Start or Sit (NFC): Can you trust Malik Nabers? The 49ers? Any Panthers? (12/06 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today: Episode Summary – "Start or Sit (NFC): Can You Trust Malik Nabers? The 49ers? Any Panthers?"

Release Date: December 6, 2024

Hosts and Analysts:

• Adam Aizer (Host)
• Dave Richard (Analyst)
• Jamey Eisenberg (Analyst)
• Heath Cummings (Analyst)

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Introduction and Week 14 Overview

The episode kicks off with Adam Aizer welcoming listeners to the Week 14 Friday edition of Fantasy Football Today, sponsored by BetMGM. The hosts immediately dive into the highlights of Week 14, focusing on the thrilling Detroit Lions vs. Green Bay Packers game, which concluded with a close score of Detroit 34, Green Bay 31. The discussion centers on the performance of key players and the implications for fantasy football lineups.

Notable Quote:

• Adam [03:28]: "Detroit 34, Green Bay 31. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for every player in this game, and we will talk about it."

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Key Player Performance Analysis

Wide Receivers: Jaden Reed and Amon-Ross St. Brown

The conversation shifts to evaluate the performances and future prospects of Packers receivers Jaden Reed and Amon-Ross St. Brown. Dave raises concerns about Reed’s inconsistent targets and catches, especially noting his zero catches in the latest game despite being targeted once.

Notable Quote:

• Dave [05:39]: "He did not."

Heath supports the skepticism around Reed, highlighting the Packers' increased use of two tight end formations, which has limited Reed’s opportunities on the field.

Notable Quote:

• Heath [05:51]: "We can't say the same for Jaden Reed based on how he's been rolling outside of the game."

Tight Ends: Tucker Kraft vs. Laporta

The discussion moves to tight ends, debating whether to trust Tucker Kraft over other options like Laporta. Dave slightly favors Laporta due to his consistent target share, while Heath expresses reservations about Kraft despite his recent performance.

Notable Quotes:

• Dave [10:24]: "I think Laporta is a little bit, to me, safer than Tucker Kraft right now."
• Heath [11:00]: "The problem that I have with Kraft is that he has three games this year with six or more targets, and that's always the number that I look for."

Running Backs: Ken Walker, James Connor, and Isaac Garendo

The analysts delve into the running back positions, assessing the reliability and matchup advantages of Ken Walker, James Connor, and the emerging Isaac Garendo. Concerns are raised about Walker’s health and Connor’s performance against strong defenses, while Garendo is highlighted as a promising option against Chicago's run defense.

Notable Quote:

• Heath [33:20]: "Charbonnet played 44% of the snaps last week, dominated third downs... he may get a few more additional touches."

Quarterbacks: Caleb Williams and Brock Purdy

The episode examines the performances and fantasy value of quarterbacks Caleb Williams and Brock Purdy. Dave praises Williams' recent form and potential, whereas Purdy is viewed as a low-end starter given his inconsistent performance and the improving Chicago defense.

Notable Quotes:

• Dave [38:44]: "He's playing well, you know, and it started the first game with Thomas Brown when we saw the 70 yards rushing."
• Heath [40:52]: "I think he's a low end starter..."

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Start or Sit Decisions

The hosts provide actionable advice on which players to start or sit for optimal fantasy performance.

• Marvin Harrison Jr. vs. Juwan Jennings: Dave opts to start Miller Harrison over Jennings, citing his target volume.
• Tyrone Tracy Jr. vs. Malik Neighbors: Heath suggests starting Tracy for his consistent involvement.
• George Kittle vs. Sam Darnold: Strong preference is given to starting Kittle over other tight end options.

Notable Quote:

• Heath [60:29]: "I'm starting Garando over many other running backs..."

---

Injury News and Player Updates

A crucial segment covers the latest injury reports affecting key players, including Elijah Mitchell, Madison Ltd., Ken Walker, and offensive linemen like Trent Williams and Aaron Banks. The hosts discuss the potential impact of these injuries on team performance and fantasy lineups.

Notable Quote:

• Adam [17:05]: "Jake Ferguson practice in full. He's going to be good to go."

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Listener Mailbag and Player Queries

Listeners' questions play a significant role, with discussions on the reliability of players like Malik Neighbors and the comparative performance of quarterbacks like Jalen Hurts vs. Brock Purdy.

Notable Quote:

• Adam [62:47]: "Dave, Mahomes or Darnold?"
• Dave [62:47]: "Darnold. That's close."

---

Final Recommendations and Wrap-Up

As the episode draws to a close, the hosts summarize their top picks and strategic moves for the approaching games, emphasizing the importance of monitoring player health and matchup advantages. They encourage listeners to join their live sessions for real-time advice and updates.

Notable Quote:

• Heath [73:05]: "I am very much intrigued and hopeful that Isaac Orndo can have a solid role for the Niners."

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Conclusion

This episode of Fantasy Football Today provides comprehensive insights into Week 14's crucial NFC matchups, offering valuable start/sit recommendations and in-depth player analysis. The experts underscore the importance of staying updated on player statuses and leveraging favorable matchups to maximize fantasy football success.

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Key Takeaways:

• Monitor Player Health: Injuries to key players like Ken Walker and Tucker Kraft can significantly impact fantasy lineups.
• Assess Matchups: Favor players facing weaker defenses, such as Isaac Garendo against Chicago’s run defense.
• Start Consistent Performers: Players with stable target shares and consistent performance, like Marvin Harrison Jr. and Kirk Cousins, are reliable starts.

Upcoming Episodes: Tune in next week as the hosts continue to dissect NFC games and provide tailored fantasy football strategies to help you secure your league victory.

Transcript

[Adam]

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[Jamie]

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[Adam]

Fantasy Football Today from CBS Sports.

[Dave]

What a play. Can you believe this?

[Heath]

No, I can't. It's time to dominate your fantasy league.

[Adam]

Off to the races, and he stays at his feet.

[Heath]

This is gonna go the distance. Now here's some combination of Adam, Dave, Jamie, and Heath.

[Adam]

All right, what's up, everybody? We welcome you to Fantasy Football Today, presented by BetMGM. It's the sportsbook born in Vegas. And this is the Friday edition for week 14. Week 14 gets off to a pretty good start. This is exactly what we were hoping for. Detroit 34, Green Bay 31. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for every player in this game, and we will talk about it. We'll also preview six games on the NFC home game side. We've got Seattle, Arizona, Chicago, San Francisco. I'll ask these guys to rank the wide receivers in that game. Atlanta at Minnesota. Carolina at Philadelphia. Who's a better flex this week, Chuba Hubbard or Devonte Smith? Cincinnati at Dallas. We didn't get to that one yesterday. And the game of the week, the Saints at the Giants. Okay, Jamie. Hi.

[Dave]

Are you okay?

[Adam]

Are you safe for now? Yeah. So, everybody, you should watch and listen to the mailbag. If you saw it last night, you already know what happened.

[Heath]

But I didn't watch it.

[Adam]

I was interrupted in the middle of the fantasy cop segment by a troubling sound right above me, which.

[Dave]

Oh, yeah.

[Adam]

I don't know what it was, but it sounded like a fairly big maybe squirrel, you know, running around, and it happened. Now Too cold for iguanas here. But the really trouble is that it's not, you know, it's not the roof above me. It's a storage closet in my daughter's room. So it really freaked me out. And I think you'll enjoy the clip, which I have clued up, queued up, which we'll get to later. But first, Detroit 34, Green Bay 31. The packers had the ball for about 24 minutes. Jordan Love threw 20 passes. Josh Jacobs ran 18 times. All right, I'm gonna, I'm gonna put two wide receivers together here. They obviously they're in different, you know, starter sit tears. But now that we're getting to the fantasy playoffs, how concerned are you, Dave, about Jaden Reed, who didn't. Who had. Did not have a catch yesterday? Did he have a catch? He did not. Right.

[Dave]

He did not.

[Heath]

He had a target.

[Adam]

One zero. One target, zero catches. And how concerned are you about Amon Ross St. Brown, who has now 12.2 or fewer fantasy points in three straight games?

[Heath]

Still going to start on monorail St. Brown every week still figure that he's going to be a regular part of the Lions offense. And we can't say the same for Jaden Reed based on how he's been rolling outside of the game. Two games ago, he played 50 of the snaps. He ran 15 routes. That's it. Adam, you noted before the show and you watched it during the game. The packers ran a lot of two tight end formations that took Reed off the field in a bunch of times and snaps and, and that's not what we were expecting. I don't feel very comfortable calling him anything more than a flex moving forward. We're through the buys. You should have enough receivers to sit Jaden Reed unless there's compelling evidence otherwise.

[Adam]

And not only did they run a lot of two tight end set, I mean, this was their lowest rate of three receiver sets, highest rate of two tight end sets all season. They. They were in three receiver sets about, I think it was like 44% of the time or something crazy low. So was that a game plan? You know, that that's just what they decided. It doesn't really make a lot of sense against Detroit, but that's what happened.

[Heath]

It's frustrating that Steve, to me it makes perfect sense. We knew that the Detroit D line was banged up going into the game. They probably figured that they could run the ball a little bit more. You put two tight ends out there to get an extra blocker and you could also have those guys run a route if you use play action.

[Adam]

I don't know.

[Heath]

Just to me it made sense that they used more two tight ends. We probably should have dialed into that a little bit more. The problem is that we, we could have said before the game, okay, yeah, they might use more two tight end sets. Does that hurt Tucker Kraft? Does that help Jaden Reed? I'm not sure we would have landed on.

[Adam]

How could we have possibly predicted that they would be in a season high of two Titans.

[Heath]

But I just said because we knew that their defensive, that Detroit's defensive line was a weakness going into the game.

[Adam]

I, I mean, I get it, but still their, their defensive line did really well against the run. I know Jacobs had three touchdowns, but he struggled. And they still started with a Lee McNeil who did leave the game with a head injury. I think you could, you can throw on Detroit. As we've seen the last.

