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- [00:00]
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- [00:30]
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- [01:01]
Dave Kluge
I mean, you do see that a lot in the NFL where guys just like get their contract and then just kind of lose. I don't know if motivation is the right word, but like Tua.
- [01:13]
Alfredo Brown
Oh yeah, yeah. Like he just totally flipped the script on reporters, on teammates, on everyone, and just became the league leader. Interceptions. After being the most efficient quarter, it was just like a complete 180 nightmare.
- [01:32]
Dave Kluge
Whoever is supposed to be in charge of his PR has failed him miserably.
- [01:36]
Alfredo Brown
So here's, here's the issue and here's why a bunch of people down here, like, don't.
- [01:40]
Dave Kluge
Is it like a cousin or something? That's his manager would be my guess.
- [01:43]
Alfredo Brown
No. He fired everyone on his staff after he got his contract, his trainer, his pr, his agent, his manager. Every smart fired every single person. And everyone, like, everyone has just been like, oh, so this is who you are once you have money. Got it.
- [02:02]
Dave Kluge
Yeah. Cool. And I think it'll be because we see this every year. Like, I feel like the first team to like, really just like, take a huge dead cap hit was the Falcons when they moved on from Matt Ryan. And everyone was like, 40 million in dead cap.
- [02:14]
Alfredo Brown
Are you kidding me?
- [02:15]
Dave Kluge
How could you possibly do that? And then the packers did it with Aaron Rodgers and then the Broncos did it with Russell Wilson. And this year, like, what is it? The Dolphins are going to eat close to $100 million in dead cap if they move on from Dua. The Cardinals are willing to eat like $80 million in dead gap to move on from Kyler. I mean, it used to be like these teams would just kind of be hamstrung by poor quarterback play until the contract expired. And now all of these billionaire owners are just like, screw it.
- [02:41]
SoFi Advertiser
We'll.
- [02:41]
Dave Kluge
We'll take that $100 million hit and just, Just to not have to deal with this guy anymore.
- [02:46]
Alfredo Brown
I will say, like, it's one thing I know we give guys like Jerry Jones a bunch of crap because, like, you know, their decision making process is always kind of. Yeah. If the Cowboys are losing a game, no matter what part of the season it is, he is, like, miserable. He is a fan just as much as everyone else in that stadium. When the Dolphins are getting boat raced by the Bengals and they zoom up to Stephen Ross and he's laughing his little ass off, it's, you know, it's hard to empathize. Yeah, it's hard to empathize. I. I still think that if Fernando Mendoza somehow ends up in Miami, he becomes the mayor of the city.
- [03:23]
Dave Kluge
Yeah.
- [03:23]
Alfredo Brown
Like a Miami kid. Cuban kid.
- [03:26]
Dave Kluge
Still got about three weeks left to find out if he does or not. I. I don't know. I think he's gonna end up declaring.
- [03:32]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, like, he could, he can. I mean, I don't necessarily think it's highly likely, but he could still be the number one overall pick. Like, guys like Todd McShay already, like, I'm in love with this guy.
- [03:44]
Dave Kluge
Yeah. And we see this every single year where everyone's like, sell your 2026 picks for 2027 picks. And then Jeremiah Love has already declared, Jordan Tyson has declared, Fernando Mendoza is going to declare. And then three weeks from now, everyone's going to be like, hey, so those, those 2026 picks are looking kind of nice now. Like, it happens every single year, like clockwork. Like, Ryan Williams, not the guy he looked like he was going to be in 2027. Maybe we should. And everybody's going to get hyped for this 2026 class. Time is a classic one.
- [04:12]
Alfredo Brown
All it takes is one person to change the entire class.
- [04:16]
Dave Kluge
I remember when you needed to sell everything you had for 2021 draft picks because Justin Fields and Zach Wilson and Trey Lance and Mac Jones were going to reshape the NFL.
- [04:26]
Alfredo Brown
It's the best quarterback class we'd ever.
- [04:28]
Dave Kluge
Seen, Dave, at that time.
- [04:30]
Alfredo Brown
And then they stepped on the field at that time. They were the best looking. There we go. Yeah, that's what it was.
- [04:36]
Dave Kluge
Zach Wilson, pro day. You can never take that from us.
- [04:40]
Alfredo Brown
We'll always have the pro day at byu. Always. All right, let's do.
- [04:46]
Dave Kluge
Let's jump into the worst waiver warrior show of the year saving them, oh, boy. For last.
- [04:50]
Alfredo Brown
Yay. Welcome to the fantasy football championship. It's the Week 17 waiver wire pickups episode here on the Football Football Guys Fantasy football show. I'm Alfredo Brown, joined as always by Dave Kluge. And as we do every single week, guys, we are going to take our top waiver wire pickups, put them into a consensus rank, put those players into tears, and then we're going to give you some more context as to why we like these players, why we don't like them, what your plan A, plan B, plan C should be. We'll talk about some quarterback streamers, some defenses you can pick up as well. But Dave, we don't, we don't have to pretend this is an ugly, ugly, horrible, nasty, disgusting waiver wire week.
