Fantasy Footballers - Fantasy Football Podcast
Start/Sit Courage + Hungry For More, TNF Preview - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/18
Wed, 18 Dec 2024
Week 16 start/sit advice on today’s fantasy football podcast! Jayden Daniels matchup concerns, injury woes, and lots more! Plus, Hungry For More players and a preview of Thursday Night Football between the Chargers and Broncos! Manage your redraft, keeper, and dynasty fantasy football teams with the #1 fantasy football podcast. -- Fantasy Football Podcast for December 18th, 2024. (00:00) - Intro (03:30) - Hungry For More (03:35) - Tyjae Spears (06:30) - Jalen McMillen (08:15) - NFL News (24:20) - Thursday Night Breakdown: Chargers at Broncos (31:05) - Jayden Daniels in Week 16 (33:40) - Kyler Murray or Bo Nix (39:00) - Jayden Reed or Jameson Williams (40:25) - Drop Amari Cooper for Packers DST? (45:20) - Packers DST or Falcons DST? (46:00) - Bengals DST in Week 16 (46:55) - What kind of pizza to buy your opponent? (48:35) - Travis Kelce or Brenton Strange? (50:25) - Which players to start on a stacked roster? Connect with the show: Subscribe on YouTube Visit us on the Web Support the Show Follow on X Follow on Instagram Join our Discord Check out today's sponsors: Studio is brought to you by Amazon Prime Hungry For More presented by Uber Eats News & Notes presented by USAA. Visit https://USAA.com/Insurance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Fantasy Footballers Studio is brought to you by Amazon Prime. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright.
Welcome in. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, Mr. Moore. Wednesday, December 18th, the Fantasy Footballers in the building. Hello. You just hit us with a Mr. Rogers? Nothing wrong with that. Put on your cardigan. It's the level of calm that we all need for the fantasy semifinal. Oh, and not all of us, but I mean like Al, myself. Okay, that's one league. I'm in plenty of semifinals.
But not the one you want to be.
Not the one I want to be. That's fair. That's fair.
Also, no one needs calm. You don't want peace in your decision-making? I think that's the best kind of decision you can make. You don't want panic. I don't. You want to put your shoes on nice and slow. I want excitement.
In your decision-making?
I want passion. Yeah, well, I got that.
I also got Gibbs. That's not fair. You also got gifted to Jamar Chase and Lamar Jackson.
We also got anxiety from Al Borland in the back. Is it starting to percolate now that you have a matchup in your platform? You can see the projections?
Yeah, yeah. It's continuing. It's not starting.
Oh, okay. I thought you said you were doing good a couple days ago.
He was lying.
Okay.
um we've got a great show for you today jason and i uh we'll catch you up on the latest news we got hungry for more we've got a thursday night preview and we got saturday games this week as well so um there will be a trickle of points available to all players to tilt about you know what i mean like every i like that yeah you want the maximum amount of
blood pressure medication taken this week and you get you know doses you know we're like micro dosing the football this weekend where it's like okay you get a game on thursday yeah all right you know a little bit of information saturday here's another game just more information but you still don't know all the way through uh the weekend it should be a fun experiment
Yeah, that'll be fun. Just got to take care of business this week. We're going to help you do it. That's what this show is all about. You can find the community at jointhefoot.com. I also wanted to let people know. We mentioned it late on the show. I was just reaching in. We got some mini helmets on shotballers.com now.
We went with the white helmet on the set today.
Oh, in the middle of the set? Yeah. Yeah, we had some brand new helmets made for the set, and then we've got minis available now at shotballers.com, and you can check those out. They are pretty cool. Yeah, yeah, we've been wanting those for a long time. So we finally got them up there, and we'll have, you know, the Foot Clan title t-shirts coming up at the very end of the year.
So we'll get the team working on those. It's championship season.
Yeah, two weeks away.
All right, let's move on to Hungry for More.
Welcome to Hungry for More, presented by Uber Eats.
Okay, well, hungry for more, Jason. I think I'm going to let you start. I like the name.
Yeah, I am hungry for more of a player who I think is very, very talented, and we have seen almost none of this year. It's Tajay Spears, second year running back for the Tennessee Titans. He got injured in the middle of the year, has really been relegated to – A full-blown backup.
This is not like a timeshare where he's, you know, this is a guy who, for the most part on the course of the season, hasn't had many opportunities to touch the ball double-digit times. And for fantasy purposes, you pretty much have to touch the ball at least 10 times at the running back position in order to be relevant. Tony Pollard is super banged up. Tony Pollard exited the last game.
We're not sure his health. I expect that he will try to tough it out and play. But I also think that Tajay will be more involved. We have seen him in the past be kind of that 1B to the starter. Last year, you know, he was out snapping Derrick Henry when they had Derrick Henry as a rookie. The head coaching staff really likes Tajay, and now that he's back and healthy, he looked good last week.
He got two touchdowns. I mean, he was the running back five last week. It was on the back of those two touchdowns, and it took Tony Pollard's injury, but the combination of him being healthy, Tony Pollard being unhealthy, and the matchup against the Colts, who... The last five weeks, they have just been a sieve to running backs.
The only team, you look at the Jets scored seven and a half points over their expectation. The Lions, over their average, which was already high, scored five extra points. The Patriots scored more points. The only team that hasn't really beat them down in the running game was the Denver Broncos. Yeah, they're not running backs. Yeah, exactly. It's like, okay, how can they?
