Playoff Primer + Trade Targets & League Winners - Fantasy Football Podcast for 11/13
01:16:09 Share

Want to shop Walmart Black Friday deals first? Walmart Plus members get early access to our hottest deals. Join now and get 50% off a one-year annual membership. Shop Black Friday deals first with Walmart Plus. See terms at walmartplus.com. At Sierra, discover joyous deals on great gifts for everyone on your list, like cozy slippers, ski gear, fishing poles, bikes, large kayaks, even larger canoes, which might lead to another discovery.

Robbing gifts is the only sport you need to stay fit this season. Tis the season to discover great gifts at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. Wednesday, November 13th.

The fantasy footballers Jason Moore, Mike Wright, Andy Holloway. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for subscribing to the podcast. Thank you for listening. Thank you for being part of the Foot Clan. We appreciate you all. Welcome to week 11 as we...

venture into the near-playoff territory. It's a big week. It's a big show. Because the playoff primer we are talking about. It's a big week. It's a big week. Yeah, I mean, I think every year this is a show that helps take people from playing fantasy football heading towards the playoffs and turns them into championship winners.

I think one of the most difficult things for fantasy players, and I mean, this is just the competitive nature, is you can have really, really good performances year after year in the regular season, feel like you've dominated, feel like you made all the right moves, and you can fall short in the playoffs. I mean, it is a head-to-head matchup. We've all had the weeks where our players don't perform and we get surprised, and a lot of the time,

I think why people take a break from fantasy football is the kind of irrationality that you don't win it on paper. I mean, you can put the best team together.

And then just lose. I mean, you can just lose. Our league of record, we have fixed things through the governing association of our league of record and the rules and bylaws. It's a very large association, over 1,000 members. Prestigious. But several years ago, I think we got to a place, because it's a keeper league, where you ended up every year with these super teams, people who would sell out early the year prior.

accumulate all the first-round picks, get just this crazy team that you just feel like can't lose. Yeah, on paper. Just give them the trophy. We had that for a long time, you know, eight, nine years, and I think only one time did the clear and utter super team actually win because one bad week in the playoffs, you're out. The main thing right now is you've got to make the playoffs. Yeah, I mean, if you catch Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, Lamar Jackson on the other side in week one of the playoffs, it really –

You could have a beautiful team on the other side and you probably aren't going to win. So I don't say all this to make you feel hopeless. I say this because people write us and say, man, I can't get over the hump. I finished second three times. The best thing that you can do, the only thing that you can do is give yourself the best odds to have success in the playoffs, which means doing more than just building that on-paper team halfway through the year or at the trade deadline, right? At the trade deadline is the time you can go and get those assets that look great on paper and

But maybe you're not setting yourself up for success in the playoff schedule. And last year, it was Dak. It was Najoku. These were not. Dak was a waiver wire guy. Najoku was a. I'm sure through the beginning of the year, he was a waiver wire guy as well. He was not good the first half of last year. Last year, it was Joe Flacco.

Over those playoff weeks. A couple years ago it was rookie who had done nothing for the Detroit Lions. Amon Ross St. Brown.

I mean, you find guys who are peaking at the right time, guys who have a perfect aligned schedule or as perfect as you can get. And like that does, it improves your probability. So that means what you got to do right now, focus on making the playoffs because you just got to get, I promise you can't win the championship if you don't get in the playoffs. That's one of our, we've had nobody in our league do that. It's never happened once. And then once you're there, I'd focus on rabbit's feet. Oh, four leaf clovers. Okay.

voodoo dolls if you want to go the other direction you know it's just gonna it's gonna take some magic in the playoffs for the mark of the beast guy i'm not surprised are you are you voodoo dolling your your the manager i yeah the yeah the opponent the manager not the players okay yeah just make your pro player i'm pro player um yeah i mean on my team inversely to the good schedule is also just knowing that if you have a superstar that has a really rough

scheduled, you might be peaked, right? Like you're probably going to keep riding them, but maybe you can swap them at the trade deadline for a player with a better schedule. We can talk about that. That is what today is all about. The playoff primer.

You can go to the website, thefantasyfootballers.com. That's where all the weekly rankings, the start-sit tool. If you want any premium content from the jointhefoot.com community, which includes the ultimate dashboard, the custom waiver wire, the spot starts, the strength of schedule tool, the stream finder, all of the resources, many of which we use to prepare today's show,

available to you as a member at jointhefoot.com. A reminder, there's a new Dynasty podcast out today. Betts, Borg, and Mike did the Dynasty Situation Room. We did. We broke down. We sent the call out and let people say, here's where I am. I am a contending team.

Like, should I go after this player or I'm going to rebuild? You know, what am I doing? Just a lot of, you know, advice for all sorts of teams out there. Yep. So let's jump into Hungry for More. Welcome to Hungry for More, presented by Uber Eats. ♪

All right, Jason, why don't you kick us off for this week's hungry for more? Sure. Look, I mean, if you've been holding on to them or if you picked them up late, for the most part, all season we've been hungry for even just a little TJ Hawkinson. Finally got back, got healthy, is on the field, is active, and is immediately hungry.

the number two target that the Minnesota Vikings so desperately have needed. The first week back, limited snaps, still a pretty decent involvement in the passing game. But now this last week, nine targets, eight for 72, still on just 46% of the snaps.

I mean, this is a need for this team. Behind Justin Jefferson, they have needed someone to step up. He was targeted on 32% of his routes this last week. Only Travis Kelsey had more first read targets in Week 10 at the tight end position. And so I'm hungry for more of TJ Hawkinson because I don't think that people remember how good he was last year as a Viking and how important he was, how impactful. And I'm going to leave it for the end of the show.

But the playoff primer addition, you want to talk about a guy who's got a dynamite schedule in the playoffs, it's TJ Hawkinson. So I'm hungry for more of him this week and the rest of the season, but especially I think he's going to be one of those players that can help take people to championships. Yeah, I mean, Hawkinson looked great this past week. He looked great. He looked right back into the flow of what made him great. And he did look at towards the end of the game,

darn tired man I felt bad he still I'm like dude you gotta give this guy a break he was he was I mean on his ninth target or eighth target or wherever it was I saw him lay on the ground for at least a half second before getting up not because of injury it was just like oh man this is this game is brutal

Mike, who do you have? And by the way, you did point out, Jason, it might be trying to run up the value on Hawkinson for the trade deadline in our League of Record. What? Dude, I have Hawkinson in the League of Record? While that is true and he is incredibly valuable...

for the trade deadline this week. And he is. I want to remind you he was the tight end two and the tight end for the last two years and now is going to be probably the tight end two or three rest of the way. Wow. But that's that's happenstance. You didn't even know that he was on your team. That's coincidence. OK. I mean genuinely though I don't want the foot clan out there to think that this is a no I'm a bit I'm totally in on it. It is. It's

both. I love to throw a bit on top, but this is true. Like, Hawkinson should be a really important difference maker down the stretch. Much more different than the, you know, the Jake Fergusons and the Hunter Henrys and the, you know, even, even, um,

Evan Ingram, who's now potentially lost his quarterback. I think Hawkinson is the only guy that's in that has not been a top-tier guy who can now become a top-tier guy rest of the way and join Trey McBride and join some of these high, high-end, you know, Kittle. I genuinely believe that's where Hawkinson lives. I was very happy to see the nine targets. The hope and everything for Hawkinson was –

We know when he will be back, but will he go back into a prominent role? It was a devastating knee injury. So to have him be back, he's only playing about half the snaps right now. So I'm in on that. The one I want to say I'm hungry for more for because this player has really only received nothing but slander. Not from just this show, but... Speak for yourself!

