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Footballguys Fantasy Football Show
Week 15 Rankings, Sleepers, and Busts || Fantasy Football 2025
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A
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. Guys, thanks for helping me carry my Christmas tree.
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B
Zoe, this thing weighs a ton. Drew Ski, live with your legs, man.
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A
Santa.
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B
Santa, did you get my letter? He's talking to you, Bridges.
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A
I'm not. Of course he did. Right, Santa, you know my elf Drew Ski here. He handles the nice list and elf.
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B
I'm six' three. What everyone wants is iPhone 17 and at T Mobile. You can get it on them. That center stage front camera is amazing.
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A
For group selfies, right, Mrs. Claus? I'm Mrs. Claus much younger sister.
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B
And AT T Mobile, there's no trade.
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A
In needed when you switch.
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B
So you can keep your old phone.
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A
Or give it as a gift.
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B
And the best part, you can make.
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A
The switch to T Mobile from your phone in just 15 minutes.
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B
Nice. My side of the tree is slipping. Kimber. The holidays are better. AT T Mobile switch in just 15 minutes and get iPhone 17 on us with no trade in needed. And now T Mobile is available in US cellular stores with 24 monthly bill credits for well qualified customers plus tax and 35 device connection charge. Credit engine balance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel financing agreement. 256 gates 830 eligible for in a new line 100 plus a month plan with auto pay plus taxes, fees required. Check out 15 minutes or less per line. Visit t mobile.com so I ordered something on Monday and it says delivering tomorrow. Like it said delivering Friday. Then it, you know, still like the delivery date hasn't stayed, but it still hasn't shipped. Like it's still just showing. Like when I click on tracking, it just says ordered. Hasn't even gone to shipped. But it still has maintained its stance that it's going to deliver tomorrow. Is this like what's happening here? Because my whole weekend happiness is contingent on this delivery.
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A
Dave, I got to tell you man, I don't. I don't work for Amazon. I got absolutely no idea.
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B
Well, there's no, like, there's no chat box. There's nobody I can call. I'm just like sitting here waiting, like.
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A
Order things on Amazon. Is this your first time?
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B
Not often. But like normally when I do, there's pretty good tracking. Like it says. Like I get the email that says, like, hey, your order shipped and Then like, here's your shipping number and this. It has been. I ordered it on Monday and it still is just sitting there saying ordered. And then it's going to deliver tomorrow with no shipping information available.
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A
Well, then they. Honestly, it's probably not going to take them long to ship it. They just probably don't. If anything, it's probably not going to get there tomorrow, or they're waiting to get it in stock and then actually ship it. Sorry, chief.
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B
As I said, my entire happiness this weekend is contingent on this delivery coming tomorrow.
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A
Boy, you better have a plan B, fella.
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B
I don't. I don't. A new stereo and all I wanted to do was just sit around all weekend and listen to music and I'm gonna be pretty upset if it's not here. And the worst part is the speakers have stereo. Yeah, well, I got a new turntable last week, so.
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A
You got it. You're getting a stereo. You got a new turntable last week. How's your VHS doing?
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B
No VHS's, but yeah, I've had a very vintage system and I'm taking that step into the hi fi world. Getting really nice stereo, really nice speakers, big upgrade on the turntable. What I've had for the last decade has done the job, but this is a. A very, very big step up that I'm excited about.
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A
Okay, so what's the plan? You're just gonna like, you know, play some music and just what, like, hang out pants less all weekend? Like, how does. What does a Dave Kluge weekend look like? Listening to music?
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B
I mean, that is it. Yeah. Like sitting around. We have an entire room that is just like dedicated to music in my house, where it's just literally two chairs, a table, and the stereo. And I would just be playing with these new speakers and this new stereo and going through all of the albums that I have listened to in the past and see how they sound different, different on the new setup. This is 35. This. This is excitement for five years.
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A
Are you a record guy or am I saying that correct? Are they called something else?
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B
Yeah, record finals, records, albums. I've got about 250. Yeah. Wow.
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A
Wow, look at you.
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B
My wife. My wife got me my first turntable about 10 years ago. And then it's just one of those things that you, like, slowly upgrade over time. Like you get some new speakers and a new stereo and a new. And you just keep adding to it and adding to it. But this, this step that I'm making with this recent purchase is a big, big step up about five times the wattage. Got some, some big 48 inch tower speakers and a subwoofer. I'm excited.
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A
Is it going to look like the, the Marty McFly speaker that he blows out at the beginning of Back to the Future? Something like that?
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B
Alfredo, you know me well enough to know that I have no idea what you're talking about.
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A
Come on, man. What do you mean? What do you mean?
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B
Marty McFly?
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A
Have you not.
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B
I know Marty McFly is from back to the Future. That's about the extent of mine. I know Christopher Lloyd is in that movie.
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A
That's. Have you seen Back to the Future, Dave?
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B
When I was like 10. I mean, I saw it as a kid.
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A
All right, all right, let's start the show. Let's start.
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B
I'm not.
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A
I'm not doing it. I'm not doing this. Let's start the show. This is so upsetting. Well, it's finally the fantasy football playoffs. Week 15 is here. Welcome in to the football Guys fantasy football show. I'm Alfredo Brown joined as always. I've got Dave Kluge with me. And today, listen, we know you guys have really good rosters. That's why you're in the playoffs. But even teams with really good rosters have some tough decisions to make. So we're going to be going through our running back and wide receiver rankings and going through them tier by tier to help you out with some of our favorite starts and sleepers that you guys can put in your lineups. And Dave, we've still got more information coming in, so we're going to talk a little bit about, like, different scenarios. What if this player's in, what if this player's out? Who's best to. To put in your lineup? Stuff like that.
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B
Yeah. And I'm glad that we're doing this now a little bit later because we used to record this like super early on Thursday mornings, and then by the time we turn the episode over, get it out on YouTube, it's like all of the things that we had imagined would happen when it actually happened. So now here we are Thursday evening. We got a little, you know, one extra piece of the puzzle that we're trying to put together for this weekend.
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A
Yeah, and look at that. We, we did this a little bit later. Not much has changed injury wise, so it didn't really help us all that much. But, you know, CD Lam, I think.
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B
Is a perfect example. This morning I would have thought CD Lam wasn't playing, and now he's back at practice and we're expecting him to play. So there we go. Like, we would have spent 10 minutes this morning talking about what you should do if or not CD Lam is active. And now we know that he's probably going to be active. So we could just get a Tim Das that and not have to talk about Ryan Flournoy today.
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A
There you go. You're welcome, America. We just. We saved you a whole three minutes. There it is. All right, let's do this. Let's go into the running back rankings, and like always, you and I would take our rankings, make them a consensus, put them together, turn these into tiers, and what we'll do is we'll go through, talk about some of the players that we like from these tiers, maybe some of the less obvious starts. Let's do this. Tier number one, running backs one through 13. There's one player we have to talk about from this group. Everyone else's. Yes, go ahead and start them. But there's one player we got to talk about. So let's start with running backs 1 through 13. Christian McAffrey. Jameer Gibbs. Devon Achan. Bijan Robinson. James Cook. Bucky Irving. Saquon Barkley. Jonathan Taylor. Derrick Henry, Chase Brown. Javon Williams. Josh Jacobs, Travis Etienne. I slowed down when I said Josh Jacobs because that's the name that we need to be concerned about. Dave, we still don't have a clear picture on this. And last time that the packers had said that Josh Jacobs was day to day and Josh Jacobs himself had said he was going to play, he, in fact, did not play. We got Emmanuel Wilson out there against the Vikings this week would be against the Denver Broncos. Another tough run defense. So right now, you and I have Josh Jacobs. I have him as the running back 11, you have him as your running back 12. Now, if Josh Jacobs is out, where would you have Emmanuel Wilson?
