Start or Sit (NFC): Mike Evans, Brian Robinson Jr., Packers wide receivers and More (11/22 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today - Episode Summary (11/22/2024)

Release Date: November 22, 2024
Hosts: Adam Aizer, Dave Richard, Jamie Eisenberg, Heath Cummings, and Crew
Title: Start or Sit (NFC): Mike Evans, Brian Robinson Jr., Packers Wide Receivers and More

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Episode Overview

In this episode of Fantasy Football Today, the hosts delve deep into the NFC matchup featuring the Browns versus the Steelers, analyze player performances, discuss injury impacts, and offer strategic fantasy football advice. The team of analysts—Adam Aizer, Dave Richard, Jamie Eisenberg, and Heath Cummings—provide comprehensive insights to help listeners dominate their fantasy leagues.

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Game Recap: Browns vs. Steelers

Highlights and Key Performances

• Adam Aizer [04:22]:
  "It was fun watching the snow come down... a quasi shootout. Nick Chubb scoring twice was impressive, but Najee Harris disappointed significantly."

• Heath Cummings [05:55]:
  "Jerry Judy looks like the number one. He's dead, 14 fantasy points. Thinking about sending in Najee Harris because of the current form."

Quarterback Tensions

• Dave Richard [06:44]:
  "Russell Wilson struggled with 270 yards and a touchdown but lost a fumble. Justin Fields was less impactful with only one incomplete pass and little rushing contribution."

• Adam Aizer [12:22]:
  "Daniel Jones' future with the Giants is uncertain. Holding onto him might be beneficial as he could find a new team willing to develop his skills."

Notable Quotes

• Adam Aizer [03:21]:
  "This is going to go the distance."

• Heath Cummings [03:19]:
  "It's time to dominate your fantasy league."

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Player Analysis: Injuries and Fantasy Impacts

Quarterbacks

• Daniel Jones [12:22]:
  Discussed his uncertain future with the Giants and potential value in dynasty leagues despite recent struggles.

• Russell Wilson & Justin Fields [06:44]:
  Both quarterbacks underperformed, raising concerns for fantasy managers considering them as starters.

Running Backs

• Nick Chubb [04:22]:
  Continued strong performance with two touchdowns but struggling with yards per carry.

• Najee Harris [04:22]:
  Underperformed significantly, leading to increased concerns about his reliability in fantasy lineups.

• Brian Robinson Jr. [60:00]:
  Highlighted as a potential top-tier fantasy RB due to favorable matchups against Dallas, despite previous inconsistent performances.

Wide Receivers

• Jerry Judy [05:55]:
  Emerged as a reliable WR1 for Cleveland, scoring 14 fantasy points in the recent game.

• Mike Evans [24:54]:
  Needs to average 95 yards per game to reach 1,000 receiving yards this season. Faces a tough matchup against the Giants' stingy secondary.

Notable Quotes

• Dave Richard [05:55]:
  "Jerry Judy looks like the number one. He's dead, 14 fantasy points."

• Adam Aizer [24:54]:
  "Mike Evans needs to average 95 yards per game over his final seven games to get his 11th straight season of 1000 yards receiving."

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Fantasy Football Advice: Start or Sit Strategies

Quarterback Decisions

• Daniel Jones [12:22]:
  Recommended to hold onto or consider trading if the opportunity arises, especially in super flex leagues.

• Baker Mayfield [35:43]:
  Viewed as a must-start option due to his favorable matchup and consistent performance.

Running Back Strategies

• Aaron Jones [79:59]:
  Considered a low-end RB2 with a favorable matchup against a poor run defense but inconsistent recent performances.

• Amir Abdullah [16:52]:
  Suggested as a flexible option, especially against Denver's solid run defense, potentially offering flexibility in PPR formats.

Wide Receiver Recommendations

• Malik Neighbors [39:45]:
  Viewed as a must-start WR1, especially with the quarterback change in San Francisco.

• Jaden Reed & DK Metcalf [27:21]:
  Reed projected as a high-volume receiver, while Metcalf remains a boom-bust option against a tough Arizona secondary.

Tight End Selections

• George Kittle [16:27]:
  Remains a must-start favorite given his consistent performance and favorable matchup.

• Zach Ertz [59:43]:
  Recommended as a must-start TE over other options like Luke Schoonmaker and Dallas Goddard.

Notable Quotes

• Heath Cummings [35:43]:
  "He's a must start running back with just this little hint of."

• Dave Richard [39:45]:
  "He's safe as a number two receiver."

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Player Rankings and Recommendations

Top Quarterback Picks

1. Patrick Mahomes
2. Jalen Hurts
3. Josh Allen
4. Lamar Jackson
5. Kyler Murray
6. Baker Mayfield
7. Jordan Love
8. Bo Nicks
9. Jared Goff
10. Sam Darnold

Top Running Backs

1. Nick Chubb
2. Brian Robinson Jr.
3. Aaron Jones
4. Amir Abdullah
5. Austin Eckler
6. Kareem Hunt
7. Terry McLaren

Top Wide Receivers

1. Malik Neighbors
2. Jaden Reed
3. DK Metcalf
4. Jerry Judy
5. Romeo Dobbs
6. George Kittle
7. DJ Moore

Top Tight Ends

1. George Kittle
2. Zach Ertz
3. Noah Fant
4. Jake Ferguson
5. Puka Nakua

Notable Quotes

• Dave Richard [25:28]:
  "He scored two touchdowns give him credit."

• Heath Cummings [34:07]:
  "I'm pretty sure I'm going to get him outside of my top 12 because I don't really have 12 quarterbacks that I like right now."

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Conclusion and Final Thoughts

The episode provides a thorough analysis of the NFC matchup, highlighting key players to start or sit based on their performances and matchups. The hosts emphasize the importance of staying updated on injuries and adjusting fantasy lineups accordingly. With strategic advice and detailed player rankings, listeners are well-equipped to make informed decisions to dominate their fantasy leagues.

Notable Quotes from the Conclusion:

• Heath Cummings [87:36]:
  "I'm starting both Seahawks start Daniels, start. Both running backs start Terry McLaren, start Zach Hurts."

• Dave Richard [84:46]:
  "Are you starting Doctor's start Daniels, start."

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Remember: Stay tuned for the next episode where Adam Mazer rejoins the crew from a different studio, and don't miss the live mailbag sessions for personalized fantasy advice!

Transcript

[Jamie Eisenberg]

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[Dave Richard]

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[Heath Cummings]

This is Fantasy Football TODAY from CBS Sports.

[Dave Richard]

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

[Heath Cummings]

It's time to dominate your fantasy league.

[Dave Richard]

Off to the races and he stays at his feet.

[Adam Aizer]

This is going to go the distance.

[Heath Cummings]

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

[Dave Richard]

Happy Friday everybody. It's the Fantasy Football Today podcast presented by BetMGM, the sportsbook. But born in Vegas, I'm Jamie Eisenberg. That's Dave Richard, that's Heath Cummings. There's a different cast of characters for us here on a Friday. Our buddy Adam Mazer is taking the day off. He's actually traveling to come see us. So he's going to be in a different studio next week. Hopefully we'll be able to do some podcasts live and as we discussed on our Thursday night mailbag, which we will hear on Saturday morning, the audio version. Maybe we'll steal his wallet again if we're so lucky. So should be a fun couple of days coming up next week starting on Sunday. And don't forget Sunday. You can check us out YouTube at 11:30am Eastern. CBS Sports HQ at 10:00am Eastern. Guys, what do you think about that game last night? The snow fest between the Browns and the Steelers. Browns winning that game 24:19. Just your overall thoughts, Dave, I'll start with you.

[Adam Aizer]

I, I was amused by it. Obviously. It was fun watching the snow come down and where it's, it's a reminder that we're entering that time of year where you really need to stay on top of the weather before any outdoor game. We, we saw Jameis Winston attempt just 27 passes. I don't know how many he attempted in the first quarter. It felt like the entire first quarter of that game was a throwaway and then both offenses were like, hey, wait a minute, we can throw the ball a little bit. Let's just throw it. And so for three quarters, certainly more so in the second half than the second quarter, we got treated to kind of a quasi shootout. It wasn't exactly something that worked out for every wide receiver. It certainly didn't work out for the quarterbacks, but it was an entertaining game. It was awesome. To see Nick Chubb score twice if he was on your bench, that kind of stinks. And I think it's. This was the type of game where you would expect Najee Harris to not only get a lot of work, but do well with it. It's the snow. It's the Browns without their best linebacker playing. Najee had been running well for several weeks and he really, really disappointed to the point where Jaylen Moore not only had a touchdown, Jalen Warren looked better. And Jalen Warren dominated playing time. He had. Let me call it up real quick. He had 57% of the snaps. Both of their snaps inside the 5, 13 of 16 snaps on third down. I don't know if it's happening, Jamie and Heath, I don't know if we're getting Jalen Warren as the lead back in Pittsburgh quite yet, but last night, Thursday night, he was the lead guy.

[Heath Cummings]

I think the nice thing was, like, we told a lot of people, or I did at least, I didn't really want to start Nick Chubb. And I think a lot of people with six teams on a buy, if they had Nick Chubb on their roster, probably didn't have a choice. And so not really a good game for him. But he scored two touchdowns and he helped you out and he scored double digit fantasy points. That's great. Jerry Judy looks like the number one. He's dead. 14 fantasy points. That's great. I'm on HQ in about four hours and we do kind of a panicometer and I had to send in the names for that. And I thought about sending in Naji Harris because, like, it is. Is it happening? Is it time to panic on Naji? We've seen a lot of times over the last three years or two years where it looked like, ooh, Jalen Warren might be taking the lead job. And then it usually doesn't happen.

[Dave Richard]

All right, so let's go through some of the numbers from last night's game again. Browns 24, Steelers 19. We'll start with Pittsburgh. So we got the quarterback tandem that I think a lot of people were concerned about if you were starting or buying into Russell Wilson, he was 270 and a touchdown, three carries for 10 yards, lost a fumble. Justin Fields attempted one pass. It was incomplete. He did have three carries for 26 yards. Seems like he sparked the offense a little bit with his big run there to set up what. What felt like, you know, Pittsburgh taking the league. You guys touched on this a little bit. So, Naji Harris, 16 for 41, two catches, 13 yards on two targets. Jalen Warren, 11 for 45 and a touchdown, three carries for 19 yards on five targets. It was not a good game for the pass catchers that we rely on for the Steelers. Are we done with Mike Williams? Are we just dropping at this point? No catches for the second game in a row?

[Heath Cummings]

Yep.

