Week 12 Waivers + Old Man Strength, Difference Makers - Fantasy Football Podcast for 11/19
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Footballers, terms and conditions apply. You need to hire. You need it indeed. Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Welcome in. Tuesday, November 19th, the Fantasy Footballers back with you. Mike, the Fantasy Hitman, Jason Moore. I'm Andy Holloway.

Deucer's Alley is deucing.

A B D produce in this show right now. Oh, it's hard to see in the shadows there, but I believe we do have a new little trophy for one of our deuces. That should actually, it is a toilet trophy and it should go to Papa Josh because that he is the reigning. He is the reigning had to leave the show to take a dump. That's the most recent, the most recent in the camera. Yeah. Get that in the camera.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. Let's see. Yeah. We need to. Where did that come from? Can we spotlight that? The internet? I don't know. Did we get it? Did someone send it? Yeah. I may have. All right. May have looked into. Well, we like to reward the staff. Yeah. Whoever most recently reneged on their obligations to the production of the show due to Bell, you know.

bowel planning issues. Is that the most formal way to put it? Yeah, I think that is. It's accurate because you can plan a little better. We know when the show's going to record. That's true. Yeah, it's the same time every day. See, and Falcons' bowels also know when the show's going to happen. They get itchy. They start going, ooh, that sounds good. Itchy? Yeah, you know. An itchy bowel? They got that itch. They got that itch to take that squat.

Well, emotions have been high. Oh, yeah. We had our trade deadline in League of Record. Many of you had trade deadlines this week. There are a thousand thoughts and emotions and opinions and trades and attitudes and consensuses and conclusions. You know what's fun in our league? Our trade deadline, and I don't know what the platform allows or doesn't or what time, but what we do is it's basically whatever week it was. For us, it was week 11 that just concluded.

Our trade deadline goes right up until the end of the Monday night football game. Triple zeros on the clock. But it means that during the Monday night football game, while weeks have pretty much already been established, everyone is feverishly trying to like figure out the last maneuvers. I got to get a pick. I got to sell this guy. I got to buy and go all in. It's it's it makes for a wild and crazy time.

And that Monday night football game was the 34-10 thrashing by the Houston Texans over the now 3-7 Dallas Cowboys.

I didn't see until this morning that Mike had attempted to channel some sort of fantasy favor. I tried. I tried, everybody. He committed five bucks a touch. Five bucks a touch, yeah. For Rico Dowdle donating to Fantasy Cares. Every touch Rico Dowdle received. You missed that. I missed that. So you didn't have to donate very much, huh? I went over. I broke my promise. He did? He went targets? It was like...

I went touches, but Enrico's like, I don't know how to catch anymore. This thing that I've been doing great all year long is no longer part of my game plan. So if it touched his hands, which I think all five did. Oh, yeah. I just, I counted them all. Well, he was 10 for 28 on the ground, two for five targets. Dallas is. And like benched.

Yes. Well, I mean, look, Deuce Vaughn got four carries. The second half was very little. I don't know what the actual snaps were in the second half, but it was like, oh, Rico Dotto was gone. Did you see the pass attempts for Cooper Rush? They were out. And

And that led to 8 for 93 for CeeDee Lamb. If you don't have a running game, I guess you'll just keep chucking it. You also had... Go ahead. Cooper threw for 354 yards, and honestly, I don't think he looked that bad. Neither did I. He was throwing some tight ropes and using the tight ends. We'll talk about the schoonman here in a bit because Ferguson went down to a concussion. It's going to be a short week for him. Doubt he plays this week. But Cooper Rush looked...

obviously better this week than he did last week, which is great news for CeeDee Lamb. So Dallas couldn't really get it done, couldn't finish drives. It was wild because they did. They looked inept, and yet the game's 34-10, ends up as a blowout. The game in the third quarter,

was very close. Yeah, I think there was a chance to go to halftime 2013. Halftime was 17. Yeah, Aubrey slipped on a kick. I mean, they had...

The unfortunate mistakes of the Cowboys were plentiful, but it was 17-10 at halftime, and then at the end of the third quarter, it would have been, what, 20-10. So, I mean, this was, for most of the game, it was very tight, but then the Texans kicked the doors down. How do you feel about seven targets, four receptions, and 54 yards?

We're in on that. You're in on that? Yeah, I mean, last night we're in on that for two players. Yeah, because both Nico Collins and Takedel, I don't think I've ever seen identical stat lines like that across the board from two wide receivers. Because we got hosed again by Big Ref!

First play of the game. It was a legit penalty, but it's also dumb. Nico Collins had a 77-yard touchdown in the first play of the game that ended up. He looked so fast. He was so fast. It was like the nightmare, though, for the hamstring. It's like the last thing you want to do is say go sprint 77 straight yards.

He played limited snaps last night. Yeah. He was the leader. Because he was tired from his 70-yard touchdown. Well, they did need to be careful. They also didn't need him. I mean, do you realize the number one running back in football is now Joe Mixon? Has to be. Joe Mixon is the number one running back in football. Three touchdowns, 24-109. Looked amazing. Looked great through the passing game. Had big plays called back on penalties during the game. And now is above Saquon, Henry, and...

Camara and Gibbs in points per game on the year, 23.6. The running back won. Over 100 yards, three touchdowns, and involved in the receiving game, 44 receiving yards. He's the engine that's moving this offense, which is a –

Real problem for C.J. Stroud. C.J. Stroud is great for the Texans, great for C.J. Stroud the man, bad for C.J. Stroud the fantasy quarterback of your roster. More Nico will lead to more positive Stroud production. You will not have all rushing touchdowns. Old man strength.