You've enjoyed a slanderous moment or two. It's been very fun. Who hasn't gotten in on taking a cheap shot of low blow at Quentin Johnston, wide receiver of the Los Angeles. Quentin Dropston, you know, in the past, that's been fun. The rookie year was as close to a surefire bust first round wide receiver that we have seen in a very long time.

And yet, things have actually gotten better for him. Look, he's scored in two straight games. In points per game, he's actually right there with Ladd McConkie. Quinton's at 10.6. McConkie's at 10.5.

And this team has really turned things around in weeks 1 through 4. They're averaging about 145 passing yards per game. Week 6 through 10, we're up to 262 yards per game and the upcoming schedule for the charges for wide receivers. It's actually the third easiest for wide receivers and they have high totals over the next five weeks. Week 14 is the only...

Bad matchup here for the Chargers pass catchers they take on the Chiefs in that time. But Bengals, Baltimore, Falcons, Tampa Bay, these are great matches for him. And the team is surging at the right time. I think that he is a really interesting guy. Maybe he's a flex play for the rest of the season. I've always loved him. That is sarcasm. But it's nice to see.

Like, we've reached the point where we're not wondering if the ball's going to be caught, really. I mean, it is a... Man, the training camp videos of just him dropping passes combined with last year, it was like, this is hilarious. We didn't see enough of him last year. No, we saw enough. Yeah, I was going to say, he was on the field so much. We saw enough, and it was bad. That part is true, but if you remember before the season, if you went back and watched the film, there were a lot of plays that looked promising.

From an after the catch standpoint, from the way he was running routes, it was just his drops were so egregious and headline making. You just wonder what the confidence building ability of Harbaugh has been because he is. Yeah, that's a very good point. He is such a player's coach, but he's detail oriented too. If you haven't seen the video that the Chargers put out on X,

Jim Harbaugh building up Herbert and talking to her. It is a fun time. I'm telling you, put that on your to-do list. Just look up that video. I couldn't watch his video without smiling. He's talking to her.

Herbert, they're playing games with the opponent. I mean, he's apparently wanting to call him Beast. You know, I'm calling him Beast now. I'm calling Herbert. Oh, yeah, he's a beast. You haven't seen this video, Mike? No, I didn't watch it. Dude, you will love it. It's wonderful. I'm falling in love with Jim Harbaugh right now. It's great. Ah, the cycle continues. We'll talk to you in about...

Two to three years. I will be brief here. This guy's the worst. Get him out of here. I am hungry for more consistency from Kyler Murray. He has been... Okay. His great has been great. QB1, QB4, QB6, QB7 on the week. His bad? It's been bad. QB30, QB24, QB25. And so the fantasy schizophrenia...

has been destructive to your weeks at times. I have been somebody that has him rostered in multiple leagues. One week I'm winning because of him. The next week I'm losing because of him. He has a good playoff schedule. Kyler has, like the Cardinals in general have a good schedule rest of season. And...

You have to look at the details here. One of the awfully bad games that I named, no Harrison. One of the awfully bad games, no McBride. He needs, I think we've seen this as Cardinal fans analyzing this team, is that he needs every piece that's in that offense to succeed, every core piece. If you don't have Harrison, all of a sudden you are

Your wide receivers are Michael Wilson and Greg Dortch. It disappears. It's terrible. If you don't have McBride, suddenly it's we double-team Harrison and it's over, right? So he needs every piece or it falls apart, but the schedule is lining up very well for him. He runs. That is a fundamental baseline for quarterbacks. Two touchdowns on the ground last week. But again, this is hungry for more.

This is not saying Kyler's a guaranteed league winner. This is saying, I am hungry for more of this consistency and this offense to do what it's been doing over the last three weeks in moving the football. His schedule has to be in today's show, right? It is. It is. Because it's not just, I won't go over the playoff weeks, but

Yeah, he's on the bye week this week. The Cardinals are taking the old rest. But then Seattle, Minnesota, Seattle, Patriots. All right, rain into the playoffs. Sorry. Don't tell anybody who they play. It's a wild run coming up here for Kyler and the Cardinals. No, I had traded with you, Mike, for Jordan Love in our League of Record because I had been so frustrated with the down weeks from Kyler.

And I just kind of realized, like, I can't let Kyler go. I need to play these guys off the good and bad weeks back and forth in terms of the matchups. Like, you mentioned Seattle out of the bye. Like, I'm sitting Jordan Love that week, and I'm playing Kyler Murray that week. Gotcha. Because the matchups are just – some of these are too juicy. All right, that was Hungry for More presented by Uber Eats, where you can get the best deals on game day food all season long. Uber Eats, the official on-demand delivery partner of the NFL.

Let's jump into the news. News and notes from around the league presented by USAA Insurance. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said George Kittle left Sunday's game with, quote, hamstring irritation that will be monitored through the week. Not exciting to hear that.

Not unless you got Christian McCaffrey. Well, yeah, or Pearsall or Jennings. Or TJ Hawkinson. I mean, you know, there's so many ways. What is happening out here? Look, I'm just saying this is a worry, you know. Yeah. If your opponent is going down, build yourself up to go up. You know what I mean? I mean, it sounds to me like you are heading to a title if you have Hawkinson. Why would you ever move that guy? I could be. Yeah.

Aaron Wilson said the expectation is for Nico Collins to practice all week and make his return Monday night against the Cowboys, which brings us to disclosing the trade that happened in League of Record because everybody right now on X or contacting Jason...

What? Yeah. Mediocre signing of the week. You know what? I think maybe my pinky hit something. You think? I think that's in the corner there. Let's go to our mediocre signing of the week here.

The mediocre signing of the week is that the Raiders are expected to make the change to Desmond Ritter at quarterback. No, they're not. No, they're not. That's real? That is, according to the Athletics of Victorford. No. This isn't April 1st? That's the mediocre signing of the week. Brilliant stroke of button pushing, Andy. Yeah, well, I was just setting you up for the news I didn't know about. That is... I will not... How can we do this? I will not tolerate...

Any toxic group thing against Desmond Ritter in this podcast. Okay, so Miami's defense, Denver's defense, Kansas City's defense, Tampa Bay's defense, Atlanta's defense, Jacksonville, New Orleans, and the Chargers. You would like those for the next seven weeks. I mean, Ritter's not going to make it seven weeks.

But yeah, for the next couple. If you're Desmond Ritter and you've been cut from multiple teams and you end up falling bass-ackwards into this starting opportunity. It's your moment, man. Seize it. All right, let's go back to Nico. Right now, any Nico-related news, Jason is getting tagged, and it's important that the world knows. That tag needs to move to Andy. So our situation in the League of Record, we're on our trade deadline if you haven't figured that out yet. Yeah.

And we've talked a lot about CeeDee Lamb and whether you make a move. I've been tagged a lot. Are you sticking with it? Are you riding it out? And the answer's maybe. Yeah, all of my injuries, I am on the outside. It would be a struggle to get over the top against some of the better teams in the league record, so I'm having to choose to trade or sell now. And so I traded.

