Chiefs, Chub, Gus, all those guys.

[Heath Cummings]

Wow.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

So he's actually. I have him ranked 24th right now. I have him Behind Pacheco just because upside, I think still favors Pacheco. But I have him ahead of Hubbard. I have him ahead of the Browns guys. Had him at the Jaguars guys. I think again, if this, if this stays and they're probably chasing points on the road, then we could see a situation where Amir Abdul is really involved in the past.

[Dave Richard]

The question I have and it's that like it's about trends and it's only been two games, but in the first game without White and Madison sincere, McCormick played 10% of the offensive snaps. In the second game, he played 38% of the offensive snaps. Antonio Pierce has really has really talked him up and YPC for life. McCormick's averaging 5.7 yards per carry leads Raiders running backs by a long shot in avoid rate in yards before contact per rush attempt and yards after contact per rush attempt. So it might be that that receiving work for Amir Abdullah could both be the ceiling and the floor. Although we did have 10 rush attempts last week.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I will say this, and it depends on how you feel the game's going to go because the run defense is obviously easier this week than it was last week. The Chiefs just let teams stay in games and they were chasing points at one point in that game because they do what they do, they fall behind. As he said a few weeks ago, there will be a point in the game where they are down by a touchdown. So that's just what happens against the Chiefs. If they're behind against the Bucks. I don't think we see as much from McCormick. If you think they're going to be playing with the lead against the Bucks, then we'll see probably a lot of McCormick or a competitive game. So I think this is a chasing points, third, fourth quarter situation. Bucks have been on the road the last couple weeks. They're back home. This is a, you know, again, must win for them to lock up the division if they're going to out, you know, distance themselves from the Falcons. So I like the Bucks a lot this week. I think we're gonna see a lot.

[Heath Cummings]

Of Abdul Starch, Kobe Myers for sure. Trey Tucker, don't start him right like.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

He'S a poor man's mvs.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay, so that sells you everything. Brock Bowers, start Baker Mayfield, you guys have in your top six. And Bucky Irving is a must start. So let's talk about the Bucks running backs. Heath with and without Bucky Irving. Where's Rashad White? With him. Without Bucky Irving.

[Dave Richard]

With Bucky Irving, he is right behind Amir Abdullah. For me, I think RB24 without he would be pretty close to a must start running back. Probably closer to RB15. Sean Tucker with Bucky Irving is only inside of my top 48 running backs because there's six teams on a buy without Bucky Irving would probably be in that Nick Chubb. I'd probably start him over Gus Edwards and Nick Chubb because I do think there's a much better chance that Sean Tucker breaks one long run.

[Heath Cummings]

And you said I'm sorry, you said top 15 for Rashad White.

[Dave Richard]

If Bucky Irving were out, that's where I would be. Yes.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Both those guys would be in my top 24.

[Heath Cummings]

Irving though okay, Mike Evans is a start. Any interest in Did Sterling shepherd crack your top 40?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

No, he cracked the top 150, you know, back to back games with seven targets. But the best thing he did was celebrate Mike Evans big touchdown catch last week.

[Dave Richard]

He is one spot behind Trey Tucker. We had a question man. Matt just gets all his questions read but I think this is a good one. He's Is this the first year Mike Evans doesn't hit a thousand yards or the next few weeks nuts then the number of yards per game he needs actually went down last week. So he needs about 95 yards per game. Baker Mayfield knows that is tracking it and said it's very important to the offense that Mike Evans gets that. So I would expect Mike Evans will have 100 yards receiving.

[Heath Cummings]

All right, Kate Otten or a Cowboys tight end.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Still k dotting but that's partially due to when the games are being played because the Cowboys play Monday and we may not know right up until game time. But matchup certainly favors Ferguson.

[Dave Richard]

I would go with Ferguson if he's cleared, Schoonmaker if he's ruled out. But Kate Otten if neither and Mike.

[Heath Cummings]

Evans or sorry Kate Otten. By the way, the Raiders allow the fourth most fantasy points to tight ends so now the Panthers were even worse. But it is a good matchup for him too. And the Bucks DST is close to top 12. They have been horrible this year, but they have faced a pretty tough schedule. This is a good matchup. Buffalo is at the Rams. Just an interesting stat. So I already told you about Khalil Shakir's ADOT 3.9 yards, lowest among 91 receivers with 35 or more targets. But Khalil Shakir's target share in his last five games is 28.3%. His target per out run rate is 32.4%. Is that because Keon Coleman, Amari Cooper and Dalton Kincaid have all missed time. I don't know. But he is getting more targets lately so that's obviously a good thing.

[Dave Richard]

He's the Evan Ingram of wide receivers.