- [05:40]
Dave Kluge
Yeah. Like, the one guy that we have atop the list probably isn't even available in your league. Like, this is a. Hey, if he's available, this is a guy that, like, there's no reason to spend fab at this point, 100%. Whatever you got, put it on this guy. If he's not available. Well, let's, let's hope you've got some bench depth.
- [05:57]
Alfredo Brown
Dude. It's just, it's so gross because, like, you also figure too, anyone who's made it this far, you likely have a good bench as well. Like, how many injuries have you gone through where you're just like, you know what, that Jaw Jordan looking. Looking pretty good here. Which, by the way, my, my, my sincerest apologies to jaw Jordan because this is like the second week in a row where I've used him as, as the example. It's just a fun name to say. I'm sorry. It rolls off the tug.
- [06:22]
Dave Kluge
Yeah. This is, you know, going into fantasy or like the, the finals. It's always weird. Like, you just have those tough beats and like you have tough beats every single week, but like, they sting so much worse in the semifinals. I don't know about. You needed 4.1 points from Trayvon Henderson. That didn't happen. Left early with an injury. My wife, like, she thought she had it in the bag going to the finals in her home league. She needed seven points from Lamar Jackson. That didn't happen last night in another league. I just needed Jonathan Taylor to outscore George Kittle by 0.4 points and that. That didn't happen either. And it's just like, you know, when we're playing in 30 plus leagues, like, you know, everything kind of gets lost in the fold throughout the season, but like, Once that pool starts shrinking down and these games mean more, those bad beats, man, they sting.
- [07:06]
Alfredo Brown
You know, I got lucky. I didn't really have any bad beats. I just got obliterated in the games that I did lose.
- [07:14]
Dave Kluge
I guess that's one way, like halfway through Sundays, it's like, all right, well, I'm gonna go enjoy the day.
- [07:18]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, I got Josh Allen getting me six points, Javante Williams six points, Amanra St. Brown, nine points. I was like, you know what? Game's probably over. Trey McBride, eight points. Like, it's just, it's not happening. I lost 170 to 69.
- [07:35]
Dave Kluge
Oh, nice. Nice. Yeah, nice, nice. Jacoby Brissette, another one that was like, tough. Like, the guy had been a QB one every single week since he took over at the starter. Like the most consistent quarterback imaginable in fantasy football. And then in the semifinals, just lays an egg and you get a qb. Like, it's just the game we play, man, it is so frustrating.
- [07:55]
Alfredo Brown
We're at the point where we're like, Tyler Schuck, that's going to be a streamer this week. He was the butt of every joke. Like, it's fantasy football, man. It's hilarious. It makes sense.
- [08:06]
Dave Kluge
I had a lot. And there was like one team specifically that like, I just. Most points scored, best record, just absolutely crushing it. And then during my first round by Patrick Mahomes, there's his acl, Rashi Wrights picks up a concussion. Devonte Adams ends up picking up this hamstring injury. And I go into the semifinals going up against John Daigle and just like trotting out the most disgusting. Like just three guys that I picked up off of waivers in a 14 team league, hoping for the best. So, yeah, you know, we, we have those bad beats too. No matter how much work you put in, no matter how much you grind the waiver wire, crush your draft, all that sort of stuff, these small sample sizes just really bring out the variants.
- [08:41]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, I think at some point in the offseason we can do sort of a look back on the season and maybe do like a, a mock draft or rankings as to like, how we do it today. Like, before we get really deep into the off season analysis. I, I gotta say, man, like every year we do the. What did I learn? I, I don't know that I learned anything this year. Like, this was the year where, like, it didn't matter if you went safe, if you went upside. It was just. The injuries were abundant, the team circumstances were crazy. The first round was Just littered with. With landmines. It was a crazy, crazy year, but here we are.
- [09:15]
Dave Kluge
I think my biggest immediate takeaway, just like off the cuff takeaway. This is a guy that, like, I planted a flag on them. The preseason had him in almost every single league, Jonathan Taylor. And I think my takeaway is that if a guy at the midway point of the season is pacing for one of the best seasons in NFL history, he's probably going to regress. And I floated out a few trade offers, but I got too greedy. I didn't trade away any of my Jonathan Taylor shares. And this guy, before his buy was the RB1 in fantasy football, we didn't get a top 15 finish after the bye week. Like, it has just been bad ever since. So that's one where like, I wanted to trade him away, but at the same time, I'm like, you know, the Colts look good, the offensive line is good. This is a running back in his prime. Blah, blah. Like, I, I talked myself into thinking that he could just maintain this pace and kicking myself for not trading him away because all those Jonathan Taylor teams, the wheels just fell off over the last month and a half.
- [10:04]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, man. Well, for the teams that their wheels didn't fall off as they are going into the fantasy football championship, there's a reason that they are here and they are here to listen to us not just talk about all the things that went wrong with our seasons, but welcome to finals.