Well, and the other point to bring up is he had two five-zone carries before Pollard's exit last week, which was something significant, surprising. Pollard had already scored. Then they got down on the goal line. Spears had the opportunity to score, got stood up. They kept him out there, gave him a second carry. He rose into the heavens and scored.
So – It makes sense. I imagine that was what it looked like when they brought in, when they boated in the Statue of Liberty. And it was just coming down the river with the arm raised high. That's how it happened, right? That's how it arrived? Yeah. Yeah, I wondered if you really... I'm pretty sure that's... Down the river. Down the river. The Atlantic River? You know, the ocean river.
Yeah, gotcha. Yeah, but Tajay Spears, huh? Jalen McMillan is my name. We talked about him a lot yesterday, so I won't belabor the point. You won me over. He has been targeted on 24% of his routes in the last two games. He scored three touchdowns. He's a third-round pick. He's got Dallas on the schedule, and they need his explosive ability in the game. I mean, they just do.
They need it at the wide receiver position. When you're talking about Sterling Shepard having involvement in the offense, it tells you everything you need to know about their need for Jalen McMillan. He's a rookie, so acclimation, route running, dealt with injury. It's a slow burn, but he's here.
Kyle, can you look up and see if there was any change in the last couple weeks of his slot utilization? Because when Chris Godwin went down, we were very, very excited for Jalen McMillan because I think he's a talented rookie who was the slot guy in college and seemed like he could really step into that role. When Chris Godwin went down, he literally didn't move into that needed role.
He was still playing on the outside where I don't think his talents align. I'm just curious if the last couple weeks have coincided with them utilizing him in a better way or not. It looks actually the opposite. So less slot the last two weeks. Interesting. Maybe he's just leveling up as a rookie then.
He's just capitalizing too on opportunities where earlier in the year he had targets and did not have a high catch rate and didn't take advantage. But the matchups are good. So I'm hungry for more Jalen McMillan making an impact on fantasy teams. I was hungry for more. Presented by Uber Eats where you can get the best deals on game day food all season long.
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News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance.
All right. Well, look, everybody's paying a little bit of closer attention to the news relevant to them. And what's relevant to you, Andy? Well, I think it's more than just myself in this case.
But I know you're paying close attention to Joe Mixon.
Yeah, Joe Mixon is the one I'm very, very concerned about. The matchup is not good. It's Kansas City. We looked extensively at the motivation factor for Houston yesterday. They have about a 1% chance of getting the two seeds. So moving from the four where they're pretty locked to the two where Buffalo is because Buffalo would have to lose to three terrible teams. That's not going to happen.
There is a higher chance to move to the three seed. That would be passing Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh has Baltimore this week. Houston has the opportunity if they beat Kansas City. If for some reason Mahomes sits, if they take it easy, whatever. If Houston can get by, that would be the motivation you'd want. At that point, Houston has a game with Baltimore down the stretch.
There would be a realistic shot if – You know, if Baltimore wins this week and Houston wins this week, which means they want to win, if both of those things happen, their odds of getting that third seed go up tremendously, more within their control. And so all of this to say, like, what is the status of Joe Mixon? We've been looking into that. It was a hip drop tackle. They've come out again.
This is the second time he's been injured due to a hip drop tackle on his ankle and a penalty was not called. So a lot of his discussion.
I feel like I haven't seen a hip drop penalty the whole season. I've seen plenty of hip drop plays.
Yeah. No, there were other ones last week too. But we do have a clip of Joe Mixon yesterday chatting about the injury and where he stands.
The best thing is I'm up walking. I've obviously finished the game, so I'm just going to keep on trying to do whatever I can to attack recovery and get ready for Saturday. Do you feel good for Saturday, though, the way you're feeling right now? Do you feel like you're on that track? Yeah, I mean, we start to play all football right now. I mean, I got to be there. I'm going to be there.
I'm going to be there for my teammates and obviously for myself. I just got to do whatever I can, like I said, to attack recovery today, tomorrow, Friday, and obviously the game on Saturday.
What was your reaction to hearing that, Jason? Because I was very curious. You hadn't heard that clip yet. I had got it ready before the show, and I knew you'd hear it fresh. And I wanted to know if you were more optimistic, pessimistic.
I think the takeaway there is a little bit more optimism in the sense that he is viewing it in the light of the playoffs have started. They care about the seeding. I was looking it up because I knew that Baltimore plays on Saturday as well. And if that game goes the wrong way for the Texans, then their motivation is gone. However, the Texans play first.
So when the Texans play, they are still playing for an increase in their seeding. um you know longer home field through the playoffs very important so the fact that he he discussed it um in the context of the playoff starting the that it mattered because when you read the quote I had read the quote I had not heard it and it's just like I'm gonna be there it's like
Like, well, I know you're going to be there, but will your helmet be on?
I did wonder, you know, after our discussion yesterday, his comment about being there for his teammates, and then he said for myself. And then I'm thinking back to the contract incentives. He's had 910 rushing yards. He's got an 1100 rushing yard incentive. So there is a being there for yourself aspect to it. But the reality of the mixing situation is that if he's active, this is a Saturday game.
You're not, you know, if you know he's active, how do you not play him? He's the horse that got you here on Saturday and just hope that you end up with the outcome you're happy with.
Yeah, I mean, you're going to play. There's no world where you don't play Joe Mixon and he can easily, I think Joe Mixon has a very down game.
Yeah, like what, 10 points?