At the running back position. This year? I mean, it's Mixon, Saquon, and Henry are the top three. And Kamara. And Kamara. Like, Bichon. Bichon's too young, man. Bichon and Gibbs are like the young bucks trying to crack into the top three. They just got to wait six, seven years when they get their man strength. Yeah, but you want to know why? It's because the opportunities per game.

It's, you know, 25 opportunities a game. Mix is getting more than Henry, more than Barkley, more than Kamara, more than Gibbs. Then like the old man strength is the right way to put it. These are just like put the team on their back. You get every snap.

And you hold up lately. So it's, it's wild. Ryan bags have got whatever the year of 2024. Yeah. The diet that they have undergone, whatever nutritional supplements they are taking is working because running star running backs don't get injured anymore. And it's, it's great. You, I mean, you, you have other old men, by the way, in the top table here in the top 20, you know, James Connor and, and you know what Kareem hunt per game has been good. It's,

It's kind of wild. So let's go ahead, and we've got waivers on this show, but first some Difference Makers. Welcome to Difference Makers, presented by Iams Pet Food. Well, today's Difference Makers, you know, we have three names. It's really one. Yeah, it's one thing. It's one thing, and it is the Chargers offensive weapons. Specifically, the Chargers passing offensive weapons.

Big Herb. Big Herb, baby. LaDeeDee. McConkey. Yeah. Oh, my little lad. Lad McConkey. And then Cuge, who... I didn't realize we had... Three dumb nicknames? Yeah, three horrible names. Yeah, they're not our best nicknames. But what is funny is there were so many worries coming into the year about G-Row and Hardogs

run scheme. There's two more nicknames. Does anybody know what we're talking about at this point? We didn't do G-Roman. Greg Roman, John Harbaugh, Ladd McConkie, Quinton Johnston, Justin Herbert. Those are the people we're talking about. Also, we're going into week 12 here. The people listening to this podcast right now, they've been with us. They know these people.

There was so much hullabaloo and worry about the run game and the defense that the Chargers wanted to do. Which was founded, yes. It was completely, you know, if you avoided them in the draft process, if you drafted Herbert, giant L. However, they have...

really opened things up for, I think, a multitude of reasons. One, they've been good at it. And they're like, oh, wow, Justin Herbert is a great quarterback. He's one of the best quarterbacks in the league. Let's utilize him like that. And two, the running game has faltered. J.K. Dobbins' early season, um...

explosive nature and big runs that he was chunking off every single game, that's kind of gone away. His efficiency has not been there. The touchdowns still get there when they get around the goal line, but now you combine those two truths with the next month of matchups where you want to talk about a difference maker. I think that this passing game

is going to be really important for the stretch run leading up to the fantasy playoffs. I want to give you some numbers just so you understand where the trajectory is because you don't at this point in the year, and this is what we do with a lot of our tools on the website, the Join the Foot tools, you can sort by last three, last five, last eight. You're no longer looking at just the full sample of the season when you want to look at trends. Over the last five weeks, I want you to know

Ladd McConkie and Quinton Johnston are top. They're wide receiver ones. Wow. Ladd is at 14.1 a game. That's the wide receiver 11. Q is 13.8. That's wide receiver. How many? Five weeks. And then Justin Herbert's the QB seven in the last five weeks. So you have three guys that are making that move and yet

This is a juncture where you say, well, do you believe it? Does it make sense? And we're saying when you look at the schedule for these guys, when you look at what defines a difference maker, and you're facing the 30th-ranked passing defense in Baltimore, and then you face the 27th in Atlanta, and then week 14 is going to be tough against Kansas City, but it's a divisional matchup, and then you have the 31st-ranked defense against Tampa Bay as the playoffs start. So your playoff matchup is great. These are players like McConkie who –

Rookie, more established, begins to ascend, and matchups, and then your quarterback with the trust, the yards per attempt, everything is changing in the direction of the passing game, and then they're winning ballgames on top of it, and they're incentivized to try to make the playoffs at 7-3. Yeah, to try to make the playoffs, but they've won four games in a row, and now this is the Harbaugh. We got Harbaugh against Harbaugh. The Baltimore Ravens are coming into L.A., so this is a home game for the Chargers.

Sort of. Well, sure. Yeah, I know. Those don't really exist. Yeah, especially being Baltimore. We've called them Baltimore West since the whole offseason. They took, you know, revenge game for who? Everyone. Literally, J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards and G. Rowe. So it'll be great. But Baltimore, Atlanta, and Tampa Bay are three of the next four weeks. They should make a huge difference.

You did, in your efforts to capitalize on the trade deadline, Jason, you did let go of LaDeeDee, me, Conkay. And Big Herb. I traded them as a package deal. And, you know, it was one of those things where I was looking, I mean, I didn't have many assets, but I was looking at Ladd as a, you know, there's tons of buy weeks, by the way, this week. Next week is the buypocalypse. Like,

Teams are being thinned out, and having these players at these matchups, it's a big deal. They could be huge difference makers. All right, that was Difference Makers presented by Iams Pet Food. When you choose Iams, you can see a difference in your pet with your own eyes, health and energy in five days, healthy digestion in 10 days, and healthy skin and coat in just 25 days. Feed Iams and see a visible difference.

News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. Did you find the Iams for people yet? No. For your healthy digestion in 10 days? No. Is it out? I asked if it's out there. I don't think it's out yet. Gabe Davis, knee injury news, out for the season. Yeah. Dave Canales said, Adam Thielen expected to play this week.

