Week 16 Waivers & QB Streamers + Nasty Boys | Fantasy Football 2023 - Ep. 1526

It's playoff waiver time, there's a bunch of running backs that we're going to discuss and some nasty wide receivers that you may or may not want to pick up. Make sure you subscribe to this channel right now and enjoy. The Fantasy Footballers Podcast, Andy Mike and Jason back with you. Someone with a hot rod outside the studio revving their engine. I was behind a classic Pontiac Grand Am on the way in. Like the kind that Papa Josh would be driving around back in the 80s when he was living it up.

We were just being born in the 80s but that was kind of his peak. Someone is getting, I don't know if that's coming through but they are getting after it. I mean there is an engine outside, there's a car show outside. What else do you do at 9 in the morning? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And don't drive. Just stay right there. Just sit down and rev. And give it some gas. Papa Josh had a firebird not a Grand Am. So I mean I almost nailed it. Yeah, I'll tell you what man. That had to be like just cliche. Oh

yeah. It had to be his saddest day of his life when he let that thing go. You know what I mean? He probably wrecked it. There's no way he didn't pull up to the high school and then get out and lean against it. It was a jean jacket. Are you familiar with Billy Madison? That is. When he pulls up with the Ario Speedwagon. I bring him up because as fate would have it in most perfect form. Josh the betrayer. And my League of Wrecker team are now meeting in the semifinals. One of you will be in the ch

ampionship. One of you will not at the expense of the other. And you have created a wonderful stack for him in Justin Fields and DJ Moore playing against the Arizona Cardinals this week. You'll see if Evil wins based on that matchup it should. It's got a good chance. So we'll find out. We'll keep you posted. He's already started the his best attempts at trolling. Andy came into the studio this morning and had a piece of paper taped to his monitor that highlighted his running backs poor matchup s

chedule. Yeah. Yeah. Coming from the guy that has Derek Henry from last week. So we'll see. It's going to be good versus evil and I am taking the place of good in that situation. I'm rooting for you. Which I this is a new feeling for me. Yeah. You had the capstone the exclamation point on the fart of a weekend that you had. Yeah. Just a hot blast. It was. I mean you were the Arthur Smith of fantasy managers. Yeah. My week was not good. Not good at all. But you know now I live to root for you And

y. Yeah. I don't. How do you even wake up in the morning? Hold on. Hold on. What about your boy? Yeah. Mike made it through in dynasty. He's alive. I will root for you as well where you are. Thank you. Thank you. We are going to try to help you out today. We got a waiver show. Got a Monday night game to recap. We've got a giveaway going on. We're giving away a signed Travis E.T. in Jersey and a bunch of fantasy football or swag. It is free to enter. There are other ways to enter at footclangivew

ay.com. I think we got a couple weeks left. You want to get in there. And that's footclangiveway.com. Now we've added a couple of things in there. Just free things you can do to help the show. Couple of votes for a couple of awards. That was just added right. So like the people who already entered the contest can they go back and get more tickets. They can go get more entries. Yeah. So if you've already entered, good point. Mike, you can go to footclangiveway.com. Click a couple of links. We got

nominated for the sports podcast awards. And there's a couple ways to earn some more giveaway entries. Like I said, waiver wire today. NFL news to talk about. Let's start with the Monday night game. Almost upside of the week. Seattle knocks off the Eagles. Jason, you had your surprise at the pick. That means it's good. That's why I went and bet it immediately. Thank you again. I didn't think I'd have Drew Lock behind center as my. Oh, you also didn't think that the other guy would be very quest

ionable to play. No. And look, Kenneth Walker had a big game. Kenneth Walker was 19 for 86. Look great on the ground. Yeah. That's the highlight. I mean, the, the, at least in our league's scoring format, the tide channel over Kenneth Walker worked out by a point. But Kenneth Walker looked fantastic. And it was the, he's clearly over the injury. Zach Sharpenay was an afterthought. 22 to four. That was the, uh, was that the opportunities? Opportunity count. Yeah. He was an afterthought. This was

Kenneth Walker's team, which that is incredible to see heading into next week that you can, I don't know if there were people out there with like me where you kind of had a pivot option from Walker. I was terrified to play Walker, a banged up Walker against the Philadelphia Eagles. This is, this is great for next week. Uh, Jaylen Hertz, he was, he was pretty good. Scored twice on the ground. Um, I don't know what's going to happen with the Tush Push. But what's going to happen in your like fanta

sy universe? I, we haven't played that out. Like I believe I saw, yeah, I saw a stat that they're like 59 of 64 before yesterday in completing the Tush Push. Um, he scores. I mean, most of his rushing touchdowns come on the Tush Push, uh, a vast majority. Like will that, It'll, it'll have a massive impact on his fantasy value. I mean, you, you, the issue is when you are at the one right now, it is a 100% call. They do it every time. There's no longer this fear of like, Oh, I really hope they qua