[Dave]

I think part of the, part of the problem was that whatever their game plan going in worked and the hope for Jaden Reed, which I think is going to be the case most weeks, is that their game plan doesn't work and they're falling behind and having to throw a little more, you know, because that's been a little bit of an issue for them moving forward, is that they haven't been throwing as much. And I mean you look at Jaden Reed's targets, they haven't been there. And that's, that's somewhat of an issue. And you're also talking about a game where one of their star receivers, you know, if you want to call Romeo Dobbs a star, he's one of their contributors, did not play. And so if you were to say going into the game, the weakness of the Lions is their pass. No matter what the injuries may be, the weakness of the Lions is still their secondary. The strength of the packers receiving core or the, the best packers receiver, the one we trust the most is Jaden Reed. You're expecting a back and forth game. Vegas told us that it ended up being that you look at the score. You would have said this is the perfect setup for Jaden Reed with Romeo Dobbs not playing.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Heath]

And so, so what happens when Romeo Dobbs comes back?

[Dave]

So that's, that's part of the issue is there's another mouth defeat. I, I've, I've said this from the beginning of the season and you know, it's played out twice. You know, in terms of numbers that their most explosive receiver is Christian Watson. You know, when you see what he does, he's different than anybody on the field. Jaden Reed makes big plays. He should have had a big play against the Dolphins on the first throw. He had a couple of touchdowns, obviously. So he's a big play threat. Also not the same type. He's a, he's a big time threat. He's not a big play threat like Christian Watson is. So when Watson is doing things like this, it opens up everything for the offense. It just didn't open up things for Jaden Reed last night. It opened up things for Tucker Kraft. It opened up the run game a little bit more. Don Tavion Wicks had a couple of nice catches. So this is the issue with the packers receivers moving forward. There's a lot of mouth defeat and there's just not one consistent go to guy.

[Adam]

The other issue is that they are now over the last four games, because over the last three games they had the second highest run rate, second lowest pass rate in the NFL. And I really just thought, well, they're 3 and O in these games. They've been ahead big and in two of them they're going to have to throw well. Maybe they're just a run team now, which is surprising to say. I didn't think we'd say that about the Lions, but they're kind of a run team. I mean, a little bit more balance. But the, you know, we, we do have to think about that going forward. Is this team just going to be run heavy? All right, so on the other side of the ball, unless just want to say, like, are you going to trust Tucker Kraft, by the way, when Romeo Dobbs gets back? Because obviously he's had a big boost in targets the last two weeks.

[Dave]

When you talk about that position, you know, again, you're looking for someone who's productive. And so Laporta had a really good game last night. Just didn't score, you know, so five for 54 targets were there. Like, you'll, you'll take that for what he's been giving you because the chance to score is always there. So I think Laporta is a little bit, to me, safer than Tucker Kraft right now. But not by much. But when you start to get to Evan Ingram and Kate Otten and Will Disley and Kyle Pitts and, you know, continue down the line of, you know, wherever you want to stop, he's been so productive over the course of the season. Like, I'm not chasing tight ends if I have Tucker Kraft.

[Heath]

I agree with that. The problem that I have with Kraft is that he has three games this year with Six or more targets, and that's always the number that I look for. Sure. When I want to start a tight end, I want somebody that's going to get targeted. He had a great game last night. He had five targets. He. It feels a little uneasy to go with Tucker Kraft because of that. But you're right. There's no reason to go scanning for tight end streamers when you've got Tucker Kraft.

[Dave]

The only one I may consider, just because the schedule is Jake Ferguson. That's the closest one. And you know that.

[Heath]

Six plus targets on the regular.

[Dave]

And it's, it's. It's somewhat, I think, unfair to call him a streamer. He just was dropped because of the injuries.

[Adam]

Yeah. All right. Who do you think was started in more leagues, golf or love?

[Heath]

Love.

[Adam]

Golf by 4%. 70% started for golf, 66 for love. Love scores 16.5 fantasy points. Golf scores 28 fantasy points.

[Dave]

And by the way, a terrible pass interference call on the Jacob session.

[Adam]

Which one?

[Dave]

The offensive.

[Heath]

You're right.

[Adam]

Oh, the one that would have been right on Christian Watson. All right, so Jameer Gibbs and Montgomery score 19.3 or 19.4 fantasy points. It just worked out so nicely. But David Montgomery has three or more catches in five of his last six games. It's. That's David Montgomery I'm talking about, not Jamir Gibbs. It's crazy. St. Brown. The only thing I want to say about St. Brown here, because, like, I get it, I'm absolutely going to start him if I advance in the one league I have him in, his target share the last three weeks is 21.2%, 22.6%, 15%. So it's not just like it used to be. They don't throw much. But he gets so many targets. He gets 30 of the targets. Now it's Jameson Williams, Sam Laporta, you know. Yeah. So is this.

[Heath]

We've seen laporta has at least six targets in each of his last three games. Jameson Williams has at least seven targets in each of his last three games. So St. Brown's losing that grip a little bit, and it's coming back to Sting. He's still going to be a number one fantasy receiver, but he might be toward the bottom of that group. Top 12, not top five.

[Adam]

All right, we'll talk more about these guys next week when we preview their game against Buffalo. Oh, that'll be fun.

[Heath]

That will be fun.

[Adam]

Okay, so Sunday, you know what to do. You can join us on [e-mail] fantasy football today, live at 11:30am Eastern until kickoff, where we answer your questions basically for about 85 minutes. It's a lot of fun and I think very helpful for our audience. YouTube.com fantasy football today, which is where you can also watch all of our podcasts, including this one from yesterday. Here we go. Take a look. Dave, give me your, give me your reaction here to the mailbag.

[Heath]

Oh, my gosh. The funniest part about that was your face. The second funniest part is that if you're watching on YouTube, Jamie's laughing both in real time and in the video.

[Adam]

You know, it's probably Jamie somehow sneaking into my apartment, my house, to scare me. All right, News and notes.

[Heath]

When you, when you got scared two weeks ago was much better than that face. But that's still a very funny azer face.

[Adam]

Yeah, I've been giving people a lot of material these days.

[Heath]

Oh, my God. And it's in your daughter's closet. That's creepy.

[Adam]

I don't know. I don't know. It could possibly have been the roof. I'm praying that it was.

[Heath]

Could it have been your daughter? Like, could she have gotten out of bed and like.

[Adam]

No, no, she was past that. She was asleep at that point. Okay. News and notes. So there's a lot here. Okay. So Aiden O'Connell mispractice with an illness. He should be okay. Another raiders note, Madison Ltd. Again, Zamir White missed practice. We talked about that game yesterday. But let's talk about the big, the big misses of practice. Ken Walker missed practice, Breeze hall missed practice, Bucky Irving missed practice and both Bears running backs missed practice. So Jamie, I'm going to give you the running backs. Ken Walker, Breeze Hall, Bucky Irving, and Roshan and DeAndre Swift all missing practice. Have you made any moves to pick up backups?

[Dave]

I did Tuesday on a couple of these in some 10 team leagues where Braylon Allen was still available just because it seems like there's a chance that Breeze hall may get shut down with the jets out of it and he's limping through practice and the game last week as well. Zach Charbonnet was someone we listed in the waiver wire column because he was under 65% rostered. So he, he should be added as a, you know, one of the high end handcuffs because we saw what he did earlier this season and we know what he's capable of when Ken Walker's not there. Sean Tucker is the one that's widely available right now. And so you have the opportunity to get ahead of it in your leagues to pick him up and just see what happens if Bucky does miss practice. Now the one thing about that is clearly Braylon Allen is a featured guy. If Bruce hall is not there. Zach Sharpening is a featured guy. If Walker's not there. Tucker is still probably the second guy because Rashad White will get more touches. So you just have to understand that you're not getting a, a slam dunk. I think starting running back but given six teams on a buy, he's pretty close to it. So I would like to have Sean Tucker rostered if, if I have the ability to stash somebody. Travis Homer is not somebody that I'm so interested in but clearly would get a bump. You know, so where you're thinking potentially of like an Amir Abdullah if There is no DeAndre Swift and no Roshan Johnson, Travis Homer is going to be more of a pass catcher than necessarily a featured back but still get the opportunity for maybe 15 total touches. I would guess it'd be a lot on Caleb Williams plate. Is it Felton? The other guy they have on the.

[Heath]

Roster they've got Dimitrik Felton, the former LCL UCLA Scat back and Darrington Evans. Remember he was with the Titans for a little bit. He's bounced around the league.

[Dave]

I.

[Heath]

The Bears have reliably used two running backs pretty much every week and I don't see how they view Travis Homer as an every down guy. So I would guess Evan, I would guess Evans ahead of Felton as. As the back to pair with Travis Homer. But I'm gonna stay away from both of them against the 49ers with their defense getting healthy.

[Adam]

That's.

[Heath]

That's a no from me.

[Dave]

Yeah, I mean but you know, desperate people. Yeah.

[Adam]

No, look, I mean I, look I, I have a league where I have two running backs and one of them is Ken Walker and I have Roshan Johnson on the bench and I have Ramondre Stevenson on a buy on the bench and night neither, neither Tucker nor Homer is available. So I'm screwed. I would easily pick one of them up if I could go get sincere McCormick. He's not. I don't think he's available either. You know it's one of our.

[Heath]

From hell.

[Adam]

No it's. It's one of our. It's our super flex league. Everyone's rostered in our leagues. All right, wide receiver. So let's go to the wide receivers that have been injured lad McConkey Limited again didn't commit to playing. Is basically said I'm going to do everything I can to be out there. But the fact that he's been limited twice is a good sign. Unfortunately, that's a sign. Sunday night game for McConkey. Cedric Tillman missed practice again. So that's disappointing. And he's trending, not trending in the right direction. CD Lamb missed practice. It was their first practice of the week. Right now Lamb looks like what I read was he's expected to play. But we've got DK Metcalf, we got Mike Evans, Jacoby Myers and DJ Moore missing practice. So, Dave, looking at McConkey, Lamb, Metcalf, Evans, Myers, DJ Moore, which ones are you concerned about not playing this week?