Niko Collins for a pick swap in my favor and CeeDee Lamb to play. It's a hedge bet. CeeDee can be okay this year, but more it's a play for next year where I, you know, Niko could easily be ahead of CeeDee Lamb in startup drafts next year. If I had to put a dollar on him right now, I think CeeDee will be ahead of Niko coming into next year. They obviously have a brand new contract for CeeDee, brand new contract for Dak. So I think next year,

CeeDee will be ahead, but it's a risk. Nico was the number one wide receiver before he got injured. Also a brand new contract for him. The move for me, just so I can help the fantasy community with this, is I was not going to force it with CeeDee Lamb, but I was looking. Here's what I wasn't going to do. I wasn't going to go neutral because CeeDee Lamb, I think, if you're in a keeper league, obviously you want to hang on to him. I turned down Puka Nakua for CeeDee Lamb.

Um, maybe that's a bad move, but Pukunuku has the single worst wide receiver schedule rest of season in terms of schedule adjusted fancy points against that was too neutral for me. It could be the right move, but it was too neutral. I turned down Jaden Reed and a pick, right? Like that was, I don't need to trade. Maybe some inconsistency with CD lamb with definitely some inconsistency with Jaden Reed, but

I was looking at Malik neighbors, but you're messing with quarterback problems in the same exact vein, right? Drew Locke does not inspire me anymore than the Cooper rush Trey Lance situation. So I, I wasn't going to go neutral. Nico to me was an opportunity to potentially upgrade CD lamb without a quarterback without Dak. So that was the move.

And everyone's got to make that choice. And it also depends on how crucial CeeDee Lamb's high-end output was to your fantasy team. Do you have other players that are giving you high-end fantasy production? Because CeeDee Lamb's going to be good for 10 points on most weeks, I believe.

Now, Mike, you like the move for me because you feel like you said 99% chance in your mind that Nico outperforms CeeDee rest of the season. Yeah, and I was just being courteous to Jason's absolutely ridiculous trade that he made. I 100% agree. I mean, CeeDee Lamb should not be as good as Nico rest of season. No chance. This was a move for next year for me. And, yeah, Al, you offered me some combo of Devontae Adams and Sutton and Mooney, and I said, no, thank you.

Nico Collins, guys, has not been in a football game since week five where he played 13% of the snaps. So he basically has not played since week four. He is currently the wide receiver 17. Yeah, like I said, he was the wide receiver one when he went down to injury. He was, you know, better than everyone. And now here's the real news is that now that he's not on Jason's team, those of you with Nico can –

Relax. Yeah. Because moments after he traded him to me, we got the news that he's going to practice all week and he's going to play on Monday and we've got him out of your clutches. Yeah. I'd be afraid if you got seedy, that shoulder injury about to put him down. All right. Trevor Lawrence ruled out already, but might come back after the bye.

He needs to come back if you have Brian Thomas. That is the number one reason I want Trevor Lawrence active in the NFL right now is to give Brian Thomas Jr. a chance. Because if he's not back, Brian Thomas Jr. went from up-and-coming star to terror to start him to me. So he's out this week, then the bye week, then comes... Oh my gosh! Breaking news. No! No! Well...

Uh, there's a lot of quarterback moves being made out there in the NFL. The Colts are making another quarterback move going. They are promoting second string quarterback, Anthony Richardson back to being the starter. Did they, did they look at Bryce young ago? I kind of worked for Bryce young. Yeah.

Wow. It's the path. He just said that Flacco was the starter until he said otherwise. And he said otherwise. He is in an awful position where he can't say anything else. And they were in the playoff hunt. Richardson was not getting it done. Joe Flacco has officially pumpkined. The father time seems to have caught Joe Flacco finally. They said for the rest of the season.

Wow. I don't know why you'd say that.

Just stop talking? Stop talking! I want to be on record here. I think Shane Steichen is a very good offensive mind. I really do think that he runs a good system and with the right player personnel can get the most out of them. This isn't someone that I think was built on the laurels of Peyton Manning like an Adam Gase. But with his current head coaching prowess of...

The leadership structure of I'm brave enough to make a move. No, I'm not. Undo. No, both were forever. Arthur Blank. Yeah, I mean. Oh, Arthur Smith. Oh, yeah. It's, you know, I don't know. Maybe Steichen will be a great offensive coordinator. He seems a little in over his head right now.

I mean, this is comical. I coughed the wrong name at first, but Arthur Smith with the Ritter and the rotation at court. It reminds me of that last year. Like, here's the truth. And maybe this lets you forgive Shane Steichen for his somewhat strange behavior. Neither quarterback's good enough to get you to the playoffs.

I agree. That's the truth. The truth is you don't have him. You had to find out with Flacco. Like the run that he went on last year, you have to see if did he have that magic left. At least right now that magic. He does not. The magic is gone. Richardson is back. And, well, good luck with your Colts wide receivers. Do you guys realize what this means for my dynasty team?

I have Kyler and Baker on by, and I had Flacco as my last quarterback. Oh, no. Oh, nice. Didn't you also trade for Josh Downs? Yeah, he certainly did. Oh, goodbye. Yeah, I wish I traded him yesterday. Can I ask you a question for a friend? Sure. Cooper Rush or Mac Jones? Mac Jones. In a vacuum. I don't remember their schedules off the top of my head.

And Cooper Rush is Monday night. Tell you that much. Against the Houston Texans. Cooper Rush against Houston or Mack Jones. Against Detroit. I'd stick with Mack Jones. You're not going to be happy either way. I'd stick with the poison you already got. Wow, what a news segment. We got to take a break because we got more news to talk about. Did you want to add something, Mike? We have more quarterback news. Oh, boy. Back in a minute.

This episode is brought to you by Mattress Firm. We all have those guys in our league. You know, the guy who always forgets to set his lineup until the last second and maybe misses out on points and then blames the system. Or the one who always leaves their highest scoring player on the bench and then regrets it after the game, complaining nonstop about it. But when you're matched with the right mattress at Mattress Firm, anybody...

can sleep at night. Why do we love Mattress Firm? How about the free and fast delivery? Mattress Firm offers free and fast delivery straight to your door. If you can't wait to sleep, great. You can get that free and fast delivery. And, you know, we want that perfect bed and we want it quick from Mattress Firm. They also have a low price guarantee. If you see a lower price, Mattress Firm will match it. If you see it someplace else, they'll match it. That's

That's Mattress Firm with a low price guarantee, and you can take advantage of that. Every mattress you could need, quality mattresses at every single price. Get matched at Mattress Firm's Black Friday sale and sleep at night. Text FOOTBALL to 766-693 for $100 off your next purchase at Mattress Firm. Restrictions apply. See MattressFirm.com or store for details.

This episode is brought to you by Rocket Money. Managing finances can feel complicated and time-consuming, but it doesn't have to be. Rocket Money simplifies everything, making it so easy to see exactly what's happening with your finances, track your spending, and give you full control of all of it right from your phone. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions.

monitors that spending, and helps you lower your bills so you can grow your savings. See all your subscriptions in one place and know exactly where your money is going. For any you don't want anymore, Rocket Money can help you cancel them with a few taps. Look, Rocket Money will even try to negotiate lower bills for you, sometimes by up to 20%. They automatically scan your bills to find opportunities to save. Then you can ask them to negotiate for you. They will deal with the customer specifically.

service. Rocket Money has over 5 million users and has saved a total of 500 million in canceled subscriptions. Stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.com slash footballers. That's rocketmoney.com slash footballers. rocketmoney.com slash footballers. Alright, on the other side of the break, I do want to ask you, do you think this is the right move with Richardson at this point? Yes.