rterback sneak it. No, it's like, okay, they will quarterback sneak it. And when Swift went down on the one, which also thank you, you are amazing at going down at the one. Um, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. But when he went down to burn the clock, he fell down so quickly. It literally was when that happened, I jumped because I got a touchdown. Like that moment was me scoring the touchdown. And so yeah, next year, if it is outlawed, you'll have to, you'll have to look at her. It's a little bit

differently. It's not like he won't ever score from the one. They will QB sneak very successfully, but they will, they will call other plays. They will hand the ball off to a running back, which is a good play at the one. Sometimes the only thing that they could ban is the pushing of the tissue. Right. But that doesn't stop Jason Kelsey from turning his legs or, you know, Jalen hurts from turning his legs. So he could still sneak it or jump over the line. I guess is Jason Kelsey back next year.

Yeah. That is a question. The receiving game was not helpful for fantasy. No. AJ Brown, Devonte Smith, Tyler Lockett, you know, Matt Kaplan was okay with his five for 78, Jackson Smith and Jigba with the incredible touchdown on an incredible throw by Drew Lock and completing the upset. DeAndre Swift, if he had scored, you'd have been happy. He was 18 for 74. It's okay. He caught a couple passes. Yeah, yeah, he did. And for one yard, Will Disley did not score a touchdown. No, the bet is over. I

did text Jason as a reply to him, sending me $400 that we can end the bet. And then he said, you know what? Let's end it tomorrow. Let's see if Disney can get me back on the board. Complete the week. But it's only fair. But that's it. Yeah, the bets over because Jason's broke. Anything else from this game you guys want to talk about? I mean, Jalen hurts played through the illness, but they've lost three in a row. They've lost three in a row. I don't think anybody, no Eagles fans should be panick

ing. The San Francisco 49ers did this. You know, they were on fire. They were the best team in the league. And then they lost three games in a row and then they recovered because they're a great team. The Eagles are a great team and it wasn't an interception. Let's move on. Oh man. That would be the Julian Love Intercept. Jason had some strong emotion. We won't get into the debate of it. But Jason. Not a debate. Okay, that's fine. But I'm saying we won't talk about it. We will just say that Jaso

n was a furious man. He was fuming because he wanted, it was funny because it was like, it wasn't going to help you man. I was going to say if it wasn't an interception, they had six seconds from about the 40. You had to get 10 yards for a field goal. Yeah, but you were in over time. Six seconds would have been pretty tough to get down. But there you go. Jason shared his opinions on Twitter. It was a stupid throw. Oh yeah, just run up the middle. You have a time out. I don't know why you throw i

t. Call a time out. You can feel go go to overtime. Whatever. Not an interception. All right. Into the news we go. News and notes from around the league presented by USAA Insurance. Jamar Chase likely to miss some time due to the AC joint injury. You're not going to have him this week most likely. That also impacts if you've been riding wild with Jake Browning. It changes that stream possibility. Yeah, obviously T. Higgins is now back and T. Higgins could become a somewhat reliable play but it w

as the addition of T. Higgins next to Jamar Chase that allowed Browning to have a little bit more success. I would have a really, really difficult time. It is. The streaming Browning Pittsburgh. Yeah the matchup is fine. Yeah. But without Jamar Chase in the second round of the playoffs that'd be tough. Like we're talking our streaming candidates today. There's another guy just as nasty and dirty and widely available that I would be happily start over. Demi call Ryan said C.J. Stroud remains in t

he concussion protocol and the team will see how he progresses through the week. Saw another report that it was the fact that he wasn't like practicing likely means he's still dealing with headaches. And so CJ Stroud's availability will still be very much in question. They play Cleveland at home in the playoff race. They did win with Case Keenum last week, but that is a closely monitored situation, especially for things like, I don't know, confidence in the Cleveland defense or in Noah Brown or

in Dalton Schultz or in even Devin Singletary and then moving the football. Yeah, I was gonna say you could even go to Amari Cooper and Devin Ajo-Ku if Stroud is there, that they become better plays from, you know, a assumed higher total score. For what it's worth right now, Houston is favored by two and a half at home. Okay, so then they- Really? So they're big as the same, I think they're- CJ Stroud should be back. And giving credit to Houston and what they've done, I mean, they did win with C

ase Keenum and their defense is playing well. Isaiah Pacheco, good to go for week 16. That's, it's so funny, cause like last, there were two pieces of news that came out at the same moment. The piece of news was that, well, Isaiah Pacheco had to have surgery. So he's good to go, he'll be back this week. It was like, well, usually when we hear, oh, they should have done that surgery two weeks ago and then got him right back. I don't understand. There's, you could do surgeries to make sure you can