[Heath]

I'm concerned about Metcalf, I'm concerned about Evans. I would give Myers another day and then the last one was more. I'm concerned about more as well. Now with more, I, you know to expect a lot of targets to shift to A Dunes A and Cole commit, but Keenan Allen will still be the top target getter there. Without DK Metcalf in Seattle, if he were out for the game, then Tyler Lockett would probably spring into action as someone that you could start Evans being out. I would defer to Jamie on this one because you've been on top of the Bucks wide receivers. But if he doesn't play, this is Kate Otten going off all over again, I would think. But one of those other receivers for Tampa could step up and be a decent replacement, I guess. And I wouldn't trust anybody other than Brock Bowers, maybe if I'm desperate. Trey Tucker for the Raiders in their matchup against Tampa. And obviously that's a matchup you want to attack because that Bucks defense is so bad against the pass.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Let's hope all these guys play. I mean, that's the best situation.

[Adam]

Yeah, for sure. Okay, tight ends. Dallas Goddard missed practice again, so we're not expecting him. Josh Oliver, I mentioned he practiced. He's going to play for Minnesota. Jatavian Sanders trending in the right direction. Dalton, Cade, limited. You guys ranking Kincaid at this point?

[Dave]

Not yet.

[Heath]

And once I would guess that he'll practice again on Friday and then he'll make the rankings.

[Adam]

And Jake and Jake Ferguson practice in full. He's going to be good to go. Jake Ferguson feel comfortable with that, Jake? You can, Mike. Okay.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Adam]

All right. Trent Williams and Aaron banks missed practice. Two starting offensive linemen for the 49ers. Zach Martin, Cowboys offensive guard. He's out for the season now. He's missed the last two games. They can still run on the Bengals, who don't have Logan Wilson for the rest of the season, most likely without Zach Martin.

[Heath]

He had surgery on his knee. He's done.

[Adam]

Orlando Brown, left tackle for the Bengals. He is doubtful for Monday's game. Peter Skoranski, left guard for the Titans. He got in a limited session. Tristan Wirfs, the Bucks left tackle. He missed practice and both the Saints and the Giants in that game could be dealing with injuries on their offensive line. Although the Giants tackles were limited yesterday. Still no sauce. Gardener, right? He missed practice again.

[Dave]

Yep.

[Adam]

Told you don't start Evan McPherson at kicker that you might want to just I took Jamie's advice. I put Will Reichard on my IR spot. The kicker for the Vikings, Nick Bosa, missing practice again. So you said the Niners defense is getting healthier. That's. Is that just the Amador Lenore you're talking about?

[Heath]

It's Bosa. It's Lenore Hufanga might play Drake Green Law has been practicing like they could legitimately get four starters back this week.

[Adam]

Okay, no, Bosa did not practice yesterday.

[Heath]

I thought he practiced on Wednesday. If he didn't listen, if he's out, that obviously helps Chicago's passing game.

[Adam]

Yeah, he's still listed as a dnp Nick Bosa, but I thought he was back at him. The other guy's coming back. Seattle's getting maybe their best pass rusher back, Chen and Wosu. He hasn't played this year and I'm going to leave it at that. We're going to take a break and we've got one question for each game when we come back on Fantasy football today. Man, I love finding great new clothes and I love finding a great new clothing company and that would be Collars and Company. You may have seen Collars and Company getting a one million dollar investment on Shark Tank. And if you buy [e-mail] you can get 15% off any purchase of $100 or more with the code Football. Take advantage of that now. Their clothes are so comfortable. I like dressing up, I really do. But I feel like most of my dress clothes, most of my dress shirts, they're not that comfortable. They get bunched up under my sweaters. It's really frustrating. So you have to check out Collars and Company, makers of the dress Collar Polo. These shirts, they're four way stretch, buttery soft polos with firm dress collars on them so they give you the dress shirt look but extremely comfortable polo feel. And you can wear these with anything under a sweater with a blazer just by themselves you can wear them to work, you can wear them to play golf. They're great for a night out. Collars & Co. Also has sweaters quarter zips. Love the long sleeve button downs and they have a women's line too. Check that out. Go to collarsandco.com and just start shopping. If you are looking for a performance dress shirt or polo that looks great all day, check out collarsandco.com use promo code football for 15% off any purchase of $100 or more.

[Heath]

Hey everybody, it's Dave. And my family just got a great gift. An Aura digital picture frame. And now I have a slideshow in my kitchen. High resolution photos from the days my kids were born, pictures from my wedding, all kinds of incredible memories from family get togethers, trips to amusement parks, sporting events, meeting famous people. They're all there thanks to Aura. Aura memorializes as many photos as you can upload. There's no limit and you can share them directly from your phone to the frame. Setup was so easy and they even have this great app that makes managing your frame simple. My family loves it and I am sure your family will love it too. Save on the perfect gift by visiting auraframes.com to get 35 off Aura's best selling Carver Matte frames by using promo code FFT at checkout. That's a U R A frames.com promo code FFT this deal is exclusive to listeners, so get yours now in time for the holidays. Terms and conditions apply.

[Adam]

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 Zycam. I always have Zycam 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 if you're watching on YouTube. I don't know that killer song, but it's good. I'm gonna have to Bright Lights, maybe It's called. What do you think it's called? What do you think it's called, Dave? You think it's called Bright Lights?

[Heath]

I think it's called. We should get to one question for each game.

[Adam]

Okay. It's called Bright Lights. All right, one question for each game. Seattle at Arizona. Is there a player that you like in this game other than Trey McBride.

[Heath]

Jackson, Smith, and Jigba?

[Adam]

My bad on the typo there. That is totally on me.

[Heath]

You wrote in the notes. Is there a player you live in this game?

[Adam]

Yeah, my bad. Is there a player you live in this game other than Trey McBride? I know. Actually, I didn't mean to write like. I meant to write love. That's what it was. Is there a player you love in this game other than Trey McBride?

[Heath]

Same answer.

[Adam]

Yeah.

[Dave]

JSN I. You're obviously starting both running backs, just given the situation, and you're probably starting DK Metcalf, but to answer your question, yes, the. The only other one besides McBride would be Jason.

[Heath]

Did DK slip into a flex territory for you, Jim? He did for me.

[Dave]

I mean, yeah. We did a whole show about it yesterday before I said, I'm sitting him, and he's. He's ranked in the 30s.

[Heath]

Which show did we do yesterday?

[Dave]

HQ, where I had him, as I said.

[Heath]

Wow. All right, I was zoned out.

[Adam]

Chicago at San Francisco. Rank the wide receivers in this game.

[Dave]

DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Juwan Jennings.

[Heath]

Yep.

[Dave]

Debo Samuel, Tyler Lockett. Ricky Pearsall.

[Heath]

Tyler Lockett.

[Dave]

Well, I'm sorry. I saw Seattle on my head. Let me rephrase. DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Joanne Jennings, Debo Samuel, Romo Dunze.

[Heath]

I'll go with DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, CD Lamb, Jerry Rice. I like your order. I think it's good. I'm hoping that DJ Moore practices on Friday. He could have a. A very good game again.

[Adam]

See, why start Keenan Allen over Juwan Jennings?

[Dave]

Well, I mean, targets. Targets. First off, what he's gotten since Thomas Brown has taken over the production, since Thomas Brown has taken over Matchup, I think is a little bit more in his favor, and I don't feel like we're a hundred percent certain that Brock Purdy's 100.

[Adam]

Okay. Atlanta at Minnesota. Starter sit Darnell Mooney.

[Dave]

Three receiver leagues must start. Two receiver leagues. Depends on who you have. He's in that 20 to 30 range.

[Heath]

He's a little bit lower than that for me, but same type of deal. Someone that could be a boom bus flex as a number.

[Dave]

I would start him over DK Mecca, but would you?

[Adam]

I'm sorry, it's Darnell Mooney we're talking about. Would you start Mooney over Juwan Jennings?

[Heath]

Nope.

[Adam]

A yes and a no. All right. Caroline is at Philadelphia. Who's a better flex, Chuba Hubbard or Devonte Smith?

[Dave]

Smith.

[Heath]

Yeah, I. I am nervous about Chuba Hubbard. This is going to be a tough matchup and potentially a tough game script for him. We could see him benched in the fourth quarter of a blowout and Jonathan Brooks getting wraps. I love how competitive that Carolina's been over like the last three games, but I just, I don't see them being as competitive against this team this week. So there's more upside with Devonte Smith than there is with Chuba Hubbard.

[Adam]

Cincinnati at Dallas. Which tight ends are you starting Jake Ferguson over? You have Jake Ferguson ranked ahead of.

[Dave]

Blank, TJ Hawkinson, Kyle, Pittsburgh.

[Heath]

All the streamers.

[Dave]

That's probably gonna be a mistake.

[Heath]

Yeah, I did too.

[Adam]

Yeah, actually. All right. Reverend Ingram as well play this game. Ready? Tucker Kraft. Yesterday he scored 13.1 fantasy points. Would you start Ingram over that or would you take 13.1? I'm sorry? I said Ingram. Would you start Ferguson over that or take 13.1?

[Dave]

I would take 13.1 over Ingram and.

[Heath]

Ferguson.

[Dave]

Ferguson.

[Heath]

Wouldn't surprise me if Ferguson had more, but it wouldn't be by a lot. So I would take the 13.

[Dave]

I mean the one thing. Did the Ferguson score touchdown yet this season?

[Adam]

New Orleans is at the Giants. Who's a better flex, Tyrone, Tracy Jr. Or Malik neighbors.