[Dave Richard]

Unfortunate there. George Pickens, 4 for 48 and 7 targets. We'll see if there's going to be a revenge game next time. These two teams met after Newsom says fake tough guy after the little scuffle there at the end of the game. So we'll see how that goes next time these two teams meet up in a couple weeks. Calvin Austin did have a touchdown, but I don't think anybody's buying into him. Three targets. He had three catches, 78 yards and the score. And not a bad game for Pat Prior moves. Four catches, 59 yards on four targets for Cleveland. Jameis Winston, 219. And the interception. He also scored a rushing touchdown, but lost the fumble. Dave touched on this. The two touchdowns for Nick Chubbs now three yards per carry in each of his four games back. So he's not running well. 20 for 59. You got lucky, I think, with the two touchdowns. From a fantasy perspective, but he scored them. Give him credit. And the Steelers continue to give up rushing touchdowns. Just keep that in mind for their future opponents. Jerome Ford. Are we done with him? Four carries, 19 yards, one catch for 8 yards. Is it just. We have to wait to see if maybe Nick Chubb has to miss any time before we buy into Jerome Ford.

[Adam Aizer]

Handcuff.

[Dave Richard]

Handcuff. Heath mentioned this. Jerry Judy, 6 for 85, 6 targets. Is it clear, like, he's just the number one receiver right now for Cleveland?

[Heath Cummings]

All right, you'd like to say that. And in terms of production, it is like it's now four games and he's been good in three of them. But if you look at targets like, he had six, Elijah Moore had five, David Najoku had five, Tillman had four, and left with the concussion. So I wouldn't be surprised if there's a week where one of these guys has 10 and Judy has eight.

[Dave Richard]

But as it is still, you know, the, the numbers without Amari Cooper, with Jameis Winston have been pretty solid. And you just like in, in a good spot, in a tough spot. He's leaning on Jerry Judy quite a bit. You mentioned Cedric Tillman leaving with the concussion, so he's in the concussion protocol. We'll see what happens going into week 13, but you might be without Cedric Tillman. You might want to bench Cedric Tillman anyway just based on the lack of production the last two weeks. But again, who knows how that game would have finished when he did suffer the concussion in the second half. Elijah Moore 3 for 21. So two good games, two bad games with Jameis Winston now. So again, we'll see what happens moving forward and really nothing to worry about. I think with David Joke, he's gonna have bad games every now and then. One catch for nine yards. This was bad, but also tough. Sorry.

[Adam Aizer]

He dropped a touchdown.

[Dave Richard]

He dropped a touchdown. Yeah. So you know, it's, it's not going to be smooth sailing with all these guys. We said that going into the week, you know that there's going to be times where when you have four pass catchers like this that are all commanding targets. Not everybody's going to be productive week in, week out. But you know, hopefully David Najoku bounces back after this game and may benefit if Cedric Tillman is going to miss any time. So there's your recap of Brown. Steelers again. Browns 24, Steelers 19. The Snow bowl, first snow game that we had all season is now in the books and hopefully we get a few more moving forward if you are so inclined to like those type of matchups.

[Adam Aizer]

Nah.

[Dave Richard]

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[Heath Cummings]

Well, no, not, I mean in 1 quarterback 12 team. I mean some of those, he may not have even been rostered. The super flex, I think you definitely do. And I think like you can look at the top 12 quarterbacks right now this year and find a handful of guys who at least one team gave up on them. Like Baker Mayfield, we thought it was over at one point. Sam Darnold, we thought it was over at one point. Gino Smith, we thought it was over at three different points. Even Jared Goff, like the Rams were just throwing him into the deal because they wanted to go get Matthew Stafford. So I, I want to hold on to him. I'm not giving up on him. I think it'll be really interesting this off season to see what does he value? Does he go somewhere like, like you've talked about the car wash for a team that can make like, turn him into a better quarterback if he sits for a year, or does he go somewhere and try to earn a starting job next year?

[Adam Aizer]

Here's a question. How many quarterback jobs are going to be open this off season? Like, I'm. I'm running through the teams right now and I'm thinking there might be like six. Six teams that are in the market for a new quarterback.

[Dave Richard]

The ones I think that are questionable or guaranteed. You got the Raiders.

[Adam Aizer]

Yep.

[Dave Richard]

You have the jets. Potentially. He's not going to the Giants, obviously.

[Adam Aizer]

I mean, that would be kind of ridiculous.

[Heath Cummings]

Titans.

[Adam Aizer]

Titans might.

[Dave Richard]

Titans. Titans almost certainly will. Panthers, maybe Steelers.

[Heath Cummings]

I don't do Steelers have a quarterback under contract for next year.

[Dave Richard]

There's not a quarterback.

[Heath Cummings]

They don't.

[Adam Aizer]

But they could theoretically resign one or both of the guys that they have now. But sure, they're. They're in the market. Did you say New Orleans?

[Dave Richard]

Nope. New Orleans is definitely in the conversation. You gotta assume that places.

[Adam Aizer]

I would imagine that his goal is going to be to try and latch on with one of those places.

[Dave Richard]

If I was. If I was Daniel Jones.

[Adam Aizer]

Yeah.

[Dave Richard]

And Sam Darnold leaves the Vikings, that's the place I would go.

[Adam Aizer]

I don't know if they'd want them, but sure that that would be an excellent opportunity.

[Dave Richard]

Play behind J.J. mcCarthy, learn from Kevin O'Connell. You know that the standing for McCarthy right now, not guaranteed because of his injuries.

[Adam Aizer]

Yeah, sure. No, that makes sense. Any. Any quarterback that goes to Minnesota is going to get attention, certainly in super flex leagues. Just in case McCarthy isn't ready to go, I would say his next best option is to go to a team that's got, you know, kind of do what Carson Wentz did and go to a team that's going to be playoff bound, great coaching staff, and maybe they can help. That's the Baker Mayfield route. Right. Isn't that what Baker ended up doing is he went to la. It was only for like a third of the season that he was with the Rams and he played for the Rams. But that kind of jump started his chance to, you know, build himself back up and the bucks bought in. And lo and behold, here he was a great NFL quarterback and a great fantasy quarterback again. So there will be options for him. I don't think he's going to be like kicked to the curb and, you know, given the double bird from the rest of the league, but it's just a matter of can he find a place where he can even potentially start at any point in the season? All right, anywhere that could happen. But he'd want to go somewhere where he could at least have a chance to start week one or get coached up by a really good coach that can help him bounce back in 2026.

[Dave Richard]

All right, let's rip through some of these news and notes here. So Kyle Shanahan remains hopeful that Brock Purdy will play Sunday at Green Bay. He's dealing with the shoulder injury. Did throw a little bit more on Thursday than he did on Wednesday, but did not finish practice. Right. Just quickly, Heath, if we don't have Brock Purdy and right now it could be Brandon Allen, maybe Josh Dobbs. But Brandon Allen right now is number two on the depth chart.

[Adam Aizer]

Yeah.

[Dave Richard]

Do we downgrade everybody in San Francisco?

[Heath Cummings]

Yes. And I, my first instinct was a lot and then I remembered like we had Nick Mullins throwing for eight yards per attempt at one point in this offense. Like, I. I'm not sure. Probably not as much as I was originally thinking. I'll probably move Debo and Juwan Jennings outside of my top 24 wide receivers, but they'll still be inside of my top 36. George Kittle's still going to be a must start. Tight end Christian McCaffrey is still going to be a must start running back.

[Dave Richard]

And we'll. Tell me we'll get into this game a little bit later, but okay.

[Adam Aizer]

Okay. I've got Brandon Allen's career stats. I was going to ask Heath where were these numbers ranked compared to like an average quarterback, but we can do that later.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah, save that for later. All right, running back news. We got Alexander Madison and Zemir White both not practicing again on Thursday. They did not practice on Wednesday. Amir Abdullah, 33 roster. Dave, if Abdullah is the starter for the Raiders against the Broncos, he is a what running back to you?

[Adam Aizer]

A good bye week running back and a desperation spot starter in half and full ppr. And I don't think he'll be the only guy there. There was a report in the Las Vegas Review Journal that rookie Dylan Lobby could get a good amount of work as well. We've talked about Lobby this week about his only carry went for negative fantasy points because he fumbled. They have a practice squad running back named Sincere McCormick who I need to learn about before I start thinking about how he could fit into the Raiders offense. But the reality is this, this is, this is a Raiders offense. It isn't very good against a Denver defense that's really good and we could end up seeing this game get lopsided pretty quickly, much like the Broncos game did last week. And that could lead to Amir Abdullah logging a lot of snaps as the passing downs back, hurry up offense back, play from behind, tight back and maybe he gets in the neighborhood of four or five catches along with eight carries on top of it. You could do worse for a bye week running back.

[Dave Richard]

So here's what just in case you're looking at it from PPR Denver has allowed eight running backs to score at least 6.8 PPR points this season with just their receiving totals alone. So he would get the opportunity to play a lot on passing downs. And if that's where we're starting with, that puts him in a solid flex spot, potential starting option if he's going to get around six PPR points with just his reception totals because you can throw the ball out of the backfield against Denver.

[Adam Aizer]

How excited are you Jamie, to have this guy back?

[Dave Richard]

And, and I mean, you know, between J.K. dobbins and Amir Abdullah, it's like, you know, my favorite season ever. Isaiah Pacheco was limited again on Thursday. Heath, just give us your take again. If if Pacheco does play the split between him and Kareem Hunt and how would you like these guys?

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, I've got Kareem Hunt as a high end RB2 without Isaiah Pacheco. He's a low end RB2 with Isaiah Pacheco. I would expect Kareem Hunt touch the ball more than Isaiah Pacheco or the same in Pacheco's first game back. I would expect Kareem Hunt to handle the short yard and hopefully that the real key is that we need some AJP Ryan to go away on passing downs because if P. Ryan's handling passing downs and Pacheco and Hunters chopping up the rushing downs then we may not want to start anybody in this offense. But I would still favor Hunt in Week one and I still don't really feel like Pacheco is going to play this week.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah, we'll, we'll find out hopefully before Sunday. But we get that answer for you hope if if we don't get it the answer for you since we already did our mailbag. We'll get that to you on Sunday morning at 11:30am Eastern. DeAndre Swift it was upgraded to limited practice on Thursday after not practicing on Wednesday. We'll talk about that game as they take on Minnesota Josh Jacobs still limited in practice with the quadricep injury. We'll talk about that game as they take on San Francisco. You got two running backs in the concussion protocol. Taj Spears did not practice on Thursday. They get Houston this week, so that's good news for Tony Pollard with in terms of workload, tough matchup and Justice Hill started the weekend the concussion protocol. So maybe Keaton Mitchell gets a bigger role in the passing down situation as the number two guy there behind Derrick Henry as they take on the Chargers on Monday Night Football. Before we get to the wide receiver and tight end news, we'll take a quick break here on fantasy football today and then we're going to certainly get into a lot of the games with the NFC home games today.