I think 10 points. I think that's kind of what you should be expecting. I'll bet he gets a lot of volume. It's very inefficient. You're praying they get around the goal line. I mean, they are playing against Kansas City. They're number one in the fewest fantasy points given up to the running back position. And I expect that he is banged up.
I mean, also in that quote, all he's talking about is hitting recovery.
No, and he said he's not. I mean, he didn't practice. I think at best you'll see a limited practice.
So you'll have a hobbled Mixon against a great rush defense, you know, in a bad environment. The game is in Kansas City. So, yeah, I mean, you're hoping for 10 points, but I can't imagine you have someone better to start than Joe Mixon in the playoffs.
Yeah, yeah, that's kind of where you're at. And if he didn't play, you also would know early, right? I mean, you'd be getting that information quite a bit earlier. I'm looking at Kansas City, and I'm curious how they've performed against running backs in recent history. We'll have to take a look at that too. I'm sure they've been shutting them down just like they have most of the year.
Miami last week. Yeah, yeah, we'll see.
Yeah, they have – Miami scored over their expectation last week, and that was the first time on the entire season that a team has even hit their average.
They have not – I mean, they – Fifth against running backs in recent history, yeah. Okay, we got news, big news, that – You know, Kirk Cousins is getting sat down.
I mean, I can't believe that this is second in the news here.
Well, that's my fault. Remember the bias I told you about?
Yeah, yeah.
The players you care about. I don't have a lot of dependency on Kirk Cousins, but the Falcons did financially.
Holy moly.
One touchdown, nine interceptions in the last five games. They're sitting him down. Michael Penix Jr. taking over as starting quarterback. And... Here's what we know. We pointed and laughed at Kyle during draft day. And now you're... The mistake is either drafting Pennix or signing Cousins. It looks like the mistake was signing Cousins.
I...
thought about this and there's only one thing to root for here and that is for the Falcons to win the Super Bowl and everyone to just all the draft pundits and you know all the problems of why would you spend that draft capital on a player that can't help you win now if he comes in and is good gets them to the playoffs wins a playoff game or whatever it will be incredible now for fantasy purposes I
I'm terrified. Is this an upgrade for Drake London because of how bad Kirk Cousins was playing? It could be, certainly. Kirk Cousins threw one touchdown in the last five games, so that's great. Historically speaking, rookie quarterbacks haven't been you know, positive assets for wide receivers. But I mean, this is the new NFL. We, we had, we had that be different last year with CJ Stroud.
We've had that obviously be different this year with, uh, Bo Nix. Yeah. Bo Nix and Jane Daniels. And so, uh, also Pennix has had time, uh, to sit behind the starter, to learn the system. And so I guess we're going to see. What's your expectation? Like Darnell Mooney, the guy who just goosed.
That's the biggest negative impact to me. Because to me, Mooney was the one dissecting defenses, timing routes, where Cousins had picked him as a favorite. I don't know.
Can you play Mooney this week?
No.
So Mooney is a full bench.
No, the switch involves – I mean, he just came off a goose with Cousins. The variable here of a brand-new quarterback going into semifinal week is too much for me. Mooney was not in a must-start category. He was a flex guy.
Yeah.
So to me, I'd be trying to find somebody with more certainty, and look, it could be the wrong call. We just don't know what to expect from Michael Penix. That's the reality of the situation, and that variable freaks me out. Some people, maybe not. Maybe you're more risk-averse. Maybe you want to take the shot. I don't. I don't think it's good for Bijan.
I don't think it's good for the offense predictability-wise.
Yeah, my initial reaction was certainly that this is – Bad for Bijon, bad for the offense, bad for scoring opportunities. When you look a little bit deeper, though, they just scored 15 points against the Raiders.
Yeah, they're not scoring.
The week before, they scored 21. The week before, they scored 13. The week before, they scored 6. The week before, they scored 17. Can't get much worse. Penix can score 20 points. Not that he will, but like... They're also heavy favorites this week against the Giants. Right, yeah. There's an opportunity. It's a great matchup. We're all curious. To get a start.
So maybe you do need to throw in a Mooney and Hope. Sure. Maybe Bijon gets more scoring opportunities.
You're just saying that the baseline's been so low for Atlanta for five weeks, it can't get much worse.
The usual refrain is rookie quarterback coming in equals bad right now for offense. but offense has already equaled bad right now, so nowhere to go but up.
This is really good math analysis. Yeah. Here's where you go down. Browns are starting Dorian Thompson-Robinson. That sucks. Jameis Winston was benched. It seemed like it was going that direction. That's what we said yesterday, that we kind of expected that, but... Oh, I mean, this is so. Oh, my God. He's never scored more than 13 points in a game as a starter.
He is a terrible quarterback. Dorian Thompson Robinson is one of those backups that shouldn't be a backup. It's a third string. Yeah, he's a third. I mean, he was a third string, so that's fair. You are taking away our Jerry Judy. You are taking away our David Njoku if he's active. You are taking away Cedric Tillman coming back from concussion protocol who was going to be right in the lineup.
And now I don't know that you could start anyone outside of Jerome Ford.
It's not a great sample because Jerome Ford has played a committee-back role historically with the Browns. His numbers are better splits-wise with DTR than they are Winston, but they're not good with either historically. I was trying to find some correlative, like what do you expect? I mean, he caught more passes with DTR than he did with Winston. It's small stuff. It's not really predictive.