[Heath]

Tracy.

[Dave]

I'll take neighbors and PPR.

[Adam]

Okay, what's the best app out there? Well, let's talk about BetMGM. If you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, use the bonus code Fantasy and you're going to get up to a fifteen hundred dollar first bet offer on your first wager with BetMGM. Here's how it works. You download the BetMGM app and you sign up using the bonus code Fantasy. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game and you'll receive up to 1500 dollars in bonus bets if your bet loses. Just make sure you use the bonus code Fantasy when you sign up on BetMGM. Before we get into the games, I want to take this time to thank everybody for listening to us on Spotify and sending us your Spotify Wrapped screenshots. Spotify Wrapped is really fun just to see what you've been listening to throughout the year. So I had a good time with that yesterday. Believe it or not, Fantasy Football today was also my number one most listened to podcast. But I do want to thank our entire audience. But for those of you sending the screenshots of Fantasy Football today as your number one podcast, the dedication that some of you have is just really incredible and we appreciate it.

[Heath]

Thank you.

[Adam]

All right, were you thanking me for or.

[Heath]

I'm thanking the audience. What do I have to thank you for?

[Adam]

Well, it sounded like you were putting yourself in the group of people that I was thanking.

[Heath]

Oh, I'm just. I'm adding my gratitude to yours.

[Adam]

Good. A lot of gratitude today, dork. In fact, wait. Oh, gratitude. That's the word of the game. When we get to Atlanta, Minnesota may not know what I'm talking about, but you will soon. All right, Arizona and Seattle. Let's start with that one here. And these Cardinals stat of the game number one, they have the most sacks in the NFL over the last five weeks.

[Heath]

Yep.

[Adam]

Despite having a buy. So they've only had four games and yet over the last five weeks they have the most sacks in the NFL. So I know you guys do not like Geno Smith for many reasons. How about this? The stat of the game number two, the last four running backs. Against Seattle, Kyren Williams scored 10.5 PPR fantasy points. McCaffrey scored 14.6 on 23 touches. James Connor scored 9.9 and Breeze hall scored six. Starter sit James Connor this week. Dave Richard makes me nervous.

[Heath]

He hasn't looked good the past few weeks. Nor has the Arizona offensive line. That's been a big problem for their passing game as well as the run game. I do like the targets that he's been getting and you got to hope that that continues. I've got him as a low end. Number two, fantasy running back. If this were a week where no one was on by, he would be out of my top 24. But since there's six teams out there, I think that James Connor probably still qualifies as a top 24 guy. I am reluctantly starting him in a number of my leagues.

[Adam]

Jamie, who are you starting with more confidently? Ken Walker or James Connor?

[Dave]

I mean, assuming he's healthy. Walker. But it's it's not easy for, for both these guys. Like, I like Rico Dowdle better than both. I like Tracy better than both. I like, you know, so it's, it's tough for both, both sides of this. You know, in terms of the matchups. It's tough for what the way these guys have been performing. Clearly, Ken walker is not 100 healthy, so you got to take that into account. And, and now you maybe have a, a high end flex in Charbonnet just knowing that we saw him get some goal line opportunities last week and converted one of them and he may get a few more additional touches. So if you are scrambling like you are Adam, you know, and, and not finding a Charbonnet on the bench, but how many have Charbonnet on your. I assume on the waiver wire we have sharpening on your bench. You know, you might be able to get some low end production, but you know, good replacement options just in case you're stuck.

[Adam]

Oh, man. I would start Charbonnet with confidence. I don't have him in that league, but I do have him in a few leagues and I would put him. I, I'd be the most excited about Charbonnet in this game. You know, if Walker were out, as we always say that.

[Dave]

No, no, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about if Walker plays.

[Heath]

Oh, oh, oh.

[Dave]

You may have an opportunity here because Walker's not a hundred percent to use him as a potential starter. If you're in a situation like you are where you're scrambling for someone of significance, you know, you don't have anybody that's a safe starter.

[Heath]

Charbonnet played 44% of the snaps last week, dominated third downs. That helps him with his targets and catches, although he was light in that against the Jets. But inside the five, Walker had four or five of those snaps. Charbonnet's touchdown was from eight yards out. I, I agree. I think he's a decent desperation RB if, if it, if Walker plays and if Walker doesn't play, then he's a must start.

[Adam]

Yeah. All right. How are we feeling about Marvin Harrison Jr. Well, let's talk about all the wide receivers. Jamie, rank the wide receivers in this game.

[Dave]

The top three Tyler Lockets in this game. Right. JSN would be one, Marvin Harrison would be two, DK Metcalf would be three. And there's no really anybody else to trust.

[Adam]

And unfortunately, when we just saw what Seattle looks like without DK Metcalf and it didn't do anything for Tyler Lockett. He still had three or four targets in those two games. So if Metcalf doesn't play, I don't think we can really look, it's six teams on a buy. You might be desperate, but I don't think we're going to be saying you got to go pick up Tyler Lockett. Right. Because he just hasn't done anything.

[Dave]

Correct.

[Adam]

And this defense, this Cardinals defense is playing really well. Marvin Harrison Jr. Now, you mentioned some running backs that you like better than James Connor and Ken Walker. Jim, you said Tyrone, Tracy, Isaac, Orendo. Do you like them better than Marvin Harrison Jr.

[Dave]

I do. Yeah.

[Heath]

Same.

[Dave]

The thing that I hope for is we got the report before the game last week that they were going to feed Marvin Harrison and they did 12 targets. That's awesome. You know, so forget about what he did with them. You still got a good game out of it. If you give a player of his potential and his talent opportunities, even in a tough matchup, you're starting it, you know, so let this be the norm. Let this be what we see rest of season. You know, give Marvin Harrison the chance to make plays. Give him eight plus targets weekly. You know, so 12 is probably unrealistic. But these, both these defenses as the season has progressed, have definitely gotten better. You know, so Seattle getting healthier the last couple of weeks. You've seen it. Their secondary has been much better. Arizona, I mean, just awesome. What they've been able to accomplish, Pass rush, secondary, you know, everything has just been really, really solid. You know, so it's going to be a fun fight to the finish between these four teams in the NFC West. And these two defenses are certainly carrying their, their own weight. And we saw it two weeks ago when they met in, in Seattle.

[Adam]

See what the total is on this game. Here it is 44 and a half, which is not so great. It's okay. Cardinals are two and a half point favorites. All right. I guess we can just kind of go back to this game and, and compare players that we talk about in the future. But we didn't talk about Kyler yet, so starter said Kyler Murray.

[Heath]

Dave, I'm as very nervous about him being able to have a big game against this defense. Jamie just talked about Seattle improving. Their pass rush has gotten better. Their defense against outside wide receivers over the last three weeks has been phenomenal. They're not allowing a lot of yards after the catch. They've only allowed one touchdown, two outside wide receivers. That's a red flag from Marvin Harrison. And I just, I'm not sure how Arizona is going to be able to put up a ton of points in this game. One way they could do it is if Kyler Murray just runs a lot. And that's been something that he's done sporadically. I think if you start Kyler Murray, I think you've got to hope that he does get eight, nine carries, finds the end zone on one of those long runs and then throws another touchdown. But otherwise, I think he's just going to check down to Trey McBride a lot and hope that McBride can move the chains.

[Adam]

Dave said the word sporadically. Name the 90s movie that features the word sporadically. The line is, I hope it's not sporadically.

[Dave]

Clueless.

[Adam]

Yeah. JB with the win. Way to go. All right, I'm finished with this game. Trey McBride, start him and sit, Noah fan. Oh, how about the DSTs? You like the DSTs?

[Dave]

Cardinals over Seahawks, but yes.

[Heath]

Yeah, I don't mind them.

[Adam]

No, I like the Cardinals.

[Heath]

Yeah, I do, too. They're both top 10 for me.

[Adam]

Let's go to Chicago at San Francisco. Stat of the game Caleb Williams is one of only four quarterbacks to score more than 23 fantasy points against the Vikings, and he is the only quarterback to score more than 22 fantasy points against the Lions and the only quarterback to throw multiple touchdown passes against the Lions. So he hasn't beat up on these bad opponents. He's actually put up big numbers against teams that have been pretty good against quarterbacks. And here comes San Francisco, their 12th against quarterbacks. A little unlucky last week. Josh Allen getting a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown. But all right, Caleb Williams, two straight games with more than 30 fantasy points against Minnesota and at Detroit. How do you guys feel about him? Jamie, Caleb Williams, starter, sit.

[Dave]

Yeah, low end starter. For me, he's my favorite quarterback in this game. I would start him over Kyler. I start him over Gino. I start him over Stafford. There's not a lot of, you know, I think major names this week that, you know, go beyond that. But he's playing well, you know, and it started the first game with Thomas Brown when we saw the 70 yards rushing. He just looks more confident. It clearly coincides with the tackles coming back also, you know, so that's huge that he's getting better protection. Now if you don't have DJ Moore this week, that clearly lowers the ceiling for Caleb Williams. But I still think he's worth starting depending on who your other options are. So if he doesn't have DJ More, he'll probably fall behind. Let's say will Levis for me as, as a low end starter. But you know, I think he'll use his legs if the running game is not there, you know, so there's a lot to like about where Caleb Williams is at right now and, and really the struggles of the 49ers defense, you know, that's just it. It, it's, it's hard to, you know, be still successful when you're losing so many key players.