- [10:19]
Dave Kluge
Go pick up Taysom Hill. Right?
- [10:20]
Alfredo Brown
Like, who they can pick up off waivers here. So let's start with the top player. And as you mentioned, Dave, it's a player who's likely not available in a lot of leagues. It's Ramandre Stevenson. With the injury to Travion Henderson, the success of the Patriots offense, right now, everything looking as good as it has, Radre Stevenson kind of becomes the de facto top waiver wire pickup here. But how confident are you in Ramandre Stevenson as a player that you actually want to pick up and start? Because there's no reason to pick up a player if you're not starting them this week. So what's the confidence level in starting him?
- [10:54]
Dave Kluge
Well, I'd say to pick him up just to block your league mate from getting him, like, even if you don't, if you've got two good running backs in a flex spot. Because I do think, like, Radre Stevenson is not a bad running back. And we, we changed so quickly. Like three years ago, Ramadre Stevenson was the dusty veteran, or, I'm sorry, three years ago. Ramadre Stevenson was like that fresh young guy that was back in Damien Harris. And then like, you just fast forward a couple years and now everybody hates Ramadre Stevenson. Travion Henderson should be getting all the workload, but like we saw early in the year, Radre Stevenson was very productive. And sometimes it's as simple as just like, hey, you're getting the workload on a good offense. Sure, his efficiency might not be what it was a couple of years ago, but he can still keep the offense on schedule. He's got pass catching chops, he can break tackles, he can score at the goal line. This is a good New England offense. So, you know, I haven't done my rankings yet. It's still Tuesday morning. I'll be doing those after we record the show. But I'd be shocked if, you know, ranking without Trayveon Henderson, if Radre Stevenson is outside of my top 20 running backs.
- [11:49]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, I think the big fear with Romanre Stevenson had always been like, if he fumbles, does he get benched? Who goes in for him? And with no Trevion Henderson for the following week, obviously I think that fear kind of goes away here. We are going to be a little bit worried about Terrell Jennings, but I mean, what we've seen too is that Rondre Stevenson can do it all. He can be the guy in the early downs, he can be the guy out there on passing downs. Is he super consistent? No. But he's also going to have a good matchup going up against the jets this upcoming week. And the Patriots are on fire. So if you, if you, like you said, if you need a block from another league mate who maybe you're going up against and they need a running back, you can block there or if you need to flex him, put him in as an RB2, depending on how many injuries you've had. Ramondra Stevenson becomes the top waiver wire AD this week.
- [12:32]
Dave Kluge
And this like every guy we're going to talk about today, 100% of your fab. There's no more game theory scrolling your fab like you're just spending everything you got to get any of these players at this point.
- [12:42]
Alfredo Brown
Now let me say this, there's no.
- [12:45]
Dave Kluge
Payout for most remaining fab in most leagues, right?
- [12:48]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah. You don't get real cash at the end of the season.
- [12:50]
Dave Kluge
Right.
- [12:51]
Alfredo Brown
But let's say this like, what if you are going after a, let's say like a Ramandre Stevenson, a quarterback streamer and a DST streamer. Now, the likelihood that you need all that and you made the finals for your fantasy league is very small, but there are those people out there. How do you divvy that up? Do you kind of just go with like a still $100, 100% on Ramandre and go with the zero bids on the other? On the other, like necessary streamers.
- [13:18]
Dave Kluge
You look at how much remaining fab. The guy in second place and third place and fourth place. The teams that are still competing, assuming you have like a third place payout, that's it. That's all that matters. Like, whatever those three teams have remaining. So, you know, if one guy's got 14, one guy has nine and one guy has seven, there's no reason to bid more than $15. Like, all you need to do is outbid the other guys playing now, every league is a little bit different. I see people in toilet bowls still, you know, placing bids and whatnot. We don't need to get into a whole discussion on ethics and morals here. You know, there's so much that goes into.
- [13:51]
Alfredo Brown
Because this is the place to do it, let me tell you, right?
- [13:54]
Dave Kluge
And like, you know, basically what I said, the leagues that I am eliminated in, unless there is a punishment for last place, I'm not placing bids at this point. Like, I'll let. I'll let the teams that deserve to get those players get those players. But, you know, there's a lot of emotion in fantasy football and if you're in one of those 20 year running leagues and like, the guy in last place just wants to stick it to the guy that he's got, you know, a grudge against that, that happens. But, yeah, typically you just want to outbid the next players that are still alive.
- [14:22]
Alfredo Brown
All right, let's go to the next tier here. We've got Taysom Hill and Emmanuel Wilson. I think the obvious thing that we've talked about with Taysom Hill, which, by the way, we have them ranked the same. I have Taysom Hill at 2, you have Emmanuel Wilson at 2, and then Vice versa, we have him flipped as number three. So I think the advantage here, obviously, is you can start Taysum Hill as a tight end, especially if you've been struggling at the tight end position or you don't have one to start. If not, you can throw Taysum Hill in your flex, and it's just like flexing a running back here. He did lead the Saints in carries, and he did seem to be the guy here. Emmanuel Wilson, Dave, is the guy you have ranked a little bit higher. And a lot of that just comes from if Josh Jacobs is out or we get word that he's limited again. Emmanuel Wilson looks good and he's getting workload.