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B
Emmanuel Wilson, for me, would fall in at RB15, right behind Travion Henderson. And I know, like Emmanuel Wilson smashed last time, he came in on a spot start, but he wasn't facing the Denver Broncos on the road. This is a much more difficult matchup. So that's why, like Josh Jacobs, I'm baking in some concern with the knee injury. And that's why I'm a little bit lower than where he'd normally be. Like, this guy's typically a top six, top seven running back, but given the potential knee injury, given the tough matchup, that's why I'm moderating expectations a little bit. But if Emmanuel Wilson had to step into this role, then we're looking at a lesser talent still with a tough matchup on the road. So you still want to get him in your lineup, but I think if we're hoping for that 100 plus yards, two touchdowns like he had last time, that's probably not going to happen this week.
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A
Yeah, I mean, the likelihood is that it doesn't happen, but any running back that's getting touches is probably going to be in the top 20. Right. When you're. When you're going ahead and doing your rankings, I'd have him as my running back. 16, right behind Travy on Henderson, but ahead of RJ Harvey, ahead of Quinn, Sean Judkins, Woody Marks, Ash Jinty, a couple other guys here in the rankings. Emmanuel Wilson. So I think what becomes interesting here is that it's not the same team that it was a few weeks ago when Emmanuel Wilson got the big start and got a ton of work. Jaden Reed is back. Christian Watson is playing better. Like, there's a few things going on here that may lend itself to the team not having to give immediate. What was the last time? Like 28 touches. It was. It was ridiculous. Like, I don't imagine that to be happening again, especially in a game like this against Denver. But he would still be an auto start for me, a running back to automatic start. Emmanuel Wilson if Josh Jacobs is out.
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B
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm excited when we talk about the. The. The pass catchers in this game a little bit because I think this is one of the most impactful games with just like, you know, new players coming back, tough matchups on both sides of the ball for both teams. Like, this is one where a lot of people got into the fantasy playoffs because of having Broncos players and Green Bay players, but two tough defenses. This. This could end a low scoring affair.
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A
All right, let's. Let's do this, Dave. Let's go into the next tier. This is gonna be running backs 14 through 21. All right. Karen Williams, Trevan Henderson, RJ Harvey. Quinn, Sean Judkins, Woody Marks, Ashton Jinty, Bree Hall, Jaylen Warren. It's kind of weird to see Ashton Ginty that low in the rankings, but we're at the point where it's okay to not just have the blind faith each week. It's just. It's not happening the way we wanted it to. The Raiders offense has been bleak, and now without Geno Smith starting, I. It's weird because you almost think it can't get worse, but then they're like, hey, by the way, Kenny Pickett's Gonna start. And you're reminded, oh, things absolutely can get worse. And you just rank Ashton Ginsey a little bit lower.
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B
Yeah. And also the matchup against Philadelphia. Philadelphia hasn't been quite as good as I think people expect them to. And if they're missing Jalen Carter, you know, that makes it an even better matchup for running backs. But this is still a team that we have seen occasionally just like, completely stop running games from opposing offenses here. And there's offensive line here that concerns me. The times that we have seen Philadelphia give up big games, it's been against some of the best offensive lines in the league. I think that they are just going to be able to run through this offensive line here. I don't, I don't think Kenny Pickett is a huge downgrade. Like, you know, Geno Smith was very good in Seattle, but this year he has been so banged up like the, the version of Geno Smith that we have seen over the last month. I have to think Kenny Pickett is an improvement. Like this cobbled Geno Smith grabbing at his knee and his ankle and like taking like 5, 5 seconds to get off the field. Every time he gets knocked over, he has been so, so bad. I don't think Kenny Pickett, you know.
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A
Why he's so hobbled? It's because the offensive line is terrible. Now you give Kenny Picket that same terrible offensive line. I have to imagine it's actually worse. I, I.
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B
Well, I think Kenny Pickett has two knees that he can walk on right now, so I think that that puts him a step ahead. He doesn't have an injured bar.
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A
The bar for production is simply not being injured. That's just wild.
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B
It's been bad for the Raiders this year, but, like, again, I don't think Kenny Pickett is good by any means. But, like, I still have faith in him to just, like, get the ball to Brock Bowers, which is really, like, the only thing a quarterback should be doing in Las Vegas. So we'll see how this all works out. Kenny Pickett also has some legs that like we saw in Pittsburgh, where maybe that can help open some things up. I mean, he's got two healthy legs right now, so, yeah, a big improvement from what we've seen. But, yeah, I mean, I've got Genti even lower than you do. I've got to admit. Running back 30 or, I'm sorry, running back 21 this week, just.
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A
Good God, you hate him.
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B
Yeah, running back 21. I mean, it's just, it's a tough matchup. The offensive line has been terrible. You know, I hope Kenny Pickett could be better than Geno Smith, but he might not be. And I don't think I'm saying to like bench Ashton Ginty by any means, but like, yeah, I mean I'm looking. I think the only guy that you really would have like gotten off of waivers that I'd be starting ahead of Ashton Ginsey this week would be Woody Marks if you picked him up a while back. But for the most part, I think most people are probably still starting Ashton Jinsey. I just don't know how many Astron Jitsu managers are in their playoffs.
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A
Well, I mean there's definitely going to be. If you're in the playoffs, you likely had some really good picks at running back. So like Javante Williams and Travis Etienne were later picks that you probably have. Even if you had Ashton T. Emmanuel Wilson, a guy if you picked him up and he's starting, like I would start all three of those guys over Ashton Genty. You drafted Quinn, Sean Judkins late. I'm starting him over Ashton. Like there's enough of these guys where. And you know, listen, if you comment below if you made the playoffs with Ashton Ginty because that's been one of those picks that has been really haunting. It's really messed up a lot of fantasy managers throughout the season and I can't imagine there's a whole lot of them in the playoffs. So if you are, let us know down in the comments. By the way, while you're there, like.
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B
This video I saw, Sigmund Blue made a good point though. Like, you know, it seems like there have been like, you know, if you have this player, how could you possibly make the fantasy playoffs? But there have been so many early round landmines this year. Like not just Ash and Ginty, but then you also look like CD Lamb missed a huge chunk of the season. Justin Jefferson has been terrible this year. Malik Neighbors is out for the season after just a few weeks. Drake London hasn't done anything over the last month. He was also injured for the first month of the season. Like there were really a handful of good picks in round one, but there were so many landmines in these early rounds that you're going to see a lot of teams that like you might not think that an Ashton Jensen team would be in the playoffs or Justin Jefferson team could be in the playoffs, but there were so many other teams navigating landmines that there are going to be some unique teams in fantasy playoffs this year.
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A
Dave in this second tier here with Kyron Williams, Trevor Henderson, RJ Harvey, Quinshawn Judkins, Woody Marks, Ashton Ginsey, Brace Hall, Jalen Warren. Is there a name that stands out to you as someone that you're, you know, maybe putting above some of these others or a guy that maybe someone might look at as a tough start decision to make?