I kind of feel that way. Based on what we saw from Flacco, like when Flacco came in and looked like he moved this offense, it was great. I understand making the move to Flacco. What we've seen since he was announced as the full-time starter and given the opportunity to truly lead this team, I mean, he was abysmal. It was weird, too. It was like he wasn't letting go of the ball when –

He always has. He just was holding on to it, getting sacks. Yeah, I think at this point, if you're not going to make the playoffs, let the young guy in. The crazy thing is that, I mean, he still threw for 272 yards last week. Adonai Mitchell, Alec Pierce, Josh Downs all had okay games. All of a sudden, that's off the table now, it seems, with Anthony Richardson. Not that you can't start downs. It's just, like, Adonai Mitchell, like, I'm going to go delete my waiver claim for him. Okay. Yeah, I mean, Adonai Mitchell –

And Alec Pierce. I think those are still the types of players you can throw in a lineup and hope for a 50, 60-yard bomb from Anthony Richardson. They're boom bust, but you don't expect a lot of passing yards. Anthony Richardson is never going to throw for 300 yards this season. And they're playing the Jets this week. Is that right? Correct.

Mike, what's the other news we got? We got Desmond Ritter starting. We got Richardson starting. What else we got? So appearing on a radio segment, Adam Schefter said, quote, I would guess that we don't see Daniel Jones play another down for the Giants.

Schefter didn't bother to source the fantasy footballers, I understand. Okay. This was us? We were talking about it yesterday. Because it is the clear and obvious decision that the Giants have to make. You can't risk Daniel Jones getting hurt and then owing him a bunch of money if he can't clear a physical. Yeah, and if, I mean, Daniel Jones shaved his beard. So at that point, you are Drew Locke.

Drew Locke is Daniel Jones without a beard, so there's no difference here. Is Drew Locke growing a beard? He should. He really, really should, but I don't know if he can yet. You ever Google Drew Locke face before? Oh, he's got some really good face pictures. Yeah, he needs a beard. I'm looking at this guy. You put a beard on that man, he could look better. He needs a beard. Yeah.

But yeah, so I don't think this makes a huge impact. I mean, you could play Daniel Jones for the rushing upside. You can't play Drew Locke. I presume that this will be...

pretty neutral for Malik Washington. Malik neighbors. I don't, I don't think this is a definitely neutral Malik Washington. This move does not impact Malik Washington. Um, who was the player that, that always, how does this affect Malik?

Marlon Mack. Marlon Mack. Yeah. Also neutral. Yeah. So, you know, I don't know if people are going to freak out and feel like Neighbors is dead. Neighbors hasn't been doing anything the last few weeks with Daniel Jones anyways. I think if anything, you're like, oh. Maybe. Maybe there's some hope now. Yeah, it's a maybe. And that's where I say it's neutral because I doubt it gets much worse, and I doubt it gets any better. The Giants are in trouble. For what it's worth, in the two games that Drew Locke started last year,

Completion percentage, 71% and 67% threw for 269 yards, 208 yards, three touchdowns, two picks, took six sacks. It's not Daniel Jones. Adam Thielen coming back off of injury reserve. Off of injury reserve. He found his way off, Mike. They are on bye. No. But we will need to make a note to read. Not again. Yeah.

Why did you wake me from my slumber? The next week, Waiver Wire episode, if you're needing a start, Adam Thielen with Deontay Johnson out and having enough time to recover. He's a sneaky guy that you could pick up off of waivers and play. I agree. Out as in traded away, not just hurt. Correct. Yeah. Najee Harris could be limited in practice due to an ankle injury. Expected to play on Sunday. Isaiah likely not seen practicing.

Missed last Thursday's game. I believe Andrews has four or five weeks in double digits right now. Mark Andrews is producing. Five touchdowns in five weeks. He's been on a heater. That was today's News and Notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. We'll preview the Thursday night game and get into that very important playoff primer. Thursday Night Breakdown.

Well, okay. Okay, okay. Washington, 7-3. Philly, 7-2. I'm concerned. The DK Sportsbook line, Philly minus 3.5. The over-under is 48.5. This is a divisional...

And your concern, Mike, I am guessing, is that Philly will smash them. No. Okay. I'm guessing that your concern is that Philly's defense is... I'm concerned about both defenses. For fantasy. Yes. Yeah, I mean, last year this was a barn burner. These two games with Sam Howell were awesome. They were... Oh, RIP. Yeah, yeah. But this Eagles defense...

We've been saying it for a couple weeks now, and I think everyone's caught up. They're great. They're really, really tough to play against. Right now, you adjust for schedule. They are literally top five. They're the only defense in the league that is top five against all positions of fantasy points given up to quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end. Last year, we were targeting the Eagles secondary. Yeah, it was great.

I mean, you know, they were not good. So Cooper Degene has made a big difference for this team. I believe that the actual defensive coordinator upgrade is massive. And then the commander's defense has gotten a little bit better every week. They are. I mean, the commanders are eighth against quarterbacks over the last six weeks, fourth against whiteouts. And this week they add Marshawn Lattimore to the equation.

So, yeah, you might not get the 34-31, the 38-31 games you got from last year, both up over 60 points. The over-under is at 48.5. I mean, you do have – Nice. There's hope and optimism. You've got talent on both sides, but you're saying that the range of outcomes in this game go from, hey, we have the explosive game with the big performances. But it could also be Thursday night. It's tough for teams to turn around and play on Thursday night, especially if you're recovering from injuries or you get banged up.

execution seems to hit a lull sometimes on Thursday night football, and you've got two teams. Divisional battles in and of themselves can turn that direction. They can always go crazy, as in just nothing happens. It's not affecting who I'm starting. Jaden, he's in. Jalen Hurts is in. Of course, Saquon. Everybody on the Philadelphia side is in except for –

You know, look, Dallas Goddard was he played. I think he caught a scored. Yeah, he scored. But he was also limited. It was 63 percent of the snaps. There's only three targets for him. And then he was limited for Tuesday's practice. He concerns me. That's like that's the only spot that over the past six weeks, the commanders have been a plus matchup for a position.

So, again, I'm certainly not playing Dallas Goddard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dallas Goddard, that might be where you can kind of attack the defense, but it would, you know, his breakout games were when Devontae Smith got injured, A.J. Brown was out, and it was like, okay, it was clear how this was going to work out. I don't think Goddard

has a lot of big fantasy games when the wide receivers are there. So what about Brian Robinson, who has been missing time due to injury? His injury situation is very frustrating for fantasy players because it's in, out, in, out, snip, snap. And Eckler performs when he's not there. The hamstring injury has kept him out the past two weeks. Being on a short week, a limited participant in Tuesdays,

practice, I'm not playing him. I worry about re-aggravation. I worry about bad performance against the number three run defense against running back. So with the injury, he's out. If he's in, then I'm not going to play Austin Eckler either. So this is one of those situations where if you want a running back to play, you're hoping Brian Robinson is out, and then you can have Austin Eckler in kind of that flex situation

caliber player, but of course, don't put Thursday night football players in your flex. Give yourself that flexibility for later in the week. Other, I mean, Terry McLaurin, you're just going to start a play because he's been so good. You have to. I mean, you're going to start all these guys. And really, it's one of those things where when I see primetime games, usually I view primetime games as great quarterbacks come through. And I think you've got two great quarterbacks here. So hopefully they can overcome these tough defenses, but

Yeah, the range could be – I mean, I don't think we're getting the Lamar-Burrow. I don't think so. I mean, those two defenses, their secondaries are not good, and the quarterbacks took advantage. Right now, I expect – if I had to put a dollar on the over-under, I'd probably put it on the under. Who do you have to win the game? I've got the Eagles. Mike? Yeah, I'll take the Eagles. Yeah, it seems like the right bet. All right, let's jump in.