He's a starter now. He's not a backup. He is playable in this game. I do believe that the Bengals matchup is going to be very good for Jerome Ford.
Yeah.
I think DTR might run a decent amount in this game, and you've got to hope they give you a goal line opportunity for Ford because it's probably going to be one, one opportunity. Three points, 13 points, 12 points, and three starts for him last year. Bengals playing for playoff lives. Browns are done. They're toast. We got IR for Nick Chubb. And Jerry Judy, terrifying. You're probably playing him.
Oh, man.
I mean, I'd play him over Mooney.
Yeah. Wow.
Just because of how good he's been and how elite he's been.
How good he's been in the matchup against the Bengals. You know that they're going to have to throw the ball a ton in this game. The Bengals are going to roll over the Browns this week.
Titans are also making a switch to a backup. Mason Rudolph taking over for the Titans. This is more of the can't get worse than it was situation. He actually, you know, Calvin Ridley had piles and piles of targets for Mason Rudolph when he started this year. I think he averaged 12 a game. So could it be a little bit better for Calvin Ridley? I think so.
Yeah, for sure.
I've seen Will Levis play.
I don't view this as a downgrade. I don't necessarily view it as an upgrade either, but it doesn't change my outlook. I'm hungry for more Tajay Spears. The matchup is really good against the Colts, and the quarterback change doesn't affect it at all to me.
Aidan O'Connell trending upwards to playing this week. Did you see the comment? I think it was through Barstool. Dave Portnoy had talked to Antonio Pearson in an elevator the other day, and he said he was competing because he's a New England fan. He said, we're completing for the number one pick.
That's what Antonio Pierce said?
Yeah, for first place or something like that. It was some kind of comment regarding the fact that the Patriots and the Raiders are competing for the opportunity to have a higher draft pick. That's where they're at.
So then Aiden O'Connell should trend towards not playing.
Yeah, I don't think you win with either guy. But yeah, it was just one of those acknowledgments of the team's demise. Which makes it hard. I mean, Aiden O'Connell is much better than Ritter. However, Brock Bowers' confidence goes down with either guy.
Yeah, all of them. I mean, you're still going to start Brock Bowers because he's a man of a lot. Jacoby Myers is the real start or must-bench guy. It's almost like must-start and must-bench.
If O'Connell was there, was he a better start to you than Adam Thielen with Bryce Young in Carolina?
Yeah, for sure. Really? They're playing against Jacksonville this week, who is 32nd against quarterbacks, and they give it up against wide receivers. You saw last week Aaron Rodgers look like Superman against Jacksonville. So, yeah, I would certainly play Jacoby Myers if Aidan O'Connell is the starter.
Mahomes, full participant in practice. Yeah, that makes sense. He's going to play. Hollywood Brown, full participant in practice for the Chiefs.
That's really interesting. The reports that he could actually be on the field in Week 16 is surprising for a player who missed so much time and just got activated. You'd expect them to kind of pull the pacheco where they activate his window and then give him a couple weeks of practice before he's out there, but it seems like they really need him.
We also got news that Brees Hall did not practice estimated DMP today.
Oh, don't worry about that. I'm telling you, Brees Hall gonna be awesome this week. And why is that? Because I am out of the playoffs in the two leagues I have him. And that's what he did to me last year.
So you have two years of pain from one man.
Yes. It feels like four years of pain because it's the two main leagues.
Yeah, yeah. It's four knives over two years. George Pickens, DMP on Tuesday, still dealing with the hamstring. We'll monitor that. But that's a scary start as well. You know, if he's active, I'm sure you're playing him. But their offense has not been anywhere the same without him. That was today's News and Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance.
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Thursday Night Breakdown
Well, semifinal week will begin on Thursday. Denver traveling to L.A. to take on the Chargers. Denver sitting at 9-5, Chargers 8-6, and slipping. They're slipping. The DraftKings Sportsbook line, Chargers minus 2.5 at home, however. Over-unders just 42. That's low. That's low. Right now, they are both playoff teams.
They are currently the 6th and 7th seed in the playoffs and with a decent lead in those spots, but very important game. Both defenses are tied for number one in points per game allowed. So, you know, I don't know. Maybe, Kyle, you can dig up the health of Patrick Sertain because...
he twisted his ankle I think it was a minor injury but it's a quick turnaround and that would be significant for the McConkie huge universe yeah this is this is a real interesting game uh you saw that so the Chargers defense for the most part this year has been very very good um last week they were very very bad Baker tore him apart I think the Bucks put up 40 on him um
This being a divisional matchup with two really good defenses scares me for fantasy points scored. I feel like they're going to be well-prepared for each other, and this could be a low over-under that could not get there.
Sertan is healthy, by the way, the latest report. So Sertan will be out there. Bo Nix, there's been a lot of trust there with Bo Nix and with Cortland Sutton. The matchup over the last six weeks has been much better. Like you said, the Chargers have given up some points. They've been slipping.
Part of it is that their offense is missing pieces and success and running game and short fields and mistakes, and Stone Smart has become a talking point in fantasy. That's not where you wanted to be if you were the Chargers.
How bad is Joshua Palmer? Real bad. I don't understand because he was always so fine. That's the compliment. He was so fine whenever Keenan or Mike Williams went down.
He had a 6 for 78 game two weeks ago, good enough for 30th. He's had a wide receiver 23 week and a wide receiver 27 week, but no, not very many boom games. McConkie has been really the guy. He's averaging 88 yards a game since the injury or since week eight. So, you know, you can play McConkie. For sure.