- [15:05]
Dave Kluge
I also wonder with Taysom Hill, like, how much of that was just like kind of a send off. This is probably the last game he's ever played in New Orleans and I think that's why we saw like, you know, him getting to play quarterback and throw that big touchdown, getting some extra work. I do wonder a little bit with them going on the road. I mean, it is a good matchup and they don't really have another viable running back, so it could happen again. But I do feel like that was kind of the, the last dance, a little narrative.
- [15:29]
Alfredo Brown
But I like it.
- [15:30]
Dave Kluge
Yeah, so, so I worry a little bit and I think a lot of people are going to be like, anxious to plug Taysom Hill in this week because of what he did, but, you know, there was just so much emotion. This guy was, has been with the Saints forever. He is a fan favorite. Came back from a gruesome injury last year, last game there. I, I, I think that was kind of just his send off. I'd be shocked if he's dropping back as a quarterback and rushing the ball 12 times again. But I, I could be wrong, but Taysom Hill is probably going to fall outside of my top 20 running backs. Emmanuel Wilson is the one just like Josh Jacobs. You know, he, he was still grinding out yards and he looked okay, but like, he does not look like himself. Like you'd see every single time he would hit the turf. He was so slow to get up. Like, he was not limping, but you could tell he was like a little bit ginger on that knee. The packers have aspirations of making the playoffs and making a deeper run in the playoffs, and it wouldn't shock me if they end up resting Josh Jacobs this week so they can be a little bit healthier.
- [16:21]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, I love just to go back to Taste Hill really quick. I love that the question was Audrey Estimate or Evan Hall. The answer was Tayson Hill. Stupid, stupid fantasy football players. But yeah, man, Emmanuel Wilson, the whole Josh Jacobs knee issue thing, I think it does boil down to what you said, which is they want to make a Super Bowl. They want to have a deep playoff run. You need Josh Jacobs to be healthy for that. And I think that it's different if you're like, ah, we really just don't have someone behind him that can handle a workload. Emmanuel Wilson continues to prove that he can do it. And that was something that, that I know the coach Lafleur lafleur, excuse me, spoke about afterwards. Like, he's actually been very impressed with Emmanuel Wilson and he's been able to make plays for them. And Josh is really still struggling day to day to keep, you know, keep healthy. And. And he's just sore, you know, quote, I would not be surprised if this just becomes an Emmanuel Wilson game. Like, let's. Let's put the hubris aside and the whole, like, Josh Jacobs is an iron man. Like, let's just give him a. Let's give him a week. He's not practicing. Stop throwing him out there for games. Give him a week, and Emmanuel Wilson, I think, becomes pro. Would you put Emmanuel Wilson. If we found out today there's no Josh Jacobs this week, would Emanuel Wilson be higher in the priority for you than Ramon Ray?
- [17:30]
Dave Kluge
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, this Ravenstein, they have just completely checked out. Did you see the Isaiah likely walking out of the stadium sound bite, those going around? Yeah, this team is done. Like, I. I don't want to accuse Lamar of faking an injury, but I don't know, it seemed kind of weird that he just left that game after the. The hit that he took. To me, like, this Ravens team is just a dead man walking right now. I think the. The packers have a huge advantage in this matchup. And honestly, I think the packers lied to us, too. They said a bone bruise for Josh Jacobs. Like, they just. Or no, they didn't even say a bone bruise. They said a contusion in his knee. That was like a month ago. And he still isn't practicing, and he's still like, I think there was something deeper there. This one surprised me. We see this all the time where they, like, downplay these injuries and then the season ends and it's just like, oh, Josh Jacobs went in for knee surgery. Wouldn't be surprised if we get something like that with him.
- [18:24]
Alfredo Brown
But you know what? It's so weird because the packers do tend to be very cautious with injuries, and they tend to hold people out. And I'm just like, at what point do we cross that threshold with Josh Jacobs where he should be out like this? It would make the most sense for the Packers. Would make the most sense for fantasy managers. So, yeah, if Josh Jacobs is out, Emmanuel Wilson easily becomes the top waiver wire ad. And he is an easy start. Even if you can't start him, you. You're stealing them from other people because he cannot be out there available for your opponents.
- [18:52]
Dave Kluge
Right?
- [18:53]
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- [19:12]
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Savings versus Comparable Verizon plans plus the cost of optional benefits plan features in Texas and fees vary. Savings with three plus lines include third line free via monthly bill credits. Credit stop if you cancel any lines. Qualifying credit required.