Playoff Primer. Well, just to remind you, some more names from last year that got you two title games that won you your league. Joe Flacco was one of those names. You could start him down the stretch. Maybe it'll be Drew Luck. Kyron Williams. James Conner and the way he... Conner is so weird this year because...

Well, we'll talk about him. Yeah. Connor every year. But he normally finishes year strong, and this year has just been... Well, it's tough because... It's all the way through. In order for him to finish this year strong, he has to finish this year. He has to play the whole year. And that's never happened, so something's... But he also broke his rushing record last year. Like...

He is the Fred Jackson of this generation right now. Yeah, no, I agree. I mean, he has, for two years in a row, been a championship league winner. You remember when Marty Cooper last year gave me 46 points against the guy in the middle? Oh, yeah. The bald guy in the middle of Deucer's Alley? That was fun for you. Did you feel every one of the 46 points, Papa Josh? Dude, that was the worst. Ha ha ha!

He pooped on you. George Pickens also won people some titles last year. Gonna do it again. And David Njoku, we mentioned it. So we are looking at the best and worst schedules for every position. Let's start at quarterback. We are just for a point of clarification. We are using schedule adjusted metrics. That doesn't mean, you know, if it's not the team that has given up the most points to the quarterback position or whatever position it's,

We take a look at their opponents and what their opponents average and how much they have given up compared to their average and then rank those. We think it's a much more accurate schedule, and we're looking at the fantasy playoffs from week 15 through 17. If you're in a big, larger league that starts early in week 14, sorry, there's bye weeks in 14. Or if you go all the way to the final week of the season, which is dumb, change your league, that'll be 18. But all of the metrics we're bringing up,

on today's episode are 15 through 17. You want to join a big logger league with me, Mike? Yeah, we're in. Here's the quarterback schedules that I think are really interesting. One,

is Baker Mayfield because he has been very, very good and will be getting Mike Evans back. And that is really, really a big deal with what they've found from Kate Otten. Like, yes, you've missed Godwin, but you have discovered something with Kate Otten, I think. And this team gets Evans back. They play the Chargers.

the Dallas Cowboys, and the Carolina Panthers for your three playoff weeks. All three of those are plus matchups for the quarterback position. You also have him on by right now where he gets to heal up his little toe ski that's been bothering him. So him getting a little healthier, getting Mike Evans back, I do think this stretch run, if you can acquire him for cheap, he will be a valuable option if you don't have one of the studs. And it's important that we –

make sure to not tell people when we say Baker's got a great schedule, I think he is worthy of winning a championship for sure. But that doesn't mean that someone who's got, you know, we're going to talk about the bad schedules too. Josh Allen has a bad schedule for the playoffs.

I'm not going to trade Josh Allen for Baker Mayfield. I'm going to roll with the absolute studs. But, you know, we're going to get into it. But context here. Use your brain. Yeah, yeah. And the Buccaneers are on the bye week, correct? So, I mean, if your quarterback situation is kind of in flux, drop it like it's hot, man. Look at that. Like, coming off of the bad week last week,

I think that there's a chance that Baker hits some waivers. So, oh, I'm sorry. Laser. Bo Nix, Kyler Murray, Jordan Love are the three other names to highlight from our schedule adjusted strength of schedule for those playoff weeks. Bo Nix has been, what I love about him is he has freedom in this Peyton offense to move around and find guys downfield. And it's,

You know, in today's NFL, it's getting a little irritating to find guys that throw the ball down the field. I mean, we literally are having this discussion about Patrick Mahomes or Tua Tungabailoa in recent weeks, whereas Bo Nix has been given freedom to escape the pocket. He looks a lot like, it's wild to say this, he looks a little bit like Stroud did last year.

Stroud would escape the pocket with his eyes downfield and chuck it. And you want that. Except Bo Nix actually takes off and runs sometimes. And when he does, he gets chunk yardage.

Yeah, and Stroud probably completed more of the downfield passes. But Bo Nix, just pay attention. It's not that – that would be terrifying to me, to go into the playoffs with Bo Nix as your starter for three weeks. It doesn't mean you can't win. You have some weeks here to get that actual confidence. Kyler Murray plays –

at home against New England. He's been awesome at home. He had one dud, but they dominated the game and beat the Bears at home. The Cardinals... Oh, the rushing touchdowns. Yeah, the Cardinals as a team have been playing excellent at home, which if you aren't familiar over the last several years, they have sucked at home. So this is a nice change. And then at Carolina, one of the worst teams against quarterbacks. Then at Los Angeles, controlled environment. You should pay attention to the weather at this time of year. But the Rams...

You know, there's the potential for that to be a back-and-forth affair, and they're a plus matchup. So Kyler and then Jordan Love at Seattle. Jordan Love is...

This is the guy that I think is going to win the most championships based on schedule and health of the team and all of that. At Seattle, which should be a very good back-and-forth affair, New Orleans in a controlled environment, Minnesota in a controlled environment, I really do think Jordan Love's— I mean, over those three weeks, you could see him throw 10 touchdowns easy.

Mike, talk to us about some of the worst quarterback schedules that people need to be aware of if you're planning on kind of riding one quarterback. So Jason mentioned it, but Josh Allen, it's pretty tough. But he is, of the guys we're going to talk about, it's fine. I'll just play Josh Allen. But Jared Goff has not performed as we hoped he would for fantasy, nowhere close to what he was giving us last year.

He's got three brutal matchups, Buffalo, Chicago, and San Francisco. Not winning titles this year. The one that I think needs to be talked about and examined of just where we are because Joe Burrow is playing unbelievable. Joe Burrow is playing MVP caliber football right now. He's just crushing for fantasy football. One of the playoffs for him is on the road at Tennessee.

It's an okay matchup, but the Titans defense does show up from time to time. But then Cleveland and Denver. The Denver Broncos, it is at home, but it's the Denver Broncos in championship week. That is going to be a very, I think a very tough decision for people that

If you've been rolling with the Bengals, you don't like to see the team that just held the surging Kansas City Chiefs. It looked like Mahomes was back. He was not back in that game against the Denver Broncos.

Uh, Jason, other names that are worth surfacing there? Um, I, I certainly echo Burrow. My fears of him are large that week two against Cleveland, you know, last year against Cleveland, one 81 and two the year prior, 82 yards and no touchdowns. Yeah. It scares me. And he's been, he's playing so good where he's one of those guys where maybe if you've got someone else, maybe you could trade him for Kyler plus or just,

you know, something like that. I would, I would entertain it. But Sam Darnold is the name to me that, um, people have done well with Darnold so far this season recently. Um,

And yeah, I mean, recently it's gotten a little bit worse. But Chicago in the first week of the playoffs, I don't think you get to the second week of the playoffs if you're playing Sam Darnold. So that's that's my issue is, you know, some of these guys, I look more towards the first and maybe second week of the playoffs to just be like, you know, again, just like you got to make the playoffs to get there. It doesn't matter how great your championship matchup is. If you don't get there, worry more about, you know, week 15.