Thielen will be back. Jonathan Brooks will also make his debut for the Carolina Panthers. Oh, yeah. It'll be exciting to see. I mean, I don't think the expectation is that Jonathan Brooks is a lead back here. They paid Chuba a lot of money, and they have taken it beyond slow with Jonathan Brooks. But all eyes, all eyes in the fantasy world, I think, will be on Jonathan Brooks to see how he performs. And my hope, and again, my expectation, is that he will be used

significantly in the pass-catching role. If that happens, then he can be a flex option even while Chuba's there. Isn't there a trickle-down effect into Chuba if you think his involvement's going to ramp up as we head into the fantasy playoffs, or would you be concerned or not really? I would be a little bit concerned. I expect Chuba's involvement to go down a little bit. We saw them try to do this split with Miles Sanders. They had the package for a couple weeks where it was like they were using him as that kind of third-down role

He just was so bad at it, they couldn't stick with it. So if Jonathan Brooks is good, which he should be as the first drafted running back in this year's draft class, he'll impact Chuba a little bit. Concussion protocol for Tajay Spears and Jake Ferguson this week. Gardner Minshew will start again because the Raiders have no choice. They have given themselves the ultimate opportunity

Mint you only choice when Desmond Ritter is your only other option? Coach Pierce, it was not a ringing endorsement. No, it wasn't. It was like, yeah, he's the quarterback this week. Yeah, for now. And then Sean Payton, Mike, this is for you. When asked about the Broncos' usage of running backs, he said, we'll figure it out each week, though, and kind of plan accordingly. It is hot hand.

It is hot hand, and Javante Williams is the starter, which Javante looked okay this week. I know it's a very ebbs and flows of is Javante going to look good on any particular week, but this just makes it pretty impossible to start Javante or Audrick Estime hoping that one of them is the hot hand. If there was a coach that wanted to galaxy brain Javante

giving one running back two weeks of rest every single game it would be sean payton it's just like every other week strategy you like just give him the week off well i'm just saying like this week you're the starter he's the backup next week you flip so that your legs are fresher for the you know every single game the rest of the season brock purdy dealing with right shoulder soreness he is day to day george kittle expected to practice after missing last week

I think that is all the news that we have. Got to monitor the Purdy situation. But anything else that we got? Oh, I mean, speaking of Broncos, the eligible to return from the IR, Tyler Bidet. The Bidet is back. The Bidet is back.

Get him clean for the playoffs. Yeah, see if he can leave his mark on the Broncos. Yeah, I mean, Isaiah Pacheco, expected to be healthy enough to play in week 12, but it's a coach's decision. They may table that for another week. But you're talking about he fractured his fibula, man. This is wild. Yeah, I mean, there you go. All right, that was today's News and Notes, presented as always by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. We'll take a break. We'll hit the waiver wire.

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This episode is brought to you by Abbott. Let's talk about a small thing that can make a big difference if you have diabetes, the Freestyle Libre 3 Plus Sensor. It's amazing how the sensor gives you real-time glucose readings so that you can see the impact of every meal and activity to make better choices.

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All right, let's jump in. A lot of bye weeks. Welcome to the Waiver Wire, presented by NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. Just three weeks left in the fantasy football regular season before we head into the playoffs. This week, the Buccaneers come back, hopefully with not just Baker Mayfield, but maybe Mike Evans on the outside.

Giants, Cardinals, Panthers also returning from the bye. And this week, this week we lose the Bengals, Bills, Falcons, Jags, Jets, and Saints. Goodness. And if you want to know how that impacts your team, just load up this week and you'll see how many guys you have to juggle. And we've been talking about like guys to put on your bench, insurance backs, defenses to double roster to play it up for the playoffs.

The jigsaw puzzle is a tough one this week because if you've got a bench full of bye weeks. It doesn't always work out. You might be dropping some of those stash plays and hoping you can pick them back up over the weekend. Try to drop them at the time when someone else doesn't notice.

What's the ideal time to drop? There's a couple different ideal times. One is a couple minutes before waivers run. Oh, yeah, so it gets washed out by the whole waiver running? Exactly. I think that's the best time. And then a couple minutes before kickoff. I was going to say on the weekend. Yeah, that makes sense.

But then don't worry, no bye weeks for week 13. Oh, are we done? Yeah, we're done with bye weeks. Until the week 14 bye, which by itself, a week 14 bye, that is way too late in the NFL. You shouldn't have any. Well, you won't have Lamar, and you won't have Jaden, and you won't have Henry, and you won't have Mixon, and you won't have Nico because the Broncos, Colts, Commanders, Ravens, Patriots, and Texans all go on bye in week 14. That is insane. Someone...

Someone in scheduling is not a fan of fancy football. Yeah, you know, we really need priorities, Mike. We're...

We're building the NFL. Yeah, it's really true. And they know it. Yeah, most of them know it. Do you mean us, our show? The three of us. Yeah, that's what he's talking about. You did, Andy. You tweeted out a graph today about showing sports because you were saying a little piece about MLB and their lack of parity and salary cap and how stupid of a stupid sport it is. It is such a stupid thing. But there was the graph of the NFL revenue, which was steadily climbing.

But then, I don't know if you guys saw, there is a year. There's a correlation. There is a year in there. And it just explodes. Where the Fantasy Football Podcast started, and all of a sudden, the NFL just is a rocket ship. Coincidence? We'll leave it to you. Correlation is not necessarily causation, but... Based on this graph, we doubled their billions of revenue. Yeah. Good job, fellas. Doing our best.