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B
Yeah, I think Quinchon Judkins, you know, we, we know he's a very good, talented player and we talked about this earlier in the week. Just his lack of pass catching upside has been so brutal this year that he is exceeding like three times as many targets per game to Dylan Sampson and Jerome Ford as he has been getting for himself. But now with Jerome Ford on ir, I wonder if we start to see that role expand a little bit. I don't think that they're just going to put all of the targets on Dylan Sampson. That being said, I don't know if this is the game for him to bounce back as a pass catcher. I don't know if you've seen the forecast in Chicago. They're saying potentially like down as cold as negative 20 with the wind chill. That tells me that there probably isn't going to be a lot of passing, so they're going to want to run the ball a lot.
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A
Judkin's game, if I've ever heard of one man.
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B
Exactly. And that's kind of what I'm getting at. So, you know, just earlier in the week I was talking about the lack of ceiling with Quinshon Judkins, but this is a game where they might just want to keep the ball on the ground and just give him 25, 30 touches. And I think that he could just volume his way to a good finish against what we've seen, you know, a very aggressive but susceptible Chicago defense.
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A
Yeah, yeah, I'm with you there. I think that a lot of people might be thinking that they're not necessarily out on Quinshawn Judkins, but I think you might be second guessing him because of that upside you talked about. This is the week to just to be able to trust him, put him back in the lineup. Playoff weather like this, usually it's the running backs like Quinn, Sean Judkins, like Derek Henry, like these guys who this is one of the teams need to lean on them even more because the weather just becomes such a big factor.
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B
And then the loss of Jerome Ford too. It's one of those things like Jerome Ford wasn't on the fantasy radar, but he was doing just enough like Taking just enough of that passing down usage that it really did hurt. The upside for Judkins and with him out now for the remainder of the fantasy football season, we might see Quinjon Judkins now tap into this upside over the final stretch of the season that we haven't seen prior.
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A
You know a guy from this tier that I really like that if you still have questions about him, I think maybe you can kind of put those questions to rest. Is Woody Marks who he practiced today. He was looking good again last week. 28 touches. Nick Chubbs dealing with injury and then you've got a really good match up here against Arizona. Top four, easiest running back matchup. Six running backs have hit 14 plus PPR points against Arizona over the last five weeks. Dave, I like him as an RB2. I think there's. I don't know that we've said this about Woody Marks, but I think that this week there might even be RB1 potential.
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B
Oh we did, we did after his 100 yard two touchdown game and then he came up the next week and did absolutely nothing. So I mean we, we have fallen for the Woody Marks trap before as have many a fantasy manager this year. But now I think the big thing is with no Nick Chubb, I mean we expect Dare Agumbawale is going to be a little bit involved. He'll get a handful of touches here, but Woody Marks has really taken a stranglehold over this backfield. The frustrating thing is that he just like I was saying with Quinch on Judkin just isn't getting the passing down work. It was so weird when he was in this split backfield he was still getting like two, three, four targets per game. Since he has taken over as the workhorse, he's getting one target per game and they're using Daria Goombawale more as a pass catching back. So that puts a slight limit on his ceiling. But this is still a rookie running back, fresh legs, big play, upside can score touchdowns. There's a lot to like here and a really good matchup as well. I've got Woody marks as my RB16 this week, which I mean there's nobody really that is in a position to bench Woody Marks if you've got it.
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A
Wow. Yeah, I've got Woody marks as my RB19 this week. So there you go. Trevin Henderson, other guy. Like if you were having any doubts or anything, I think a lot of these rookies that we're talking about here, it's weird to think Quinn shot Judkins, Trevion Henderson, RJ Harvey, Woody Marks, all ahead of Ashton Genti right now. That's. Had we told you that back in August, you'd think we're absolutely banana nut crazy.
- [18:17]
B
I mean, I've only got Devin Neal two spots behind Ash and Ginty this week. I mean, it is like we're looking at Ashton Jensen potentially as like the RB6 in this rookie class and he can turn things around long term, but, like, for what we're seeing, given the, you know, the way the volume's going and the offensive environment, yeah, you just can't have a lot of faith in Ginty right now.
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A
All right, tier number three, running backs, 22 through 29. We got Amari and Hampton, Devin Neal, DeAndre Swift, Ken Walker III, Rico Dowdle, Tyrone Tracy, Chris Rodriguez and Aaron Jones. Dave, couple different guys to talk about from here, but Amari and Hampton, we saw what it was like last week. He's still in a little bit of a split here with Kamani Vidal being heavily involved, and I think that's what has us keeping him where he's ranked, that we're not just plugging him right back in as a 15 running back immediately after coming back.
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B
Yeah. Also has a tough matchup against the Chiefs. The Chiefs have had a good run defense this year. Now, this is interesting because you can kind of see this going either situation. I just recorded with Bob Harris, we did an episode of the Launch Pad and we talked about Omarion Hampton and I said, what do you expect coming into week 15? Like, are we going to see that same 50, 50 touch split with Kamani Vidal and Omarion Hampton? And he thinks that Omarion Hampton is going to run away with the job. And I mean, that's what we saw earlier in the year where he was getting 75%, 80% of the opportunities in the backfield. But that was when they didn't really know what they had in command. Ibidal. That was when we were getting like this little dose of Hasan Haskins coming in for some touches here and there. And I also think that they were still kind of scrambling in the wake of the Najee Harris injury. But now I think that they have found what they have in Kamani Bidal. I think that it's a very good complementary skill set here. So I don't think last week we saw exactly a 50, 50 touch split. I don't think we're going to see 50, 50 again, but I think a 70, 30, a 65, 35. It's just like Kamani Vidal can do a lot of things that Omarion Hampton. No, I don't even want to say that Omarion Hampton can do everything Commandee Vidal can. But I think that if you can keep Omarion Hampton fresh every once in a while and work some touches Vidal's way, knowing that he is not going to be a liability on the field, I think he's going to continue getting work. So I think any of the hopes that, you know, Omarion Hampton would just be this 100% of the backfield getting all the touches, running back, I think we could probably stifle that just because we know that it's in Harbaugh's tendency, it's in Greg Roman's tendency to split the backfield. So I think that we're going to see something like a 70, 30 split down the, down the stretch here.
- [20:29]
A
I mean, this is something that we knew, though, from the beginning of the year. Now it does happen to be a little bit of happenstance, right? There was injuries and commodity. Vidal played well. Had this been the Amari Hampton show for week, week in, week out, then, yeah, like this just would have been him getting 80 of the touches and we're not looking back. And he's a top eight running back for the season. It happened this way. And this is honestly the preference of most NFL coaches. I don't know many NFL coaches that, I mean, I don't know any NFL, actually, I do. I know an officer corner, but I don't know many coaches that want to have a single running back take all the workload. This is just what these guys prefer, their Chargers.
- [21:05]
B
And their intention in the preseason was Najee Harris. And I think, like, you know, it happened so quick in the year. Like, it was so weird to see Najee Harrison a Chargers uniform and then he blows his Achilles out just a couple weeks into the year. I think people like may have forgotten that Najee Harris was a part of this offense and that like, he was getting the touches ahead of Hampton. And I, I expect that those sliders would have moved a little bit as the season progressed. But we see this so often in Greg Roman offenses. Like, I remember J.K. dobbins rookie season. He was incredible. Like J.K. dobbins Rookie Season highlights. He looked like one of the best running backs in football. And he was still seating 50% of the touches to Gus Edwards and Mark Ingram because that's just who Greg Roman is. So I think that they were kind of backed up against a wall when Najee Harris went down. They forced the ball to Hampton, he got injured and Now I think because of that injury, they're going to say, okay, let's go back to what we do best and just split this backfield here.