[Heath Cummings]

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[Dave Richard]

Hotel, you made it through all the starts and stops of your tech business. And when you're with AMEX Business Platinum, you can count on a network of benefits to keep going, including access to over $1,000 in business and travel value annually. And thanks to five times Membership Rewards, points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com you and your plugged in engineers can get rewarded for working in the cloud. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms apply. Learn [e-mail] AmExBusiness A lot of good games coming up on CBS on Sunday. Make sure you're checking it out. You can also stream the games on Paramount. Plus wide receiver news and notes. Devontae Smith did not practice again on Thursday. We'll talk about that game as they take on the Rams this week. Could be good news for Dallas Goddard and hopefully a bounce back game for A.J. brown. He's been struggling a little bit in his last four games. CD Lamb was downgraded from limited from limited practice on Wednesday to not practicing on Thursday. That's certainly an injury to monitor as they take on the Commanders. Brandon Cooks was limited Thursday as well. He's trying to make his return from IR. He's 16 rostered, so maybe if Lamb does not play, you're looking at Brandon Cooks in a desperate situation. Vlad McConkey started the week as limited. Hopefully it'll be okay Monday Night Football against the Ravens. Darius Slayton was a full participant in practice coming back from the concussion protocol, and Adam Thielen remained limited in practice on Thursday. He's 24 rostered. They take on Kansas City for this week. Tight ends. He said George Kittle will be downgraded if Brandon Allen starts, but that's good news that George Kittle will play because he was still remains limited in practice on Thursday, but he is expected to go against the Packers. Jake Ferguson still in the concussion protocol. Luke Schoonmaker is 7% rostered as they take on the Commanders. We'll talk about that game. And Noah Fant was upgraded to limited practice on Thursday. He's missed the last two games with a groin injury. Maybe he does return against Arizona in week number 11. Some offensive line injury news to keep an eye on. Zach Martin and Tyler Smith both did not practice on Thursday for the Cowboys. Tristan Worse was limited for the Bucks. Tron Armstead, not a surprise, did not practice on Thursday. We'll keep an eye on his status for the Dolphins as they take on the Packer Patriots. Excuse me. Ben Powers, the guard for the Broncos was still limited in practice on Thursday and Trent Williams did not practice on Thursday, but I'm sure it was more of a rest day for him as they take on the packers this week. It could be really bad for San Francisco if they don't have Trent Williams or Brock Purdy, so keep an eye on that for the 49ers. Also Nick Bosa dealing with an injury as well as we look at the defensive injury. So Bosa did not practice on Thursday. Also Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack and Derwin James were all limited for the Chargers. Roquan Smith we spent a lot of time talking about this, what the run defense looks like for the Ravens with or without Roquan. He did not practice as they have the Monday night game, so keep an eye on that heading into Saturday with the final injury report. Jair Alexander did not practice on Thursday dealing with his knee injury. Jack Jones and Nate Hobbs did not practice for the Raiders.

[Adam Aizer]

And Jacquarian Bennett all the three quarterbacks.

[Dave Richard]

You're right, three quarterbacks not practice for the Raiders. So that could be good news for Bo Nicks and Cortland Sutton and maybe Devon Valley if you need a desperation flex option. He has 10 or more PPR points each of his last two games. Will Anderson was limited for the Texans. Legerious needed not practice for the Titans. Clay's Campbell's having a fantastic season for the Dolphins. He did not practice on Thursday and Dexter Lawrence was limited for the Giants, but Kayvon Thibodeau did practice in full. Keep an eye on the Giants defensive line injuries because that could actually be a sneaky DST based on the doll. The Bucks offensive line, especially if worst does not go one kicker Note to be up to date on is Austin Siebert again remained limited in practice on Thursday dealing with the hip injury. So keep an eye on that because he has been a great fantasy kick kicker so far this season. All right, one question for each game. We got Tampa Bay and the Giants. Dave, I'll start with you. Mike Evans after a three game layoff or Malik neighbors playing with Tommy DeVito. Who do you like better?

[Adam Aizer]

Evans running right back in his arms is a must start Number one fantasy wide receiver.

[Dave Richard]

I'll give you my favorite stat of the game of the week. This is courtesy of Heath Cummings from our show on Wednesday. Mike Evans needs to average 95 yards per game over his final seven games to get his 11th straight season of 1000 yards receiving. His high so far this year in a game is 94 yards receiving. So he needs to not only have his best game of the season every game on average for the rest of the year, but we know how these late season pushes have gone for him. So hopefully it starts.

[Heath Cummings]

I wouldn't bet against him.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah, I would not bet against him either, especially without Chris Godwin. We'll talk about where did the Giants.

[Adam Aizer]

Rank in yards per game to wide receivers?

[Dave Richard]

You can look that up when we get to the game. So let's go San Francisco and Green Bay. Heath, which packers receiver do you trust the most? Christian Watson, Jaden Reed, Romeo Dobbs, Don.

[Heath Cummings]

Tavion Wicks I do not trust a Packers wide receiver but Jaden Reed is the highest ranked. I think I have Reed Watson and Romeo Dobbs all projected within 10 spots in my wide receiver rankings. Between wide receiver they're all number three wide receivers. But Reed is a good Number three, Watson is a boom bust number three and Dobbs is a bad number three.

[Dave Richard]

Looking forward to breaking down that game in a little bit just based on how the SEC San Francisco secondary will try and defend these guys, Dallas and Washington. Dave, can you trust both commanders running backs? Brian Robinson Jr. He knows my start of the week. Austin Eckler has been fantastic really with and without Robinson over the last month. But can you trust both of them taking on Dallas?

[Adam Aizer]

I think the only game script that goes against Robinson is if the Cowboys build a lead and the commanders have to play like I can't even finish the sentence now. Brian Robinson's gonna get a good amount of work. We can get into some of those stats that I love about Brian Robinson when we get to the game. But yes, start and Eckler's is in that number three running back, maybe low end. Number two running back in full PPR kind of canoe. Just the type of guy that you're hoping can get four catches, total 70 yards, something like that. And you're lucky. And he scores.

[Dave Richard]

I actually have Eckler ranked ahead of Chuba Hubbard, Tony Pollard and DeAndre Swift as of now. So I like to set up for both commanders running backs, Arizona and Seattle. Heath, who is the best pass catcher in this game? Factoring in Trey McBride. You could throw in Noah Fant if you want to also. But the Cardinals tight end and both teams receivers, who do you like the best?

[Heath Cummings]

I do not want to throw Noah Fant in. I will go with DK Metcalf but I do have he and JSN pretty close. I think there's like 5 must start pass catchers in this game or at least four. So. But yeah, it's, it's dk.

[Dave Richard]

I'm curious to get your take on Metcalf coming up later in the show because the numbers against this defense are not good for him and not good for number one wide receivers lately. So the history is not good. But I'm. I'm a little nervous about DK after doing some research in this game. Minnesota and Chicago. Dave, are we ready to trust DJ Moore again after his best game since Week 6 in the first game with Thomas Brown?

[Adam Aizer]

Adam pointed out to me last night that his adot last week was under one yard so he got a lot of short screens. Bears did what I thought they were going to do and that simplify the offense for, for Caleb Williams and if they do that again, yes, that would theoretically help DJ Moore as a number three receiver, particularly in full ppr. That's about as far as I'm willing to trust them.

[Dave Richard]

All right, so we'll break down that game as well as the Bears and the Vikings meet each other for this big NFC north showdown last game here for our one question for every game. Heath Cooper cup or Puka Nakua? As the Eagles and Rams meet up.

[Heath Cummings]

I'm gonna go with Puka Nakua again. You're probably starting both of them, but I do think that Puka a little bit more ability to create explosive plays. Cup is closer to him in full PPR because of the targets and the catches, but I'll take Puka.

[Dave Richard]

It's a brutal, brutal matchup. So we'll see if these two stud receivers can come through. And I'm curious if anybody wants to post in the chat. And please hit the like button. We' would appreciate it. Do you have both Rams receivers on any of your fantasy teams? I do. In one 10 team league where we had some IR issues. I think there was maybe one IR spot for every team and somebody dropped Cooper cup early in the season and I had Puka nakua in my 1 IR spot so I picked them up and so now I have to make that decision every week with Malik Neighbors and Devonte Adams. The three receiver league with a flex. So trying to decide if I want to play both Rams receivers every week has been fun. All right, let's get into the games here. We'll start with Tampa Bay and the Giants. The stat of the game here, we already got what went over it. I'll repeat it again. Mike Evans needs to average 95 yards per game in his final seven games to reach 1, 000 yards receiving for the 11th year in a row. As Heath said, don't bet against him based on how things have gone. So let's start with the Bucks. You got Baker Mayfield. Only two games a season with fewer than 20 fantasy points. Only one of those was without Mike Evans on the field. That was Week 3 against Denver. The Giants have allowed at least 23.8 fantasy points to two of the past four opposing quarterbacks. So is it just an easy slam dunk? Baker Mayfield's back in your lineup, Dave?

[Adam Aizer]

I think so. Top 10 fantasy quarterback good when Evans was out. He should be good again with Evans back in. And yeah, I think the matchup is favorable as well. And Baker Mayfield is a must start. Here are some quarterbacks that I have ahead of him that you might, you know, do a double take at. Bo Nicks, Jared Goff, Love golf this week. Patrick Mahomes is ahead of him because he's taken on Carolina. Justin Herbert's ahead of him but that's it. Guys like Jaden Daniels, Sam Darnold, Purdy to a love all behind Baker Mayfield. Welcome back to the top 10, Baker.

[Dave Richard]

I'm gonna ask Keith this question. Dave, do me fair look up what the weather's supposed to be in New Jersey this week. He's Adam brought up the Giants and their pressure rate and how they get to quarterbacks and now Thibodeau is back along with hopefully a healthy Dexter Lawrence. No worse. Do we have any concern about Baker maybe protected being protected in this game?

[Heath Cummings]

You know, maybe a little bit and maybe that makes me a little bit more nervous about Mike Evans because he doesn't generally handle the short area targets. If Baker has to get the ball out of his hand quicker, I think he will. It's just going to mean more targets for K Dot and more targets for Rashad White and maybe whoever's playing the slot this week for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So if it gives me concern about anybody, it would be Evans more so than Mayfield. But I'm starting both of them.

[Dave Richard]

So just some numbers on Evans for Dave gives the weather report here. He's got three games this season with at least 23.1 PPR points. Four games with nine and a half PPR points or less. He's only got one game with more than seven targets, but we know that no God winning. They haven't played. He has not played a game yet without Chris Goblin on the field. The Giants are 13 and fewest fantasy points allowed to opposing wide receivers. So it's not the easiest of matchups. And you mentioned the slot receiver. I would hope it's going to be Jalen McMillan or at least the second receiver. You know, whether it's going to line up in the slot or play outside. At least going to be the guy that's second in targets. Did not play in Week 10. Week 9 with the hamstring injury, no snaps in Week 10. Did have a full practice after the buy so it should be healthy. But prior to the bye week two games with at least seven targets. One of those was the game where both guys got injured. That was against Baltimore and then came back the next game. Now he had eight targets against Baltimore, seven targets the following week. So we'll see who he does have a bigger role. And then any concern with Kate Otten because Mike Evans back and the Giants are number one and fewest fantasy points allowed to opposing tight ends. Only one touchdown allowed to the position. Now they haven't exactly faced Murderers Row. Zach Ertz twice, Jake Ferguson once when Dak was healthy and Pat Friarmuth are the three best tight ends that they faced. But Otten now does have the target crunch. Potentially with Mike Evans back on the.