Does that mean that you would work for the MLB to help their revenues, Jason? I would never do anything for the MLB. That's not true. I was going to throw out a first pitch.

I would do that. Other than that, I would never do anything for the MLB. Boring. How does your first pitch end up? Are you sailing into the crowd? No way. Right into the glove, but it's like a football pass. I'm throwing a moon ball. Oh, you're going up. You're going up. Russell Wilson? Yes, sir. Hopping down, but in the glove still. Are you going to rookie of the year this, or are you going overhand? No, I'm overhanding. I'm going to do a three-step drop back.

Oh, yeah. Actually, that'd be funny. Take the snap. Uh-huh. I'm taking the snap. For now. Drop him back onto that mound. What a rip. All right. That's pretty good. All right. Running back waiver pickups heavily rostered at the top of our list. Jonathan Brooks with the opportunity as a rookie.

towards the end of the season, and then Jalen Warren, who's a forever waiver wire guy. Nine-point man. Yeah. If you need to lose your matchup by less...

Jalen Warren's your deal. If you need nine points at running back, a lot of people do this way. Hey, Jay, is your dynasty team? Do you wish you had Jalen Warren? I certainly do. No Brees, no ETN, no Bichon. Yeah, and no backups. They're all on buy or injured. So I will be dynasty waiver wire starting someone. Yeah, a lot of running backs available out there. Give me Cordero Patterson. I mean, that's wild. The –

There's a lot of leagues like this. There's a league that I'm looking at right now, and it's like, man, the next guy on this list, he's my target. Roshon Johnson. Yeah. Got the goal line opportunity, scored a touchdown, had 11 touches. Beggars can't be choosers on bye weeks. So Roshon is probably the most important name this week because Jalen Warren, Jonathan Brooks, most likely taking your leagues. I agree that they would be the clear pickups if they're available.

And really, everyone should go check for Jonathan Brooks. Should be rostered. But if you're in a league that doesn't have an IR, he very well might be on waivers. But Roshan was really heavily involved in this game. And you have to remember, Shane Waldron, their offensive coordinator, was gone. Their entire offense looked better. The way that they were using DJ Moore. The way that Cole Komet was out there running like 95% of routes. And Roshan's involvement and...

I know DeAndre Swift ended up with an okay game because he had that big, long run, but it looked like, oh man, they're kind of moving a little bit away from Swift and going to Roshan after they got rid of Khalil Herbert. Roshan is...

I think Roshan has a higher odds of getting 10 points than Jalen Warren does because around the goal line, they might just use him. That's fair. DeAndre Swift had 16 opportunities. That is his lowest of the season since week one. So 16 opportunities for Swift.

11 for Rochon. Yeah, with a brand new offensive coordinator, like you said. This was far more RBBC. One thing that was happening before the bye week was you were seeing Trey Benson and Arizona get more opportunity. 28 and 27% of snaps, 9 opportunities, 12 opportunities, and doing a lot with him, with those opportunities. 6.2 a carry on 10 carries. He actually could be an emergency start at the running back position for

As the Cardinals have the single easiest running back schedule rest of season, there's a world where Trey Benson could be an emergency flex during these bye weeks and is sitting out there representing this insurance back that might not be just an insurance back. The last two games averaged 10.5 fantasy points. And with it being after the bye week,

And Connor being an older back. James Connor being so important to the Cardinals are in the playoffs right now. And if the Cardinals are going to make a playoff run, they have to have a healthy James Connor. It would not surprise me to see more Trey Benson here over the stretch run as they

as they try and get in with a healthy corner. The scientific issue here is a conundrum because James Conner has... Get to the periodic table, Jay. Let's go. We know that James Conner can't play 17 games in a season or 16 if the season is 16 long. He has not done it once. And we're getting near the end of the season, so it seems like a scientific fact that he will have to miss a couple games. Interesting.

So, yeah, Trey Benson of all the – like most of the waiver wire pickups this week, I mean, you can go through the giant list of Benson, Braylon, Allen, Cam Akers, Blake Corum, Ray Davis, all the insurance backs. But Trey Benson is the number one, not just because you might be able to start him, but because the guy ahead of him just has never played a full season. It's going to be interesting because we started this show talking about

The old man strength and their diets and how, you know, these guys, Derek Henry, like they got Mitchell back and justice Hill gets involved, right? There was a part of this game against Pittsburgh. Henry's just standing on the sideline without a helmet, right? Staring out onto the field. When you talk about older backs and playoff bound teams, like Mike just said with the Cardinals and with Baltimore, uh,

you might see the workloads go down. So Justice Hill, you could get an emergency start there, especially with the targets. You could have opportunities, whereas some of these other guys like Braylon Allen, Blake Horham, I don't know if the Rams are going to be in the mix. Those are not necessarily situations where they have to be worked in. Yeah, I would put Braylon seconds behind Trey Benson in terms of a guy who

You might throw in there and he ends up with 12 opportunities on a given week where it's like, I mean, is Corham doing anything? Not really. 19% of snaps, which was a season high last week. That's five carries.

So this is insurance running back order, which we have put on the website at running back. We have all of our waiver wire rankings. If you are a member at join the foot, you get the custom waiver wire rankings as part of the suite of premium tools and the ultimate dashboard. Check those out and see how we are prioritizing these backup insurance backs. But that's the rest of this list for better or worse. I'm going to go better. They're staying healthy.