- [19:24]
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- [19:35]
Dave Kluge
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- [20:23]
Alfredo Brown
All right, let's go to the next tier we're making. We're going quick through these because there's not a lot, but tier number three, Jawar Jordan, running back for the Houston Texans. And Dave, they do have a, I'd say a relatively tough matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers here, at least run defense wise. But Jawar Jordan has found some success in catching passes and that's something that I think going up against the Chargers. If the Chargers are going to be getting ahead or, you know, obviously they've been the better team of the Texans. We could see Gewar Jordan getting some usage out of the backfield without Woody Marks. It was surprising to actually see him get more usage than Nick Chubb and I think that trend continues going into this week if we miss out on Woody Marks again.
- [21:04]
Dave Kluge
Yeah, and I think Nick Chubb is the one that would worry me a little bit because Nick Chubb was coming back from from injury and he was limited and George Jordan looked okay. But I do wonder if they would split touches up a little bit more evenly between the two now that Nick Chubb kind of got his feet wet coming back from the injury. So that's why I'm tempering expectations for George Jordan. I've got him fourth on the list. I'm assuming that's probably why you do, too. First of all, it seems like Woody Marks probably is going to play. Like, he took it all the way up to Sunday morning before he was declared out. Typically, when we see that, like, it wouldn't surprise me if Woody Marks is a full participant in practice tomorrow, but. And you are Jordan splitting touches with Nick Chubb in a tough matchup? Sure, I guess you can flex him if you're super desperate.
- [21:47]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah. Like, I know you haven't started doing your rankings yet, but if. Let's say we get news Woody Marks is out, it's going to be a similar thing that we saw this past week. Jawar Jordan in a. Let's call it 55, 45 split with Nick Chubb or 60, 40 split with Nick Chubb. Where do you think he would fall in your rankings in terms of, like, is it, like, running back 30, something like that?
- [22:11]
Dave Kluge
Along those lines, I think Jawar Jordan would probably fall in, like, the low 30s, and then Nick Chubb would be in, like, the high 30s. Like, I haven't done my rankings yet, but it would be like, RB32 and RB38. Like, putting. They're both kind of desperation RB3s is how I'd be looking at them.
- [22:24]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah. Okay, so he's desperation flex if you need him. I think there's some PPR upside there, so I think that kind of changes if you're in a PPR versus non PPR league. Uh, but, yeah, I mean, there's. I don't. There's. I. Guys, I wish there was more for us to add about Jawar Jordan. You know, in the Houston, Texas, dominant. There's just simply isn't. So this is. We're. We're kind of giving you the priority list here. If you are this desperate at this point. Let's go to the final tier here. And this is going to be essentially a pair of running backs on the same team and a wide receiver that, you know, we can just add in there as well. So we've got Dylan Sanders. Excuse me, Dylan Sampson, running back from the Cleveland Browns.
- [23:01]
Dave Kluge
Ron Burgundy to yourself.
- [23:02]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, they're the same person. Raheem Sanders, running back for the Cleveland.
- [23:06]
Dave Kluge
Raheem Sampson and Dylan Sanders.
- [23:08]
Alfredo Brown
Bingo. Nailed it. And then Parker Washington. I think we run into a similar situation here with these Browns running backs of. We're not quite sure yet who is going to be active or even how valuable they are if they are active. I ranked Dylan Sampson higher Because just the past catching upside and shoulder Sanders just getting the ball out quick to his running back if need be. But now we still actually don't know if Dylan Sampson is going to be available to play in this game. So Dave, between Sampson, Sanders, Washington, you're out here having to make a, a pick between the three of these. What's, what's the trust level on these guys?
- [23:50]
Dave Kluge
Probably Parker Washington, he's just, he's good. Like I remember when he was a rookie and he had that like huge breakout game against Trevor Lawrence and you and I kind of broke that one down and we're like this guy like there's something here and I forget. I want to say it was like a sixth round or a seventh round pick. Maybe an undrafted like not a good prospect by any means, but has really stepped up and looked good in these flashes. It's so hard to trust him. Like it has been so boomer bust. But I think that like if you're chasing ceiling, which you should be if you're looking for a flex player on the waiver wire, I think there's a high ceiling here with Parker Washington between the running backs though I prefer Dylan Sampson a little bit just because we have seen that he is the preferred pass catching back. I mean he's had multiple games with like five plus catches this year. So I think that's kind of the out with Dylan Sampson is that he can catch a lot of balls. I lied five plus receptions. He did have five catches a couple of weeks back. He had eight catches in week one. Those are the only two. But you know, this guy is their, their primary pass catching back. Jerome Ford, out for the year. Quinn, John Judkins, out for the year. I, I think this is one of those frustrating ones though where the high value touches are going to be split or Raheem Sanders is going to get the goal line work, Dylan Sampson will get the pass catching work and that makes them both kind of game script dependent. One of my favorite fun facts from this season is like, you know, this was a loaded running back rookie class. Raheem Sanders was the first rookie running back to score a touchdown in the 2025 season.