[Heath Cummings]

Field, I think he can still funk. I think like you said, you hope Jalen McMillan's the number two wide receiver. I think K the number two wide receiver. I think so. Must, must start tight end. I think I've got him fourth or fifth? Fifth. So I'd start Bowers, Kelsey Kittle and McBride over him. That's it.

[Adam Aizer]

I almost feel like he's the one who's replaced Chris Godwin. Just that short area safety blankie for, for Baker Mayfield. So there's, there's no way I'm getting away from Koton at this point. There's just way too much upside with him. Weather 53 degrees, overcast winds 10 to 20 miles an hour. So maybe we do a check of the weather before the game and just to see how bad that wind is at MetLife Stadium. We know that it can get pretty bad there. I also wanted to point out that on the year, the Giants are giving up an average of 91.2 receiving yards per game just to outside wide receivers. So if Evans is going to get this number, we're looking for 95 yards this week. For him to try and get that average to a thousand, he's going to need a lot of targets and maybe he moves into the slot a little bit more than normal to try and take advantage of the match up there.

[Dave Richard]

All right, let's talk about the Bucks running backs here because I think a lot of people interested in this matchup as well. The Giants have a lot at least one running back to score at least 13.1 PPR points in seven games in a row. They haven't done it with both guys in the same backfield doing that, but I don't think a lot of teams have the combination that the Bucs have. Rashad White scored at least 12 1/2 pPR points in four games in a row. He's got at least five catches in three of his last four games. And Bucky Irvin scored at least 15.4 pPR points in four of his last five games and he's got at least three catches in four games in a row with three rushing touchdowns over that span. So Heath, which of the Bucks running backs do you like better and would you start both this week?

[Heath Cummings]

They're both low end number two running backs for Me, I've got Rashad White, I think maybe a tenth of a point higher than Bucky Irving. Whoever scores the touchdown is the one that's going to be better. I do think that like White's pass catching in full PPR makes him just a little bit better, but yeah, no, no problem. Starting with these. I don't think I've downgraded quite as many of the guys who are going to have 15 to 20 touches like the Tony Pollards as you have. So I don't maybe don't have them quite as high, but I'd start them over like a DeAndre Swift.

[Adam Aizer]

Dave Giants are giving up 5.2 yards per carry. The Bucks talked about getting Bucky more work and then Sean Tucker's name came up in Liam Cohen.

[Dave Richard]

No, no, no, no, don't do that.

[Adam Aizer]

I'm thinking that maybe Sean Tucker gets a couple of carries and that's it and then the rest of it goes with Bucky and Rashad White. We've seen Bucky just look better as a runner than Rashad White, but White has played more near the goal line, certainly can do a little bit more in the passing game. That's what his experience says. Bucky's caught some passes too, but I think that you could start either one of them as a low end number two fantasy running back. I agree with Heath. I like Bucky better and non PPR. I like Rashad White better in full PPR, but they're both back to back in that 22 to 24 range in my running back rankings.

[Dave Richard]

Very positive schedule schedule coming up for the Bucks. So hopefully this is the start of a strong finish for both of these guys. Or maybe if you just want to see one separate from the other, then you have to at least have one. You can get at least one running back that's a must start guy and maybe one that's a flex. But for right now, if you needed.

[Adam Aizer]

A quarterback, would you try and buy low on Baker in the next 48 hours because of that schedule?

[Dave Richard]

You certainly can. I know how many people's trade deadlines have not passed yet, but if you need a quarterback and the Baker manager found somebody to replace him last week when he was on a buy or had somebody already, then sure, that's a good option to go get. But I think a lot of people know getting Mike Evans back, the price tag has certainly gone up a little bit by comparison to the last couple of weeks. The Giants, there's really two must start options or, or maybe start options depending on how you view Tyrone Tracy, but Malik Neighbors and and Tracy in terms of Tommy DeVito, he started six games for the Giants last season and scored at least 17 and a half fantasy points in three of them. So not a bad option in super flex and two quarterback leagues. The Bucks are number one in most fantasy points allowed to the position. I went back through and looked at all of his games from last season and Saquon Barkley was great in two of them, was good in another one, so had some mediocre performances there. But he did get Dallas when Dallas obviously was a great defense. He struggled against the Patriots. I think their run defense last year was still relatively good. He struggled a little bit against. I didn't put who they played in this game. Sorry. Oh, New Orleans. That was the last game against New Orleans. He struggled in that matchup. And the receivers, he had a couple of good games from Wandell Robinson, a couple of good games from different outside receivers. So Jalen Wyatt, Jalen Hyatt had a good game. Darius Slayton had a couple of good games. Daniel Bellinger was the lead tight end at that point. He didn't really do very much. So I don't know if you're looking at Theo Johnson, so just in terms of the guys he was throwing to, it was kind of a mixed bag. He only had one game over 30 pass attempts in those six starts. So we'll see if maybe the volume ticks up a little bit here. And Dave has noted that this is a better offensive line that DeVito will play behind by comparison to last year and certainly did not have a playmaker like Malik Neighbors in the passing game, but a little bit of a downgrade obviously from the running back perspective. So Heath, what do you think about Tyrone Tracy this week? He scored at least 14 PPR points in four or five games this season where he's had double digits and carries. Tampa Bay is number five and most fantasy points allowed to the position.

[Heath Cummings]

He's a must start running back with just this little hint of. I hope the bye week was long enough for everybody to forget about the fact that he dropped a pass that turned into an interception and fumbled the game away. Like you might be one mistake away from Devin Singletary playing a couple of series in a row, but fantastic matchup, been very efficient as a rusher. They probably want to run the ball a little bit more now that they've got DeVito playing quarterback. Should be a borderline top 12 guy. Just that little bit of risk in.

[Dave Richard]

The back of my head and Barkley had in the six starts with DeVito, again, different player, but at least three catches in 1, 2, 3, 3 of the six starts. So hopefully we see a little bit more work in the passing game for Tracy by comparison to what Daniel Jones was doing.

[Heath Cummings]

And I think one thing I think we should like just bring up is you can't compare Tommy DeVito stats this year, even past attempts per game to Daniel Jones this year because the, the Giants. Brian Dable wasn't calling plays last year. The Giants were much, much, much more run heavy no matter who was playing quarterback last year than they have been this year. Jones is averaging 34 attempts per game last year. I'm not even sure he was averaging 30. So I, I think DeVito throws it more than he did in those games last year.

[Dave Richard]

And 34 would be the, the season high for DeVito or at least the, the games that he started. So that'll be interesting to see if he is going to be consistently above 30 past attempts and again, if he keeps the job. You know, Drew Locke was a little confused why he was not given the starting opportunity. So we'll see how that goes. Things go for the Giants. Give me your thoughts on the.

[Heath Cummings]

Sorry, they just sent him a gif of a tank when he asked why.

[Dave Richard]

Right. Dave, give me your thoughts on Malik Neighbors and Wandell Robinson. You know, clearly more attention is going to be paid to our neigh. He hasn't scored touchdowns since week three and he's been 10.8 PPR points or less in two of his past three games. Are we sure that he's safe with DeVito?

[Adam Aizer]

I think he's safe as a number two receiver.

[Dave Richard]

Dave, your volume. Your volume is gone.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, Dave just disappeared. It's like the first the sun blots out his face and now something's blotted out his mic.

[Dave Richard]

Try again, Dave.

[Adam Aizer]

You got me now.

[Dave Richard]

No, why don't you log out and log back in and hopefully that fix it. All right, Heath, give me your thoughts on Malik, Neighbors and Wandell Robinson. Robinson hasn't scored touchdowns since Week 5 and 10.1 PPR points or less than five games in a row.

[Heath Cummings]

I'm, I'm viewing Malik Neighbors as a must start. Top 12 wide receiver Tommy DeVito could be so bad that I have to change that after this week. But if, when you compare DeVito last year to Jones last year DeVito was more, more efficient as a passer. So I haven't downgraded Neighbors because of the quarterback change. I would view Wandale Robinson as a number three wide receiver. He's going to be completely dependent on how much the Giants need to pass because I do think much lower intended air yards per attempt for DeVito last year. He does throw a lot of short area targets that should be good for Wondell Robinson, but If he's if DeVito is throwing 2829 passes, that's not going to matter because one Dale Robinson needs nine or 10 targets to be good right around wide receiver. 30 for me in full PPR. Much much worse in half and none.

[Dave Richard]

He's got five targets or less in two of his past three games. So we'll see what happens there and then Theo Johnson was starting to make some plays prior to their bye week. 7.7-PPR points each of his two games against Washington and Carolina and over that span seven catches, 88 yards and a touchdown on 12 targets. Tampa Bay is number five and most fantasy points allowed to opposing tight end. So for me I looked at it this week. Schoonmaker has a good one week replacement to Davion Sanders. If you wanted a one week replacement and maybe something more just based on the matchups coming up. And then Theo Johnson was kind of the third desperation play at tight end. Maybe DeVito does give him some more opportunities to make plays as the Giants try to find out if Theo Johnson could be a playmaker for them going into 2025. All right, we take a quick break right now. We're going to get a lot faster on the games but a lot more into the last five games that we're covering here and hopefully Dave's Mike is working here on fantasy football today this.

[Heath Cummings]

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[Adam Aizer]

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[Heath Cummings]

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[Adam Aizer]

Gift they'll never forget. Find the most exciting gift for every [e-mail] gifts. That's livenation.com gifts.

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[Dave Richard]

Dave, you good?

[Adam Aizer]

You tell me.

[Dave Richard]

No, no, no.

[Adam Aizer]

What the hell?

[Heath Cummings]

It's. That's not great, but yep.

[Dave Richard]

Well, it's a good thing you. It's a good thing you joined us today, Heath. All right.

[Heath Cummings]

Can you imagine, Jamie, can you imagine if it was the one man podcast for the rest of the Friday slate? That would have been, would have been really entertaining.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah, it would have been good. We would have been really happy with Adam Hazer. All right, stat of the game between the 49ers and the Packers. Christian McCaffrey hasn't scored a touchdown in the two games that he's played this season. The last time he went two games in a row without a touchdown was weeks 11 and 12 in 2022. So hopefully he finds the end zone this season. That was early in his tenure with the 49ers after the trade from Carolina. So we don't see this very often for Christian McCaffrey. Hopefully it's not three games in a row we told you about Brock Purdy. Dave is going to hopefully come back and give us some Brandon Allen stats, but he's got three games in a row, at least 20.4 fantasy points. Heath, assuming he plays and he's fine, is he just a must start quarterback against Packers?

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, I, I'm probably gonna downgrade him a little bit if they tell us that he can't get through Friday's practice. Like if he's, if he really is not able to practice fully this week, then I think you have to view him as more of a low end number one. I can't imagine I'm going to get him outside of my top 12 because I don't really have 12 quarterbacks that I like right now. I've got Purdy sixth. The guys I have ahead of them are Lamar Jalen, Jaden Daniels, Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield there. I think you could consider Jordan Love over them. You could consider Patrick Mahomes or Bo Nicks or Jared Goff. I'm probably not going to drop him much lower than that, but I will drop them a little bit. If it's another partial practice, I kind of wonder if maybe, like, maybe we can have Debo stay a little closer to the line of scrimmage and do the things that he's good at instead of running 15 yards downfield and getting targets if pretty shoulder hurts.