[Heath]

I'd be more nervous about Caleb Williams if Bosa plays, if everybody's back for the 49ers defense and if D.J. moore were out, I would feel better about Caleb. And I myself, I do have Purdy one spot ahead of Caleb right now, but I'd flip it. If there is no Swift, there is no Roshan, there is no run game for Chicago. Caleb's gonna have to do it all. I would just kind of hope for volume to carry the day for him. I also thought that he went backward a little bit last week and the, the first two games with Thomas Brown, we saw him get rid of the ball a little bit faster. He didn't throw it far downfield nearly as much. I think he regressed a little bit against Detroit and I'm wondering how the Bears adjust for that and how much of an adjustment will there even be if DJ Moore, who's been getting a ton his adot we've talked about it, has been miserable since the coordinators like if he's gone, what does that mean for Caleb? Is he still going to try and get rid of the ball in 2 1/2 seconds or is he going to start throwing it deep again? That's when he got into trouble earlier this year. No matter how you cut it, he's going to be a low end starter for me. I'm going to start. Jameis ahead of him, Darnold ahead of him, Baker ahead of him. But I'm going to start Caleb over Stafford, Levis, Herbert, Mahomes.

[Adam]

Oh, over Herbert and Mahomes.

[Dave]

I'd still start my homes over.

[Adam]

He says he has Caleb Williams fifth. You guys have him 11th. Okay, so. And you're right, Dave. You know, Jacob brought this up on on Monday and I sort of dismissed. I wouldn't say dismissed it, but Caleb did not really play that well. He kind of came on strong late and had a lot, some highlight reel plays, but he's running a lot, which is good. 39 rushing yards last week, 33 rushing guards for that. But no, he struggled throwing the ball downfield. He made some really ugly throws, maybe masking, maybe masked a little bit by the fantasy points. But it is worth noting. All right, Chicago running backs. Would you start a Chicago running like give me a scenario where you're confident in a Seahawks Garcia in a Bears running back this week against, against the team that gives up 4.1 yards per carry to running backs. It was actually 3.8 yards per carry before the snow game last week.

[Dave]

I mean, I would start DeAndre Swift if he gets into full practice today, especially if Roshan Johnson's out, you know. So you look at what Swift has dealt with the last two weeks. Two of the best run defenses in football, you know, with the Vikings and the Lions back to back weeks. And so prior to that he had been doing a very solid job, you know, some of it was touchdown dependent. But I would expect if there is no DJ Moore, that's where the receptions will go for Caleb Williams and probably Colcomed as well, you know. So both those guys would probably benefit from the short area passing game. But I, I think the thing about Swift is throughout those last two games, you'd be starting him. No, no question. You know, especially with what the 49ers have looked like in terms of their run fantasy points allowed to running backs over the last month or so. So with all the injuries that they're dealing with here, I would trust DeAndre Swift, given six teams on a buy as a low end starter. So James Connor, I think he's in a better spot right now in terms of matchups. I would start him over the Chiefs running backs, the Jaguars running backs.

[Adam]

Wait, who would you start, Connor or Swift?

[Dave]

Swift.

[Adam]

Okay.

[Dave]

If he gets in a full practice.

[Adam]

Today and is this contingent on Roshan not playing or either part of it. But either way, if, if they both play, you'd start Swift over Connor.

[Dave]

If Connor and Swift, bro. Both practice, then I would start Connor over Swift. Excuse me? If Roshan and Swift both practice, then I would start Connor over the Bears guys. But they would be back to back, you know, so that, that's probably a very small sample size of what we're talking about. But again, those other running backs, the Browns running backs, the Chiefs running backs, the Jaguars running backs, I'm sure there's a lot of other. The Chargers backfill, you know. So Swift would still be a number two running back this week.

[Adam]

All right, D.J. moore is. D.J. moore is a top 20 wide receiver for everyone, assuming he plays. And Keenan Allen is also top 20. Not for Heath, but for you guys, he's top 24. Let me get the updated in PPR. Keenan Allen is 23rd for Jamie. He is 18th for Dave and 28th for Heath. So that's a pretty wide range there. But I can't be Heath so Keenan Allen is a low end starter. Romo Dunesay is not starter sit real quick Dave. Starters at Coleman.

[Heath]

If there's no DJ more then I think Cole Comet can be a streaming tight end. Hope for 8 to 13 PPR points this team.

[Adam]

This matchup is very tough. This team is very good against tight ends. 4th fewest fantasy points allowed Brock Purdy all right, you can go a little bit longer on this one. Starter sit Brock Purdy Dave I don't mind Brock Purdy.

[Heath]

I don't think the Bears defense has been as good as it was earlier in the season. This is one of the things that made me like the the quarterbacks that they've played against over the past two weeks and I'm going to stick with it. I also, I don't want to hold last week against Purdy and I don't want to forget about what Purdy looked like before he got hurt and the fact that he's got what I think is not an easy matchup against Chicago, but certainly one that's not super tough. I don't think he'll be pressured that much. And as much as we love Isaac Grendo and I can talk about Garando next if you want me to, I still think this offense will fall mostly on Purdy's shoulders and we could get another 30 to like 33 pass attempts out of him and I think he can have a solid day. So I, I don't mind him this week. I think he's a low end starter back to back with Caleb for now that he, for now he is definitely ahead of Caleb and he will stay ahead of Caleb if there's no DJ Moore and if the run game is there for Chicago like I outlined earlier, I'm nervous.

[Dave]

I do think he's a low end starter because six teams are on a buy so he's in that same same range as Caleb Williams and Justin Herbert and Matt Stafford and Will Levis. You know, so if he, if he's been your starter I wouldn't necessarily pivot away from him. But the last game we saw him healthy, not in bad weather. He threw for 159 yards and a touchdown and so is the shoulder 100 healthy. There is no Trent Williams. That is huge for this entire offense. And so now down two offensive linemen potentially, which is not ideal. Knowing the circumstances, this is still a good defense. Whether they've been struggling lately or not. That for the season they have not given up a lot of production to opposing quarterbacks.

[Adam]

Right.

[Dave]

You do have the new coach bump that we always see, you know. So was it a pissed off and Matt Eberflu situation? Who knows? But for whatever reason, that's a tried and true situation. That scenario that always happens to teams where they, they perform better in the first game under a new coach. Look at the Saints a couple weeks ago, for example. They were terrible. So I think you just look at the circumstances. I don't know if he's 100% healthy with the shoulder because he hasn't thrown much in practice, at least to my knowledge. And last week clearly did not make anybody comfortable. Snow. No Snow. He threw 18 pass attempts, you know, throw 94 yards. So he's got a run. That's been part of what his success has been in the last month. You know, you go back to that Dallas game, for example. He threw one touchdown in that game, but he ran for 56 yards in touchdown. So hopefully his legs show up in this game. I just don't feel like this. And this is one of the more lower score projected games of the week, you know, so everything is just setting up for not a huge game for Brock Purdy. So you want maybe 18 points. I think he can get you there. I don't think he's going to be 25 or more. So low end starter I think fits the bill.

[Adam]

Okay, well, how would you compare Brock Purdy to the quarterbacks in the Chargers Chiefs game?

[Dave]

I like them both better, especially if Lad McConkey plays Mahomes.

[Heath]

I like both the quarterbacks in the Bears Niners game better than the quarterbacks in the Chargers Chiefs game.

[Adam]

How about the. How about Brock Purdy versus and you can Caleb Williams for that matter, the quarterbacks in the Steelers Browns game?

[Heath]

I will take my chances with Jameis.

[Dave]

Jameis over both. Both over? Yep.

[Adam]

Wait, Dave, what did you take your Jamie but not Wilson?

[Heath]

No. I will take my chances with Jameis.

[Adam]

Over the game of the week. Yeah, it's the Steelers and the Browns first game of the week in three weeks, baby. It's the game of the week. Hey. Okay. It's been a while. It's been a while. Let's talk about Isaac Garendo. We've talked about Ken Walker and James Connor and DeAndre Swift. Are we starting Garendo over all those guys?

[Heath]

Yep. I'm starting Garando over A lot of other running backs besides them too. I'm starting him over Breeze Hall. I'll start him over Naji. I'll start him ahead of Aaron Jones. I'm excited. We're Talking about a 49ers running back who should be on the brink of at least 15 touches. When you review his film, you see that he is a very good fit for what this scheme is. He's a good zone runner, great cutback ability, good vision to find those lanes and then power through them. He's got some physicality to him. And you know from the combine that he, he ran a 4, 3, 3, 40 and he's like 200 and I don't even know. 220 pounds, 215 pounds. I, I'm. I am very much intrigued and hopeful that Isaac Orndo can have a solid role for the Niners. I'm hoping that that comes to fruition. That could end up hurting Brock Purdy. Although we have seen Garando catch a few passes along the way this season. So I, I'm gonna bank on the. The talent, the opportunity. Oh, and the matchup isn't bad either. Chicago's given up like five yards per carry, four rushing touchdowns to running backs over its past five games. That seems pretty favorable too.

[Adam]

Yeah, A running back has 16 or more carries against the Bears in six straight games and for the entire season they give up five yards per carry. The matchup is great. I just think that with. He's probably going to be like Jordan Mason and barely catch the ball. Mason had 10 catches in eight games. I think. Is that kind of what you're thinking here for Garando?

[Dave]

He's going to be again, go back to that Dallas game. He had three catches in that game, you know, so does it fit his profile? Probably not so much, but I think what we're going to see is two to three catches. Remember when Mason was playing, there were a lot of injuries that the 49ers were dealing with at various times. Kittle missed the game during that stretch. Mason was in and out of the lineup. I think you look at it, Ayuk was healthy at that time for a good portion of those games. They. They need pass catchers to be successful here. So especially if this. There's a shoulder problem. Still for Purdy, we could see some design throws that I think will benefit Grendo. Is he going to be a five plus catch guy or McCaffrey? No way. You know, so three catches is probably the ceiling.

[Adam]

All right. Sorry guys. So I've Spent way too much time on this game. Let's finish up. Your confidence level in Juwan Jennings. Your confidence level on Debo Samuel.

[Heath]

Way more confident Juwan than I am in Debo. Joanne is a low end, number two fantasy wide receiver that's in full ppr. Debo is a number three. Maybe Debo picks up a few carries along the way as well. But if, if he, if he's banged up and that's kind of something that we've speculated on, then I don't know how many carries he'll end up getting.