- [21:53]
A
Speaking of split backfields, another guy I want to talk about, Rico Dowdle, because things had not been pretty in the Panthers backfield, but I think I'm willing to take a chance this week. Rico had 18 touches last game where I know it hasn't been quite the same as when Chuba Hubbard was out. And Chuba is also a guy like you might even want to consider as a Flex or RB3. Chuba, I'm still looking at him as a low end RB2 going up against the Saints running backs have hit 12 1/2 PPR points in 5 straight games. Against the Saints they've been able to. They've been very beatable for fantasy running backs and that's the thing I'm looking at here. I think if anything, most of my concerns come from Bryce Young and the offense because I would normally have said cool the going up against the Saints, you can just get ahead and run the clock out with your running back. I think more my real concerns come from is, is this just going to be a close game and it's not going to be something where they're just giving Rico Dowdle a bunch of touches and saying, cool, run the clock out, let's get a W right.
- [22:52]
B
And I mean Chuck has looked much better over the last few weeks. Like he can get this offense scoring and he could hang in games. So I think that this will be a little bit closer of a matchup. But chuba Hubbard saw 19 touches last week and I think that's the big thing. You and I talked about this like when Rico Doll first got injured, like he ran against Miami has looked good in recent weeks. But like we can't understate how bad this offense or I'm sorry, we can't overstate how bad this offense was six weeks ago when Rico Doddle had that huge game. And then he followed it up the next week with another huge game against a bad Dallas team that he had some bad blood with and he ran all over them as well. And then Chuba Hubbard came back from this injury, but he was clearly limited, did not look like himself. Now Chuba Hubbard looks explosive again. He's getting involved in the passing game. He's seeing more touches than Rico Dowdle. So I really kind of copped out in my rankings. I've got rico Dowdle at RB28, Chuba Hubbard at RB31, meaning they're both kind of RB3s that you can put in your lineup. But I don't have a lot of confidence in either of the guys this week. I expect this to be a 5050 split.
- [23:53]
A
I'm fine with them because of the fact that it's a good, it's a, it's a decent matchup. Right. And if you drafted, if you drafted Chuba and you weren't able to get a good replacement, he's probably a guy you have to plug in as an RB2. And same thing with Rico. If you picked him up and ended up starting him so many weeks, probably because you needed them and you had holes in your lineup. So, you know, I'm good with these guys at least. Rico is a low end RV2, Chu as a high end RB3 like I kind of have them very similarly ranked as well.
- [24:19]
B
I've got them in a tier with Blake Corum, Kyle Menungai and like the other guys that are in split back.
- [24:25]
A
Once again, I think last one here in the, in the tier that I want to talk about. Split split backfields. Excuse me, Tyrone Tracy and the Giants, but this does appear to be a little bit more in Tyrone Tracy's favor. Sixteen plus PPR points in both in back to back games before his injury. 23 touches in both those games. Now you go up against Washington, another easy matchup. It feels similar to some of the other guys we've talked about that are in split backfields. Except Tyrone Tracy when he is healthy and he's on the field, he's taken a lot more of the work than Devin Singletary is like. Dave, do you agree that this would be Tyrone Tracy's backfield? I'm starting him in a couple leagues because I absolutely have to, but I feel a lot more confident about the start.
- [25:05]
B
Yeah. And I think, you know, if you look at just the raw fantasy production, it looks like a split backfield. But that's because Devin Singletary scored the touchdowns. I was trying to pull it up and I wasn't able to do it quickly enough. But last I checked I was looking at the fantasy points data suite and Tyrone Tracy was like ninth in weighted opportunities since he has come back from his injury and we saw that two touchdown game from Devin Singletary. But I think that they have been leaning on Tyrone Tracy a lot harder than a lot of people realize. And you talked about it, you know, getting almost 16 touches in every single game. So he's not a workhorse. But this is one of those like, you know, one of the closest Things we see to a workhorse in today's NFL. He's like top 10 in weighted opportunities on a per game basis. So I think he's a guy who, you know, we both kind of, because the production hasn't been there, are being a little bit tepid in our rankings, kind of keeping him as like a back end RB too, but absolutely has the upside where he can have a big play or score a couple of touchdowns and give you a top five top ten week.
- [26:02]
A
All right, let's go down to the next tier. Tier number four. This is gonna be running backs 30 through 36. We got Kyle Manungai, Chuba Hubbard, Tony Pollard, Blake Corum, Kareem Hunt, Devin Singletary, David Montgomery. Now a bunch of these guys we already talked about Chuba, you mentioned Blake Corum, we've mentioned Devin Singletary. Anyone else from this grouping that stands out to you as someone that could maybe be asleep that you can put in your lineup.
- [26:26]
B
Let's talk about the Rams backfield. Just because, you know, I think a.
- [26:29]
A
Lot of people knew you were going to.
- [26:31]
B
Yeah, I mean, Blake Horum looked awesome last week, but the Rams also beat the Cardinals 45 to 17. And I think they have a much more impactful game this week against the Lions where we have two teams that are battling for the, you know, potentially being one of the top seeds in the nfc. So I can't help but wonder how much, like in the second quarter, they just started thinking about week 15 a little bit and they want to keep Kyron Williams a little bit more fresh because we have seen this in these games where they are up big. They will just let Blake Corum get the touches in the second half. And I think you and I both have the same read on this because I have seen a lot of other rankings where people are saying, like, oh, you know, we're going to rank these the same way that we rank DeAndre Swift and KyleManungai or Rico Dowdle and Chuba Hubbard and just kind of put them back to back in rankings. You and I both still are a little bit more aggressive on Kyron Williams in this matchup or having a little bit of pause on Blake Orm if you're desperate and you need to get him in your lineup. He has been getting some nice goal line work, so he always has the chance to fall into the end zone. But I think any talk about him usurping Kyle Kyron Williams role were not there. I think that was just them being up three scores for the majority of that game.
- [27:35]
A
Right And I'll say this, the couple guys in this tier, I don't want to have to start David Montgomery, I've got him as my running back. 38. Blake Corum, I've got him as my running back. 35, I don't want to have to start. Those guys, they are in the very definition of the word, a desperation start from this tier. I actually really like Kyle Menungai this week. If we are talking, you know, Browns, Bears in a bad weather game get one of these tough, you know, run through your face type of running backs and the Browns actually have, have been a little more susceptible to running backs over the last month or so. We've seen running backs put up some fantasy numbers against them. So I know he's still in the split with DeAndre Swift, but Manungai had really has looked like he's gotten a bit more work than I think early in the season we expected. I think we, we thought it would mean kind of like 70, 30 and then it's been getting closer to like 60, 40 and then closer to like 55, 45. It's, it's, it's right there.