The main backs are staying healthy, so we're talking about the Jalen Warrens and the Trey Bensons and the Gus Buss every week because there aren't frontline high-fab spin opportunities to go get guys. I would agree with that. One

that I will say could play his way into more of a starting role and does not require the injury ahead of him is Jalen Wright. Him being a rookie, this is the rookie running back for the Miami Dolphins, he was up, if you look at his snaps, they're not a ton, but his snap percentage since the bye week, he was at 9%, 5%, 15%, 17%, 26%. He's getting more and more involved, and that is coincidental

coinciding with Raheem Mostert looking done and being underutilized and just kind of going away. Like toast. If you remember the beginning half of A-Chan's rookie season, he was not very involved as well. They brought him along a little bit slower. And so A-Chan being a smaller back, being someone that they have, they run a lot of two-back systems and move A-Chan into the slot. I think Jalen Wright could end the year

In one of those, you could put him in your lineup as a flex option. Do you drop Mostert for Wright? Yeah, I would absolutely rather have Wright. Yeah, I would do that. Another running back named...

We don't know because it's just the situation is so up in the air. But for the Vegas Raiders, Alexander Madison and the name is escaping me, Zemir White, they both got hurt in that game. Zemir Abdullah. And Lauby. Yeah, and Dylan Lauby, who was inactive that week. But, like,

If one of those guys is hurt, Amir Abdullah will see a little bit more work, especially, I mean, he's been a receiving back for them in the past. And then if they're both hurt, Amir Abdullah could be

Like an actual starting running back of fantasy. It's really important to bring that up. This was an ankle injury to Alexander Madison, and he was unable to return to the game. It's very common for ankle injuries to be like, even when you can return to the game, it gets worse after the game, and you're not able to go. This could be a multi-week absence. And so if that's the case, Alexander Madison, or I'm sorry, Amir Abdullah,

He's involved in the passing game. You could end up with four or five receptions. This is a terrible matchup this week, but he is the guy probably to pick up. I'll bet he's even on dynasty waivers. For me, leave him there. What's Zemir White's? Zemir White should be the headline there. But White got hurt. Right, but if he's not. I'm just saying, don't miss the fact that it goes Madison, then Zemir White, then Amir Abdullah.

Zemir White's only 24% rostered. 100%. And if his injury is minor. Do we have an update on that? I do not. I don't see any injury update at all. It was a quad injury. We'll see if we can find anything. So just keep that in mind. I don't want you to go out and spend on Abdullah when Zemir's sitting there. At wide receiver, the heavily rostered check, just in case, guys, it's going to be Quentin Johnston.

We just talked about indifference makers. It's going to be Jerry Judy, who had a big time week. The sleeper, every Tuesday on sleeper, they do the report. And like in so many of my leagues, the bench warmer of the week was Jerry Judy because people just didn't play him. And then the bigger name at 50% roster to bring up, chasing his high performance games have never been a great prescription.

but he did set a, I'm going to give him credit for setting his career high in yardage. Christian Watson of the Green Bay Packers. If you see, Dontay V. Wicks had zero catches, not involved, and Watson was four for 150 and had all four of his catches were like bombs to the two to 15 yard line. He couldn't get into the end zone

If he did, he would be the headline of the week. I just don't want him to get lost, even though he can disappear. Absolutely not. The past three weeks, the Watson season has been very strange, but three weeks in a row, 22%, 19%, 24% target share here. And these are like, so that's not like elite or anything, but if you're telling me I'm getting a 20% target share from Jordan Love and these are

more often than not, high-value targets because they're going down the field, he's back to being an interesting player. Remember, or if you were not listening for the playoff primer, the Green Bay Packers passing game down the stretch is, and in the fantasy playoffs,

is one of those league-winning matchups. Seattle, Saints, Minnesota. If you're telling me that I get a 208-pound guy running 4-3-6 for Jordan Love with great schedule down the stretch, that's someone that really can...

win you weeks obviously it's a little bit risky he's he's boom bust but we you know we've seen that in a stretch before where I think he had a a month-long stretch where he was like the wide receiver one in fantasy which is what he's been living off since then uh one name I want to bring up that I didn't see uh us talk we didn't talk about it but Curtis Samuel

for the Buffalo bills was very involved this past week. He looked really good to me. He finally looked healthy. Uh, this is a team where they're not getting the ball to Amari Cooper. A ton. Cal Coleman's been hurt. He was on the field, uh, had six targets, five for 58, had a touchdown. Don't forget that he exists in this offense. I'm not saying he's, it's, he's a flex worthy. Not this week. Yeah.

Yeah, it's tougher because they're going on to the bye week. Correct. So then that's just a whole other week for Coleman and Cooper to get healthy. He should be on your radar. Like if you're in a deeper league, I don't mind that going. Just survey whether Dalton Kincaid comes back, whether Keon Coleman comes back, because if neither of those guys are there, just worth knowing. But yes, going into the bye week.

Another couple names to bring up. I think that the Carolina situation, you could call your shot on whether it's Adam Thielen because just the PPR machine that he was to start last year. He should be healthy now. They're coming off their bye. And Deontay Johnson's not there anymore. So we saw this team with Adam Thielen being the one, and it was really valuable for fantasy. They didn't have Xavier Leguette, though. And so you could take the shot there. I actually...