[Dave]

If he's banged up. He's saving his best performances for special teams because he looks electric in the return game right now. So I don't think there's an injury that he's dealing with that's impacting him whatsoever from his speed, his, his, his, his performance. It's just he's not scoring touchdowns which has been mind boggling. He's got one rushing touchdown and one receiving touchdown of the season and it's so frustrating. So will he be more involved in the run game? His season high is 23 carries. He hasn't scored a rushing touchdown since week one. They need him. They absolutely need him to be the guy that he was at his peak 20, 21. Like that's. The guy's got to show up. This team's going to have some better performances offensively, but you can't count on it. So for me, both the receivers are number three receivers. Samuel is more of a, you know, hope and a prayer at this point just because it's been so disappointing. I really think this offense, we can save the debate because it's, it's going to go long and they're missing their best player. Trent Williams not being there is killing them.

[Adam]

Well, hopefully he can get into practice this week, but he hasn't practiced yet. And I think it's what's so frustrating about this Bears matchup is like they are not a good pass defense. Not anymore. They give up like the fifth most yards per attempt in the NFL, but they see 15 wide receiver targets per game. Nobody throws on them. Like I just said about G, 16 or more carries for a single running back. Five, six straight games, nobody throws on them. So they might just run the ball down their throats.

[Dave]

Well, that's what you saw in the Buffalo game. That's exactly what the game plan was for the 49ers. It was working when McCaffrey was healthy and then both running backs got hurt and the score got out of whack and they couldn't do it. I think that's exactly what they're going to do as well.

[Adam]

Yeah, if they do throw, I think these guys can have success, especially Jennings. Any wide receiver who gets eight or more targets against the Bears has a big game, but it's just. It's only happened five times. Start George Kittle.

[Heath]

It may very well come down to how effective is Isaac Garendo in the first half if he comes out, or.

[Dave]

Patrick Taylor or Banda or whoever, they decide to go back there.

[Heath]

Yeah, well, I'd be shocked if it was a Bannacanda and I would be shocked if it's Patrick Taylor because like Taylor, I think Taylor is eight touches this year. And Garando just looks like the better running back.

[Dave]

But I'm just saying they're going to use. They're going to use somebody else for sure.

[Heath]

And my guess is that it's going to be Taylor on third downs. But if. If Garendo comes out hot, that's bad for Purdy. If Guerando is just okay or bad, that's gonna be bad for everybody that started Garando. I'm gonna look like a fool for having him ranked where I have him ranked. But that'll mean Purdy throws a lot in the second half.

[Adam]

All right, we gotta take a break. Start George kittle and the 49ers. We don't really like the DSTs in this game, so sit the DSTs if you can.

[Heath]

No, no. Bears CSC. There's also a chance here that the Niners offense just explodes. They've been terrible, obviously, two games ago, and then last week they. They could explode this week and have a monster game.

[Dave]

They. They hopefully will, but they can implode also. I mean, they're. They're on the brink of either packing it in or struggle, you know, trying to make a run. I hope the latter because again, given what this team has dealt with, you like to see them.

[Heath]

I'd be shocked if they imploded.

[Adam]

Will the real 49ers please stand up? This is a very interesting week for them. We'll be right back on fantasy football today. 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 regular 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. You know we love talking stats here at Fantasy Football today. Here's one that's super simple to remember. Discover automatically doubles the cash back you've earned on your credit card at the end of your first year with cash back match. That means with Discover, you could turn $150 cash back to $300. That's right. You could put it towards some memorabilia you've had your eye on. Or treat yourself to a premium sports network you earn and Discover doubles. See [e-mail] slash credit card. Well, I just downloaded a new game on my phone and it is awesome. It's called Marvel Snap. Marvel Snap is an award winning collectible card game that combines deep strategy, a unique snapping mechanic, your favorite Marvel characters, and thousands of unique card art variants created by renowned artists to collect and use. And first of all, it's just visually appealing. It looks awesome, but the gameplay is what matters. So let's talk about why you're going to love Marvel Snap. The games are fast paced. Each game takes only three minutes. Your objective is to win two out of three locations by having higher total power than your opponent. And as you win, you earn cosmic cubes. I think my favorite part is the Snap mechanic. If you're feeling confident in your hand or maybe you want to bluff, Snap to double the cosmic cubes. Or if you're not feeling confident, you can retreat anytime to minimize cube losses. So this is where the strategy component really comes in. I love that There are more than 270 cards in Marvel Snap with over 2000 unique art variants to collect from beloved artists. And new cards are released every week. They keep it fresh. Download Marvel Snap now on iOS, Android and Steam to start playing the award winning collectible card game. By the way, I said, will the real 49ers please stand up? You guys get that reference, right? So it's clueless. Okay. Atlanta, Minnesota.

[Heath]

I'm thinking Slim Shady.

[Adam]

Oh yeah. No, it is all right. Atlanta at Minnesota. Word of the game is gratitude. That's what Kirk Cousins said he would have in his return to Minnesota. He was very complimentary of his time there. It was actually really cool. I would love to be rooting for Kirk Cousins, but my God, did he look bad last week. I don't know what happened to his arm, but Just like throwing these lollipops all over the field. So that's the word of the game is gratitude. Stat of the game is Aaron Jones has one run longer than 13 yards in his last six games. So to make this game sort of simpler here, you are not going to start Kirk Cousins. You are going to start Bijan Robinson. Although I wish this were a better matchup, he might not have his best game, but start Bijan sit Algier Drake London, you guys are pretty different on him. Jamie, you. Unless I'm. Unless the rankings have changed, you haven't. Sixth, Jake London.

[Dave]

Love him this week.

[Adam]

Okay. And Dave, you have him as a starter, but more like 17th, I believe.

[Heath]

I think he's lower than that.

[Adam]

Okay, so let's talk about Drake London then. Jamie, why do you love him so, so much?

[Dave]

Getting fed targets against a secondary that's give us a lot of production to receivers. So as bad as Cousins was last week, London still giving you the numbers that you're looking for. I just hope you can find the end zone once. Please get back to scoring touchdowns again because that's been the problem for Kirk Cousins doesn't throw a touchdown in three games. But the way that this game should unfold where they're most likely chasing points by a lot, I think we're going to see London's targets continue to be up and matchup is very much in his favor. I think the Vikings are still top three in most fantasy points allowed to position.

[Heath]

Does he still get 16 targets? Because that's what he had last week and 17.6 PPR points is great, but I don't know if he's going to get that many. If you tell me 10 targets, I believe that in a heartbeat. I think Minnesota is going to try and pressure the hell out of Kirk Cousins. So easy guy to throw too short is going to be Drake London. Not a lot of good efficiency after that. And that makes a big difference when we're talking PPR versus non ppr. And I'm just worried about the volume being as gaudy as it was in week 13.

[Dave]

Week 10, 13 targets. Week 11 against certain when he left the game in the second half. Seven targets that one out.

[Heath]

Because that's not like this game at all.

[Dave]

Yeah, I mean he's, he's getting 10 targets. No.

[Heath]

Yeah, you're starting Drake London. It's just a matter of are you expecting a monster game? Are you expecting, you know, like what he did last week? Maybe a little bit less. And I'm going to say it's going to be a little bit less.

[Adam]

He still has 11 end zone targets. That's sixth best in the NFL. And the Vikings do give up actually the most fantasy points to wide receivers, but they're the opposite of the Bears. They are actually a solid past defense that just gets thrown on all the time because their run defense is so good. Whereas the Bears are not that good of a pass defense, but they get thrown on so little because their run defense is so bad. So Mooney is a guy that like I came into the week pretty much ready to forgive. Last week, bad week for Mooney. Three catches for 20 yards on six targets. I went back and I watched his. His targets. I mean he's open for a touchdown at the five yard line. And Cousins, I don't know if he was pressured, makes just a horrible throw. He's open for a 20 yard gain I think in the third quarter. Cousins like one hops it basically. Kirk Cousins, he hasn't been. I know he hasn't had a good year, but he was so bad last week. Had to be his worst game of the year since week one anyway.

[Heath]

And he's had some bad games this.

[Adam]

Year and I don't know what to make of it because like if Cousins can just be good, I think Mooney can be good too. But okay, then Mooney can be good. But he was so bad last week.

[Heath]

I think he's just, you know, old and we're at the end of the season and his line isn't good and defenses know that they can pressure him and, and they can. He'll make mistakes with that.

[Adam]

Yeah, I so not to be on cousin.

[Heath]

There's a velocity. I'm sorry to interrupt you, but there's been a velocity issue on his throws all year long.

[Adam]

Yeah, I.

[Dave]

Last week was like a pitcher throwing an 80 mile an hour fastball. On the two interceptions. The two of the interceptions, the one in the back of the end zone was one of the stupidest.

[Heath]

Oh my gosh.

[Dave]

You can't explain that throw. Oh, here we go.

[Adam]

Yeah, it's happening again. You know what? I. I think it's probably not an animal. It might be like the heater or something. Okay. Anyway.

[Heath]

You have a heater in your daughter's bedroom?

[Adam]

No. That's why I'm so confused. All right, so when it comes to Mooney, would you start him over the 49ers wide receivers?

[Dave]

Yes.

[Heath]

Debo. Yes. Juwan. No.

[Adam]

Okay, sit. Kyle Pitts. Sam Darnold is a must start quarterback.

[Heath]

What a sentence.

[Adam]

Have we spoken about Any quarterbacks that you'd start over Sam Darnold today, like not starting Caleb or Purdy or Kyler?

[Heath]

Not one. Believe it or not.

[Adam]

Yeah, it's. You got to have a stud to sit Sam Darnold. All right. Starter said Aaron Jones start.

[Heath]

Agreed. But number two one, I'd rather start Garunda. I'd rather start Tony Pollard.