[Dave Richard]

All right. Something to keep an eye on there as well as Dave's microphone. So, Dave, can we hear you?

[Adam Aizer]

Can you hear me? Here we go. Yeah, you can't hear a word I'm saying.

[Heath Cummings]

We can, but it's the quietest mic.

[Dave Richard]

Like, it's so faint, it's like you're whispering.

[Adam Aizer]

All right, one second.

[Dave Richard]

All right, you keep working on it. Hello?

[Adam Aizer]

Hello?

[Dave Richard]

There he is.

[Heath Cummings]

He turned his mic on.

[Dave Richard]

Hey.

[Adam Aizer]

I blame the entire solar system.

[Dave Richard]

All right, Dave, you got those Brandon Allen stats.

[Adam Aizer]

Yes. So here's what we've got from Brandon Allen. This is career numbers. It's a 56.7 completion rate. Heath, you don't need to tell me that that's bad. 3.8% touchdown rate, 2.3% interception rate, 6.1 yards per attempt. I'm looking at the career touchdowns he's had. Three of them have gone to tight ends, one to a running back. Everything else has been wide receivers, and typically it's been big wide receivers. T. Higgins, A.J. green, Cortland Sutton, Tyler Boyd, Auden Tate. Remember Auden Tate? That dude was big. So that. That's the 32nd profile of Brandon Allen. And it makes me think that this isn't a good development whatsoever for anybody in San Francisco.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, I think you can add, like, I don't know if it's a 10 increase or a 20 increase or a 30 increase, but did you watch Jimmy Garoppolo on the Raiders? Did watch Nick Mullins. Like, he did have a couple good games last year, but when he was in Cleveland, played a game, it was absolutely awful. Like, there's a huge difference in playing in Shanahan's system and playing in anyone else's system.

[Dave Richard]

It's a good point, but let's hope that Brock Purdy's out there, and so far they're optimistic that he's going to play and it would be very good for all the pass catchers involved. So let's talk about the three main pass catchers here. Juwan Jennings, Debo Samuel, George, Kittle. So Jennings has been awesome in the two games since. He's returned 17 catches, 184 yards, and a touchdown on 22 targets. At least 16.3 PPR points in each of those games against Tampa Bay and Seattle. Debo struggled a little bit. 6.1 PPR points last week against the Seahawks. Only one receiving touchdown this season, which happened to be Week 6 against Seattle. But he has scored 12.6 PBR points of two of his last three games. And he does have seven targets. He does have seven targets or less in six games in a row, which isn't encouraging. George Kittle just been a stud. Green Bay's number 11 fantasy points allowed to tight ends, and he scored at least 14 1/2 PPR points in six games in a row with seven touchdowns on the season. So, Dave, when you look at these three guys, are two of them easy and one's a little bit challenging with you?

[Adam Aizer]

Well, I mean, it comes down to the quarterback first and foremost. Let's assume Purdy's playing and assume that Purdy's okay. I mean, that's also part of the problem is that if Purdy, he needs to get in like a full practice and every report out of San Francisco says he looks fine, he's good to go. Like that's what I need to hear, to not be scared even a little bit about starting these guys. But Debo has me scared. He has been putting up numbers like we're used to seeing. I, I know that like 12 PPR points. If that's the range that we're putting them in, then I want to rank him accordingly. That's a number three receiver. Juwan Jennings has been getting awesome targets, 11 each of his last two games. He's had at least 16 PPR points each of his last two games. I'm, I'm kind of, I'm kind of starting to warm up to him as the type of wide receiver that can get me 15 PPR points and maybe even 9 points in a non PPR league. And if Jair Alexander doesn't play and he's got a PCL injury right now, he might end up being Jennings. I mean, could end up being a top 12 type of fantasy wide receiver. It sounds silly, but he's just been bawling out the last couple of weeks and I'm kind of buying into him winning with physicality, making plays after the catch. Not a burner, not anywhere close to the speed of Brandon Iuk, but somebody who's getting relied on in this offense. George Kittle coming back obviously is a must start tight end. That doesn't matter whether it's Allen or Purdy. Under center. But that's kind of how I view this passing game.

[Dave Richard]

And no interest in Ricky Pierce all obviously just until we see a little bit more on the bench.

[Adam Aizer]

Yeah. Last week was a big letdown.

[Dave Richard]

He was good against Tampa Bay. That was the concern. It was Tampa Bay. And no, no George Kittle last week to see him not perform well was, was a little frustrating for the Packers. You got Jordan Love. Heath, you touched on this a little bit and you're, you're purdy ranking. Is he safe? Because he's got three games in a row with without multiple passing touchdowns and one touchdown and three interceptions in his past three games and that was against Jacksonville Detroit in Chicago. San Francisco's number seven and fewest fantasy points allowed to opposing quarterbacks. But Nick Bosa may not play dealing with the hip injury. So is Love just a set and forget a quarterback or would you play Bo Nicks over him? Would you play Justin Herbert over him? Like where are we at with, with Jordan Love right now?

[Heath Cummings]

I've, I've got basically him and Mahomes and Knicks, I mean they're all ranked as top 10 quarterbacks. I'm probably just starting Jordan Love, but I think if, if you wanted to play Nicks over him, especially in a four point per pass touchdown league, I could understand that. There's a little bit of context to the Jordan Love struggles.

[Dave Richard]

Right?

[Heath Cummings]

I mean we had the, the injury and we had the. What's that?

[Dave Richard]

The groin injury.

[Heath Cummings]

Right. And we had like Chicago. You talk about how good San Francisco is against quarterback. Chicago has been the best team against quarterbacks this year. So I, I still view him pretty much as a must start quarterback even in a bad matchup.

[Dave Richard]

All right, so if Bosa's out, that will certainly help. Josh Jacobs again limited in practice with the quad injury. He scored at least 12 PPR points in six games in a row. No concern there. He's a low end, number one high end, number two running back for all of us this week. So let's talk about the receivers. So Dave, he said he doesn't trust any of them and they're all number three receivers, which I think is the right route to take. You got Jaden reed. He scored 9.8 PPR points or less than three of his last four games. Six targets are less than six games in a row. Christian Watson had the big game last week, but he has, he scored 10 or more. He's only, it's only the second time all season where he scored 10.3 PPR points or more and only has two touchdowns this season. Romeo Dobbs has scored a combined nine and a half PPR points in his past two games, and that was against Detroit and Chicago. And then Don Tavion Wicks has no catches in his last two games, so I don't think anybody's factoring him in. But the three other receivers, Reed, Watson, Dobbs, how do you feel about them against San Francisco, which is number 10 and fewest fantasy points allowed to the position? Yeah.

[Adam Aizer]

And to that point, just five wide receivers have 15 or more PPR points against the 49ers this entire season. Three of the five have been in the past six games and two of them have been slot players with volume. That's Jackson, Smith and Jigba. That's CD Lamb. So could this be a game where Jaden Reed gets a lot of volume and ends up being just as good as those types of receivers? I would bet against that. I don't think he'll get a lot of targets. I think the targets get spread around quite a bit. But I do think that if Bosa plays and if he's right, Jordan Love's got to get the ball out quick, that would help both Jaden Reed and Romeo Dobbs get some extra targets than they might normally. If Nick Bosa is out, then that, I think kicks down the door for Christian Watson to get some deep targets again. Whether he can catch them all for 150 yards like he did last week in Chicago remains to be seen. But he would be like a boom bus type of number three receiver. There's a whole range of those guys still top 36, but not anywhere close to top 24. As it stands now, Reed is my highest ranked. He's a borderline number two wide receiver.

[Dave Richard]

Packers receiver or Calvin Ridley?

[Adam Aizer]

Ridley.

[Dave Richard]

Ridley, packers receiver or DJ Moore?

[Adam Aizer]

I have read ahead of more.

[Heath Cummings]

I do too.

[Dave Richard]

Okay. I'm trying to think. Anybody else in that range, Jacoby Myers or a Packers receiver?

[Adam Aizer]

I. I'm almost positive that I've got Reed ahead of Myers.

[Dave Richard]

Read ahead, Myers. Okay, I. I have Ridley ahead of all of them. I have Myers out of all of them and I have, I think Reed ahead of DJ Moore as well. Tucker Kraft, no catches last week. Anybody have any interest in Tucker Kraft, 49ers number six and fewest fantasy points allowed to the position top to trust. I.

[Heath Cummings]

No, I mean, like I said earlier in the week, there were three streaming tight ends in my top 12 this week. It was a great week for adding a tight end off the waiver wire. There's no Reason you should still have to start Tucker Craft.

[Adam Aizer]

There isn't a tight end on the year that is more than 9.3 half PPR points against San Francisco. That includes Travis Kelsey. That includes Jake Ferguson. This is, this is an easy one.

[Dave Richard]

I think N.K. dotton who was as hot as they can come, you know, going into last week, only eight, eight and a half PPR points or less for all three of those guys in the last four games. So they've been doing a great job against the position. All right. Dallas is at Washington. We can start with the Cowboys. There's really not much to say here because nobody's trusting Cooper Rush. He did have 18.4 fantasy points on 55 attempts against Washington. We may see Trey Lance getting some playing time so just keep that in mind for super flexible and two quarterback leagues. Rico Daddle. So he's combined for 14 PPR points in his past two games. Five catches for nine yards on eight targets in the starts with Cooper Rush and both guards are hurt for Dallas is it just avoid him at all costs.

[Heath Cummings]

Right now you would like to. I think anybody who's starting Rico Dowdle is doing so out of necessity, not out of 1 2. But there weren't any waiver wire running backs that I want to start over them. So like if you're in that stuck position there's not somebody I could go find that I want to use.

[Dave Richard]

So you'd start Rico over Abdullah if both Raiders are out?

[Heath Cummings]

I think I don't really have much confidence that Amir Abdullah is going to get double digit Rush attempts in a game that's fair.

[Adam Aizer]

If we're gonna go based on that then sure Dowdle would be the guy to go with. But I, I think the commander's defense smashes. This is Dan and going up against his former team. We've seen this time and time again where the in the defensive coordinator, the old defensive coordinator comes back to take on his team. He crushes them and now he's. He's going to face them without their starting quarterback and potentially without two starting guards. One of them an all timer in Zach Martin. Huh.

[Dave Richard]

And they're tight end and they're tight end.

[Adam Aizer]

Yeah.

[Heath Cummings]

I don't want to start him like I want to be clear. I'm not. I get excited about him.