Looking further, I would rather have Leggett than Thielen, but I think you could take a shot. I would too. Thielen dropped off the face of the planet last year from weeks, basically the bye week on. He was irrelevant. And that was with no Deontay Johnson. He was tired. You're saying he rested by being hurt. He's got fresh legs for the second half, guys. Yeah, the final 11 games last year, it wasn't great. No touchdowns, four catches, but worth knowing that

One of these guys is going to have the opportunity to be more of a PPR monster. Yeah, two more names that I think are good. Wondell Robinson, probably rostered. And obviously you're going to Tommy Cutlets here at quarterback. But Tommy Cutlets, he started –

a bunch of games last year. I believe Wandale had an 18% target share, so he's utilized during that time, and the matchup is great against Tampa Bay. On the other side of the ball in the same matchup, Jalen McMillan coming off of the injury. Chris Godwin obviously not going to return this year coming off the bye. I think he's widely available, and I know he had a very, very bad performance, but

To me, he's a pretty valuable – the way Baker's been playing and the need that they have for him as a rookie wide receiver, I would certainly pick up McMillan. I was trying to remember the name of the other Carolina wideout. Al, what's his name? Oh, sorry. Mike. I didn't know you were setting the thing up, man. I was trying to help my podcast host here get a name. I was just setting him up. Lucky guy. The sheer disrespect –

from Jason Moore in this podcast of saying Wanda Robinson's name before Elijah Moore. Get it out of here. Elijah Moore would be I would pick him up every single time over Wanda Robinson. I agree with that. OK. That wasn't me saying I would take him over. Elijah Moore is he's 19 percent rostered. He is of a guy who is widely available and

He is near the top of my list. If you didn't listen yesterday, Jameis Winston is on pace for 70,000 passing attempts. The month-long... This is going to be so fascinating. The month-long stretch is...

the worst for quarterbacks and wide receivers, schedule adjusted. It is the worst for the Browns for the next month. It is as bad as it can possibly get, but I don't know if that matters. I genuinely am like, okay, all of these are the worst for quarterbacks or wide receivers to play against, which means those defenses are going to pick six Jameis to start every game, and that's great because Jameis don't care and he will just keep slinging it. This is like one of those, between a rock and a hard place, like

Or, you know, which thing is going to break? Is the unstoppable force or the immovable object? Yes, that's what I'm looking for. We know Jameis will lose. Yes. So there is the slight fear that they make a quarterback change at some point because that happened, you know, we all hoped for Flacco to provide the Winston-like volume. Here's the headline to me is that if you're going to take a spot start opportunity, do it in an offense that's throwing the football and an opportunity to luck into those targets. Tillman, Judy,

and Elijah Moore, two-thirds of those guys probably on a weekly basis will do enough to make you happy. And don't go with a low passing volume option. Like you saw, Jason, you had expectations for Jacoby Myers. He may have some games, but it's also frustrating, right? Because his Gardner Minshew slash Ritter at some point this season

Just play the odds for those spot starts the best you can with higher volume situations. That's why I like McMillan a lot because Baker's been on fire. They're throwing the ball a lot. The schedule coming out of the bye is the Giants Carolina Raiders Dallas Carolina. It's like

Yes, please. These top three drop candidates being brought up, and don't forget to see the entire wide receiver list. MVS would be another dart throw, but he's going into the bye. And then credit to Westbrook Akina. He's out there every week for Tennessee. Devon Vele for Bo Nix and company had a nice four for 66. But these top three drop candidates, I'm dropping all of them. Waddle, Deontay, Pittman.

I think you're probably fine dropping them, yeah. And then Ricky Pearsall, Tank Dell were the other two mentions. No, I would not. I would drop Pearsall over Dell. Dell I wouldn't drop. Man. But, you know, again, you're lower tier. Tank Dell in the season right now, wide receiver 43. He's got three games. Feels like 143. Three games over the 10-point Jason Moore line. It is definitely his fault, too.

Yeah, no. It's worth saying. I mean, we excused a lot of it early in the season. Wait, did you think I meant Jason? No, no. It's just so funny. We don't phrase things like that. It's usually like, okay, here's what happened. Calvert Ridley had a 51-yard touchdown. It was called back. You're like, no, you're like,

It is definitely a tank Dell problem. He's not playing that well. Too many games with too many important drops or miscues. To start the season, it was like, oh man, you would have been happy if you just got that touchdown. But at some point, it's on the player. Tank Dell not well. You got to do it, man. You got to do better. Yeah, and it happened last night. There were some good plays, and then there were plays he just didn't make the tough catch. And that's been frustrating. And the difference, I mean...

I'll take this as Mike brought up Nico in the offseason as the preeminent receiver in that room. We love Tank Dell. Diggs was arriving. Nico's there. Looked messy. Not messy. And not messy on film. Nico Collins on film?

Next level. Just like, I mean, he really looks like in that category with CeeDee Lamb and those special players, Mike Evans. He looks completely like he outmatches the defense where Tank Dell looks like

Things have to go a little more right for Tankdown. A CeeDee Lamb and A.J. Brown type of human that's just like, you know, if I got to, you know, I'm overweight, I'm old, but I promise you if I got to go play football with middle schoolers, I'm going to school. What are they going to do against me? Nothing. And that's how it feels with some of those guys in the NFL that are just –

They're just bigger and better than you as a human. Yeah, he's humongous. Okay, let's try to control the tight end reactions, okay? Because the weeks that we got from Johnny Smith and Taysom Hill were outrageous. Johnny Smith, start of the week on this show. Thankful for that because hopefully it helps some people. Six for 101-2, integral to the offense even with –

the ghost of waddle and Tyreek Hill there. And then the bigger question, Taysom Hill, because when you look at Taysom Hills, the totality of his performance, I know he's going into the buy 10 targets. So he caught eight passes for 50 yards. Then he ran it seven times for 138 yards and three touchdowns. Then he threw it one time, right. And had a passing touchdown. So he,