- [28:30]
B
I don't know if you saw Brian Baldinger came out with a video today talking about Common Guy being the hardest running back to tackle in the NFL. I mean like we talked about this. Like there's limited athleticism and breakaway speed and we talked about this a lot during the rookie process last year. But he is just a hard nose runner. And we said these are the guys especially like looking at the type of running back that Eric B. Enemy, the running backs coach for the Bears likes. He loves these types of guys. And we heard Ben Johnson say like as the weather turns and we get late into the season, Common Unguy is a guy that we trust to lean on and it seems like they're doing that now. I don't want to completely write off DeAndre Swift. You and I both still have Swift ahead of Banangai. The cold weather games go both ways as well where like, you know, if it's a slippery hard field, all DeAndre Swift needs to do is make one guy miss and then it's off to the races where nobody's going to catch him. So I think that you're just kind of firing up all of your running backs in this matchup. Yeah, Calvin Unguy, he has impressed me. I mean I was an aggressive drafter. I talked about him as one of my favorite late round picks and he is doing way more than I expected. I thought this Was like an injury away stash, but he has been providing standalone value on a weekly basis.
- [29:35]
A
All right, let's go down to the final tier of running backs. This is gonna be running backs 37 through.
- [29:39]
B
Yeah, one last guy. Tony Pollard. Tony Pollard. I don't know what happened last week. You know, we. It seemed like Tajie Spears was running away with his job. Like he was getting more touches every single week. He was getting the majority of the passing down work.
- [29:54]
A
He wasn't getting. Like he wasn't taking over the complete running back job. Like this was still Pollard on the ground, right.
- [30:00]
B
And Pollard was still getting the majority of the touch or the carries, but it was still like the touches, the weighted opportunities. However you want to look at it like Tajie Spears was getting the more valuable role in fantasy. But last week, 25 to 8 on the ground, we only saw the two carries go in Tajie Spears. But the biggest thing is that Tony Pollard looked good. Like Tony Pollard looked like Dallas. Tony Pollard. So I don't know what happened here if maybe like reeling back his workload for a few weeks. He was getting some limited bet days throughout the week and practice as well. I don't know if they just like, have been doing this kind of like in season rest sort of thing, but whatever. It is like Tony Pollard looked completely rejuvenated last week. Sure.
- [30:39]
A
This is such a cop. I'm just going to say that good NFL players can have good games. Like, people can just have good days at work. That happens sometimes. There's not a tangible or logical reason for why a player does well in a game because nothing on the season has insinuated that, oh, we. They've just been resting him for this moment. Or that, you know, he had some sort of injury that is now healed magically. Or that, you know, it's. He's been getting better and more efficient as the weeks have gone on because, no, he hasn't. He's still two weeks removed from having less than two yards per carry in a game. This is a guy who has not been good. So I'm gonna say this. I'm just gonna go out and say like, he is a trap play.
- [31:18]
B
He.
- [31:19]
A
If you're looking to start him, I simply wouldn't. I know he had himself a big game. I. I don't love this matchup. Going up against San Francisco, they've. They have had a very good run defense throughout the season. And Tennessee, San Francisco, I kind of see that being a game where San Francisco can be up by three Touchdowns and it totally game scripts. Tony Pollard out of that.
- [31:39]
B
Yeah. And you know, I see San Francisco not quite as scared off by the matchup. They were a lot better earlier in the year, but they are just so decimated with injuries now that now they are more of a plus matchup for running back. So I'm not saying like Tony Pollard. I, I think more than anything this means like Taji Spears was a guy that we were talking about every single week is like, hey, the volume is there. Like you can get this guy in as a flex if you're desperate. And now I think seeing that breakout from Tony Pollard last week, that kind of pushes Tajie Spears out of flex consideration. I don't want to get Tony Pollard in my lineup either, but now it's just kind of one of those, like, I don't want either of these guys in my lineup.
- [32:11]
A
Yeah, I think that's what we need to kind of rename these two bottom tiers here. It's just that I don't want to have to start them Tiers break glass.
- [32:18]
B
In case of emergency. That's what all of these guys kind of are.
- [32:20]
A
Yeah, basically. All right, let's go to the final tier. Running backs, 37 through 42. Zach Charbonnet. Bam Knight. Ramandre Stevenson. Taji Spears. Kenneth Gainwell, Kamani Vidal. And I'll say this, I kind of love Kenneth Gainwell and I think I need to move him up the rankings. He's just, he's been a consistent target for Aaron Rodgers. He's David it's. He's.
- [32:44]
B
What?
- [32:45]
A
Can you remember any of the running backs, like Patriots running backs or which ones that would just like live like James White, you know what I'm saying? Like, that would just live off of catching six passes in a game, but then have like four carries. Like how Taji Spears is doing now. Yeah, I, I love.
- [33:00]
B
He also gets the goal line work. It's not just the pass catching. It's like pass catching and goal line. Like this guy just gets all the high value touches in the offense.
- [33:08]
A
Yeah.
- [33:09]
B
And you've got Jalen Warren coming out here like, you know, getting 75 of the touches, but they're all just like low calorie, early down touch between the twenties. Anytime it's a high leverage play or they need a pass catcher or somebody to score a touchdown. In comes Kenneth Gainwell and that's why he's the RB6 in fantasy over the last month.
- [33:25]
A
Dude. Yeah, he's had two games over 16 PPR points. He's had six catches or more in three of his last four games. Like, he's. Honestly, I got to move him up my rankings because he is one of the. It's weird to say he's one of the safer starts amongst the running backs. Like, if I had to pick between him. And this is where I'm going to be adjusting my rankings prior to Sunday, if I had to pick between Kenneth Gainwell or Blake Corum, I'm going to put Kenneth Gainwell in. If I've picked between Kenneth Gainwell and even Tony Pollard, I'm putting Kenneth Gainwell in. I like him more. I like the upside more with him.
- [33:55]
B
Yeah, I mean, the pass catching has been awesome. Just like, not even looking at the target total. Like, how many passes he has caught. Six last week, six three weeks ago, seven the week before that. I mean, just unbelievable target volume. And we've seen, like, there's been a big change in this Pittsburgh offense. Like, they aren't pushing the ball downfield at all. Like, the lowest average depth of target of any team in the NFL. Like, they are more than happy to just kind of dink and dunk their way down the field. Getting it to the. The tight ends and Kenneth Gainwell and the occasional screen to DK Metcalf. We saw DK Metcalf getting a little bit more downfield last week, but I think this is what this offense wants to do, is just these short, little safe passes that aren't going to lead to turnovers.
- [34:34]
A
It's. It's what I was saying from the beginning of the year, the Steelers offense, for everything they do, fun with the tight end, it's going to lack creativity, it's going to lack mobility. With Rodgers, if. And here we are with these, these short plays. I mean, it's not fun, but there's enough guys from this offense that you can start right, Especially in a week like this. Going up against Miami where we could see, you know, a shootout, you know, late. Late there in the week. It's the Monday night game. Okay. Anyone else you want to talk about from running backs? You want to move on to wide receivers?
- [35:01]
B
No, I think we've got just about everybody there. Commandee Vidal is still, like, if you got him and you're desperate, you're obviously not getting, like, the huge upside that you did earlier. But we, we talked enough about Ovarian Hampton. I, I think there's going to be some sort of split here. And Kamani Bidal does have the speed where he can rip off a big play, that even if he's getting 1012 touches. You know, he can still find his way to a playable week in fantasy. So I think of like all of the kind of desperation plays that we're talking down here. I do still like Kabadi Badal a bit.
- [35:29]
A
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- [36:14]
B
Free included with Prime.
- [36:16]
A
All right, let's go to the wide receivers tier number one. It's gonna be wide receivers one through nine. We got Jackson Smith, Najigba Jamar Chase, Puka, Nakua, Amanra, Saint Brown, Rashee Rice, Devonte Adams, Nico Collins, George Pickens and A.J. brown. Now, Dave with CD Lamb, you don't have him ranked at the moment. You had him ranked as if he was not going to play.