[Adam Aizer]

I do have Abdullah one notch out of Dowdle but it's more because I don't want to. I really don't want to start dabble.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah. I, I would start Abdullah just based on his hopeful role in the passing game because for whatever reason, that's disappeared with Cooper Rush, you would think that would be something that they'd lean into a little bit more. So for me, I would go with Abdul, but I think a lot of people probably share your sentiment, Heath, that, you know, just it's one situation is bad, the other one's worse and just do you want to make a transaction if you don't have to? So Dave, to your point, you know, Dan Quinn, knowing this team, CD Lamb is banged up. You know, hopefully he's going to play, but he was downgraded from Wednesday to Thursday, which is never a good sign. We may see Trey Lance, which I don't think is going to help CD Lamb. And look, he's been good in the two games without Cooper Rush. If he catches the touchdown in Dave's living room or if he, you know, just does what he did last week with 18.6 PPR points against the Texans, he's got 22 targets in the two games. He has a great history against Washington, he scored five touchdowns in his last four games against the Commanders and at least 15.3 PPR points in each of those games. But if they know him and they know the team and the quarterback's bad and the offensive line is bad, is it just easy to say CD Lamb's a must start receiver or do we have some concern starts?

[Adam Aizer]

There's concerns, but how far do you move CD Lamb down knowing that he can still get double digit targets and still piece together close to 15 PPR points? I mean, do you move him down behind the likes of Quentin Johnson and Calvin Ridley? I think he's got a little bit more upside than that, at least in full ppr, do you move him down behind Malik Neighbors and Josh Downs? Now you can make the case for that because those guys have the upside to, to be better than what CD Lamb has been. So I think, I think he's in that mid wide receiver 2 range.

[Dave Richard]

I hope he's okay. So just keep an eye on the, on the back injury. So like we were, we, we said a couple times, you know, do, do they risk him playing at less than 100? You know, he's going to be a good soldier and go out there and do what he can to support his team. We saw that with the shoulder injury that he suffered in the game that, that got hurt and he still played. But you know, being downgraded during the week, that's a little concerning. If he does miss any interest in Jalen, Tolbert, Turpin or Cook, if he plays or it's just I'm avoiding all cowboys no matter what in the receiving court.

[Adam Aizer]

It's too risky for me, you know. You know who I wouldn't mind though if I'm looking for a cheap 10 ppr points is schoonmaker. I think he can get.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, I'm starting schoolmaker, the top 12 guy with or without Liam.

[Dave Richard]

So six catches, 56 yards. It's just 56 yards on 10 targets last week for him. That was after Ferguson got hurt. Just make sure Ferguson is out before we, you know, start school maker. He is in the concussion protocol, but does not seem like he's going to clear since he was put in the concussion protocol on a Monday night game. All right, for the Commanders, this is a bounce back spot for Jane Daniels. 15.4 fantasy points in each of his last two games. You know, not. Not playing to the level that we know. For Jane Daniels, only 23 rushing yards in his last two games. But Dallas number six and most fantasy points allowed to opposing quarterbacks for the last five have scored at least 24 points. And Jalen Hurts and Brock Purdy each ran for at least 56 yards and a touchdown against Dallas in the last four games. So is this a easy smash spot for Jane Daniels?

[Heath Cummings]

They might score 50. Like, I mean, you've got division rival that has beat up on you for decades. You've got Dan Quinn revenge game. Like we've got all the narratives for them to just go put up a huge. And they're. And the Cowboys are terrible defensively. So yeah, I'm, I'm starting all the Commanders start Daniels, start. Both running backs start Terry McLaren, start Zach Hurts.

[Dave Richard]

All right, so you're going to give us some, some fun Brian Robinson stats, but just stay on Terry McLaren for a second Heath, because it's been an interesting ride for him the last couple of weeks because the targets have been somewhat down. He. He was productive two games ago, but last week he was miserable. Clearly with the matchup against Philly with one catch for 10 yards. You going right back to him?

[Heath Cummings]

No, I'm going right back to him. He's number two. He's not a number one for me, but I'm going right back to Terry McCorn, I think. And he might just be one of those guys that. Yes, you know that there's a really low floor on a weekly basis because they might go score 50 and just score seven rushing touchdowns, but he's got the upside to score 25 points any week. And I'm just not going to sit.

[Dave Richard]

That guy Noah Brown's got six targets, at least six targets in three of his last four games. And Zach Ertz is coming off a pretty impressive stretch. We know what he did in his revenge game last week week against Philadelphia. Six catches, 47 yards and a touchdown. And that's now 14 PPR points in three of his last five games. So is Ertza must start tight end heath top 10.

[Heath Cummings]

I I was talking about being pretty excited about streaming Luke Skoonmaker. I would not stream him over Zach Ertz. So I I'd start earths over Mark Andrews. I'd start Ertz over Dallas Goddard. I'd start earths over TJ Hawkinson.

[Dave Richard]

What about Disley and Johnny Smith?

[Heath Cummings]

I have Jono and Disley edibles.

[Dave Richard]

Okay, so I do as well. I think it's interesting to see how those guys are performing, but it's gonna obviously have a big game here. All right, Dave. So Brian Robinson Jr. Is the start of the week. Austin Eckler's coming off an impressive stretch. 17.3 PPR points and three games in a row. He's got eight games this season with 10.2 PPR points. Give us your breakdown of the commander's backfill.

[Adam Aizer]

Well, first of all, I think Brian Robinson, fantasy wise, he's never had a great game against Dallas, but I think he he may know that and he'll be ready to go and attack them and finally have a big game against America's team. He has 16 or more carries in five of his past seven games. The two games he didn't do it in, one was a colossal blowout. He had 13.1 fantasy points, didn't catch any balls in that game. And the other one he left early. So I think he consistently gets north of 15 carries week after week. He scored in six of eight games this year. And Dallas's run defense has allowed at least 18 PPR points to a running back in four of their past five games. Saquon Barkley somehow some way was limited by the Cowboys in Week 10. 4.8 yards per carry to running backs in those five. 4.6 on the season. No matter how you slice it, this is not a good run defense and Brian Robinson should get the opportunity to have a big game. I really like this start of the week. I think he is a number one fantasy running back. A top 12 guy for week number 12.

[Heath Cummings]

I think I'm the low guy on Robinson. I still have him ranked as a starter, but I should probably at least explain it. It's really simple. Adam Said it on yesterday's show. He has two targets in his last four games. Like he, he has to, he has to score a rushing touchdown or it's, it's hard to have a great day. He'll probably score a rushing touchdown.

[Dave Richard]

That's what I'm hoping for. And it wouldn't be surprised, you know, to your blowout theory that he scores a couple times, you know, in this game and if you are desperate, you know, we've seen in a couple of the commanders blowouts this season, Jeremy McNichols, you know, may get some, I'm starting him in a league, some fourth quarter run, you know, just six teams on a buy, you know, so we'll see how things go there. But hopefully Brian Robinson Jr. And Austin Eckler again a lot of work in the passing game from last week against Philadelphia that boosted his stat line. But the two games prior was without Robinson. So I don't mind Eckler as a flex. The Cowboys have shown that they can give up some receptions to running backs this season. All right, next game we got Arizona at Seattle. Stat of the game for this is Seven opposing number one receivers in a row against the Seahawks have scored at least 16 1/2 ppr points, including four scoring at least 20.7 points. That is a Marvin Harrison Jr stat. Hopefully that continues. Now they are getting healthy in the secondary for Seattle, but number one receivers lately have crushed the Seahawks defense and hopefully Marvin Harrison comes through. So we'll start with the Cardinals in their passing game. Kyler Murray, easy start. I don't think anybody's concerned about this matchup. Correct, correct. He's averaged 24 fantasy points per game in his last six games against Seattle. James Connor. Well, I will talk about the running games in a second. Harrison, are we confident in Marvin Harrison Jr. Is this going to be a big game for him? Is he going to live up to that stat and keep that streak going for eight games in a row?

[Adam Aizer]

I'll say yeah, I've got him. I don't have him ranked as a top 12 receiver. And if you're going to score over 16 PPR points, that is top 12 receiver range. But he's, he's just outside, let's call him a top 18 fantasy wide receiver, maybe even top 15 because I think that the Cardinals can come out of the buy and continue to reshape how they use him. That's the thing that we complained about the most with Marvin Harrison at the beginning of the year was too many downfield targets, not enough short area Targets, too many downfield routes, vertical routes, not enough horizontal routes. They started to use them a little bit more, you know, in breaking out, breaking routes. And I think that that can make a big difference for his target volume and his production. And that's his best way of separating. He doesn't separate with speed. He's not like Malik Neighbors in that regard. He's an outstanding route runner and polished on top of it. They should be using him that way and giving him more targets on top of it. Against the Seahawks, I don't know if there's a defender who can keep up with them. Woolen, Witherspoon, they're good, but I think he can break away from those guys and have himself a pretty good game. I'm willing to take the chance on it.

[Heath Cummings]

I just wish there was like some sort of trend. I know they have been using him on those routes more recently. His recent game log is just a sporadic mess.

[Adam Aizer]

Like it's. It is.

[Heath Cummings]

Just look at his yardage in his last five games and it's 0, 21, 111, 34, 54.

[Adam Aizer]

He's. So how do you make sense of it?

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, I. I've got my. In the projections, he's a number three wide receiver. I pushed him up in the rankings to be a number two wide receiver. I don't think I want to sit the upside because the upside is huge and it's a good matchup. But I. There. It's not. It's not like we've started to change the way they're using him. And so we're starting to see some consistency in his production. He's got five targets in each of his last two games, and yet he.

[Adam Aizer]

Still has over 16 PPR points in one of those two. I. I think when you look at his game log, if he doesn't score, he stinks. And we've seen it. He has two games this year with over 100 yards, and he scored in both those games. But I think those. I don't think you're looking for 100 yards here. I think you're looking for an uptick in targets, and I think you're looking for a touchdown. And I think both those things can happen against Seattle.

[Dave Richard]

All right. I think I know the answer to this. Marvin Harrison Jr. Or CD Lamb. Dave, you go Marvin. Marvin. I'd go Lamb and you go Lamb. That's what I thought.

[Heath Cummings]

Marvin's two highest target games of the season are week two and week three.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah, he's. He's been at seven targets or less. Than seven games in a row. You know, so it's not like we're getting a huge volume of targets. And you said it. He did have five targets. Remember that was the number going into last week's game. Last game for him was he needed six plus targets to be successful. And you know, he said, oh, he broke the streak. He got five targets and had a big game. So we'll see what happens moving forward there with him. Michael Wilson, if you're desperate. 26 rostered. He has not had a good stretch of games but his last road game he did have 14.1 PPR points. Again, receivers have, have had some success against this team. And then Trey McBride, he's got no receiving touchdowns yet this season, which is frustrating. He scored at least 11.1 PPR points in three games in a row. I don't think anybody has a decision of of we're not playing Disley or Johnny or Schoonmaker over Trevor. I don't think that matters to anybody. But hopefully this is a breakout spot for him. Past five games Seattle has allowed George Kittle in Week 6, Kyle Pitts in Week 7 and Dalton Kincaid in Week 8 to go 13.1 PPR points or more. Kittle missed the rematch last week as we're aware and the game in between. The other bye week also during this, this stretch of six weeks was the Rams game where Davis Allen did not do very much, Chloe Parks did not do very much. So. So tight ends have had some success against this defense. They are getting Jenkins back in their secondary so we'll see if that matters. But hopefully this is a blow up spot for Trey McBride and then James Connor. Any reservations? I mean Seattle has been somewhat okay against the run recently but Connor, I like what I saw in Week 10 when he had five catches for 80 yards. Hopefully that's something that we see a little bit more of. Is Connor and Easy just said it and forget it this week.