play immediately. Cool. This is unfortunate, Keaton Mitchell, diagnosed with a torn ACL. Yeah. Oh, gross. That play. I accidentally saw it. I avoided it on purpose and then- It is pretty brutal. Mm. Taylor Heinecke will be the new starter for the Atlanta Falcons, cause that was the problem. It was- I mean, it kinda was, but it wasn't just a ridder. Yeah, ridder's interception at the end of the game was something special, but this is, you know, okay, Taylor Heinecke's up. Chris Olave didn't prac

tice again. That's a Thursday night game, right? Yes, sir. Yikes. And then two to out well cleared concussion protocol. Should be back. Infects you to Marcus Robinson. Yeah, that's more of a- Situation. Take that away. That was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance Learn More at USAA.com slash insurance. Let me in, coach. Now that I think about it, Jason, your attention to whether that was an interception or not means that you had hope. Oh. You still had hope in your heart. Good for

you. You needed a touchdown from Devonte Smith from Jalen Hertz. I mean, you were- There was one way. Your odds had been about 1% at that point and that means you weren't retiring. I was watching every second and- You still believed. And my horse in the race is the reason that I am positive it was not an interception. Not because I needed it to not be, but because I watch that thing 800,000 times. I watch from every angle. People saying, no, you're showing a clip from before. No, I'm not. No, I

'm not. Watch every angle. I thought I saw some pellets on the TV angle. I think it's from the other player's knee. Yep, that's where the pellets came from. I'm not, this isn't a debate. That's what, we'd move on. I mean, it was an interception on paper. Like it's official, it's done. Whatever. Why are you guys just back from- I don't know, I'm just saying, it wasn't. His foot did not hit the ground. It's clear and obvious. Yeah, it's funny because you took the opposite approach with the Ridley

touchdown. I just see truth. It's fantasy football is funny because I'm up against, I was playing against Brooks. And as the Seahawk, I mean, DK Metcalf had done very little. And that's who I'm on watch for. But they're driving, you know, the eventual touchdown that won the game. I'm watching, very careful. I'm doing the math. I'm like, okay, he needs 13 points or so right here. Where are we at? Cause we have a two point bonus for a 40 yard touchdown. Like, holy crap, we're still in range of- On

e bomb. Of DK Metcalf destroying my soul. And then as soon as they closed over the 40, it was, ah, yeah. But yeah, there's still that twin. Did you have a twinge of Hope Brooks to the end? Okay, good. Good, yes. We had a listener that it was going back and forth at the end of the game. Where like the JSN touchdown, you know, put them ahead and then Jalen Hertz rushed the football on the final drive and then put them behind. But then Jalen Hertz threw the interception and then put them back ahead

. I mean, fantasy makes games like that really exciting. All right, into the waiver wire we go. At the running back position, there are, you know, quickly mentioned, but certainly not available in any of your playoff leagues. Ty Chandler, of course, he's not there. If he was, he's gotta be your top priority. He might be there. Might be there. Definitely look. Yes. I've been in leagues where I'm surprised, but he's the clear and obvious pickup. You'd dump your fab. I know Madison is supposed to b

e, maybe coming back, I do not expect Madison to be back. I do expect Madison to be back, but I don't expect him to be a better play than Jalen. You expect him back this week? Correct, yeah. Okay, cause he'll come back, but I just did. Yeah, the last report said that he, it looked like he could rejoin practice this week and he just was, basically O'Connell was saying he doesn't know who will be the starter on Sunday. O'Connell was speaking very highly of Chandler. Yeah, it said that he's going t

o be a guy they see featured as a featured role of the offense, which is great. This big news for Ty Chandler managers. Looking more towards actual available players, Justice Hill is near the top of that list. It's not an exciting pickup. They play San Francisco, but I mean, when you look at options and potential starts at running back with Keaton Mitchell leaving, Justice Hill already getting a bunch of snaps. It's a shot in the dark you could take. And the, it's, it might actually be, end up m

ore exciting cause they're playing San Francisco. They're playing Miami next week. And Justice Hill will be passing down the guy, or maybe some, I mean, against San Francisco, can you see the Ravens trailing? Absolutely. And if they're trailing, it is definitely not Gus Edwards. It will be Justice Hill. So I agree. It's not a incredible pickup where you're so psyched that you got Justice Hill, but I think that he could end up with a bunch. And he's, I mean, he's the two minute drill guy. He will