What is the proper reaction on Taysom Hill? Because there's no Olave. There's no Rashid Shahid. It doesn't seem like any of these tight ends, Juwan Johnson or Monroe, can make a difference. We're going to ride Taysom Hill to victory or die trying? And how much fab does that equate to? Is this an all-in type of thing? If I don't have...

a stable tight end, I'm going to go, I'm going to push my chips as far in as I can. What's a stable? Is, is, is Ingram a stable tight end? Oh, is Kate Otten a stable tight end? Yes. That's, that's the line right there. If you had Ferguson and he's Kyle Pitts,

I mean, Pitts has been real bad. I feel like if I have Pitts, I don't have to go all in. I'm not saying that I wouldn't take a shot at Taysom or rather have Taysom. What are Pitts' recent scores? His last three weeks, one catch for nine yards, four for 55, one for 11. Four for what? 55. After his little breakout performance, he's been two weeks with one catch. The last month for Taysom, four.

Five points, 14, six, and then the huge, 37.5. And it's, you know, the way that I'm seeing beat reporters talk of new head coach, the Rizzler, his love for, like, this is like,

We had talked about that. Okay, well, Dennis Allen is out. Does this coaching, the new regime, do they love Taysom Hill just as much as Peyton and Dennis Allen? More. And the answer is possibly more. More rushing attempts? And it's not just the love of the player. It's...

They have no, they don't have bodies left. Like the guys that they're going to roll out there at the wide receiver position. And it's working. You will have never heard of. They're winning with it. Yeah. And I want to give even more credit to Taysom because, you know, in week four, he was the tight end one, got injured and was gone, came back to a bad game. Then he was the tight end five with a monster performance.

Then you look at his box score and you say it was a down week, you know, tight end 16. He had six fantasy points in that game. He had a 70-something yard reception for a touchdown that was so weak. Just the weakest, most unaffecting holding call called back.

And then the next week, another one. Like, he is on fire right now. That's why I want to know if he could be a league winner. He could be a league winner. He could be. But it's tough because he's going on to bye. So, right now, while people are desperate for a start right now to go all in on someone that can't help you this week and you still got to find someone else and roster a bye week player, it's hard. So, there's a lot of context needed. But I do think Taysom could be a true...

separator at the position to bring people a chance. He's going to run. He's going to receive. And he's going to throw probably on a weekly basis, which is unique. Hunter Henry has run the most routes among all tight ends this year. He's so fit. Six for 63 this last week. He is a stabilizer for the position. The schoonman.

Why would we bring up Luke Schoonmaker? Because Jake Ferguson might not be back with the concussion. And Schoonman had 10 targets on 55 pass attempts from Cooper Rush. Are we going again? That one already got one, so we're okay. Zach Ertz, Will Bisley. Zach Ertz, I think he's been on this show every single week. The reason...

Part of the reason of Taysom Hill, I think you can go all in despite him being out, is these other names. Like Schoonmaker, Will Disley against the Baltimore Ravens? Yeah. Absolutely. There's options that I think you can get for very, very cheap while you're overpaying for a player who's not going to play for you this week. But that's how I would handle it. Do you think that our league would let me, due to bye week problems, play Will Disley as a running back?

No, but Taysom, you've got an argument. So no Dizzler? No, no Dizzler at running back. If you've got the roster spots to do it, you might be able to pick up Taysom Hill and Schoonman together. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Because Schoonman's 100% available, won't cost you hardly anything. You can put most of your money on Taysom Hill, get a spot start from Luke Schoonmaker, and then...

caught him also Theo Johnson yeah Jatavian Sanders two rookie tight ends looking better for New York and Carolina they're okay and Cole Komet I mentioned it yeah he ran 95 percent of routes in the first new offensive coordinator with Caleb Williams looking better so he's worth monitoring right at the camera yeah could you give me the camera for two seconds yeah it's about time

Why won't they use Cole Komet? Because of Shane Waldron. Yeah, Shane Waldron is not. Shane Waldron was like. Shane Waldron's a great guy. Okay. That's what we hear. That's what I understand about Shane Waldron is really nice guy. I hope he Waldron's down a well. Shane Waldron. You banked it. Bank shot. Yeah. Shane Waldron. You made it, but it was not a switch. I didn't call bank either. The season started, and it was like.

Gerald Everett's my dude. I'm putting him on the field over Cole Komet. I know we gave him that extension, but we're going with Gerald Everett. He knows the system. And then you're like, this is not working. Well, fine, we'll put Cole Komet out there, but I'm not going to draw targets up for him. And now Waldron's gone, and oh, look, Cole Komet, pretty good player. You know, the best coaches are the ones that play the best players.

I know I would. You know? And then build the offense targeting the best players. And you look like a genius then. So defenses, guys. But drop candidates at tight end. Is Tucker Craft, is it over? Because it seems like it's over. I'm still, look, I'm the goose that felt really, really bad. It wasn't just that, was it? Yeah. What do you mean? The week before, four for 34. I guess it was because it feels like a long time.

since he was great because he had an underwhelming game, then he had a bye week, and then he had a goose. The run was, what, five touchdowns in four weeks? No, five in five weeks, I'm sorry. But the offense that he's in, he's not a high-volume guy, but of the tight ends where you're hoping for a touchdown, he's higher on the probability scale. All right, we'll take a quick break and talk about some defensive options as we move towards the playoffs. ♪

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Go even further and get your whole meal catered. Just order online by November 26th. Get Thanksgiving ready at Whole Foods Market. Terms apply. All right, give me some names that you like at tight end or, sorry, at defense this week. Yeah, I mean, there's a handful this week. A lot of great options. You've got the Commanders taking on Cooper Rush.