[Adam]

Well, we love power this week, right? Yeah. Tyrone Tracy or Aaron Jones?

[Dave]

Jones close.

[Heath]

But I have, I have Jones a little bit higher.

[Adam]

Start Justin Jefferson. What about Jordan Addison against the Falcons who give up the fifth most fantasy points to wide receivers?

[Dave]

He's in that same range as Mooney and Jennings. For me, high, high end, number three receiver.

[Heath]

I will have Jennings a little bit higher in full ppr. But yes, he's definitely one of those number three receivers who could boom.

[Adam]

Or could bust TJ Hawkinson. I don't even like. Okay, what is he gonna do this week? I could get the best ball out. Starter said Hawkinson.

[Dave]

Low end starter. I take the Tucker Craft 13.1. If you told me right now, oh.

[Heath]

Yeah, I, I don't know if Hawkinson can get to 13.1 and I would have started craft over Hawkinson. Honestly, if I had to make the decision, that's what I would have done. If Atlanta had come out of their buy playing a lot of zone coverage like they had been in their first however many games it was 11 games, then I'd be more intrigued with Hawkinson. But they really threw a curveball at the Chargers last week. They played a lot more man coverage. It's something that they weren't doing at the beginning of the year and they were getting to the quarterback. We talked about this on Sunday. Five sacks from this Falcons defense. They came into the matchup with just 10 on the year. And so if they're going to play a lot of man coverage, I think that works against Hawkinson. Whereas if it's zone coverage and they're playing deep, Hawkinson can just get checked down throws and become a PPR stud. That way he's a low end guy for me. For now he's over otten. That would flip if there's no Mike Evans and then he's ahead of all the streaming guys, plus Kyle Pitts.

[Adam]

I got a question from the chat. Mahomes or Darnold?

[Dave]

Darnold. That's close.

[Heath]

Just saying. It is crazy. But this is a game of stats, right?

[Adam]

Yep.

[Heath]

I'm taking Arnold.

[Adam]

Okay. And I have a comment from the chat in all caps. I hate Jaden Reed. Yeah, I get that. I'm sorry.

[Heath]

Everybody's with you, kg.

[Adam]

All right. Minnesota's DST is top two for Dave and Jamie. They've actually struggled the last couple of weeks, but they've been very good this season. Carolina's at Philadelphia. Speaking of good defenses, Philadelphia has held seven of their last eight opponents to 20 or fewer points. Let's get to the stat of the game here and it's about devonte Smith and you know, we like him without Dallas Goddard typically. But I just want to bring this up. Dallas Goddard, I'll just give his target share. Dallas Goddard's target share in the last four games has been 19.5%. Grant Calcaterra's target share in the four games before that was 16.3%. So it's, it's kind of like one extra target per game for goddess Calcaterra. Big difference though is that Calcaterra does not have a red zone or end zone target. And Dallas Goddard does factor in in that area this season. But I, you know, usually like, oh yeah, Goddard's out. Let's go with with Smith. Two problems I have with that is what I just gave the stat about Kakatera and the other thing Is they're throwing 21 times a game since they're by something like that, it's. So let's talk about Devonte Smith with Darnell Mooney and Juwan Jennings and Jordan Addison. Is he ahead of that group?

[Dave]

Right smack dab in the middle.

[Heath]

Same canoe, but toward the back for me.

[Adam]

So you're on the same page as me. He's not a slam dunk. Must start. Devonte Smith.

[Heath]

I've got Debo Samuel ahead of him.

[Dave]

Yeah, I'm not there, but I, I think this is the setup that you like. You know, again, when there's been somebody missing over the last two plus seasons, he's had big performances and so is this an opportunity for him to have a big performance? Look, this is not a, this is one of those teams where everything looks bad statistically from a passing standpoint because teams run all over them. And clearly this is the best running back in football right now with Saquon Barkley. So he can easily have a huge game. Would not be a surprise. But I still think you're looking at what, six teams on a buy somebody missing for Philadelphia chance for him to make a big player too. Like he's, he's a high end number three receiver.

[Adam]

Well, in case you didn't know, based on my reaction yesterday to a sound above my head, I Am a huge coward. And I played fantasy football like a coward last night. I share our FFT, my FFT team with. With Brandon, who donated very generously to St. Jude. And I texted him, I said, should we start golf over Jalen Hurts. I kind of, you know, like, probably not. Right. And he's like, you know what? Let's go for it. Let's go out on our own terms. And I got a phone call, like, right before the game started, and I missed his text. So I didn't do it. And I wish I had. Cause I, like, you guys are not worried about Hertz, right?

[Dave]

I mean, he could run for two touchdowns here if you want.

[Heath]

Yeah. Like, if he wasn't running as much, I would. I would head for the hills on Hertz.

[Adam]

And I'm not really worried either. But it's like, we would never. If he were going into the season. And I told you. Oh, Jalen Hurts is going to average 21 pass attempts per game. 21.5. That's what he's averaging in his last eight games. We would. And by the way, he has a running back who might win the mvp. We would never rank that player as a top five quarterback. Right. There's just not enough opportunity. And he's scored fewer than 20 fantasy points in three straight games because Taquan Barkley has five touchdowns in those three in those three games. And he throws. He never throws the ball. And by the way, they have the best defense in football, and they're playing the Panthers. So this is one of those, like, I have, like. Like, I'm not thrilled about starting Jalen Hurts, but there's no way I could take him out of my lineup.

[Dave]

Exactly.

[Adam]

I do think from a profile, it is so interesting, you know, what they're doing right now and what it means for fantasy points. Because if he's not getting rushing touchdowns, he's doing almost nothing. And no, no, that's not true. He's just not doing that much. And it's frustrating the heck out of A.J. brown managers, too, because he's not being as good as he can be. But you know what? I will say this. For Hertz, one of the differences the last few weeks is no devonte Smith. Devonte Smith's been making these big plays downfield, and maybe we'll get that back.

[Dave]

That's a good point.

[Adam]

All right, Anyway, you know what you're doing with the Eagles, Hertz people are going to start Barkley starter. Sip. Well, we'll start Berkeley. Let's start Barkley, start Brown. And devonte Smith's the number three receiver. So are there any Panthers that you want to start this week, guys?

[Dave]

No. But before we go there, I do think that there's an opportunity here for. If you're desperate like you are, Adam. Kenneth Gainwell, they're 12 point favorites. He's gotten some opportunities. I think it's like five or seven. Five to seven. There you go. Five to seven. You know, touches pretty consistently and scored a touchdown last week, you know, would not be surprising if he's playing a lot in the fourth quarter.

[Heath]

Is it him or is it Will Shipley?

[Dave]

Oh, it's him.

[Adam]

Yeah. I think that the. It seems like.

[Heath]

I'm sure if it's going to be him in the fourth quarter. Like if you're debating Charbonnet versus Gainwell and Walker is active, I'm taking Charbonnet over Gainwell.

[Dave]

I agree.

[Adam]

Yeah, but who is, who's going to come in when Saquon Barkley has a 71 yard run, gets tackled at the two yard line and needs a breather? That's going to be Gainwell. That's.

[Heath]

That's going to be Jalen. Hurts getting.

[Adam]

Oh, sorry. The four yard line. The four yard line. Okay. So Chuba Hubbard, though, is someone that we should spend a little time on. And by the way, Grant Calcaterra has eight or more PPR fantasy points in three of four games without Goddard. But Chuba Hubbard. Dave, I know Jamie doesn't like Chuba Hubbard. How do you feel about him?

[Heath]

I feel the same way. Low end, number two fantasy running back. You're hoping that he sees maybe a few more touches than he got last week, but I think the Jonathan Brooks takeover. Takeover is too strong of a word. The Jonathan Brooks participation is real. And I actually thought Brooks looked pretty good. He had a great pass pro rep, caught three passes, showed off his speed on those catches, and I bet he gets implemented just a little bit more into the Carolina offense. And if this game is out of hand and if the game script is what we think it is, I don't think you'll see Chuba Hubbard on the field at all in the fourth quarter. I think you'll see a lot more of Jonathan Brooks. All that being said, I'm starting Hubbard over Brooks. I'm starting Hubbard over any running back that I'm real skittish of. But it's, it's with a lot of trepidation. We've talked poorly about Connor Swift. We're not huge fans of Kenneth Gainwell. Man, all those guys ahead of Chuba Hubbard this week.

[Adam]

Wait, Kenneth Walker? Not Kenneth Gainwell.

[Heath]

Kenneth Walker. I'm sorry.

[Dave]

I would start over to Behavior this week in PPR if Madison is out.

[Adam]

Wow.

[Heath]

I am not there yet.

[Adam]

It's like I said to Jamie yesterday. Yeah, Chuba's not catching passes lately, but he is playing a lot on third down. He's playing a lot in general, just not throwing to him.

[Dave]

Well, I'll give you the stat for Abdullah that I gave you yesterday. The Bucks have allowed 10 running backs this season to score at least seven PPR points with just their receiving totals long.

[Adam]

That's a great stat. All right, let's go to. Oh, start the Eagles dst. Let's go to the Bengals and the Cowboys here.

[Heath]

So he thought that you were gonna make this the game of the week.

[Adam]

It's. It's a good call. It could be a lot of fun. Joe. Okay, start Burrow. Start. Chase. Start. Brown. Start Higgins. Sitkosicki. How do we feel about Dowdle and Lamb? Who do you like better, Doubt or Lamb?

[Dave]

Daddle.

[Heath]

I believe I have Lamb ranked higher in my PPR Flex rankings.

[Dave]

I love the setup for him. Without Logan Wilson there could not be better. You mean. Look what the Steelers running backs just did last week. They did whatever they wanted to.

[Adam]

Yeah. So here's my. My only concern with that is, you know, and I do think the Cowboys can hang around here. We're talking about a pretty bad Bengals team.

[Dave]

Hang around. They may win.