He is not the kind of player that gets followed all over the place, and he'll have his receptions. Quentin Johnson's healthy, but scary, and I don't know if I'd really want to.
I would not.
This is why I like McMillan more than him and Waver.
Yeah, and I get it. I would start McMillan over him as well. Looking into the specificity of the matchup, a low over-under, Patrick Sertan on the other side, a primetime game. You know, it's like, how's Quentin Johnston going to do in primetime when that ball's in the air dropping to his hands? You know what I mean? Because it's a mental issue.
The extra cameras can distract.
Yeah, so I would be shocked. I mean... He's an athletic guy that could get a bomb touchdown from the most beautiful thrown ball that there is in the NFL from Justin Herbert. But in the playoffs, I can't start quitting Johnston in this matchup. I mean, the Broncos are number two against wide receivers.
55!
That's the baseline. And then you hope it ends up more like 8 for 100 and a touchdown. But he's not the type of player that I think could go out and goose.
Corlin Sutton's in your lineup, though, right? Because this is a situation where you trust the alpha on this offense. But beyond that, I mean, you don't have probably Jillian McLaughlin anymore, so Javante and Estime.
Just Sutton. It's just Sutton. I'm not going to start Javante or Estime. I'm not going to start Bo Nix either. He has thrown quite a few interceptions recently, looked a little bit worse than when he was on fire. This is a tough matchup. Cortland Sutton is fine, but that's it. It's basically just Cortland Sutton on that side of the ball and no one else.
I think we're due for a Deucer's Alley combo mailbag drop.
Oh, well, that sounds delightful.
Let's get the camera over there. I never took a dump on air.
No, I mean, it's just... I got you. You're in the alley, man. Here we go.
Mailbag!
Oh, my gosh. Car wreck.
I'm... Do we allow him to fix that in post?
Yeah, he can lower the volume for safety. Okay, I can just mute Matt and it'll be fine.
Oh my lanta. Is that who screamed into the mic like a freight train? Okay, so here's what the audience, you won't understand because we will do you a blessing and we will fix this so you will never hear what Amy and I just heard. Right, we're pretty deaf. But I'm like, you know those smell insults? Yeah. Dude, we got something better.
we got something better for yeah i am awake i can i can see sound this is incredible yeah yeah yeah that was um that's as close as i've been to being hit by a train yes yeah i mean honestly really really good work back there you knocked the wind out of me um good job now papa josh says he doesn't want to be lumped in with the other trashed
That was terrible.
But I think Al doesn't want to be lumped in either.
Yeah, I killed it.
Yeah, okay. All right. Well, it signifies the mailbag, Jason. We are into the mailbag. And if you have a question and you want to subject us to that drop again, by the way, get back. Get well, Mike. Get well. We need you. Go to the website, thefantasyfootballers.com. Click that submit a question button. Dial the voicemail hotline, 302-464-TFFB.
And we have a lot of questions about Jaden Daniels this week. There is significant worry about Daniels versus the Eagles. And the most asked question by far is what quarterbacks would you actually start over Jaden Daniels, who was the quarterback 24 against the Eagles last time. The Eagles defense is very healthy. The offense for Washington is not healthy. Noah Brown is gone.
Zach Ertz, probably out. Zach Ertz is a very nice safety blanket underneath for Jaden Daniels moving the football. This one is a tough one. You've got a rookie quarterback in a difficult situation, but he's been so good. Jordan Love against New Orleans. or Jaden Daniels against Philly.
That's a really difficult one. Obviously, that could be a situation where you have those two players. Jaden Daniels wasn't a highly drafted guy, so maybe you held on to both. I'm not moving away from Jaden Daniels in this week. They played earlier in the year, and Jaden had a down game. He had like 13 fantasy points, and that could happen again. But Jaden got me there. Jaden Daniels is great.
He is very, very good at football. We watched last week, and this is an important game for them. Now, the Eagles defense is really, really good, but it's not like they don't – it's not like they – You know, Lamar just put up 25 fantasy points against them a couple weeks ago. They aren't some defense that is impossible to score against. This is a divisional matchup.
Those can always turn into a slugfest. But I want the Jalen Hurts versus Jaden Daniels. I'm not moving away from Jaden Daniels. I think he's going to run the ball a lot in this game. Not having the safety blanket of Zach Hurts might just mean you've got to take off and run. And for fantasy, that's fine.
So over Goff against Chicago, over Tua against San Francisco? Definitely. Over Darnold against Seattle?
They're back-to-back in my rankings, and I've got Jaden Daniels ahead of them.
Over Baker against Dallas?
That one, I might go Baker. Baker against Dallas is... So right now, my rankings go Baker, Jaden, Sam Darnold.
Okay. Let's jump into a voicemail question here.
Hey, what's going on, fantasy footballers? This is Tristan from Texas, and I need some quarterback starting advice. I'm in between Tyler Murray or Bo Nix.
So Tristan is between Kyler Murray and Bo Nix. Kyler has the Panthers. Panthers are a great matchup for quarterbacks. The Broncos, we just talked about it. Chargers, Thursday night, low over under. I would play Kyler.
When the question started with should I play Kyler or I would. Just locked and loaded to say the or.
You were on the or.