, he will have, he should see some opportunity. He will have so many snaps that are irrelevant. I mean, he will, he will be out on the field a lot. You know, two weeks ago he was on the field 42%, which is a lot for a Baltimore Ravens running back. Like that is, that leads the way. And he scored 1.7 fantasy points. Like I think he'll be on the field. I just don't, I'm not convinced he's good enough to put in. I mean, obviously if you have to get someone, he will be on the field and that's what y

ou want. But like if you were to look between him, who you know for sure Keaton Mitchell's injury is like, he's put, or Zemir White, where there's a question of like, well Josh Jacobs didn't play last week, didn't practice last week, but he's got an extra week, might be back this week. Who would you put in if it was just a priority claim? Would you take the shot at the upside of a Zemir White or the known commodity of a floor, if there is one for Justice Hill? Zemir White, and it's just because

the, the opportunities would be there. I don't think it's going to be anything like last week. Kansas City. Yeah, I mean I- I'd go Justice Hill. Yeah, I'll take 17 opportunities for Zemir White from last week, but I get it. Las Vegas plays Kansas City better than other teams do. I'll say that, but yeah, those two, Chase Brown is another one where- It's also, Kyle, it's on Christmas Day, so that's on Monday? Correct. Okay, so you'll then have that added variable of Josh Jacobs gets an extra day a

nd you won't, like the Sunday matches will be done and you won't know. So maybe prioritize Hill, but then if the news, if we get more information or news- Both should be picked up. Yeah, and don't forget, Christmas games mean Christmasfootball.com is in play. So you can go to Christmasfootball.com. Is this still running? It's still up and running, baby. Hey, Christmas football. Make sure you check it out. What a good website. One of the best websites I've ever been to, Christmasfootball.com. Are

we sure about that? I'm positive. Oh, yep, me too. What a good site. Let's bring up some more conversations here. The running back situation in Indianapolis is in flux. You have Zach Moss, who says he's gonna play through the arm injury, missed time. You have Jonathan Taylor, who people, I think, are holding their breath. It could be back. Do you expect him to be back this week? I do expect him to be back. It is not a guarantee, obviously, but if you just follow the transactions, they did not p

ut him on IR. He has missed three games. Now that happens sometimes, where they take the chance of not putting a player on IR for the hope he could be back before four games, and lo and behold, he's not. But obviously, that does mean that the initial timeline had an expectation that he could get back before missing four games. This is the fourth week. Given the injury to Zach Moss as well, and having to play through that, I have hope that you're gonna have Jonathan Taylor this week. So that prob

ably takes, I agree with you. I think he's probably back. That takes Trace Sermon and Tyler Goodson, probably off the table for teams, unless you are the manager of Zach Moss or Jonathan Taylor. Antonio Gibson probably rostered another name that you could pay attention to, but Brian Robinson could be back this week. So to me, it's like Chase Brown, Justice Hill, Zemir White are at the top of the list. I'm gonna ask Jay, where are you with like Justice Hill versus Chase Brown? Chase Brown, rookie

running back for the bank list. Give me the juice, man. I mean, these are, yeah, Chase Brown has not played a ton. It seems like he has, because they are giving him opportunities when he's on the field, but I- 10 opportunities this past week, 11 before that, nine before that, and I mean, even though- He's very similar to Keaton Mitchell and to Ty Chandler. We're seeing these kind of just explosive speed guys really have success on limited touches as rookies. Chase Brown has looked the part. So

against Pittsburgh, I would rather have Chase Brown than Justice Hill personally. Okay. And then you have, you carry upside that Justice Hill does not have. And the sense that like if Gus Edwards goes down to injury, Justice Hill, you know, he gets a little bit more, but he doesn't go to the moon. Whereas if something happened to Joe Mixon this week, then your championship week, Chase Brown could be a league winner. I also think Chris Rodriguez, Jr. is a name worth bringing up. If Brian Robinson

does not play, Antonio Gibson, I don't know if he was benched or hurt or what, but you know- They went away from him. They went away from him. He's always a fumble away from benching himself. And he is a player that's widely available. And then just final discussion here. What do you do with like Jerick McKinnon with Isaiah Pacheco back and the kind of the narrative that the chiefs were letting out there of, we've been getting Jerick McKinnon more ready for this time of year. Is he still- You'r

e saying whether you drop him or not? Or pick, I mean, he's a sub 50% roster guy. So there's a chance he is out there. Are you, if he happened to be out there versus these other players we're talking about, would you prioritize him or you, with Pacheco back, is it I'm kind of- No, I don't care about McKinnon anymore. Okay. I would still, I would certainly want to not drop him. And I would pick him up not as my main priority. McKinnon, you know, the fact that Pacheco is like, oh, he just had surg

ery. We expect him to play this week. It's Tuesday. You know, he gets out and practice and re-aggravates that shoulder or something. McKinnon is great. So I would not drop him. All right, quick break back with wide outs. All right, who are your favorite wide receiver pickups this week? Noah Brown has to be a great pickup. I know that the Cleveland defense is difficult, but if the sports books are saying with their betting lines that they expect CJ Stroud to be there, Noah Brown's been very, very