- [25:13]
Alfredo Brown
And that's gross. But yeah, fun facts, that's what we can give you today.
- [25:18]
Dave Kluge
You'll be playing trivia at a bar 10 years from now and somebody will say who was the first rookie running back to score a touchdown in 2025. And, and you'll remember this probably won't.
- [25:28]
Alfredo Brown
Just kind of throw that out there. Parker Washington, I do think is interesting because we've seen, like you said, these flashes where he's been very good. A lot of that has come from just being able to get volume. And like looking back, it's 11 target games, 10 target games, and now another 10 target game. And a lot of those came with having other players in the receiving room injured. And this one, not so much. This is Patrick Surtan just nullified Brian Thomas Jr. And I don't know that I'm expecting a similar result in the following week. It has a good matchup though, against the Indianapolis Colts. So we could see all of the Jaguars pass catchers eat in this game. But that's why, like, man, I'd have to be really, really desperate at receiver. And obviously that's how we have it ranked here is you'd have to be desperate receiver to go and get them, but you'd have to be really, really desperate. Like, all right, I'm starting Parker Washington as my wide receiver three or as my flex. There are worse players, but yeah, I think I'm gonna have Dylan. The way I have it ranked is Dylan Sampson, Raheem Sanders, Parker Washington. I'd rather, I'll do the, the upside, you know, risks when it comes to running backs, wide receivers. I really just want to know what the volume is going to be there.
- [26:38]
Dave Kluge
Where's Brian Thomas Jr. Play next year? Where do you expect him to play to be?
- [26:44]
Alfredo Brown
I got no idea, man.
- [26:46]
Dave Kluge
Definitely not Jaguar. Right? Like, it seems like. And honestly, like if they can go out with a trio of Jacoby Myers, Travis Hunter, Parker Washington, I'd feel pretty good about that trio. Brendan Strange at tight end. Like it to me, like New Orleans.
- [26:59]
Alfredo Brown
Saints or not New Orleans, New England Patriots.
- [27:01]
Dave Kluge
That would be a very good. Buffalo Bills also would make a lot of sense. Oh yeah, he's the perfect. Josh Allen, wide receiver, Kansas City Chiefs. Another one like, I think Titans, potentially.
- [27:13]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, it's not fun, but it's, it's them trying to invest in Cam Ward.
- [27:18]
Dave Kluge
I think there's going to be a lot of teams trying to try to make that push for Brian Thomas Jr. But man, what a, what a rough year. Brian Thomas Jr. Drafters like, feels like you finally have like a little bit of comfort in putting him in your lineup in week 16 and then you get three points from him. That's just fantasy football.
- [27:35]
Alfredo Brown
I can't wait. The Steelers are going to trade DK Metcalf for a fourth round pick and.
- [27:38]
Dave Kluge
Then, oh, they're going to release DK Metcalf.
- [27:41]
Alfredo Brown
Did you see that story oh, they're releasing him. I, I saw the two game suspension for the remainder of the regular season. I did not see the release.
- [27:49]
Dave Kluge
So with that two game suspension, they had it written in his contract that if he was suspended for contract conduct detrimental to the league, whatever, that. I forget how they worded it, but that that would nullify his fully guaranteed contract, every penny of it. So now they can actually release him for free this offseason if they so choose. Wow.
- [28:08]
Alfredo Brown
Brian Thomas.
- [28:09]
Dave Kluge
That was a very costly punch potentially. And, and they might just keep him. You know, maybe it does seem like, you know, he has been a leader in the team, you know, doing the gunner stuff out there, but like he's not a great fit with Aaron Rodgers. I don't know if Aaron Rodgers is in the plans next year, but if they could save $45 million to move on from what didn't look like a great contract, you got to think they're at least thinking about it.
- [28:32]
Alfredo Brown
I really need to tug to punch somebody.
- [28:35]
Dave Kluge
All right. You know, just two. Tuga by Loa and Kyler Murray need to get in a fight and just solve both teams problems. Yeah, there you go.
- [28:43]
Alfredo Brown
I, I think we found the outs for, for teams from now on. They're going to do like Happy Gilmore or they're just going to plant fans just sitting in the front row. You will not make this throw, you jackass.
- [28:56]
Dave Kluge
Oh man.
- [28:56]
Alfredo Brown
It's gonna be all right.
- [28:57]
Dave Kluge
Donald's like brother out there.
- [29:03]
Alfredo Brown
Okay, so we went through, we went through all of our waiver wire pickups. So weak. Some skill spots. But let's take a look at some quarterback streamers and defense streamers here, Dave, quarterback Tyler Schuck, who has been pretty damn good throughout the last few weeks here. I tweeted about it earlier, but he's been quarterback six in fantasy over the last, I want to say it was five weeks. It's just, he hasn't done anything miraculous, but he's been winning games, he's been running the ball, averaging over 28 rushing yards per game. And he's just protecting the ball. He hasn't turned it over a lot. And it's, it's, it's been a, it's been an easy schedule for him, but that doesn't change. Like we're going up against Tennessee Titans this week if you're, if you have Tyler Shuck. So he, he does become a guy that you can actually stream this week.