I was on the or, but I don't like the matchup for Bo Nix. Both of these players have the ability to dud. Both of these players have the ability to actually have good games. I mean, Kyler is as untrustworthy as it gets, but he still had a handful of really, really good fantasy games. And this matchup against Carolina...
They're favored by four and a half. Broncos are underdogs by two and a half.
I'll play Kyler in that matchup.
Really big popular start-sick questions around Jalen McMillan, Jaden Reed, and JSN. So the Js. Okay. First question from Munoz says, are you worried about JSN?
This is a Geno Smith question probably about his health. I mean, I'm not worried about JSN in general. If Geno is not playing... then JSN certainly takes a couple steps backwards. The matchup is very good against Minnesota. This is a team that's going to put up points. You can't run on them, so they're going to have to throw the ball. I would not say that JSN moves to a must-bench level.
He's been too good. And they said that the knee is structurally okay for Geno, right? So Geno is also as – he's tough as nails. I think he'll be there, but I'm probably going to be playing JSN.
So that would be JSN over McMillan.
Yes, I would play JSN over McMillan.
That would be Jalen McMillan or Keenan Allen for an underdog. I'm going to go – This is from Ben Sharp.
I'm still going to stick with JSN.
He wasn't an option. It was Jalen Millen or Keenan Allen on that one.
Oh, Jalen or Keenan Allen. Oh, man. That one is really tough. How are you feeling about Keenan Allen? Pretty okay. I still feel like I have a hard time trusting him. He plays against Detroit this week, which is wonderful right now with the way that Detroit has sadly lost its entire defense. Man, do I love Dan Campbell. Just listening to how he talked about –
all these injuries and and I guess it was even more on the offensive side of the ball he's just a solid dude I would want that to be my if I was a player and I could pick my coach Dan Campbell is who I would want to play football for he might not even be the best coach but like I feel like Dan Campbell would get in a fight for me, and so I'd want to play ball for him.
Yeah? What other coaches? You've been a Tomlin fan.
Oh, I love Tomlin.
You'd rather play for Dan Campbell?
But if I'm getting in a fight and my head coach has to come in, I want it to be Guns Mahoney. Not Tomlin. Tomlin will just give him the dad stare and stop the fight that way. I want punches thrown.
You ever see the story about Andy Reid when he was an offensive coordinator? Yes. And he had to pretend to be yelling in a player's face, and he was basically saying calmly, like, I'm going to be really demonstrative here, and I'm going to say a bunch of stuff. I need you to act like I'm yelling at you, but I just wanted to tell you that you're doing fine and you're doing good with the coach.
It was amazing. Yeah, the old head coach for the Seahawks was an angry, ornery guy. And so the expectation was that the – Holmgren, was it? Yeah, I think it was Holmgren. And, yeah. Was it Hasselbeck? Yeah.
And he's like, I'm going to come out and pretend I'm yelling at you, but you actually did that. You ran that play pretty well, and I like what you're doing.
Turns out that, like, people respecting their coaches – It kind of matters. Human beings, I think we like to respect people we work for.
Yeah, and the tough part about being the player's coach versus tough guy versus all that stuff is it's mostly about when you need to be what. Yes. And that's like kind of emotional intelligence from a coach as opposed to pretending. Like if you decide as a head coach, I need to be tough right now, you've already lost the battle. You should know that already.
And if you're like, oh, I need to be a player's coach right now, they will see through that fakeness too.
Dan Campbell, Mike Tomlin, Andy Reid, they will lay down the law, and they will hold you accountable. They will make sure that if you're doing something wrong, it is pointed out. But they're not just going to be tough guys to be tough guys. Mike McDaniel, I'm not sure he has ever...
tough lay down some law i think everything is always okay that you know what i mean yeah i get it he's a player's coach that's fun but um yep yep a uh i tend to agree jayden reader discipline uh jayden reader jamison williams logan writes in on instagram wants to know read uh where our confidence is williams where our confidence is
I I'm more confident in Jamison Williams than I am in Jaden Reed. Jaden Reed can have, uh, you know, obviously at the beginning of the year, he had a ton of touchdowns looked good. Um, The emergence, the – what's – is that the word I'm looking for? It could be.
Of Josh Jacobs? You're going to have to finish the sentence. The emergence of Josh Jacobs? Ascension?
I mean, what are you saying? Like, Josh Jacobs has just been a touchdown machine lately. Okay. So, I think against the Saints, I worry that it's – you know, it should regress back to the mean. But right now, it's working every game, and that's hurting the receivers – for the Packers, the touchdown opportunities. So, you know, I'm going to go Jamison Williams.
I would try Jamison Williams out there. Higher probability of that big, big play. An unknown with no David Montgomery and how that offense is going to function, and that unknown can lend itself towards Williams' targets. That's where I would go as well. So we'll take a quick break and jump back into some more mailbag questions.
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All right, this next question comes in off of Instagram, Jason. Is Amari Cooper droppable for the Packers defense?
Yeah. Of course. Any mid-level questionable starter at this point, I think, is droppable for someone that you need. I mean, unless your opponent has the most monstrous hole at that position.
I mean, I would not be afraid of my opponent picking up Amari Cooper. I might be excited.
Sure. Obviously, Amari Cooper can get it done and have a big game. If I'm a huge underdog, he's the type of player I would throw in a lineup. But most people in the playoffs, especially in round two, you have good teams. You don't need that kind of uncertainty.
Amari Cooper's five games played. Actually, I'll include the game he came and scored a touchdown in week one. Just so you know, Amari Cooper, the bill. Okay. On pace for 45 receptions, 654 yards. Oh, awesome. And 2.8 touchdowns.