- [36:40]
B
Oh, that's just an oversight on my end.
- [36:42]
A
Yeah, if.
- [36:43]
B
Yeah, he's back at practice, we expect him to play.
- [36:45]
A
Yeah, let's talk it out now then, because I think, I don't think the graphics are going to have it. But for those that are listening, for those watching, let's talk it out then. CD Lamb, if he's in, which it looks like he is, where do you see him?
- [36:57]
B
Wide receiver six? I mean, we don't see any limitations from these guys coming back from concussions. This isn't like he's got a bad ankle or a bad knee, needs to get ramped up. Like if he's playing, he's playing. So I've got him one spot ahead of George Pickens. I've got him behind Rashi Rice, Bukanakua, Amon Ra, Saint Brown. But wide receiver six? I mean, he's a no brainer start if he's active.
- [37:17]
A
Yes, agree 100%. I've got him just A few spots lower. I've got him at wide receiver nine. Just, just because of how much George Pickens has been doing and you know, coming back, there's always that risk of, of re. Injury. Okay. Don't want to dive too deep there on tier number one. Let's go to tier two. This is going to be wide receivers 10 through 20. We've got Michael Wilson, Jalen Waddle, Jameson Williams, Tedro McMillan, Chris Olave, Terry McLaurin, Zay Flowers, Wandell Robinson, Justin Jefferson. Wow. Devonte Smith and Jacoby Myers. Dave, you are quite a bit lower on Justin Jefferson. You got him at wide receiver 22. I've got him at wide receiver 15. Why do you hate Justin Jefferson?
- [38:01]
B
I mean, he's been the wide receiver 54 in games without Carson Wentz and this is a good matchup. You just, you know, again, just recorded with Bob Harris and we had like a 10 minute conversation on Justin Jefferson. Just kind of commiserating on how terrible it's been for Justin Jefferson drafters this year. And you see this. It's a nice matchup. Like the Cowboys secondary is terrible. J.J. mcCarthy looked a little bit better last week than I think most of his doubters would have wanted him to look. So I, I still think you're starting him here. Like, I've got him ranked as a wide receiver too. But at the end of the day, like when you look at the production, this isn't a teeny tiny sample that we're looking at over an eight game stretch. He's averaging 46 yards per game without Carson Wentz. He has scored one touchdown in those eight games. Like I said, on a per game basis, he's been the wide receiver 54. Like this guy isn't even returning wide receiver for value. So I think they're like still having him Inside the top 24 is a testament to like how much we believe in this player. Because the reality is if you look just at the production, he should be benched. But we know it's Justin Jefferson. We know this is a good matchup. So you still want to start him as a wide receiver too. But like, we know what the floor is. The floor is one catch for 16 yards. Like we've seen it this year. You just gotta kind of take your medicine and put them in your lineup and hope for the best.
- [39:17]
A
Yeah, and that's, that's why I think I'm still cool with starting him because it really only takes one, like it just takes one play in this game. That the difference with like a game where, like, they're going up against Washington or Seattle or Green Bay. It's like the game script in a lot of those games didn't end up requiring a lot of passing, even though, like, some of the matchups were actually good. In this game against Dallas, it's bad. You have kind of just the perfect recipe for everything to go Justin Jefferson's way. And I also. This is so fantasy where once we give up on a player, that's when he has this amazing week and it's going to be, you know, we're gonna be laughing about it, making the joke. Oh, Justin Jefferson has his massive week for 120 yards and two touchdowns. And that helps nobody because all of his managers didn't make the playoffs. Right. So know you congrats in your consolation bracket. But if you did manage to make the playoffs with Justin Jefferson, I'm. I'm gonna say, like, I'm still gonna go out on that limb and start him this week going up against Dallas because I think that the passing volume is going to have to be there. And, you know, I'm noticing here in your rankings, you got Stefan Diggs ahead of Justin Jefferson. I've got Stefan Diggs a lot lower. So just, just for the folks that are listening that don't, you know, they can't see the, the tears that we have here, ahead of Justin Jefferson, you have Stefan Diggs, and I'm reading them upwards. So Stefan Diggs, DK Metcalf, Wandell Robinson, Jacoby Myers, Devonte Smith, Terry McLaren, Zay Flowers, Chris Olave. So all those guys you would rather have in your lineup over Justin Jefferson this week?
- [40:49]
B
I would, yeah. And I mean, Stefan Diggs, a lot of it has to do with, you know, him being a very petty individual. And he gets his two revenge games a year. Last time he faced off against the big bills, 10 catches for 146 yards. I'd expect a similar production this time around just because that's who Stefan Diggs is. But, yeah, you know, I've got this cluster of wide receivers in my rankings right now. It's like Justin Jefferson, Lad McConkey, Mecca Igbuka, Brian Thomas Jr. And we know they are all very talented wide receivers, but the production hasn't been there over the last month or two. So it's like kind of the guys you still want to draft. But yeah, I mean, like Wanda Robinson, I think having him ahead of Justin Jefferson makes a ton of sense. Like he's been a top 10 wide receiver for the majority of this year. Kobe Myers, he's been red hot. Terry McLaurin, I guess, like I could kind of see where some people might question that one. But you know, he looked like the clear best receiver when he returned Chris Alabe. He'll have JC Horn on him, but we've seen like he's just garnering so much volume that I don't see how you can set sit him. I think DK Metcalf is probably the one that would raise the most eyebrows here. But we've seen if there's one thing that this Miami defense is very susceptible to, it is big games or big catches in the secondary. So I think DK Metcalf can make his, you know, entire week with, with one play against Miami. I'm not saying to bench Justin Jefferson, but like, if you got into the playoffs and you've got Jacoby Myers and Michael Wilson right now, those are two guys that I would start over. Justin Jefferson.
- [42:15]
A
Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. Like I, I actually, I feel a lot more comfortable with Jacoby Myers right now than I do Justin Jefferson. Like that's like a. Guys, once again, we're doing this full transparency. We're recording this on Thursday. As we get into Friday, Saturday, even Sunday morning, we have to adjust our rankings. We get new information, we find out more data. Things just change. Justin Jefferson's probably a guy that I'll still have in my top 20, but I'll probably end up putting him behind Jacoby Myers, who I do plan on moving up as well. I've been. The more and more I've just been digging into Jacoby Myers. I' loved everything that I've been seeing. So that's a guy that I think I would really like to have in there. Dave, anyone else from, from this? Actually, hold on. Jacoby Myers, I kind of want to talk on that a little bit. It's been so good for him since going to Jacksonville and it's been such a good mesh between he and Trevor Lawrence. He does everything that Liam Cohen has wanted his wide receivers to do. Be able to catch passes over the middle, do the things that have helped Trevor Lawrence look like a different player. And now we're talking about Trevor Lawrence being a guy that's like, ah, maybe we judged him too harshly. And then Jacoby Myers, three touchdowns in his last three games. And now he's got himself an easy game against the Jets. 14 plus PPR points in three straight games here. Like, it's, it's, there's, there's production, there's chemistry. The Vibes are just great.