good for a handful of times. You don't know about Nico Collins. I don't even know if it's bad if Nico Collins comes back. You know, Tank Dell is gone. And Noah Brown, obviously this last week, just had a monster performance, 11 targets, eight for 82 and a touchdown. He's rostered in about half a leagues, but he would be my number one pickup. Curtis Yammer scored two more times. It can't stop. He does play the Jets this week. So that is unfortunate, but I mean, they've said, we've heard at least

that Sam Howell will be back despite the benching that there's not a ton of hope and optimism there. If you know that Sam Howell goes out there in place poorly, he can get benched. And he's kind of the one who loves Curtis Samuel. It's not the best play, but I think that you're safe with a type of floor. It is, I mean, these were pretty nasty here with these wide receiver pickups. But I think I would highlight again, like I was hungry for more from him. And Dontevian Wicks, who we thought, you

know, had, he had gotten banged up a couple of weeks ago, but he did not miss time. And he ends this game against Tampa Bay with six for 97. And then you throw on top of that. Christian Watson status is still unknown. And Jaden Reed left that game with an injury. So if next week it's, you know, Romeo Dobbs and Christian or Dontevian Wicks against Carolina, I think that he is the type of player that'll give you an okay floor with some upside potential. The one of the names that I think is worth l

ooking at as well. He's had the targets recently. He has the opportunity because of injury. And I love this week's matchup is Parker Washington. Yeah, yeah. Yep. Another nasty boy. Parker Washington finished last week with 12 yards. So he's going to be available. He's out there, but he had six targets. Trevor Lawrence now is going to be, you know, another week removed from the ankle injury. And the match against Tampa Bay is, I mean, they're 29th against wide receivers since Christian Kirk went

down. Parker Washington has been out there running a lot of routes, really involved in the, in the target pecking order. And, you know, if you're scrounging your waiver wire for someone that you could actually throw out into your lineup and get points. Did you mention Zay Jones was hurt? I didn't. Yeah. So that's where Parker Washington's a little more interesting. It was a hamstring injury for Zay Jones in the fourth. So if he is going to miss, the targets have to go somewhere. The New England

Patriots, Bailey Zappi, looks looking a little bit better than what they looked like before. D'Amoreo Douglas and Devonte Parker. He seems to have a rapport with Parker. D'Amoreo Douglas played 72% of snaps, had five targets, Parker had five targets, caught all five of them and played 91% of snaps. I don't want to bury Devonte Parker just cause we're enamored with the younger Douglas. Which of those two would you spot start if you had to make that kind of a nasty decision? Yeah, man, that's real

ly hard against Denver. Not a great game plan and you know, you wonder who Patrick Sartan would be on. I would guess he would probably be on Parker more. Man, if I had to pick between those two, I would go with the hopeful upside of Pop Douglas. But I mean, I don't want to play either of those guys. I would personally play Parker Washington over either one of those players on this week's matchup. Mike? If I have to pick between the two, I'm going to go with Devonte Parker. Although you got to wa

tch the Juju news because he was out and if Juju is back, I think that it makes both of those wide receivers very difficult to spot start. I mean, it might be jumping ahead here, but the answer, even though he left with a fourth quarter knee injury, the answer might be Hunter Henry. Cause we've now had Bailey Zappi starting two games and we've had Hunter Henry as the top three tight end both times. And the first time was off just touchdown power, but this past week, nine targets, seven for 66 wi

th a score. So I think that like, if you're looking for a Patriot, the answer might be Hunter Henry. I will bring up Rashid Jahid on the Thursday game. Olavi could be out. I don't want to, you know, wide receivers have great variability, but Shahid is a favorite of Derek Carr. I would play Shahid over Parker Washington, for example. So Shahid, if he was for some reason out there, at least for me, that would be my, my favorite of the nasty boys. And we, we don't know Keenan Allen, whether he will

be able to play this week, whether he wants to play for a team that is playing for nothing. Oh no, Jason. But I'm just saying Joshua Palmer, would you play him? I wouldn't. With a decent stick. If he's all alone. No, Buffalo just, look what they just did to Dallas. I mean, Buffalo's playing for everything. Chargers are playing for nothing. Yeah, you could get lucky, but it would make me want to die. Okay, all right. I'm with Andy. It makes sense. Maybe you're in a really deep league where Joshu

a Palmer does, is the actual answer for your team. The targets will be there. Assuming Keenan Allen misses, Joshua Palmer is at least the number two option in the offense, but it will be, I mean, you, it'll be rough. He had a broken play, right? Yeah, 79 yard touchdown. Otherwise he had 34 yards. He is going to be the guy. So if you need somebody who's playing every snap, there you go. Right, dirty, nasty. Point per snap. You're looking good. Do you think Keenan plays? See, if health wise, No. Y

eah, health wise, I feel like, no, he could get back, but why rush back for a team that is on the way to top five pick and you're playing for East and stick. That's bro stats. You want them stats? How close is Keenan to some thresholds? He's pretty close to some of his career highs. I think he's got some of them. He's got 1200 yards right now, seven touchdowns, 108 receptions. I feel like he's completed the season. He has completed everything. It was like, I did good. I did good. Put my feet up.