You did mention you're not going to bench Josh Allen to go play Baker Mayfield or go trade for Baker Mayfield. Are you willing to move Allen with the knowledge of these matchups?

for the guy that you, you know, Jordan Love, if it means you're going to add to your team. I would, yes, I would only do that. Only do that in the situation where I'm adding a lot to my team. If it's Jordan Love plus a really impactful, you know, high-end running back, okay, now I'm willing to take that on. Or Kyler plus a really impactful asset, okay. But I'm not, I would not move from Josh Allen to Kyler or Jordan Love. And then you've got guys like,

Goff, Geno Smith, and Patrick Mahomes, who bad playoff schedules, don't play them. Yeah, it makes sense. If you look at running backs now, the juiciest schedules are some of these guys that have already gotten you to this point, which is kind of nice, right? Gibbs Montgomery, they face the 31st, 22nd, and 18th best running defenses, all plus matchups. Kyron, all plus matchups.

And then you talk about focusing on the first two weeks. It doesn't get better than James Connors. New England at home, where Connors has been great. Carolina on the road, dead last against the run.

The only team that I think might compete with that is Bijan Robinson and the Falcons. The first two weeks, you've got against the Las Vegas Raiders, who are 28th. They're starting Desmond Ritter. That's a great matchup for Bijan. And then the next week is the New York Giants. And while the Giants' defense, they've got a great front, right now they're still 25th. It's schedule adjusted against running backs. But I do expect they might –

towards the end of the season start uh start letting some of their players get healthy you know what I mean start letting little tiny uh tweaks in the hamstring be like do you feel that no I'm fine you felt that you are going you sit it down we got a we got a draft pick to achieve so um I I love Bijon's and James Conner's schedules and and the and the the

The Lions, man, those are great. You need to pick up Benson and Algier if you have Bijon and Connor because you are promising yourself that schedule. That's what's beautiful about this juncture of the season in trading for an insurance bet. Yeah. We've talked about it for – I mentioned it a couple weeks ago, the stretch run for the Jets run game. Brees Hall, I don't trust him, but he's got a great schedule for the matchups. He's got Jacksonville and Buffalo in those three playoff weeks.

If he is any, I mean, I'm just so scarred by Brees. I'm going to say you're talking with a different. I yeah. Yeah. You, I mean, he is, there's less air in your lungs when you speak of him right now, last year in our dynasty league, um,

I believe I had a playoff week where Brees Hall and Bijon combined for fantasy points. Did you end up winning? I did not end up winning that week. But thankfully, they did bounce back to an awesome game the next week when it didn't matter and I wasn't in. So I don't know. I'm sick of Brees Hall. Gun shy? Yeah. It's just personal. Pretty nice schedule for Saquon, Aaron Jones, Josh Jacobs, who I feel like Jacobs is just

sailing through the season, kind of like not making headlines, not a bust alert, but just cruising through the year. That's because he hasn't had touchdowns. I mean, he has had three touchdowns on the course of the season, four if you include the receiving game. So running backs that have terrible schedules for the playoffs, they're actually names that are not in the auto-start category.

At least several of them. So like Najee Harris and Jalen Warren have a terrible run. DeAndre Swift, terrible first two games. Maybe the worst. Minnesota to Detroit. And not a lot of confidence in Swift being a special player able to overcome that. And then people expecting and excited for Isaiah Pacheco's return.

has to face Cleveland and Houston. Cleveland on the road, Houston then at home. That seems concerning where all three of those guys are in the... Yeah, I mean, Kareem Hunt's done. And Isaiah Pacheco's not someone you're going to want to start. Kareem Hunt is going to continue to get you towards the playoffs, but you have to have a backup plan. And that backup plan is not going to be Isaiah Pacheco. Because I do not believe for one second, like I was kind of pounding the table that when Christian McCaffrey comes back, he's just going to get it all. Because that's Kyle Shanahan's system. When Isaiah Pacheco comes back, he is

Not getting it at all. This is a player coming back off of a broken leg that they want for the playoffs. Kareem Hunt has been more than serviceable. They're going to bring Isaiah Pacheco back, have it be a rotation. I don't doubt that Isaiah Pacheco takes over in the playoffs, but not your fantasy playoffs. So I do think if you're riding hot with Kareem Hunt,

make plans, find other, even if it's those insurance backs that we were just mentioning, you know, grab cam makers, Tyler Algier, Trey Benson, Braylon Allen, and hope that by the time the playoffs come, one of those guys is a starter. Mike, talk to me about the dolphin situation. Cause sure. You know, most are suddenly doesn't get a carry. The schedule's tough. Houston, San Francisco, Cleveland,

A-Chan's the guy, but Jalen Wright's being worked in and the offense doesn't look normal. Is their playoff schedule enough to get you attempting to pivot A-Chan at all? I'm not going to move off of A-Chan past catching running backs. That's it. I'm not as concerned. And while it was only 15 yards this past week for A-Chan, he caught all five targets and they just –

They have some time here over the next couple weeks to figure it out before I would have any kind of concern for him. Where are you at with Joe Mixon, though? Week one is Miami. That's fine, but

I'm fine. You're fine? I'm fine. On the road against Kansas City. They're the number one. In the semis. I mean, that is the literal worst matchup you can have. And I do not expect Joe Mixon to win you your week. I do fully expect Joe Mixon to be near 10 fantasy points and be fine. I mean, he's not someone I'm moving off of at all. He's just so integral to that team. We just saw him in a tough matchup where he got 25 carries. Did nothing with it. He didn't get 50 yards, if my memory serves.

I mean, if that's the case and they're still giving him that 25th carry, I'm not worried about that. He's still at a top 10 week. Tyrone Tracy. Okay. That's someone that I would be scared of. Bad schedule coming up. Not a lot of investment. Team's going to be phoning it in. You know, hard, you know, Baltimore, Atlanta, two tough matchups to start. But no, Joe Mixon. No, I'm not scared. Well, let's take a break. We'll get into wide receivers and tight end schedules. The tight ends in particular.

Big role last year in winning new titles. Be right back. Want to shop Walmart Black Friday deals first? Walmart Plus members get early access to our hottest deals. Join now and get 50% off a one-year annual membership. Shop Black Friday deals first with Walmart Plus. See terms at walmartplus.com.

This episode is brought to you by Peloton. Life gets busy. Luckily with Peloton Tread, you can still get the challenging workouts you crave. Only have 10 minutes? Take a quick Peloton workout. Want to go all out? Chase down your goals with 20 to 45 minute Tread workouts. No matter your goals or time, Peloton has everything you need to become everything you want. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit onepeloton.com to learn more. ♪

Well, there are some really juicy wide receiver schedules when you talk about the playoff weeks. It's hard not to look at Calvin Ridley right now and say, well, is this, did it just take a few weeks, a trade of Hopkins? It makes sense that it would. You know, just joining this team didn't, Levis has been hurt.

But Calvin Ridley's schedule is amazing. Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Jacksonville. Outside of Baltimore, maybe Minnesota, I can't think of three matchups that I would... And they're all three. I mean, Cincinnati...

is going to score points on you. And they don't have a good secondary. Jacksonville and Indianapolis, their defenses are so bad. Calvin Ridley, I know he got off to a really hard start. But he should have a great stretch run. He's been good every single week without Hopkins.

I would be buying in. I would be buying in for the stretch run. Since the bye week, he is receiving a 32% target share, and that includes a 39% target share this first week of Will Levis back. Of course, you should have a little bit of concern when Mason Rudolph is unlocking Calvin Ridley and then

The schedule for Levis is equally great, just so you know. It's not just the wide receivers. Obviously, those are correlated. But Levis should be able to get some things done in this stretch.