- [43:38]
B
Yeah. And this is exactly what this Liam Cohen offense needs to succeed. And we saw last year it was Chris Godwin in that role, but when Chris Godwin got hurt, we saw Sterling Shepard come in and like immediately be productive as well. And then this year, they started off the year with Brian Thomas Jr. In that role, who he wasn't suited for it. And then they tried with Diami Brown and he got hurt. And then they started with Travis Hunter and he got hurt. And then they put Parker Washington in that role and he got hurt. Now here's Jacoby Meyer. I mean, maybe it's just a cursed role asking these guys to catch the ball across the middle of the field when you know you're about to get licked by a linebacker coming at you full speed. But right now, Jacoby Myers looks good in that role. And I think that having Jacoby Myers there catching those tough balls across the middle of the field, that opens up opportunities for Brian Thomas Jr. Who had two spectacular highlight catches last week, and Travis Etienne bounced back with a big week. I think that's kind of what this entire offense needs to get on schedule. And I think Jacoby Myers is a perfect fit. I mean, we've been talking about this guy as an underrated receiver since he was an undrafted quarterback in New England. Like, as soon as he started playing receiver, he immediately started putting really exciting stuff on film. And he has just been either buried on a depth chart behind better talents or part of a really bad offense. This is the first time he's really been in a role throughout his entire career where he has had an opportunity to shine, and he's doing that.
- [44:54]
A
Let's go to the next tier. We got wide receivers 21 through 30 here. We got DK Metcalf, Stefan Diggs, Juwan Jennings, Lad McConkey, Christian Watson, Ameka Igbuka, Chris Godwin, Brian Thomas Jr. Courtland Sutton, Debo Samuel. And I want to talk about the guy that I think might be the most interesting discussion here. Ameca Igbuka. Dave, what's the confidence level here? Because we're seeing a Mecca. Igbuka have concentration drops. The production's not quite there. The Bucks have Mike Evans coming back. Chris Godwin is already back in the fold. It's really been a tale of two halves of the season here for a Mecca. Buca, so you're here in the fantasy playoffs. How comfortable are you? I don't think he's a must start wide receiver too anymore. I think he's a maybe you're Flexing him if you don't have a better option kind of player this week.
- [45:48]
B
Absolutely. And like, we know the, the upside is still there, but yeah, you talk about the drops, that's been a big problem. But really I think it's been the change in usage early in the year. No, Chris Godwin, he was playing out of the slot primarily and we know that that is a very volume rich role, especially, you know, this isn't exactly the Liam Cohen offense, but it's similar enough and that's why we saw so much volume going his way. And then as other players started to get healthy, he got pushed outside a little bit. Now he's playing more as the X receiver. I don't know how he's going to fit in when we've got Mike Evans back this week and we've got Chris Godwin playing out of the slot. You know, the show comes out Friday morning, so we'll, we'll find out by the time this show airs. But yeah, not a player that I feel great about at all. And you know, if he goes off for 150 yards and two touchdowns tonight, y' all can let me know in the comments.
- [46:36]
A
You're right. I, as I was thinking about that. I totally forgot they are the Thursday night game. Oh, good times. That was a good waste of 90 seconds. You could have stopped me earlier, man.
- [46:48]
B
It's fun. Part of this job is just like having an egg on your face and dealing with it. So, you know, we got to talk through things even knowing that we could be wrong by the time this episode comes out.
- [46:58]
A
The fantasy football community is known for being very forgiving, very kind, understanding. That's what they do.
- [47:07]
B
The other guy I want to talk about in this tier, Christian Watson, you know, he has been red hot. Like he has been a wide receiver once since coming back from this ACL injury. But the targets have been more than he has typically gotten throughout his career. Like, he's seen a slight uptick in targets, but his production has been so touchdown dependent. And then I look at the matchup this week going into Denver, facing off against the Broncos, we have seen Pat certain, like he just glues himself to the most physical, athletic receiver out there and that is Christian Watson in this matchup. So this is going to be the toughest matchup that we've seen from Christian Watson. I think last week was kind of shaking the rust off with Jaden Reed a little bit, but he looked like his normal explosive self. That's where the Broncos are a little bit susceptible is in the slot. So this is one where I actually in my rankings, I prefer Jaden Reed ever so slightly to Christian Watson this week just because this is a really, really tough matchup. And I mean, Christian Watson, the nice thing, he can score touchdowns in a multitude of ways. He can catch a ball 50 yards downfield, he can take a post to the house or he can come down with a couple contested catch at the goal line. Like that's why he has so many touchdowns, is because he's really good at scoring touchdowns. But that also gives him a very dangerous floor when he's going up against the league's best quarterback.
- [48:20]
A
Couple other guys to talk about here because you mentioned Jaden Reed here, that's in the next tier and there's a couple guys within that tier that I want to talk about. Wide receivers 31 through 37 got Luther Burden, Michael Pittman Jr. Jaden Reed, Jordan Addison, Khalil Shakir, Adonai Mitchell and Alec Pierce. Now this is the first time we have seen a Colts wide receiver on this list. How are you feeling about this Colts offense as a whole? We've had this own discussion behind the scenes at football guys HQ talking about Tyler Warren this week as a guy that initially was being looked at as someone you could rank a lot higher. Some people, people have him Outside their top 12 tight ends, the wide receivers. Now we're ranking them outside of our top 30. Are you. What's your comfort level starting a Colts pass catcher this week?
- [49:11]
B
I mean, if it's Riley Leonard, there's no comfort level at all. Like, I think Riley Leonard could kind of be fun as like a super flex streamer just because he has that rushing upside that we love in fantasy. But I.
- [49:21]
A
You mean fun the way my wife says cleaning the dishes is fun.
- [49:24]
B
Right. You know, Riley Leonard, I remember watching that playoff game where he just the entire first drive was just quarterback sneaks up the middle until they scored a touchdown. I mean, he can do that. I don't have a lot of faith in him keeping an offense on schedule. I don't know, man. Maybe I'm crazy. And this is another one. Like, you know, Bob and I just talked about this at length and he is very, you know, not expecting much from Philip Rivers here. I don't know, man. Maybe I'm crazy, but like, I think Philip Rivers coming in late in the year, completely fresh. He's not dealing with all the nicks and bruises everybody else has. He's also like, people are like, oh, he's not going to be athletic at 44 years old. Go watch Philip Rivers play when he was 25. He's never been an athlete. Like he sits back in shotgun, he's able to pre diagnose what the defense is showing him. And then you look at the Seattle defense, it's been good, but they run zone like 85% of the time. And that's what Philip Rivers has done throughout his entire career, is just pick apart zone defenses. So I don't know, maybe, maybe I'm a romantic. Maybe I just want to see this, this, this, this fairy tale story where Philip Rivers comes in and leads the Colts to the playoffs. Maybe it doesn't happen, but I have a little bit of faith in Philip Rivers keeping this offense on schedule, getting the ball to the playmakers, especially against Seattle, who runs this zone heavy defense.
- [50:43]
A
I would say that if I had to think of who I'm comfortable starting from this Colts offense, it'll still be Jonathan Taylor because I know we'll get the jump off passes to him and he's Jonathan Taylor and Tyler Warren, a big target that can play in the slot. We know Philip Rivers has had his own affinity for slot players and tight ends. He had a pretty good one. Antonio Gates. I bet there's not a lot for us to play off of here from this season that has any tangible value talking about Philip Rivers and the Colts right now. But if I'm going to think of who are the easiest guys for him to get the ball to, to stay on time, it's going to be those two.