[Heath Cummings]

Mustard.

[Adam Aizer]

I think he is 14.6 or more PPR points to three of the last four running backs that Seattle's taken on. 13 plus to six running backs in their past seven games. The Niners running backs combined for 28 non PPR points against them way back when. I, I don't think this is a great run defense at all.

[Dave Richard]

All right, let's go to the Seattle side of things. Anybody want to start Geno Smith?

[Heath Cummings]

No, he's a QB2.

[Adam Aizer]

He's a bye week QB.

[Dave Richard]

Yeah. So his last two games against Seattle last year 17 point. Excuse me. Against Arizona 17.8 fantasy points 24.4 he scored 15.7 points or less in three of his last four games. And here's what Arizona has done against quarterbacks recently. We know some of these guys have been hot at times certainly lately in terms of Justin Herbert into a tongue of Iloa. But they face Herbert to Caleb Williams and Aaron Rodgers and all four of those guys have scored 16.7 fantasy points or less. I don't want to trust Geno Smith against this team. It just feels like it's going to be tough. We'll talk about the passing game now the receiver so you got DK Metcalf and Jackson Smith in the jig bus. Both guys I think are going to be ranked as starters. I know they are for me. I'm assuming for both you guys. Well yes. So Metcalf 14 PPR points last week in his first game back from the two game asses with a knee injury. Here's what number one receivers have done against Arizona last three games. Obviously the quarterbacks have not done well. The wide receivers have struggled. Also Tyree Kill has the best game, 13.2 PPR points. D.J. moore 7.3 points. Garrett Wilson and Devonte Adams both exactly 9.1 PPR points. And no tight, no no receiver has scored a touchdown against this defense in four games in a row. That's the Chargers, the Dolphins, the Bears and the Jets. Here's what makes me a little bit skittish about DK Metcalf last five games against Arizona overall. So this is going back over two plus seasons. 17 catches, 170 yards and a touchdown combined in those five games. Only one game over 11 PPR points. They seem to have his number. Is it safe to start DK Mecca?

[Heath Cummings]

I'm still starting him and I do think it's worth noting like he's played one game against this defense with this defensive coordinator. So it was a diff. Like it was some of the same guys two and three years ago but it wasn't the same system. They hired their defensive coordinator at the beginning of last year so I, I just can't like they've Arizona's defense has been really good as of late and if you look at the last four games they look like man you how is anybody going to be good against them? And if you look one more game the packers wide receivers had four touchdowns and all like four different guys scored 15 fantasy points. So I, I'm a little bit nervous about DK and jsn but there's six teams on a buy half the good wide receivers in the NFL are hurt. I.

[Dave Richard]

They're both must starts for me and for Jason. Well, just good numbers on JSN. 17 catches, 290 yards and two touchdowns on 24 targets in his last two games. His last three games at least 12.9 PPR points or more. So he's just on fire right now. And he did score 16.3 PPR points against the Cardinals in Seattle last year, if that matters to you. So against his defense, Heath clearly was a different player for, for JSN as well. I agree with you. Difficult to bench them. But Josh Downs or Seattle receiver Dave.

[Adam Aizer]

I've got Metcalf over downs. I believe I've downs over js.

[Heath Cummings]

Okay, I've got both Seahawks and the.

[Adam Aizer]

Game where JSN had It was like 4 for 63 and a touchdown against Seattle. Against Arizona DK didn't play. That was last year.

[Heath Cummings]

That's why DK's only played one game against this. Yeah, he did miss a game against.

[Adam Aizer]

Sure, sure. So what. What I see with this Cardinals defense is a lot of zone coverage. They don't blitz a lot. Their pass rush really hasn't been that good. They addressed it in the trade with Denver to get Baron Browning and they're getting their first round rookie back, Darius Robinson. Whatever good they can bring will help this defense a lot. And Geno isn't as good when he's pressured. He's definitely more aggressive against man coverage than zone coverage. So he's going to need volume. He's got good volume. It's. It's one of the reasons why I'm okay with JSN and dk. It feels like the targets have been concentrated to those two guys over the last. Well, last week obviously, but I, I don't know if we can really say three or four weeks, but we haven't seen Lockett in a big role lately and so I'm thinking slash hoping that it's a lot of targets to Metcalf, a lot of targets to jsn and those two guys kind of just bit by bit put it together to give you at least 15 PPR points each. I, I don't know if I love them as much in non PPR because I don't know how many big plays they're going to have against this defense.

[Dave Richard]

And Tyler Lockett does have a good history against Arizona. 18 catches, 291 yards and four touchdowns with three games of at least 15.1 PPR points in the last five. But nobody's trusting him he's got four targets or less in three games in a row. You're not going to start a Seattle tight end. Just keep an eye on if in a desperate, you know, tight end premium league. AJ Barner, the last two games without Phant has gotten you six catches, 42 yards. But fan, if he does return, had scored at least 10 1/2 PPR points in two of three games prior to the injury. Are we gonna take one final break? Our producer Claire is going to kill me because we're already over an hour. Adam's going to murder me when he finds out what the timestamp is going to be for this. But we got two more games to go here on F. Listen, I don't.

[Jamie Eisenberg]

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[Dave Richard]

All right, last two games. We're going to knock these out in less than 10 minutes. So we got the Vikings and the Bears the stat of the game. Did I do one? I must have forgot it. I didn't do a stat of the game for this one. All right, so the Vikings, we got Sam Darnold here. So Dave and I had a good discussion on Sam Darnold. Heath, I'll let you break the tie so Dave likes Sam Darnold this week taking on the Bears who are number one and fewest fantasy points allowed to opposing quarterbacks. He has been very good lately, scored at least 22 fantasy points in three of his last four games. But here's what the Bears have done so far this season. Trevor Lawrence in week six is the lone quarterback with multiple touchdowns against the Bears and Lawrence, Jane Daniels and Jordan love the only three quarterbacks to go over 20 fantasy points points against this defense. So are you pro Sam Darnold or anti Sam Darnold in week number 12.

[Heath Cummings]

I view him kind of like Geno Smith, a high end QB2 that I really don't want to start. But there's six teams on a buy so I might have to I listen Jordan Love just barely got by and by the skin of his teeth with a rushing touchdown to get 20 fantasy points against this defense last week and I think he was a third quarterback all season to do it. So it is the worst matchup for opposing quarterbacks. I would like to sit Sam Darnold. I would rather start Bo Nicks and I'd rather start Anthony Richardson.

[Adam Aizer]

I'm definitely there with Bo. Next I'd start Knicks Over Donald and he's a low end starter for me. And it's been a little weird with this Bears defense because like they took on Kyler Murray. James Connor had a monster game. Kyler Murray didn't have to do anything to throw against the Chicago D5 fantasy points though.

[Dave Richard]

That's not having to do anything.

[Adam Aizer]

No, that's pretty terrible. But but it like that situation I suppose is possible. Like the Bears run defense isn't that good if Aaron Jones can bounce back from what he's been over the last month, then yeah, Aaron Jones could have a monster game. And Sam Darnold doesn't do a lot in the game and he gives you single digit fantasy points. Last week, Jordan Love gotcha over 20 fantasy points. He also attempted just 17 passes in the game. So there. There haven't been a lot of.

[Heath Cummings]

Have there?

[Adam Aizer]

Or maybe the better question to ask you guys is have there been examples of quarterbacks with 30 plus pass attempts against Chicago that have had the opportunity to put up big numbers and just didn't because they turned the ball over a lot? Or they have C.J.

[Heath Cummings]

Stroud through 36 passes and scored 16 fantasy points.

[Adam Aizer]

Trevor Lawrence, Nico didn't. Nico. Was that the game Nico got hurt in or was it a week?

[Dave Richard]

No, he got hurt against Buffalo.

[Adam Aizer]

Okay, so. Okay, so that's a good example. CJ Stroud went in there against Chicago as a home game. I remember that. I know, mixing it. I believe Mixon's the one who got hurt in that game. It's all coming back to me. But that's a good example of a quarterback who we had high expectations for, who had a lot of opportunities to put up numbers and then didn't. Against the Chicago Bears defense. I think Darnold's been playing well enough to warrant use as a top 12 quarterback. 22 or more fantasy points in three of his past four games. He's the number nine quarterback in fantasy points per game on the year. He's also attempted at least 32 pass attempts in each of his past three games. That's been in line with Aaron Jones kind of seeing this, this downslide, inefficiency. And you know how good his pass catchers are. You saw that Jordan Love was beating up Chicago on deep balls last week. Call him lucky, call him fortuitous. That is definitely something that is in Sam Darnold's bag. I said it on hq. I'll say it again. If you think Aaron Jones bounces back, then don't trust Sam Darnold. But I think Darnold's got a little bit more upside than a lot of other quarterbacks that are in that 12 to 16 range that you talked about Eve. And so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in a tough matchup, sure. But he's got a good offensive line protecting him and he's played well. I think he deserves credit.

[Dave Richard]

He did have over 30 past attempts two games ago against Jacksonville and had a miserable day as well there. And that's certainly not a caliber of defense comparatively to Chicago.

[Adam Aizer]

That's absolutely true.

[Dave Richard]

He could have a lot of volume and still be Sam Darnold. I just don't want to trust him given the track record of of Chicago's defense so far against opposing quarterbacks. You're starting Justin Jefferson. Doesn't matter what I tell you about stats. Chicago's number one, the fewest fancy points lodge receivers. Nobody cares. Jordan Addison and TJ Hawkinson though let's talk about those two guys because Addison did tie season high in targets last week with eight. Did leave in the fourth quarter with cramping but he does have 15.1 PPR points in two of his past three games and last year against Chicago he did score in one of those matchups. So is Jordan Addison in the streaming or starting conversation in three receiver league?

[Adam Aizer]

Streaming.

[Heath Cummings]

Streaming. Slash. Starting in a three wide receiver league. Yeah, he's, he's a, he's a low end right in that Romeo Dobbs range of a low end number three wide receiver that you know what if he goes out and catches five passes for 60 yards and scores a touchdown, nobody's really going to be that surprised by it. He's also. We're not going to be that surprised also if he has five fantasy points.

[Dave Richard]

Dave, how do you feel about TJ Hawkinson? Because one great game in the three that he's played. The one great game was against Jacksonville, ironically enough, the game that, that Sam Darnold struggled. Since Hawkinson has returned, Chicago has allowed one touchdown to a tight end so far this season that with Chigo conquo in week one.