Yeah, for Calvin Ridley. For Calvin Ridley. Yes, to be clear. I just want it to be, you know, it's not something that he has to overcome. Great quarterback defenses is what I'm saying. Malik Neighbors, that one's tough because you're probably just going to keep playing Malik Neighbors the rest of the season. It's Baltimore, Atlanta, Indianapolis. It's just what quarterback does he have? I think you're just happy about it. You're just happy that, you know, I just brought up Tyrone. It's not actionable. You're just happy. Tyrone Tracy has tough matchups. When running backs have tough matchups,

and last year for Dak and CeeDee. The reason we loved it wasn't just because

They had good matchups. Yay. But they had the specific matchups where you can't run against them. There are pass funnel defenses where you are forced to throw the ball on purpose, schematically, or based on the personnel across the field. Those are the best targets. That's why I love Baltimore. You're not running on Baltimore. Minnesota, you're not running on Minnesota very easily, either one of those. But you can pass the ball on them. So, obviously,

Malik neighbors are going to start no matter what. So it's just, this is just good news. This is just like a cherry on top. Congratulations. You might have him back to, you know, he, he might have the best bread of a sandwich season of all time. You know what I mean? Get us off that hot start. The first three weeks. Yeah. Brings you, um, you know, an inside out Oreo. You just gotta, you just,

fingers are going to be sticky, but it's a lot of delicious cream. Have they done that yet? I hope not. You'd already nailed the analogy, and you jumped in on a new one. Unnecessary. Keep laying it on. Yeah, but now we've got to talk to Nabisco.

Inside out Oreos. I can't believe that hasn't happened. I think there's a fingers problem. Or the Big Mac. Have they done the Big Mac Double Stuff Oreo? Oh, where there's an extra cookie in the middle? Oh, I'm sure they've done that. I feel like a Big Mac, because that's like a Quattro Stuff, right? Well, if it's a Double Stuff, it's a Quattro Stuff, because you've got two stuffs. Yes, yes. That little cookie would be checking in at about 650 calories. That little guy. How do they pack it all in there? Talked about neighbors, talked about Ridley.

The Packers? Yep. Obviously, we talked about, yeah. Have they really not made a Big Mac style Oreo? I mean, Oreos made like every style of Mac. Has McDonald's like patented anything made in the same form? No one puts an extra cookie layer in. In between. Jaden Reed and then, by extension, I would say if someone gets hurt in that wide receiver core,

Then you can move to the Dobbs, Wicks, Watson stuff. I'm fine with Dobbs. There will be players on waivers right now that win championships, and that could be Christian Watson. He's stunk this year, but he is, I think, a talented athlete in a great offense with great matchups. Those types of players are worth picking up and stashing in hopes that they catch fire. Not every player can catch fire, but we know, we've seen Christian Watson catch fire for a month. Words are hard. No.

Oh, man, you got me. You got me good. I was just taking a quick look at the waiver wire, and Audrick Estime went for a sweet $36 of fab. That's a lot of cheddar. A lot of cheese. I also knew that yesterday if I mentioned that I had a bid in on Tampa Bay, I would be sacrificing Tampa Bay.

I knew it instantly, and I knew for a fact that Al Borland would go at that moment and place a bid, and I'm guessing that's what happened. That is exactly what happened. So for those of you out there that think this— Did I get him? No. No, you didn't. You didn't, but you outbid me by a lot, and I knew that you would, and I knew that by saying it on this show, I would be sacrificing Tampa Bay, and I did it for you, Foot Clan.

What a hero. What a hero. Cortland Sutton has a great schedule, pairing with the Bo Nix schedule. Sutton could be a league winner. That is the name that sticks out is every year there's a few. Really? And that one, you know, Sutton's been playing so well. The last, you know, five weeks, he has had four really good performances. He's on pace for almost 1,200 yards and seven touchdowns, 85 catches, 122 targets in that stretch.

It's been really good for Cortland Sutton. Like, Cortland Sutton having a number seven overall week without a touchdown, that didn't happen before. And that happened two weeks ago. So Garrett Wilson, Devontae Adams, great first two weeks if you want to look at those. The Chiefs with Hopkins and eventually Juju because Xavier Worthy's not involved. And then Tyreek Hale, if he can get it going, there's a nice, you know, there's a three-week stretch that's okay.

Yeah, they got the sandwich. Andy. Yeah. Did you add Marquez Valdez-Scantling in the League of Record on waivers? Apparently. I just want that public record. I want that known, and I want that shame to be felt. We can move on now. I spent no fab. Yeah, it makes sense. Ironically, I had Adonai Mitchell ahead of him, but flip-flopped him with the Richardson news. Don't worry. You got both.

Oh, I did? Yeah. Congrats. I've got to drop one, though, because I've got to move Nico Collins. Okay. Let's talk about bad schedules for wide receivers and whether you'd move those players now. Panic in the streets for Josh Downs, Pittman, Adonai Mitchell, and company. Yeah, I mean, the schedule was irrelevant. I was already panicking when the quarterback move got made, so no. I mean, you're not going to start those guys. Brian Thomas Jr. seems like...

Huge panic in the streets for me. I mean, he already was panicking. The schedule's awful. Yeah, I don't think... I mean, Trevor Lawrence, to his absolute credit, will 100% play through hardcore injuries. This guy will be on the... He is not one of those players that wants to take plays off, take games off. That being said, they're not winning ballgames, and they're not going to win ballgames with Mac Jones and rushing him back from a...

You know, it's unwise. He probably shouldn't come back. If he doesn't, Brian Thomas Jr. is toast. But even if he comes back, the Jets... It's really tough. You know, that's your first entry into the playoffs. I don't like that. Metcalf, tough schedule. Not the end of the world. No, I'm okay with...

We talked about Burrow, so obviously Jamar Chase. It's not lining up for Chase and Higgins as well as it could be, but you don't bench those guys. No, you're just sad. I mean, the question is do you look to –

you know, move any of those guys? Do you look to take someone like a Jamar chase and try to get Nico plus something or, you know? And I, yeah, I mean, that's a good point. You could, you could make that pivot, but I, I wouldn't with chase. No. Cop and Nakua. I said, they have the worst schedule, not just that. I don't just have a bad playoff schedule, which it is bad at San Francisco at New York, like two road games, uh,

Stafford traveling to play outdoors somewhere else at that time of year against top-tier pass defenses is concerning, and then he goes to Arizona. But those first two weeks, it does concern me. It seems like I had two trains of thought when I thought about the Cooper Cup or the Pukunukuwa trade for CeeDee Lamb that led me out of it. One was just they'll be fine no matter what. Like these guys just – they're going to be fine because they –

You know, they're the only options. They can have good games when Stafford sucks. But knowing that it's the worst schedule, not just in the playoffs, but here on out. Like, it's going to be... They've got to put it together in consecutive weeks here on out. That gave me hesitation. Do you care at all, Mike, about those matchups? Personally, I don't. Just, like, the way that Puka is being targeted right now is absolutely outrageous. I mean, maybe it concerns me a little bit for Cooper Cupp. He...

He doesn't look like Cooper Cup, at least to me. Fantasy-wise, it's been fine. Wide receiver 9, wide receiver 20. But he just, despite playing the whole game, I don't know. He looks a little slow to me, so he needs to recover. But Puka, I'm not worried about at all. Tight ends. Jason, you talked about Hawkinson.

But here's some comfort. McBride, an incredible schedule to end the year. Get this man some touchdowns. They keep trying, Mike. Every week they keep trying, and something goes wrong. They try it again. Every week they've gone to him. I think this might be the most open secret on the sideline of the Cardinals. Like, they know that he doesn't have one. Did you know that Trey McBride is the tight end three –

And is the tight end three in points per game.