[Heath Cummings]

That's a great way to put it. Great way to put it. All right, so this game is easy. Josh Allen's a start. James Cook. I don't know how easy this game is, but let's get to the easy things. Josh Allen's easy is a start. James Cook is easy. He's a start. If you get a competitive game, you might actually get a lot of carries from James Cook. They've had so few competitive games this year. There's a lot of blowouts. Shakira is the number one receiver. Where's he ranked for you guys? One receiver for Buffalo. Where's he ranked for you Guys?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

26, 27.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah, I think that's yeah. Projects inside the top 20 ranks.

[Heath Cummings]

25Th and not going to start Coleman if he plays or Cooper right.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

But prefer not to.

[Dave Richard]

Coleman will be a boom bust flex. He'll be in the top 40.

[Heath Cummings]

Thoughts on the Bills tight ends?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Oh boy. Kincaid's just tough to trust at this point. If he plays. I like that he's limited. So if you want to pick him up just to see what happens over the next couple of weeks and he gets maybe back into the flow of the offense and can start to produce at a higher level but I would try to avoid both if you can. It's a great matchup but still I.

[Dave Richard]

Would start him over Mooth. If he's active. He's active.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Yeah.

[Heath Cummings]

We have a question.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

I was.

[Heath Cummings]

All right, so let's go to Matthew Stafford because my other stat of the game was that Matthew Stafford really has not been very good in tough matchups but since cup and actually I like this stat. So first of all answer this question. Stafford or Levis From Michael here.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Levis.

[Dave Richard]

I have Love us one spot higher.

[Heath Cummings]

All right. I like this stat because in the last six games of 2023 Matthew Stafford was on pace for 4,831 yards and 42 touchdowns in his last five games. I believe since Puka and and cup returned he's on pace for 4,500 yards. So about 330 less, 320 less but also 40 touchdowns. And he is a top 12 quarterback per game in six point per passing touchdown leagues. He has not been good though in tough matchups this year. Got that garbage time touchdown against the Eagles to save him there. But the Bills give up the fourth fewest fantasy points to quarterback so starter sit Matthew Stafford.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

The Eagles game was punching the cooler though right?

[Heath Cummings]

No no no that was the Minnesota game. I think cup caught a garbage time touchdown very late that got.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

They still count though.

[Heath Cummings]

No that wasn't Minnesota. That was Miami. No New England.

[Dave Richard]

I don't know Matthew Stafford's a QB2 I would rather start Will Levis I'd rather start Jameis Winston.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Agree okay start Kyron the the plus is is that the the number you're seeing on the screen? 49 and a half like the the Rams hopefully will do their part.

[Heath Cummings]

Start Puka start Cup any interest in DeMarcus Robinson?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

No.

[Dave Richard]

He is one spot ahead of Trey Tucker two spots ahead of Sterling Shepherd.

[Heath Cummings]

Sit the Rams tight ends and the Bills. DST is six for Jamie, third for Heath, ninth for Dave. They haven't been very good against good offenses this year unless you count San Francisco last week but this is a I hate dsts this week, I gotta say. All right, I'll save Cincinnati and what's that?

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Just go with the team playing the.

[Heath Cummings]

JV office would love to go with the Saints. Not an option unfortunately in some leagues. I gonna save Dallas and Cincinnati for tomorrow's show. That'll be an easy we still got.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

Eight minutes till we hit our mark.

[Heath Cummings]

No till your mark, baby. We already hit my mark five, five to ten minutes ago for Jamie and Heath. I'm Adam for Thomas as well. Thank you so much and we'll talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football Today. Enjoy the game tonight. See ya. Paramount Podcasts Listen, I don't care if your fantasy teams won. If your favorite team beat its arch rival, your football sundae isn't going to be good enough if you don't nail the food aspect of it. If you're not using Hellman's Real Mayonnaise, what are you doing? Come on. Hellman's Real Mayonnaise is a rich, creamy mayonnaise made with real simple ingredients. Hellman's can be used to bring out the best rich, creamy, delicious flavor in a variety of dishes. Dips, sandwiches, deviled eggs, sauces, salads and more. Look, if you're having people over to watch the game or you just want to have good food by yourself, consider this little tip from me. My wife makes the best Buffalo chicken dip. The key ingredient? Hellman's Mayonnaise. It brings it to another level. It's probably my favorite snack on game day. So let me finish by imploring you to step up your mayonnaise game with a series of puns. Mayo Game day be delicious, Mayo dip be creamy and your fantasy team be dreamy. And how about this for a fantasy team name Drake Mayo. You get the point. You can purchase Hellman's at your local Walmart, Kroger or grocery store and use it to add extra deliciousness and creamy flavor to your game day dishes. This football season.