- [51:17]
B
Now see, I think Michael Pittman as well, I don't think is a terrible start. I mean there's a little bit of Keenan Allen in, in Michael Pittman's game. Like he's not going to beat a guy in one on one man coverage. But like you tell him to just like run around and find the soft spot in the zone. He can do that.
- [51:32]
A
I just love it. Yeah, he's not bad. There's a little Keenan Allen. He's not going to beat anyone one on one though. All right, 80 Mitchell on here does that. This was, it's weird because like there was a little bit of excitement and then he was like the jets number one wide receiver and then it was John Metchie and then it was back to A.D. mitchell and then, oh, by the way, Tyrod Taylor got hurt and now we're just, we're headed to the playoffs. I have to imagine if you're in the playoffs, you likely don't have to make this decision, but are you okay with A.D. mitchell. Is that a guy? Is this one of those, like, you don't want to start him if you don't have to.
- [52:05]
B
100 quarterback contingent here. Like, I don't know what to do right now because the jets don't know who the starter is going to be. If it's a Brady Cook offense, I'm not starting anybody. I might.
- [52:17]
A
Even the rankings change.
- [52:19]
B
Yeah, like, everybody falls down dramatically if right now I'm ranking as if Justin Fields is going to be the starter, but, like, he's not practicing either and he's dealing with an injury of his own. And that's kind of how I have it. If to Rod Taylor is able to get healthy in time for this game and he is active. I'll bump A.D. mitchell and John Mechi up, up a little bit. I still think 80. Mitchell is the wide receiver one here, but Brady Cook is so, so bad. I mean, like we talked about this last year, like, the receivers in Mizzou were so fun to watch, but like Luther Burden, it was like a leap of faith having to rank him anywhere because it's like we see him doing good things and then Brady Cook throws the ball 30ft over his head. And like, you know, it's just he. He's not an NFL level quarterback. And as much as I love Justin Fields, he can do some fun things on the ground. I don't think he's an NFL level pastor either. So if you're holding on to 80 Mitchell, I think you're just hoping to Rod Taylor can get healthy for this game.
- [53:11]
A
It was so easy to do the Brady Cook rookie evaluation. It was just. Yeah, I saw the Luther Burden film. This dude's not good.
- [53:19]
B
Yeah.
- [53:19]
A
At football, he's good comparatively to the world, but not good enough for the NFL. Sorry.
- [53:24]
B
Yeah.
- [53:25]
A
Okay, let's go. Final tier here. So wide receivers 38 through 45, we've got Xavier Worthy, Ricky Piersol, Mike Evans, DJ Moore. Wow, that was just crazy. Xavier Worthy, Ricky Pierce, all Mike Evans, D.J. moore.
- [53:39]
B
Yeah.
- [53:39]
A
Jerry Judy, Quentin Johnson. These are all guys that at some point in the year have been ranked in the top 15, top 20, some top 12. And here we are beginning of the fantasy playoffs, and we're like, yep, they're wide receiver 43. I'll just finish out the tier here. Jaden Higgins, Darnell Mooney. Let me start at the bottom here. Darnell mooney, wide receiver, 45 with no Drake London. Never mind. That's the Thursday game. But that would have been fun talk. Would have been great talk. Yeah.
- [54:14]
B
Anyways, I'm not saying anything about Darl Mooney. I already might look like an idiot. For my, my other take, we'll. We'll leave the Darn Darnell Mooney discussion for another time. Ricky Piersoll is the one that kind of jumps out to me, Alfredo. Maybe because I'm just an idiot, but I don't know man. Maybe, maybe during the bye week they uncovered some things with Ricky Piersoll. But you know, like really that, that PCL knee injury has affected him so much this year. That does give him an extra week of rest and we know that rest is the only thing that can help those pcls heal up.
- [54:44]
A
I don't know.
- [54:45]
B
I've still got him in so many leagues. Like I'm not dropping Ricky Pierce all, anywhere. I stash him on my IR spot, started him, have benched him and I want to think that like if he can come out and show a sign of life in this game that maybe we can feel good over the next two weeks. This is me wishcasting a guy that I have a lot of. But please Ricky, let's do something.
- [55:07]
A
Dave. I'm starting him in a few weeks. I'm in 13 leagues. I made the playoffs in eight. I've got a buy in two, the remaining six. I am starting Ricky Pearsall in two of those six. Yeah, I don't think it's going to go well but if there was a week for it to happen and this is not us saying go and start him over players, this is us saying if you need to start him because you don't have a better option, there is some hope here because it is against Tennessee who's giving up the 25th against fantasy wide receivers. It's a good matchup for him. Like you mentioned, it's coming off the bye week. A little extra time to heal up but also it's a little extra time for coaches to sit down and figure out to how.
- [55:46]
B
Right.
- [55:46]
A
How else can we deploy him? Right? What else can we do to get him involved? This not having him involved week after week after week is not great for our offense. And look around. Brock Purdy is a guy who's like everyone's quarterback start of the week. If we've got some faith in Brock Purdy, we've got some faith in this Niners offense. I'm okay with the desperation start of Ricky Pierce all this week.
- [56:09]
B
Yeah, in my home league I've been like, luckily I got a first round buy because I'm good at my other positions. But wide receiver has been A pain point for me this year where I've been this mix of kind of Keenan Allen and Michael Pittman and Brian Thomas Jr. And it's worked out. But right now I've got Ricky Piersall and Jaden Reed on my bench. And during this first round bye, nothing would make me happier than being able to like feel comfortable about making that switch in week 16 where I'm putting Jaden Reed in my lineup or I'm putting Ricky Pearsall in my lineup because those guys have the ability to, to trend up while we see these other guys, the Michael Pittman's and the Keenan Allens and the Brian Thomas Juniors have just been steadily trending down.
- [56:47]
A
I mean, I gotta say, man, the playoffs become the most frustrating time to have to start players because looking at Mike Evans and DJ Moore and Ricky Pearsall, all these guys who early in the season it would have been just auto starts.
- [57:11]
B
Right.
- [57:12]
A
This is kind of that time where you actually have to tell yourself like, hey, you don't have to quote, start your studs. Like there are guys who just on name valuable alone should probably not be in your starting lineup.
- [57:24]
B
Yeah, in week two, we're never telling you to start Michael Wilson over DJ Moore. We're going to say, hey, just be patient. Given some time, we'll see how this shakes out. There isn't time to wait. We can't wait for people to break out. We can't wait for players to get healthy. We have to work with what we see right now. Like there's only a few weeks left and if a Michael Wilson is out here giving you 150 yards and a touchdown every single week and DJ Moore is giving you negative two yards. Yeah, you just, it would be silly to not make that switch in your lineup.
- [57:51]
A
Well, there you go everybody. We went through 87 players today. Obviously we didn't talk about every single one of them. And we did talk about a couple players who were playing on Thursday. So you're welcome. For those of you that are watching this on Friday, like we always do every week, we will be back again next Tuesday for the Week 16 waiver wire show. And for all of you that are in the fantasy playoffs right now, we wish you the best of luck. Like Dave said last week or earlier this week, we know that all of you watching or listening are in the fantasy playoffs. So congratulations to you. Go get that win this week. And when you do get that win or you already have that buy, we're going to see you again next week for the waiver wire show. As always, I want to thank everybody for watching or listening all the way through. For myself, for Dave. We'll see you next time. Adios. This holiday unwrapped the magic of Gold Belly with America's most iconic food gifts shipped free nationwide. Send unforgettable treats like Ina Garten's Coconut.
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