- [29:46]
Dave Kluge
Yeah, I like Chuck a lot. I think I like the next one more. If he's going to be Active Marcus Mariota, Another streamer. We've just seen some rushing upside there. And this Dallas defense, my goodness, they can't stop anything. So I think that would be the preferred. I think I'd like Marcus Mariota ahead of Tyler Schuck if he's active, but he exited last week's game with the hand injury. Sounds like they're listening to him as day to day, so we'd expect him to be out there. But yeah, I think those are definitely my two favorite streamers of the week. So let me ask you, would you go with, you know, the. We talked about it. The floor kind of fell out from underneath Jacoby Brissette. He's got a nice matchup against the Bengals. Would you go with Brissette, Shuck or Mariota? Who do you prefer?
- [30:24]
Alfredo Brown
Brissette. I'm still. I'm still going to go Brissette against the Bengals because I think there's. There's just opportunity for. For a back and forth, you know, passing matchup to still happen there. But I think the order for me would be Brissette. Very close behind is Mariota also, because we do have him. It's. It's a concussion, right?
- [30:42]
Dave Kluge
For Mariota, I thought it was a hand injury.
- [30:46]
Alfredo Brown
Hand. Okay, sorry. That. That's on me.
- [30:48]
Dave Kluge
I should have been saying it looks like he picked up two injuries, perhaps.
- [30:53]
Alfredo Brown
Okay, got it. You know, like something like that going into a game does worry me a little bit because I don't want like a re. Injury. So that's where I think I give the edge. Because.
- [31:04]
Dave Kluge
Growing hand, too, which not good.
- [31:06]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah, that sucks. So, yeah, I mean, for me, if I had to order them, it would be Brissette, Mariota, Shuck. And I think if you're, you know.
- [31:14]
Dave Kluge
I think pretty great. Yeah.
- [31:15]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah. All right. And the defense side here, Dave. I think there's a lot of potential defensive streamers here, but I went with ones that are probably a little bit more readily available because, I mean, listen, guys, if you have Chargers out there, Lions out there, those are. Those are some decent streamers for this week. But I like the Saints going up against the Tennessee Titans. The Saints have been strong lately, especially now going up against Cam Ward, who. He's looked better, but sacks are still available there. Jaguars going up against the Indianapolis Colts. Who, man, Philip Rivers. It's so funny to watch him play football because there's so many times where I'm like, wow, he really looks 44. Like there's just everything looks like a big struggle for him and then he just leads touchdown drives. And I'm just like, good for you, bud. It's amazing.
- [32:05]
Dave Kluge
He's just like throwing these lollipops and it's crazy. Like he has to get these balls. Like, there's no zip on the ball.
- [32:11]
Alfredo Brown
Feet look horrible. Like everything, it just, it looks terrible.
- [32:15]
Dave Kluge
I kind of like watching it though. Like, it's very different. It's like so different. My wife and I, like, I was kind of explaining to her because she was like, how is he doing this? Like, he looks terrible. And I was like talking about how defenses have just shifted over the last few years for the, the Lamars and the Allens and the Mahomes and these guys that are like these dual threat quarterbacks, they aren't disguising coverage anymore. So Philip Rivers can stand there, see exactly what the coverage is going to be, and before he even takes a snap, he's like, I'm just going to throw this a lollipop over here and Josh Downs is going to be wide open in this general vicinity to catch the ball. And it's working.
- [32:48]
Alfredo Brown
It feels like watching like a ridiculous comedy where no one really knows they're in it. Like a Borat where no one knows that they're actually in the comedy. And you're just there laughing. But then everything keeps working and keeps advancing to the next and you're just like, oh my gosh, how is this happening? That's me watching the Colts and the Niners last night. I just, dude, I was amazed that things were working out. But you know, it's. Philip River's still easy guy to get sacks on. So the Jaguars defense has been really good. Probably not available, but if they are, they're a good play.
- [33:21]
Dave Kluge
Yeah. And I know we, you know, before the playoffs even started, like the two defenses that we were talking about more than anything, we said, pick up the Saints, pick up the Giants. Those are both like plug and play defenses through the fantasy playoffs. And they were the number one and number two defenses in week 16. So both with good matchups going forward. Like, these are guys, they're defenses that I think you can just plug and play, you know, coming off of big Week 16s, and they both have nice matchups in Week 17 as well.
- [33:47]
Alfredo Brown
And there's one more defense I want to throw out here, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers going up against the Miami Dolphins, who I think that if you were looking at this a few weeks ago, you were saying Bucs defense is not very good. Dolphins offense has obviously the ability to score points. It's not there anymore. Like, it's not like this was a very interesting game to watch because at the beginning, talking with some of my friends who are Dolphins fans, it's like, wow, the team really showed some fight. Like they were ready to go. And then you get a Greg Dulcich fumble and then you get a dropped interception by. By Jordan Brooks in the defensive side. And then things just really started to unravel with Quinn Ewers and the offense and it was just. The team just gave up. And so I have to imagine going into this game, the Bucs defense can get some turnovers here and really now they have a full game's worth of film on Quinn Ewers. They can really apply some pressure. So I think that's another one that if you have to take a shot on a defense, I like the upside of the bucks there.