He is the tight end three in points per game. He's been unbelievable. And has zero receiving touchdowns. That's crazy. He does have two touchdowns on the season, one a fumble recovery, one a rushing attempt. That's absurd. He's been great. The schedule is great. I brought up TJ Hawkinson, but all three are incredibly good plus matchups for the tight end position specifically. I love Chicago. I hate playing wide receivers. Again,

against them, they're going to need Hawkinson. It's a perfect matchup in the sense that you've got your guys focused on Justin Jefferson. They're vulnerable at the tight end position. Then Seattle and Green Bay, who are worse than 25th against tight end. But pairing with Jordan Love, and tight end, when you look at schedules and you're saying who's got a good one, who's got a bad one,

When it comes to running backs and wide receivers, I don't overdo it. I don't. If you've got a great option, I don't care. You know, it's like right now you might look at Cleveland and say, oh, they've got a bad secondary. They give up a lot of points to wide receivers. No, they don't. They give up a ton to Jamar Chase. Before that game, you know, that's kind of screwing up a bunch of the metrics. Jamar Chase can be good against anyone.

But with tight ends, there are literal schemes that that's where you beat the team. And when you find those... Because the defenses are willing to accept it. They're either willing to accept it or they just don't happen to have the linebacker personnel to cover a tight end. And so if you're a good offensive mind, you go, oh, I'm going to exploit the matchup play. And it happens over and over and over. That's where Tucker Kraft...

I think is interesting for a playoff run. Same with David Njoku. Those two guys have really good entries into the fantasy playoffs. Other names? I mean, the only other name is Brock Bowers. Yeah, you should probably play him. Yeah, you're going to play anyways, but it's like neighbors. You're just happy that you've got a good schedule. Kelsey Andrews, not...

Picture perfect. The Kelsey one, that's fine. I'll let that ride. The targets will be there. The Ravens and the Bills one, that's a little sketchier. So Kincaid and Andrews? Yeah, the Bills one for sure. I think we're kind of...

We're kind of as a show out on is Dalton Kincaid going to be a difference maker. He's fine if you need a couple points at the tight end position, but what you were hoping for, I really don't think that's going to be there. And then Mark Andrews is, does the usage continue? Because if Mark Andrews is actually allowed to run his full allotment of routes, which it had been trending up, and then with Isaiah Likely out, it was, oh, holy crap, it's all Mark Andrews all the time.

Does that go back down? Because if Mark Andrews is playing his allotment of snaps and routes, then I do not care about this guy. No, I don't believe he will. I think when Isaiah Likely comes back, you're going to see a player go back. But he was already on the rise. So it's like, what is the truth about how many routes Mark Andrews will be running? I don't think we'll have that information for a while. The touchdowns.

have been prolific right now. He's averaging one a game. And you don't need to benchmark Andrews because even if Isaiah Likely is back and you get a 50% snap rate, you can still get a touchdown with Andrews. That's fine. But I'm just saying I don't think you're going to see these good volume games that he's also been adding with Likely missing. So Mark Andrews is just a fine play. Dalton Kincaid is I will not play.

Defensive schedules, we've mentioned Cincinnati. They play Tennessee, Cleveland, Denver to end the year. Specifically, let's look at those first two. Those are kind of the best of the best. The Colts play Denver, Tennessee. I don't love them on the road at Denver, and I don't love the Colts' defense. The Packers, there you go. Seattle,

New Orleans and the Packers, they're a good defense. Tampa Bay plays the Chargers in LA. I don't think that's a great matchup, honestly. But then they play Dallas Carolina. The Falcons. The Falcons are the team you need to pick up. You'll need someone else for championship week because in championship week they play against the Commanders and Jaden Daniels and that might not be good. But right now, their opening to the playoffs are

are the Las Vegas Raiders with who knows who at quarterback. Right. Who cares? They're all good. And then the New York Giants with who knows, you know, is Drew Locke the quarterback? Those are great entries into the pile. I like it. I like the Cardinals. I like the Cardinals. At home against New England, Cardinals right now are middle of the pack to just above in points against and in defensive performance. And then Carolina. I mean, maybe you pivot on the road against L.A.,

But they could be – L.A., depending on their juncture of the season, you know, maybe not as much on the line. I like Arizona. I like Arizona as well. I just don't think that they have as many playmakers. Like, they're doing a very good job of team defense. But if I had to choose between the Cardinals and the Falcons, you know, I'm going to take Matthew Judon and the chance of just real big defensive plays. And then just combo – like, combo with the Buccaneers. You know, we –

At this point, I'm not carrying two DSTs, but as you get closer to the playoffs, it's pretty common for my teams. I've got my insurance running backs. I've got the couple depth pieces I need, and then I'll roster the two DSTs. If you can go through with you pair the Falcons, and then championship week you throw the Bucs in against the Panthers at home, that's...

That seems like a good strat right now. The Saints and Dolphins defenses specifically for championship week should be considered Las Vegas and Cleveland. So those are pairing defenses with maybe the Cardinals, maybe the Falcons. The Dolphins, for sure. Dolphins I'd be open to.

Well, the Saints play Las Vegas. I know. And they're at home. You want to know the grossest thing? Yeah. So I'm looking at just championship week, the schedule adjusted, who are the matchups to target, right? And then you look over and you go, well, okay, so who am I picking up? And you are hoping it's a good defense. The Dolphins, great. They are literally playing against the number one team to play against. But if you look down the list, the rest of them is the Saints, bad defense. Jaguars, bad defense. Colts, bad defense. So it's like, dang.

The Chargers, you could pick up the Chargers. They're going to get the New England Patriots for championship week. And then we're getting towards the end here, and I want to remind everybody that there will be an article that highlights all of the player primer information, and you'll see the charts on it. You can go to the website, thefantasyfootballers.com, to see it. But here are the teams I want to highlight really quickly on the bad side of the defenses because you're probably riding these teams all the way to the playoffs.

but you probably don't want to play the Lions or the Bills against the Lions and Bills. They're playing each other in week one of the playoffs. That's risky. The Eagles have to face Pittsburgh and Washington. You might just ride that, but it's also slightly risky. We'll learn a lot tomorrow. Those are the three, the Bills, Lions, and Eagles, that I think people will ride all the way into the playoffs.

but then maybe needs to make sure they have a plan. And the Steelers might be in that category too, because they got to play Philadelphia in Philadelphia and week one of the playoffs. That's concerning to me. Um, so that's the teams that I care about on the bad side of it. Cause you're not, you're not trying to play a bad defense, but you might accidentally play a good defense in a really bad matchup. So that's one to pay attention to. Um,

So there you go. The article will be up on the website. If you want to look at the strength of schedule tool, we let you break it down by playoff weeks. We let you break it down by last five, whatever sample size you want.

That's part of the tools at jointhefoot.com. It's updated weekly. You get schedule adjusted or fantasy points against. We focused on schedule adjusted, but if you want to go look at the best performers and just sheer points against numbers, you can do that. And again, that's not only on the website at jointhefoot.com, but it's in our app, the Fantasy Footballers In-Season app, which you can find on iOS and Android.

That'll do it for today's episode of the show. Starts of the week, matchups tomorrow, matchups on Friday, Wheel of Shame, and a whole lot more. We'll figure out what strange coaching decisions people make tomorrow morning on the show. It's always a good time. That'll be fun. 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 the FFBallers.