Their defense has looked much better. They're coming off a bye. I like the Buccaneers. Yes. This week, widely available against the Giants and following that is Carolina. We like the Bucs because they're playing Tommy Cutlets. Yes, Tommy Cutlets, Danny DeVito. Five sacks per game is the average when he started.

Yeah, and then Carolina the next week, the Raiders the next week. The Buccaneers, they don't have a great secondary. You can throw on them, but if you're playing against quarterbacks that will turn the ball over, you have touchdown opportunities, you have sacks, you have the things that score fantasy points. So they're one of my favorite pickups.

Also, the Broncos. The Broncos are available in half the leagues. Their defense is elite, and they're playing the Raiders. Yeah, for sure. I also think Arizona, you need to look at Arizona now and on into the fantasy playoffs because even in bad matchups, they've performed well in terms of the counting stats on the defensive side. And their performances lately, Chicago, New York, were top five. And they're getting their first round –

Yeah, tackle. DT, baby. Yeah. Have they had him at all this year? No. His next game will be his first game. First rounder, Darius Robinson, interior lineman, shut down the run even more. The Cardinals have, you know, they got Seattle a couple times. They got New England. They got Carolina. Yeah, it's a pretty easy schedule the rest of the week. It's not too bad.

We're going to talk some quarterbacks here in a minute. Today's waiver wire was brought to you by NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. We're racing to the playoffs, and right now you can get an NFL Sunday Ticket for the rest of the NFL season for just $89. $89. Sign up now at youtube.com slash fantasy. Footballers offer ends December 2nd. Terms and embargoes apply. No cancellation. Full stream ahead. I'll kick us off here because...

I love it, and I think he's the stream of the week. Now, I like Andy's better, but... Well, it's very... This is a very difficult week for just streaming quarterbacks in general because of the teams that are on by and the way that the matchups have laid out. These, like...

Tommy DeVito is about the only widely available quarterback that you could pick up and play. I'm not doing that. So, I mean, we're looking at guys who are available in about half of leagues. Yeah, and for me, it's...

Bo Nix time. Bo Nix. Bo Nix. Bo Namath. Is going to. Bo Nix is his roster percentage says you could probably stream, but this dude's not a streamer anymore. Yeah, no, he's just a starter. I mean, you're talking about a quarterback who's top 12 in five of his last seven games. He's the quarterback nine already against the Raiders in week five with three total touchdowns.

Denver steamrolled them 34-18. I expect them to steamroll them again. Since week three, the Raiders ranked 28th in scheduled adjusted fantasy points to quarterbacks. And one of the things I really like about Bo Nix, we've brought up his rushing floor. That's great.

but it's the lack of rushing success as a team that I also really, really love. You know, some of these quarterbacks, when you go out and you make the start, you go, well, Jared Goff could be awesome. But if all the, you know, Kirk Cousins could be awesome. But if the touchdowns just go through the ground, you know, they have three rushing touchdowns. Like under the ground. If they got all rushing touchdowns, then you just end up with a bad performance. And it's like,

You think Javante Williams is going to get in the game with three rushing touchdowns? I don't. Yeah, it's, you know, Bo Nix for sure, Las Vegas. I'm going with if Justin Herbert's out there and you need a victory, you better spend up on the fab and make sure you get him. Brought him up in Difference Makers, plays Baltimore, the Harbowl,

50-point over-under. Mike, you've got Russell? Yeah. Like I said, it is really tough to find a streaming. Unlimited. It was unlimited diarrhea this past week. Honestly, here's the options. It's like, do you trust in what Anthony Richardson just did last week? Against Detroit. He plays the Lions now. Geno Smith. Arizona, I still think of Arizona as a bad team, and then

Oh, well, actually, no, they're not. Their defense has been playing quite well. Stafford has been absolutely back on a full heater where Kyron Williams is not scoring any touchdowns. It's all Matthew Stafford in the passing attack. He plays the Philadelphia Eagles. So I'm taking Russ despite the big letdown. He plays against the Cleveland Browns. And the reason I'm trusting in that is Pittsburgh's offense had been playing really, really well until that one game.

And the Browns just got annihilated by the Saints, who...

Have nobody, nobody, MVS scored another long touchdown on this team. Yeah, you'd love to be able to say Jameis, but he has to play Thursday against a team that just made Lamar Jackson look pretty bad and score sub-20 points. It's a very tough week if you don't have a locked-in starter. So those are some names. And again, you can see our entire waiver list, every position, custom for your league, your scoring system. And you can check that out at jointhefoot.com. We're going to wrap it up.

By the way, we're like one week and a day from the, yeah. Oh, yeah. The Megalodon episode. Next Wednesday, the Megalodon episode, we'll have a supersized episode of this podcast heading into Thanksgiving weekend, and we'll also have some giveaways, some fun stuff we'll be doing for the Megalodon.

Next Wednesday. Hear, hear. So we'll be back tomorrow with, what do we got? We got Hungry for More. We got the TNF preview. Some Mailbag tomorrow. We'll get into starts of the week, matchups, Wheel of Shame, and whatever else happens in the National Football League. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for subscribing to the podcast. It helps us out a lot. We'll catch you tomorrow. Goodbye.

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.