Heal up. Tight end waiver options. Really Hunter Henry's the name to bring up. Hunter Henry's been on fire the rapport with Zappy. You've seen it for a couple of weeks here and he did leave with the injury, but pay attention to that. They played Denver. He's a go to receiver. He's 20% rostered. Tucker crafts, 14% rostered. Those are the two spot start tight ends. If you got, like the best example would be Dalton Kincaid. If you had been riding Dalton Kincaid and then you just got goose. Do you

go back to that in the matchup with the Chargers or do you play a Henry or Kraft? Well, Henry is, I mean, he's set up to disappoint everyone because he looks like a smash start. We've been saying all season, play against Vance Joseph, defense is at the tight end position. That's Denver. Denver's great at giving up points to the tight end. Hunter Henry's the number one target in this offense. He's been great. I would start Hunter Henry over most anyone this week. Certainly over Kincaid. Do you ha

ve an elevated interest in Tanner Hudson with? The absence of chase. Which I think it's sneaky. Yeah. Tyler Boyd. Tyler Boyd could be, Jamar chase commands, what? 25 plus percent of the targets every single week. Those targets have to go somewhere. Not that I love Tyler Boyd the player, but. That's a good point. Jake Browning will, he'll have to throw. We're talking about Joshua Palmer. Yeah, oh yeah. I'd play Boyd over Palmer. And then just the cursory note that if Isaiah likely was still out t

here, you need to pick him up. He's at the tip of the top of the list. Yes. And Darren Waller as well. Would you play Waller over Henry or Kraft or Hudson though? I'd be too afraid to do that. I would order them likely Henry Waller. Okay. Defense of options this week, there's a lot of them. What are your favorites? The favorite? Let's see. I said favorites. I mean, you don't have to pick just one. The Bears defense has been really, really good. They're at home against the Arizona Cardinals whose

offenses looked very bad. They are widely available. So they would be of the teams that are completely available in almost every league. And you're looking for someone to start this week. The Bears would be my start. If you're talking about guys that are out there in half of leagues, then it's the Broncos and Bengals. Broncos and Broncos. Broncos. Play the Broncos. The Broncos play against Bailey Zappi and the Patriots who have not been scary. And then the Bengals get the Pittsburgh hero, right

, Mason Rudolph. Well, it could be Kenny Pickett. The door is for this week? Yes. It's Jar. Yeah, it could be either one, but I feel like the Bengals are safer. Do you wanna go Bengals or you wanna go Packers against Bryce Young? Yeah, I like that one the most. There's a lot of really good options. The Bears one is risky to me because like Arizona scored 29 points against the 49ers last week. I know it was ugly, but they did put up 29. So like, when you're seeing Bryce Young versus Kyler, they h

ad a defensive score, right? They had a defensive score. Yeah, they did. And I'm just looking like, do you go with somebody like Bryce Young who always gets sacked? I mean, he gets sacked four times a week. The Packers have the highest floor to me. Whoever's playing the Panthers, like you just, the Panthers aren't going to come down and put up 30 points on you. Not possible. Yeah, it's not possible. They're really tough to watch. Oh, they are hard. They're hard to watch. They're not good. They'r

e winners. And they beat the Falcons. They're winners. Yeah, baby. Seahawks defense has been playing well. They play Tennessee, which could be Levis, could be Tannihill. I don't know that it mattered. They're also at home. So I think Seattle's sneaky and low-rostered. Agree. And the Colts against Taylor Heinecke. Colts defense has been, I mean, they're a good football team. They play in Atlanta offense that is inept by design. That's the best way that I'm going to put it. That really feels oddly

true. It actually feels like... They are fourth. The Colts are fourth in fantasy points per game at the defense. I don't think people, I think it's sneaky. They turn the ball over a lot. They have a streak going right now. It's insane. I don't remember what it is, but it's like in the teens of games in a row with a turnover. Am I wrong on that? I mean, that's what our website says. Says their defense is fourth in fantasy points. That's what I'm seeing. In the last five weeks, number two, number

two, 12, one, 15, and four on the defensive side of the ball. And the matchups have been juicy. I mean, it's been Carolina, New England, Tampa Bay, Tennessee, and then the Pittsburgh matchup. But just, I mean, Atlanta's juicy as well. So let's talk quarterbacks. It's a lot of fun. Full stream ahead. I want to start with Mike's pick, because this is the setup. All right. No, I'm not saying I endorse it. I'm saying that I understand it, and this is the setup that this man has given us his entire