[Adam]

They might, but they're also like. They also stink. Like the Cowboys are terrible and I do. And. And they don't. I think he doesn't have more than 12 carries in any loss this year. So do you think the game. I'm just going to bring it up. You think the game is competitive enough where. Competitive enough where they are able to stick with the run. And Rico Dowdle.

[Dave]

Yes. I mean this. This Bengals defense is historically bad. It's. It's just so awful. And we don't. I don't think Sheldon Rankins is. Is healthy yet.

[Adam]

Right.

[Dave]

If not mistaken, I don't believe he's practiced.

[Heath]

I can double check it.

[Dave]

So he's been dealing with an illness. So it's. It's potentially. He could potentially come back. But I mean, you just think about it.

[Adam]

He's.

[Dave]

He's also involved in the passing game. I know it's not the same as it was with Dak Prescott for Dowdle, so that's still a part of this. But three catches is well within reach. I mean, Naji had six catches Was running wide. Wide open, rushing lanes. Jalen Warren, 10 plus PPR points. Quarterelle Patterson, eight plus PPR points. Like, there's nobody else taking work away from Dowdle right now. That scares you. So this should be a monster game for him.

[Heath]

You like him practice on Thursday?

[Adam]

He did not practice.

[Dave]

I like. I like Dottle. One spot ahead of Grendel.

[Heath]

I've got grand Ohio.

[Adam]

All right, start. These guys start. So do you like lamb?

[Heath]

Yeah, I mean, I prefer beef, chicken.

[Adam]

Turkey, lamb and tuna fish. Name that movie. Prefer lamb and tuna fish, I think is the line. That is big daddy. Rob Schneider. Rob Schneider is. All right, so start lamb. He's top 30 easy ones. Yeah, exactly. So Lamb is top 14 for everyone. Yeah. So Lamb is getting a ton of targets. Hopefully he can catch a touchdown.

[Heath]

I've got McConkey, Judy Jacoby if he plays DJ Moore. All ahead of CD Lamb this week.

[Adam]

Okay, but you have them pretty high.

[Heath]

I do.

[Adam]

That's not a knock on lamb.

[Heath]

No, it's not a knock on lamb.

[Adam]

Ampho wants us to rank lamb, Brian Thomas Jr. And Malik. Neighbors.

[Dave]

Lamb Neighbors.

[Heath]

Thomas, Lamb, Thomas Gap neighbors.

[Adam]

Okay. Beef or Lamb Euro? Asks Hayden. He says beef and lamb, but if he had a pick.

[Heath]

Oh, yeah, that. That's the good stuff.

[Dave]

Yes.

[Adam]

Lamb Euro is good. Yeah. We already talked about Jake Ferguson. He is a start this week. We would take him over, what, Kyle Pitts and Evan Ingram.

[Heath]

All those streamers. I would take him over Ingram. That Logan Wilson being out, that's great for Dowdle, no question. But it's great for the tight ends, too, and they've been bad against tight. Logan Wilson wasn't a great cover guy anyway, but the guy that's replacing him, I think it's Akeem Davis. Gaither, he's even worse. So there's a real favorable matchup here for the Cowboys to take advantage of.

[Adam]

Okay, I was wrong. Jamie has Ingram ahead of Ferguson, but in ppr. Yes, I think I would. I. I think I would start Ferguson over otten if Mike Evans plays now. Obviously not if Evans doesn't play.

[Heath]

Yeah, I agree.

[Adam]

Jamie does not agree. All right. And the DSTs don't start the DSTs. New Orleans is at the Giants. Stat of the game. These two teams allow the most yards per carry to running backs. They're the two worst run defenses in football by that metric. Here. And quick. So are you starting any Saints other than Camara?

[Dave]

No. MVS if you're desperate. And Juwan Johnson, if you're desperate. Hopefully he's healthy. Dealing with an injury the last two days, I forgot what the injury is. But you're looking at a. For whatever, it's worth trying. Still, just don't give up production to tight ends. You know, that Dallas game was fascinating to me because Schoonmaker was 5 for 33 on the first two drives and he finished the game with 5 for 33.

[Adam]

So no, honestly, it. This is what you need to know about the Giants. They get, I think they've seen the second fewest pass attempts per game. Right. Like, teams run on them all the time. It makes them look like they're good against tight ends and they're not even that bad against receivers. They're 11th best against receivers. But it's not because of personnel. It's because their run thinks.

[Dave]

That's what I'm saying. It's just, it's one of those things where statistically this, this just works for them.

[Adam]

Yeah. But now no Bobby Okarakay. It looks like Deontay Banks o Dexter Lawrence.

[Dave]

That's the biggest one.

[Heath]

That's the absolute biggest one. I think Alvin Camara might have the best day of anybody in fantasy football, regardless of position.

[Adam]

Yeah, he should have a big game and Derek Carr is a streamer. Like, he probably could have a good game if he wants to, but he just won't need to. There's one concern I have with Tracy and let's see how it plays out. I think if anybody wants to look this up, I think his catches last week came on the last drive. And Drew Lock has a much lower running back target rate throughout his career than Tommy DeVito. It's 14.5% his running back target rate. That's very low. DeVito's is 22%, which is very high. And only two catches last week at Dallas in what ended up being a seven point loss. But it was basically a blowout loss. They scored late.

[Heath]

One was in the second quarter, one was in the two minute drill in the second quarter. One was in the fourth quarter with 324 to play.

[Adam]

Okay.

[Heath]

Both for at least 15 yards. That's kind of cool.

[Adam]

Yeah. So I just want to keep an eye on that because, like, because Locke just doesn't throw to his. His running backs. But you guys do like Tyrone Tracy as a mid range number two running back. All right, so you're not going to start Wandale or Slayton. What about Malik Neighbors who had 15.3 fantasy points, eight catches for 69 yards, but over his last seven games, he is the number 30 wide receiver per game. In full PPR, number 42 per game in half PPR. Dave Starter Sip. Malik Neighbors.

[Heath]

I would use him as a number two wide receiver in full PPR and maybe like a fringe number two, number three receiver, a non PPR. All of his targets are short. He's not getting a lot of work downfield. If he does, he's not catching those passes, certainly not getting touchdowns. Everybody knows that since his concussion, he hasn't scored. He. He told the media that the concussion injury has nothing to do with how he's playing. It's just all about play calling and the routes he's running. And you know, he tried to be a good soldier about it, but this. It's a favorable matchup. But I just. I. It. To me, it starts with the quarterback and Drew Lock's terrible and Tommy DeVito is terrible. The offensive line, even if they get a Luminor and Evan Neal playing, I don't think it's great. I think the Saints defense is going to look a lot better than they really are in this game. And I think Malik Neighbors will have high volume, a lot of catches, not great efficiency. You will be lucky if he can break away for a touchdown.

[Adam]

All right, I've thought about this all week. I'm going to go for it. Malik Neighbors is going to have 80 yards and a touchdown. It's going to have his best game in eight weeks.

[Dave]

Let's go.

[Adam]

Yeah, I'm feeling it and I can say. I can say that I think that he is too talented to be this bad. The stat that really jumps out to me is his yak. He's averaging, I think 1.5 yards after the catch, 1.9 yards after catch per reception. He has one red zone and one end zone target in his last seven games. All of these things need to change. It just can't be this bad for this long. It's not a three game that, like, it's ridiculous. He's too talented to have two yards after the catch per reception. So there is a big play waiting to be had. It's. It's time. It's going to happen. And it. Cause. Call it a gut feeling, Dave. Like I. It just is what it is.

[Heath]

Okay. He. He has yet to see a target of 20 plus air yards since Daniel Jones was benched.

[Adam]

Cut.

[Heath]

Whatever. He's only seen eight targets with zero catches on. I'm trying to read what I wrote here. He only saw eight with zero catches in the four games prior to the benching. So even when Daniel Jones was playing, he was barely seeing deep targets. Now that Daniel Jones isn't playing, he's not seeing deep targets. So for him to have one of those big plays, he's got to catch the ball and then make a play after the catch and break away from the Saints defense. Is that possible? Yeah, but you just talked about his yards after catch per reception being in the toilet and so that he makes me nervous in that regard. Yeah, he makes me nervous in non PPR in He's had great matchups before this week.

[Adam]

Yeah. Oh nothing but. Nothing but great matchups. I I would start Brian Thomas Jr over him though. Just go back to that question. I know Jamie would not, but I'm just going to throw it out there and let's make it happen. And honestly, I think most people are going to start Neighbors anyway, so you can't blame me if he stinks. At least he gives you in ppr. He gives you a floor, right? Like he's usually at least 12 points per game in full PPR. He's been 12 or more in four of his last five games. That's it for today's show. Thanks for watching and listening everybody. Have a great day. Oh, last question Neighbors or Marvin Harrison Jr. Can answer that.

[Dave]

Neighbors.

[Heath]

I I'm going to double check the rankings. I've got MHJ over Neighbors.

[Adam]

The neighbors are Juwan Jennings, Chris Neighbors.

[Heath]

Juwan one spot ahead of Neighbors.

[Adam]

Have a great day. See you on Sunday morning. Bye. Paramount Podcasts the holidays are one of the busiest times of the year, but Amazon is here to make things easier and more affordable this season. Take your budget further with low prices on tons of items for everyone in your life, Amazon has the best gifts for everyone from the latest tech to professional level sports gear and more. Whether you're shopping for that perfect gift for your game day crew or upgrading your own home entertainment setup for the next big match, Amazon has you covered. Forget the stress of finding the right gift. Amazon makes it easy with low prices and the perfect items for everyone. And gear up for last minute deals and gifts with Amazon where you'll find the great prices on the hottest gadgets, sports apparel and more. It's the one stop shop for all your holiday needs. Whether you're gifting or treating yourself. Make this holiday season stress free with Amazon selection, value and convenience. Shop now and get everything you need for the holidays and beyond.