2.8, you say? Yeah. That's about what Jamar Chase scores every game.
And it's only 2.8 because he scored one time in that first game. He has not scored since then.
Jamar Chase is on pace for 1,700 yards and 18 touchdowns.
Yeah, you got to make the moves now that don't feel like normal moves. If you've conditioned yourself for 13 weeks to think about your insurance back, And having depth at this position and keeping this guy away from somebody else. And you're sitting there and you could pick up the Green Bay Packers against Spencer Rattler and no one and no Camara at Lambeau. You have to make that move.
What your potential loss of points is later is lower than your potential gain in points today. You have to live short term. There is no tomorrow. And I promise you, if you lose this week, you will find no solace staring at your bench of depth next week.
Correct. And I also promise you, if you drop your backup and your starter gets injured, But the move you made helped you win this week. It's a net win, I promise. Yeah, you're fine. You're fine. Also, in case people were like, why is he bringing up Jamar Chase when you're talking about Amari Cooper? I just bring that up because you were gifted. I have a purpose here of bringing this up.
You were gifted Jamar Chase.
I made a great trade.
You clicked accept. Yes.
It wasn't all that went into it. I pursued Chase for weeks. You know who else pursued him and didn't have an accept button to click? Al Borland over there.
I made a way stronger offer. You very much did.
It wasn't just Omari Cooper, you clowns.
However. The reason I'm bringing this up is because I want, this is a case study on hype. Yes. On trading on hype. Amari Cooper has sucked. He has been irrelevant. As a bill, he is worthless. But when that trade happened and he went to the bills. There had no receivers. There was the what if. Oh, my gosh. He could be a top five. He could turn into Jamar Chase.
I had made an offer. I'll just lay it out there. This is not a defense. I had made an offer with Amari Cooper. It was Cooper, Njoku, Mooney, and two picks for Chase. No, I'm not doing it, he says. My good fortune was the trade happens. All of a sudden, the sugar plums are dancing in the mind of this other manager.
So you made the trade offer when Amari Cooper was a Brown.
He says, no, I'm not doing that. It just so happened that within the next 24 hours, Cooper goes to Josh Allen and the Bills. The same offer comes back to me. And you couldn't click it quick enough. I mean, so fast, so fast. Yeah, because you got Jamar Chase for nothing. Because I'm already trading Cooper as if he was great. Yes. And there's a what if in the equation.
When these trades happen, Hopkins. Hopkins got traded for in a lot of leagues with Kansas City. Cooper, when a midseason trade happens, all you see is the greatest possible outcome. Not everybody.
Yeah, so that's the point.
But you're trading it on the value of the accomplishment.
Whenever a player's value is super high on hope, trade at that level. If you can get something at that level, always do it.
We've said that for dynasty leagues a lot. We've said that for pre-draft trading, the value of the player. If you're getting the value of them performing to their maximum outcome. Yeah, it's not just trade them. Yeah, then you're winning no matter what. Yeah, because you're getting the value back. Yes. But it is a good point that I have Jamar Chase that you brought up.
That you shouldn't have Jamar Chase that I brought up. Yes.
Well, you know, not everyone listens to the show, Jason. All right, we've got more questions. Packers defense or Falcons defense? Falcons playing well. Sacking the quarterback playing Tim Boyle and the Giants. Packers against the Saints.
Wow, both are on the road. Falcons are on the road, right? I know the Packers are in New Orleans, so I'm going to go. Oh, they're both at home. Yeah, they are. Okay, then I'm going to go with the Packers.
Okay. Is the Bengals defense – this is from – I want you to answer that.
Which one would you go with?
100%.
I am thinking motive over skill because the Browns are starting DTR.
Yeah, I mean, I would love... You did this last week with Will Levis, and it worked out. Yeah, I'm super happy to play the Bengals. The Bengals' defense is bad in real life, but they do things that score in fantasy. You know, they sack the quarterback. They cause turnovers. And with DTR at quarterback, I would be fine playing the Bengals.
Do you feel the same way, and this is a question coming from me as a follow-up, do you feel that way about Jacksonville's defense, 30th in the league, but could be playing Desmond Ritter?
If I knew it was Desmond Ritter, yeah. If it's Aiden O'Connell, no.
Right. I agree with that. Cody writes in on X, do you go with a regular pepperoni pizza?
Mm-hmm.
Or pull out all the stops for your opponent during the playoffs. Okay. This is a question regarding a very... Successful... Common strategy if you are a follower of the show. Right. Which is you pre-congratulate your opponent.
You let them know how great they are. Buying them a pizza. Well, you take care of them. You are... it's the opposite of trash talk.
And you did not buy all a pizza, which might've led to you losing.
I just realized that I didn't get all the pizza. Cause I got Brooks a pizza last year and I beat him and I should have gotten out. I'm sorry. I didn't get you a pizza. I accept your apology. Um, but no pepperoni is fine. You can buy him one now, Al. Pepperoni is absolutely fine. I think a lot of people would say that that is the goat of pizza. I mean, what is pulling out all the stops?
I don't know. Is that stuffed crust? What's pulling out the stops? Is that getting them dipping sauce? I mean, sure. It's not quantity. Total quantity of toppings does not make a better pizza, right? Well, there's cheese pizzas that are better than Supreme pizzas. Yeah, so just adding more toppings. I mean, it's more expensive if you add toppings.