[Adam Aizer]

Hold on. Trey McBride ran for a touchdown against Chicago. So that's two. That doesn't count. That's not. I don't think T.J. hawkinson is running for a touchdown. But what if I like Darnold? I think I do have to at least like Hawkinson. I don't have to love Addison either way. Although Addison does have boom bus upside. But I think that Hawkinson does get a little bit more of an opportunity this week than he did last week. Certainly can see him lining up against Chicago's linebackers and making some plays. Chicago's been playing with a backup safety. Maybe he lines up against him for a couple of plays and I, I don't think this is going to be a blowout for Minnesota. I think that they're actually going to get a fight from Chicago kind of like Green Bay did last week and that's going to lead to volume and, and Arnold having to throw the ball at least 32 times like we've talked about just like he has in the last few weeks and I think Hawkinson sees a decent target share so I do like him as a topical Heath.

[Dave Richard]

Give me your take on Aaron Jones because it's been rough. 12.2 PPR points or less than four games in a row. But he hasn't scored touchdowns since week seven. Last couple of games have been miserable. You had the rib injury against Jacksonville in week 10 and then last week against the Titans it was just awful. 5.3 PPR points. And that coincides with I don't know if wanting to get K makers more work, Jones being hurt, Jones struggling. But Cam Acres does have at least 12 total touches in each of his last two games and he caught a touchdown against Tennessee. So is Aaron Jones still a safe number two running back?

[Heath Cummings]

He's a number two running back. I think he's more of a low end number two running back. It's a much better matchup for running backs than it is for quarterbacks and so I, I've got him. I think at RB19 there are guys like he and I don't really have the like there are guys that I've had the urge to do what you've done done and move them down even further, like behind Austin Eckler. I've not really had that urge with Aaron Jones because the matchup is so good. If he's not good in this game, then I'm not sure I'm going to feel good about starting him the rest of the year.

[Adam Aizer]

Yeah, so I watched this film last week and he looks fine. Like when you watch him run, there's, there's a night and day difference between him and Cam Acres in terms of explosiveness and cutting and all that stuff. But for whatever reason the Vikings were rotating series, especially in the second half. We're just, if it's your series, Aaron Jones you're in. If it's third down, whatever you're in. I shouldn't say third down because there were a bunch of third downs where C.J. ham was in to pass protect. But the reason why Acres scored last week, it wasn't because they used them at the goal line. That was Cam Acres drive where he basically played the entire drive for Minnesota. So if they're rotating backs and they continue to do it this week, that hurts the upside of Aaron Jones even more. So I, I've, I've slowly moved him up actually in my rankings and I'm not sure if I'm going to keep him as high as I have him. I think he's like around 16th for me. He looks good, but I just don't know. I I don't know if he's going to get a ton of opportunities, especially if Cam Acres is going to continue to rotate drives with him.

[Dave Richard]

He does have a great history against the Bears. That's all with green bay. Last five games, 60 carries, 345 yards, three touchdowns, 18 catches, 208 yards, three touchdowns. So he's beat them up quite a bit in his career and we'll see if he can do something similar this week. All right, we'll do the the Bears quickly and then Dave's got a bounce. Then we'll finish up with the last game DeAndre Swift because nobody's starting Caleb Williams just too tough to trust. He did have 70 yards rushing the first game with Thomas Brown. He hasn't scored touchdowns since week six, so let's see another productive game for him. But don't love it this week. DeAndre Swift is dealing with the groin injury was limited in practice on Thursday. He scored at least 14.2 PPR points in six of his last seven games, but Minnesota's number two in fewest fantasy points allowed to opposing running backs. Only four running backs have scored more than 10 PPR points against Minnesota this season. Is DeAndre Swift a safe number two running back this week?

[Adam Aizer]

I don't think he is. I like how the Vikings run defense has played each of their last three and DeAndre Swift was saved by that long touchdown run last week against Green Bay. And if there's a groin injury on top of it that's been limiting him in practice. Makes me nervous. I wonder how much he'll play. Could he rotate drives with Roshan? So low end number two running back at best.

[Dave Richard]

Roshan's 57 roster just keep an eye on the injury report for DeAndre Swift. If he somehow is downgraded and misses practice on Friday or they rule him out, Roshan would be at least a flex option. Did have 10 carries 33 yards in the touchdown last week against the Packers. Heath, give me your take on the Bears receivers again. D.J. moore 13.7 PPR points best game for him since week six. Romo Dunze got at least six targets in four games in a row. He had a good game with Thomas Brown 6 for 65 on 10 targets. And Keenan Allen's got 31 targets in his last four games but has been absolutely miserable in one game with double digits and PPR points this season since their bye week.

[Heath Cummings]

D.J. moore is third on the team in targets last week first game with a new offensive coordinator D.J. moore was third on the team and targets Roma Dunze has been the best Bears wide receiver since week eight. Last week Roma dunesay was the best Bears wide receiver. I think Roma dunes they might be the best Bears wide receiver and that's the way I'm ranking it this week. He and D.J. moore are both number three wide receivers. Keenan Allen should be. He's really testing the limits of how many targets a wide receiver can see and not be good in fantasy. It's incredible but you can't start him.

[Dave Richard]

Dave final word Final word is more.

[Adam Aizer]

And Odunze are number three wide receivers and Keenan Allen in non PPR leagues I think you can cut them and in full PPR leagues he's a good bench receiver and a good bye week guy. I had an awesome time hanging with you on the show today. I you know appreciate you know you're doing and and good for 12.

[Dave Richard]

There you go. All right, last game Heath, let's fight this quickly. Eagles and Rams Stat of the game Philadelphia has allowed only one touchdown to a wide receiver since week four. That's a span of six games including matchups with the Browns. That was with DeSean Watson. The Giants of Malik Neighbors Jamar Chase did have the good game against them. Jacksonville with a healthy Trevor Lawrence, Dallas with a healthy Dak Prescott and Washington last week with Jane Daniels. So Jamar Chase the only wide receiver to score double digits in PPR points against the Eagles in their last six games. Are we sure, are we sure that it's safe to start Cooper cup and Pukiniko?

[Heath Cummings]

We're not. But there's six teams on a buy and half the good wide receivers in the NFL are hurt. And I'm starting both Cooper cup and Puka Nakua. I I'm just going to start them. I would feel I feel like an idiot If I sat one of them and they scored 20 fantasy points. Right.

[Dave Richard]

But not an easy matchup by any stretch. All right, so we're starting Jalen Hurts. I'm just going to fly through the must start guys starting Jalen Hurts. You're starting to Saquon BARKLEY. You're starting A.J. brown. Hopefully Brown may benefit if Devonte Smith does not play. He missed practice on Wednesday and Thursday with the hamstring injury. But what we've seen from A.J. brown is he's not scored a touchdown since week seven and it's been basically a miserable stretch of games for him. Based on the expectations, 15.9 PPR points against Dallas, but 13.4 against the Bengals, 5.6 against Jackson. He left that game and 11 1/2 PPR points last week against Washington. So hopefully this is a bounce back spot for him. If devonte Smith does not play, how much more do we like Dallas Goddard?

[Heath Cummings]

I would move him up so I've got him behind three streamers right now. I would definitely move him ahead of Luke Skunemaker. I'd probably move him ahead Zach Hertz. I think I'd move him ahead of Will Disley. I think he'd be a top eight tight end for me if there was no devonte Smith.

[Dave Richard]

And look, for what it's worth, Goddard now he's benefited with AJ Brown missing time. He's benefited with devonte Smith banged up a little bit. He scored at least 10 and a half PPR points in his in four healthy games in a row. Now he missed a stretch of time during that game that he's missed a stretch of games during that time as well. But he has been productive. Did have 5 catches, 61 yards on 5 targets last week against Washington. So he's giving you a decent floor and maybe the ceiling, you know, ticks up a little bit. If devonte Smith does play, knowing that he's banged up, knowing that he struggled the last two games, would you even consider starting?

[Heath Cummings]

I think you have to consider it. He is right in the Christian Watson, Quentin Johnston, Romeo Dobbs range. For me, a very low end number three or a high end flex in this offense with as efficient as they have been throwing the ball, I get any moment he could have a 40 yard receiving touchdown. So he's, he's definitely in consideration but he's not. You can't feel any security about it at all.

[Dave Richard]

Last two games again, six catches, 43 yards, no touchdowns, only nine targets. So maybe this hamstring injury is bothering him. And you know that the Eagles are looking like a strong playoff contender. They may want to rest him to make sure he's ready for the stretch run. So just something to keep an eye on there. We'll find out what the Friday practice report is. Check out cbsports.com for the latest update. All right, so Pugnacua Cooper cup they're most start receivers. They've been awesome since coming back. The only game where Puka was bad was when he threw a punch. But again, difficult matchup against a very good Eagle secondary. Matthew Stafford, however. So this is one of those situations that I'm gonna guess we're probably on the same page. We like the Receivers, we don't like the quarterback. So Stafford has played well. He does have 21.9 fantasy points in three of his last four games and he did have 35.8 points last week against New England. He was a monster against the Patriots. But the Eagles number five and fewest fancy points allowed to opposing quarterback. So. So just easy sit him. Only start him in super flex two quarterback leagues.

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, absolutely easy sit.

[Dave Richard]

And then let's just wrap up here with with Kyron Williams because similar to Aaron Jones, he's in a slump. 11.2 PPR points or less than three games in a row and this is a very difficult matchup. The Eagles number six and fewest fantasy points allowed to opposing running backs. Just three touchdowns to running backs all season. Now Williams did not have a target against Patriots prior to that. He caught five passes for 20 yards on six targets against Miami. He also caught five passes for 19 yards and a touchdown seven targets against Minnesota. That was tough matchup as well in week eight. How much does his work in the passing game matter to you to trust him this week against this defense?

[Heath Cummings]

Yeah, I mean I'm kind of. It is a terrible matchup and he's not been good lately but I'm just kind of viewing him like Cooper cup and Puganokua. I'm going to start Kyron William. He's a top 12 running back. I think the touchdowns will come back at some point. He had six touchdowns in a four week stretch and now he's at zero in a four week stretch. I still think he's a very good candidate to score a rushing touchdown. If he gets the work in the passing game he's got a good chance to be a top five running back. And it was like he had five catches two weeks ago. He had five catches four weeks ago. He has two other games this season with four catches. So it has happened sporadically. It's just that when they don't use him in the passing game, they really don't use him. It's nothing.

[Dave Richard]

I hope he does get involved. And just think about what happened last week with the Commanders. They used Austin Eckler as a huge weapon out of the backfield. Maybe they do the same thing the Rams do with Kyron Williams. So hopefully that will help his his fantasy production in this matchup. This was going to be the game of the week. I didn't have the song queued up but we were going to get Dave on this one because I think this is going to be the most fun game to watch at least of the NFC slate but a lot of good games for this weekend. Make sure you check out all the action on CBS Sports. Make sure you check out all the action on Paramount. Plus, make sure you check us out Sunday morning at 11am Eastern on Fantasy Football Today on our YouTube stream. And check out our mailbag episode on Saturday which you can also watch on YouTube as well. We'll get out of Mazer back on Sunday night and we'll all be together for that. So, Heath, thanks so much for taking some time on your day off to join us and thanks everybody for watching. Listening our producer Claire I'm sorry so long but that'll do it for us here on Fans.

[Adam Aizer]

Hey, order up.

[Dave Richard]

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