- [34:36]
Dave Kluge
We. There are so many. Just third and fourth string quarterbacks starting this week. It is disgusting out there. So, yeah, I think just like a rule of thumb is like any defense that's going up against a third string or fourth string quarterback, you can feel okay putting them in your lineup.
- [34:53]
Alfredo Brown
Just, just do it.
- [34:54]
Dave Kluge
Like even Dallas. We talked about how bad Dallas's defense has been, but like if Marcus Mariota can't play and we're looking at a Josh Johnson start, like, I'll stream Dallas against that defense or against that offense.
- [35:06]
Alfredo Brown
It. Who's the defense that you think wins a championship this week? I think it's the Patriots going up against the Jets.
- [35:13]
Dave Kluge
I think that's a very good one. I don't know. Winning a championship. I just closed out of my spreadsheet because I thought we were wrapping up the show here. I'm so sorry. Y Giants play again. I know the Giants were the one that I was talking about earlier. Yeah, Giants going up against the Raiders. I think that's another nice one too. Like.
- [35:32]
Alfredo Brown
Oh, I'm so sorry. No, I've got it here. I've got it. The Patriots was a nice one. It's the Broncos going up against the Kansas City Chiefs without their first or second string quarterback.
- [35:41]
Dave Kluge
Yeah, I mean, they're not available anywhere, but yeah, that's what I could easily end up hanging. 35 points in week seven.
- [35:47]
Alfredo Brown
Yeah. So congrats if you have the Broncos or Patriots defense. Well, everybody, we did it. The Week 17 waiver wire episode. Now, as we mentioned on a previous episode, we will not be with you for the typical starts and sleepers episode this week for week 17 because of the Christmas holiday. But football guys still has you covered. All you need to do is make sure you are subscribed to the Football guys Live channel where on Sunday morning and Saturday morning we are going to have live start sit advice sessions there on Saturday with Bob Harris, on Sunday with Joey Wright. You've got Jeff Bell, you've got a whole cast of hosts that are going to be there for that as well. Colton, Dodson, Hudson, Hutchinson Brown, Adam Hutchison. There's actually everyone.
- [36:31]
Dave Kluge
Jeff isn't going to be on there this week. I'm actually.
- [36:33]
Alfredo Brown
Jeff's not there. It's going to be even better.
- [36:35]
Dave Kluge
So I will be on this week.
- [36:36]
Alfredo Brown
Never mind. Don't do it.
- [36:37]
Dave Kluge
It's going to be an Adam Hutchison.
- [36:40]
Alfredo Brown
There we go. There we go. So if you were looking for some starts or sleepers and sid advice, whatever you needed for your lineup this week from us, you can find that on Saturday and Sunday where you'll get to see Dave again. And that's gonna be over on the Football Guys Live channel. So make sure you're subscribed to that. And Dave, that starts promptly at 11am Eastern, correct? Dave is just finding this out. Dave is just finding this out.
- [37:04]
Dave Kluge
I don't know. I'm gonna be sitting at my desk on Sunday and when Joey Wright sends me a link for Streamyard, I will be there to answer your questions. That's all I know.
- [37:11]
Alfredo Brown
Saturday at 12pm Eastern, Sunday at 11am Eastern. You'll be getting your lineup advice here from football Guys and you can always refer to our rankings over@footballguys.com where Dave and I will be updating our rankings today and every day throughout the week. So make sure you go check that out, everybody. It's been a heck of a season. It has been a phenomenal season and I just want to thank all of you for riding with us throughout this whole thing. There's been the ups, the downs, the craziness, the injuries, the phenomenal weeks and all the laughs that we've had along the way. And I can't thank you guys enough for your support, everything that you have been for us. We do not have this show without all of you. We do not get to do what we do for a living without all of you. And it is such an incredible honor to be part of your daily routines, your weekly routines and just to be there with you. So for all of you fighting for a championship this week, good luck to you all. Dave, it's been a great season, man. It's been an absolute pleasure to record with you once again.
- [38:10]
Dave Kluge
Yeah, I'm gonna go sleep until middle of January.
- [38:14]
Alfredo Brown
There we go. We will see Dave in about four weeks.
- [38:17]
Dave Kluge
Just kidding. I'll see you on Sunday.
- [38:19]
Alfredo Brown
He'll wake up and see his shadow and be like, nah, I'm good. I'm gonna go back in. All right guys. As always, I want to thank all of you for watching or listening all the way through. For myself, for Dave. See you next time. Adios.
- [38:36]
Dave Kluge
Foreign.
- [38:42]
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