Yeah, this isn't about breaking the bank. Just get your opponent a pizza.
If anything, I'd spell congrats in black olives.
Yeah, or if, you know, depending on the time of year, obviously this can't happen now, but sometimes there's like the heart-shaped pizza. That's just nice. That's just an act of love.
Good reminder, Jay. Al, when we meet next week, congrats. Your team is the best team I've ever seen. You too, buddy. Yeah. Oh, he's already. Pizzified! All right, YouTube question. Travis Kelsey or Britton Strange this week? Sweat, sweat, sweat emoji. Kelsey against Houston, Strange against Las Vegas.
I mean, we talked about this in the context of your dynasty team because, you know, Strange might be on waivers in dynasty and you've got Kelsey. It's going to be Kelsey.
I'm starting to waver just a little bit. For real?
Yeah, I'm starting to waver just a little. It's Kelsey.
Well, no, it would be Kelsey, but I'm wavering on my, like, Otten or somebody else situation. Otten has been awful. Yeah, he's been, you know, but then I look in at Baker and Baker's got three touchdowns. Then he's got four touchdowns the last two weeks.
Yeah.
Who's going to score a touchdown? Is it Mac Jones or is it Baker Mayfield?
Yeah, it's Baker.
So is it Brenton Strange or Tucker Kraft? Where is the line? Because that question came in from Johnny.
Between those two?
Yeah. Are you going 12-target Strange?
I'm going to go with Kraft. I'm going to search for the touchdowns.
Kraft over Strange?
Kraft over Strange, yeah. But I would take Kelsey over both of them. And for the record, that is either with Mahomes or with Wynn.
Got an update that Cedric Tillman remains in concussion protocol.
Okay. I mean, he should not come back. I'm saying now that Jameis Winston isn't there, why bother?
The Falcon over there, who has a great attendance record lately, by the way, Falcon. Going out of town, though, soon. Is that right? Yeah. Okay. He would like pizza for lunch. He just let us know. He would just let us know that we've said pizza enough times. I'm in.
All right. I'm in.
Jason, you paused. I'm eating healthier, but I'll eat a pizza. I mean, you don't have to twist my arm.
All right. Lead me not into temptation. Aaron says, how do you decide what players to start or bench with a stacked roster?
Oh, you just get it wrong. I mean, that's the truth is you're going to look at all the potential information, weather report. You know, are they home? Are they away? What's the overrunners in Vegas? What is going on with your brain right now, Andy? Waivers just went through.
Oh, all right. And I was almost hoping. That I wouldn't get Brenton Strange because I got him. And now I'm going to be staring down Strange, Otten, all week long. Man. Borland decided to play some defense, grabbing Madison.
Smart. And you got McMillan.
Yeah, I got Jalen McMillan. You never know. I mean, if Mixon was out, would you be playing Damian Pierce against Kansas City, sharing the backfield with Agumbo Wallet, or would you play McMillan in your flex? I would play McMillan. Yeah, that's why I did that.
Interesting.
So we'll see. But now I have to decide Stranger or Otten. Do you know any good podcasts I could listen to that might have insight on that dilemma?
Yeah, the Dynasty episode that just came out today from the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty show. Go subscribe.
Now, Kyle, you're listening in, right? And your team in League of Record with Mike is just, I mean, it's been out of the playoffs for a few months here. Do you have an unbiased opinion on Strange v. Otten? I have a super biased opinion. It's always Otten.
Yeah, you are. I mean, if you don't know Kyle's – I don't know what it is with Kate Otten, but Kyle is – Oh, is he kind of in love? Oh, man. He is an Otten truther. It's not true.
He's just on the field. I like that. See, I'm with you with that. I love the snap count. I looked again last week, 92%. He's almost always there. But, man, can we get him some targets, Kyle?
Strange played 82%. I know. I know. 12 targets. I knew. 11 for 73. Well, I'll. A long of nine.
I know. I know. I will have to make that call. And you know what? Here's the final thing I'll say on today's show. Thursday game. Saturday games. Depending on how those go, that might very well make my decision.
If you are a healthy lead, if you look like you're the favorite, I assume that means you'll go strange. Maybe. I don't know. You don't know? I don't know.
I don't know. I think that's probably true, but it's hard to not play a tight end like Kate Otten in the highest overrunner of the week with Baker Mayfield. I think that will probably stay there, but if I got through the week and Otten sucked again, I'd have Strange on my bench. Okay. You know what I mean? Boopity boop. It's going to be a stressful week, I just realized.
It's going to be a stressful week. Thank you for joining us, everybody. Thank you for supporting the show over at jointhefoot.com. We appreciate you. We'll be getting Mike back here soon, I'm sure. We got Christmas coming up and looking forward to that. I believe, what is our recording game plan for next week? I believe we're, are we like, I know we're off on Christmas.
I know we're not recording Christmas.
But are we double trouble on Tuesday or just a Tuesday show?
I think it's just a Tuesday show. I think we're taking off.
Christmas Eve show. Then we're getting out of here, getting with the families.
I believe both weeks, same on New Year's.
Okay. All right. That'll do it for today's episode of the show. Thank you, Deucers minus Falcon for that mailbag drop, and we will catch you all tomorrow. Start to the week.
Thank you for listening to another episode of the Fantasy Footballers Podcast. Join our fantasy football community on jointhefoot.com and follow us on Twitter at the FFBallers.