career, and I'm afraid. I understand that, but it is Baker Mayfield, who's out there in almost half of Yahoo leagues. Perfect passer rating this last week at Lambeau. And on the season, he has more top 12 finishes than Dak Prescott. Baker Mayfield, dude, Baker Mayfield has been like sneaky good. He's not getting you high end finishes like Dak has done, but you had a month run where he was quarterback 11, 10, 7, 10, then kind of hit a low. But the last two weeks, quarterback 12, quarterback 2. An

d you get the Jaguars. I know that it didn't translate to Lamar feeding his wide receivers. But I mean, Lamar really destroyed the Jacksonville Jaguars. So just as an overall game, it didn't get us the fantasy points we want. But if this team is going to win, I mean, it's checking it down to Rashad White, and it's throwing touchdowns to Mike Evans. And who knows? Maybe Chris Godwin has figured something out after this really strange, I'm hurt all week, and then I dominate the Green Bay Packers.

Yeah, I mean, he's obviously coming off a great game in Lambeau. My stream of the week is Joe Flacco, the ancient one. I would love to have a young athletic mobile quarterback to pad my fantasy stats. But if I'm looking on the waiver wire, I find the exact opposite. I find an old, statuesque, great pocket passer. He's got had three starts so far. Passing attempts of 44, 45, and 44. They are letting him rip it. He's got a clear connection with Amari Cooper and David Najoku. I mean, he's been the

quarterback 13, 10, and 9 in his three starts. And now he's playing Houston. Now, Houston's defense is not a terrible defense. But Flacco's been OK. And the hope here is that CJ Strad plays, can score on Cleveland. They're in Houston. It's a controlled weather environment. I think he's going to pass the ball another 40 plus times and is going to be a fine start. I have the Flacco-Geno Smith decision to make in a league where I lost Herbert and then I missed out on Stafford. And it's a thin waive

r wire, so I just grabbed as many as I could. Wow, that's a tough call. So I have Geno Smith, who's my streamer of the week this week. Here's what I want. I want teams and quarterbacks in the Playoff Hunt. And all three of the names you brought up are in the Playoff Hunt. Baker, Flacco, Geno Smith, all the teams fighting for a spot. I understand it with Flacco. I think what's not being said about Cleveland is I don't think it's that much about the game script that's going to force the 44 passing

attempts. I think it's going to be 44 no matter what. People are underestimating the fact that they can't run the football. Jerome Ford has been banged up and not good. Kareem Hunt is the least efficient running back in the game. They can't run the football. That's actually a problem. They're running through the air with David Nijoku underneath and Elijah Moore underneath. And so I think that Flacco is safer than people want to give him credit for. And Houston just shut Derek Henry down to a de

gree that has never been seen. So like Jerome Ford, I don't have a ton of confidence that Ford and Kareem Hunt are going to get it done on the ground against Houston. So I think Flacco is very safe. I think the upside is with Geno. And so that's why he's my pick. Just because he has three elite weapons in the passing game, if he comes back, they're fighting for a playoff spot. They're playing a Tennessee defense that is 27 against Whiteouts. So I'm going Geno if he's back. And then it's Flacco i

f he's not. Both are in play. And then Baker, obviously, they're fighting for a playoff spot as well. All three of those guys, I would take above Jake Browning this week with the weapon problems in Cincinnati. I would take them above Matthew Stafford, who, look, Kyren Williams can get it done. It's a tough matchup against New Orleans. So Stafford would be in play. I don't have a problem with that. I put him in the same category as these guys. But he's not a guarantee. Yeah, that would be really

interesting if you had all of these guys where Stafford would sort in. We'll know more information as the week goes on with injuries to all these players and weather and all of that. But there are good options this week. If you are in the playoffs and you are the team that lost, Herbert. Yeah, I mean, I'll always bring it up. I mean, I won a championship in Dynasty a handful of years ago with Alex Smith, who was a backup to a backup on my team, where I had lost multiple quarterbacks. Like, you'v

e got to just play some nasty boys sometimes. Championships are won on the back of those guys. All our waiver wire rankings are on the website, thefantasyfootballers.com. Don't forget about the giveaway at footclangiveaway.com. We got time for a few mailbag questions. Mailbag. Mailbag. Mailbag. Yeah. Alex says, hey, ballers, playoffs, semi-finals this week. Do I dare start Devin Singletary over Austin Eckler? Yes. Oh my goodness. Singletary against Cleveland Eckler against Buffalo? I would. Yeah

. Yeah. I mean, the matchup is bad for Singletary. And the matchup is arguably good for Austin Eckler. I don't know that there is a combination of matchups that would make me take Eckler right now. I mean, you just saw Tony Pollard have a horrible game against Buffalo. Eckler looks atrocious. Like, if it was against the Panthers, right? Like, if the Chargers were playing the Panthers, and the Texans were playing, who's the toughest run defense in the league? That's San Fran, Silly. I think it wo

uld take Singletary over all of them. I mean, Austin Eckler over the last month, as I'm so happy you're in the playoffs. Because most Austin Eckler managers. Yeah, the fact that you have this decision is a shock. Yeah. I mean, here's his fantasy point totals and half PPR going backwards. 5.8 this last week. That was the only game we have with Easton Stick. The week prior, 18 and 1 half. He got in the end zone, had a good week. 3.7, 6.96. I mean, that's just. The Buffalo Bills, for what it's wort

h the last five weeks, are the seventh worst matchup for running backs. So they have tightened it up on the defensive side of the ball. And you saw it with Pollard's terrible performance in the Cowboys' terrible performance. And Eckler's a 10 and 1 half point home underduck in that matchup. Like if you're Buffalo trying to make the playoffs and you're like, who could I play this week? You get to pick anything you want. I'd be picking the Chargers. That team is like lame duck, right? Lame duck si

tuation. Well, not anymore. I guess the coach is gone. But we'll see. I mean, is there a possibility that the interim situation rectifies the usage of Austin Eckler? Yeah, I mean, you could easily have a game here. I mean, this isn't like Devin Singletary's guaranteed to outscore Austin Eckler. But Devin Singletary has looked great. He has broken tackles. This last week, he had that 45-yard touchdown run to clinch in overtime that was called back that wasn't the reason he was able to make that p

lay. Austin Eckler has looked bad. Now, the change that had coach could say, hey, all we have is Austin Eckler. I want you to check the ball down to him 50 times. And Austin Eckler, PPR's his way to a fine fantasy day, inefficient, but just has a bunch of volume, a bunch of receptions. That can happen. But Devin Singletary is getting 30 opportunities. Hey. And so I think they're both getting opportunities. Give me the guy who looks like you can do something with him. Yeah, the efficiency for Sin

gletary's been through the roof. So that's where I would go as well. How many times, this question from Brian in Wisconsin, how many times have you seen the top three scoring team miss the playoffs? The top three scoring teams? All three? I have never seen. No. At first, I thought he said A top three scoring team. I have never seen the top three. That is unbelievable. That's not OK. You might want to, in that league, introduce the play against the median line, which I will be voting on every lea

gue that I play in. And I will bring that up to a vote from that one. How do you feel about the idea of just letting the sixth playoff spot go to the highest scoring eliminated team? I like that. To me, I feel like that is, I think that's a good way to do it. If you don't want to include median, which I'm, I see the benefits of median on every week that I lose with a lot of points. And I also love the fact that when you introduce that, it's not simple math to understand comeback to, for division

al comebacks and stuff like that. It's not as easy as I can gain this much spot. That's the part that's kind of the yin and yang of it, is it's not just head to head. And you can't gain a game with a win and a loss. So there's different components. But I like the fact that maybe the sixth playoff spot, like I would vote for that. Yeah, I like that as well. All right, we're going to shut it down. We got more episodes coming this week, including our starts of the week on tomorrow's show. No, that'

s Thursday. On Thursday's show. It's Tuesday. And then we've got 100. It's been a long season. You know what? I barely exist at this point. I am alive though. I've got a handful of teams, and if one of them doesn't make it through to next week, that'll be painful. But I'm going to choose to believe they all will. And I can fill a handful of rings. How fancy champs are you? How's your Michael Bolton consumption right now? I've gone back to it. Yeah. I think it was too low. I listened to plenty ye

sterday. I even worked a little grobin in there. Okay, I don't mean, I don't know. How does that work though? If you have this song. I do have this song, but any of these ballads are really inspiring at this time. You're just going to make a whole playlist. I just, like you lift me up. You raise me up. You raise me up? Yeah. You lift me up. You got any Creed in there? You going higher? No, there's no Creed in there, but I'm hoping Dack and Cedie raise me up. How do you not have Creed? Dack and C

edie raise me up. Cause he doesn't have the vocal, you know. Ability? Yeah, ability that Michael Bolton and Josh Grobin do. Mike. Or many. Or any. So tomorrow's nutsarts the week. You're going to have to wait till Thursday for that one. Hungry for more Thursday night preview, mailbag news to catch you up on probably practice reports with some significant starter sit decisions going on including like the Jonathan Taylor, Pacheco. Those are big ones. Yeah. And the evil one, the betrayer Josh has J

onathan Taylor. So I'm sure he'll be back. Chris Olave, yeah. There's a lot of names coming up. So if you want to enter that giveaway, go over there for clanggiveaway.com. That'll do it for today's episode of the show. You lift me up. Talk to you tomorrow. Goodbye everybody. 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 theFFballers.