Playoff Primer + Week 10 Buy or Sell, Fence Sitting

And then there's opportunities with the schedule. So how do you guys look at that? So there's a couple different ways. Highlighting bad matchups is just as important as highlighting good matchups. And it's going to be different for everybody based on what your fantasy record is right now. If I'm one of those teams that sit in their nine, it's seven and two, I know I'm in. And now I'm really preparing my team. Like in League one, we know pretty much, you know, our, our, uh,

Celebran Expert League on NFL, we're pretty much in the playoffs. It would be a hard, bad beat the rest of the way to not get in. So we're looking at those and saying, do we have guys that are really, we're afraid of in those playoffs schedules, or maybe we can pivot to a similar guy, you know, similar tier and maybe upgrade elsewhere because we're planning ahead. So if you are needing to win now,

then you don't really have the luxury. You've got to get in the playoffs first, but you also don't want to overdo it. You know what I mean? Last year, Drew Breeze had an unbelievable matchup. Two games against Tampa Bay looked like you've got to go trade for him. He's just going to be amazing. And then, you know, that hurt people and they lost. So you got to take everything with a grain of salt. This is just one piece of information to help you know who we think has a really good playoff outlook and a really bad playoff outlook. Yeah, and I think, you know, we'll start at the quarterback position.

But you have, you know, at the quarterback position, some leagues, obviously, highly competitive on picking up both streaming quarterback options or multiple quarterbacks on people's benches. So it seems like an area where this matters more maybe than some of the other positions. James Winston has the best playoff schedule from weeks 14 through 16. He's got Indianapolis, Detroit, and Houston.

Those are both in the bottom half against the quarterback. Some other guys, Daniel Jones, Baker, Mayfield, Ryan Tannehill, Carson wins Nick Foles. So you brought up Nick Foles. His final two weeks, weeks 15 and 16, maybe you've got to buy in week 14 when he plays the Chargers. But he does play Oakland, Atlanta to end the year. And that's what Mike was speaking to earlier. Yeah, it's a juicy matchup. And I mean, you can combo that. It doesn't always work out. Often it does when you're talking quarterback.

wide receiver-wise, DJ Chark and Didi, the matchups are incredibly juicy for them as well with Oakland and Atlanta to close it out. Yeah, and of course that's going to depend, you know, for the league one. We only have playoffs in week 15 and 16, so it's fantastic. That first week in the playoffs isn't great. And sometimes you look for someone to pair with a player like that. You say...

If I can have these two guys, look at two guys' schedules, especially if you're in the streaming situation. If you're talking about you currently are streaming quarterbacks or you currently are streaming defenses, hold two of them where when you put them together, they complete that perfect puzzle piece for those weeks. You know, I agree with you bringing up, James. He's the most interesting guy to me because of all the players who have that boom bust. They can have monster games. They benefit.

from those high scoring easier matchups. He's got the top two wide receivers in fantasy right now. It's, I still can't wrap my head around that. I can't. Thank you, Bruce Aryan for doing what you do. A bye week. Not every team has had their buy week. And the number one and number two wide receivers are Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. And still James Winston is left for dead in our minds. Yeah. So for part of your planning, you want to look at your trade deadlines. You want to look at your playoff structure.

Fill in the other side of this equation, though. You're making decisions. You know, you bring up James Winston, maybe Nick Foles's situation. But you do have some stars that have maybe tougher schedules. You know, Patrick Mahomes is the one that jumps out more than anybody else because he has a really difficult playoff schedule on paper. But he's Patrick Mahomes, right? He's got New England in New England. Then he's got Denver. And then he's got Chicago in Chicago. Those teams are the first, third, and seventh against fantasy quarterbacks.

I'm going down with Patrick Mahomes. Are you guys in agreement with that? Yeah, 100%. Yeah, I am. But I do think, you know, you limit some of the upside. That being said, remember the, you know, the playoff game, one of the best games I've ever witnessed in my life between Kansas City and New England, where it was just who can get to 100 points the quickest. I agree completely. Patrick Mahomes.

This is a tale of not drafting that super early quarterback. Obviously, people haven't been happy, gets injured, comes back, and now has a bad playoff schedule, but you're going to roll with him. Jared Goff, Derek Carr, Matthew Stafford also have rough playoff schedules. Stafford does have Tampa Bay there in week 15. Yeah, he's the delicious sandwich where the meat is great, but the bread is bad. It's right. So, right, it's a, my favorite, we kind of glossed over. My favorite.

playoff guide, a guy that, you know, I had the really tough decision today of do I drop this player? Because I'm in Bipocalypse and I am holding on to Carson Wins because he's got, I've got Carson Wins and Philip Rivers. So, you know, Carson comes back, plays New England. But after that, Carson Wins's schedule is perfecto the rest of the season. And he's got to me the best combination of being a good quarterback with a good

schedule. His playoff weeks of the New York Giants, the Washington Redskins, and the Dallas Cowboys is pretty good. And as you head into the playoffs, just streaming considerations, the worst five teams right now in terms of, I guess they'd be the best five teams to stream against. And this is something you can see in our streamfinder tool as well. The Cardinals, Raiders, Falcons, Buccaneers, and Bengals. Those are great teams to stream your quarterbacks against. Yep. And looking at the running back position,

It's a little harder to take anything away from who has the great schedules because the best schedules are for David Montgomery, the Denver running backs, Minnesota with Dalvin Cook, the Patriots, Green Bay, and Seattle. So David Montgomery, we have talked about perhaps he was a trade four target because the schedule opened up so much for him. Lindsay and Freeman, we don't have enough data yet on...

on what their new quarterback is going to do. He did not throw them the ball, and that's a huge problem. That creates a huge problem for these guys in a timeshare if they aren't being able to pad the stats with some receptions. Dalvin Cook is... You got him. You're not getting him. Madison. Put Madison on your bench. I've talked about it. We've talked about it. If Dalvin Cook goes down, which he has... It's happened to him basically every year of his life.

He's had some kind of injury where he's missing time. Alexander Madison is a league winning running back to me. People are not ignoring you. Has his percentage gone up? It was in the 30s. But our listeners aren't ignoring you, Mike. Okay, good. Because the only player I omitted from the top 10 players on the undefeated teams list that I didn't mention was Alexander Madison. He's on, because Cook's on those teams. Madison's on those teams. Good. Because they're listening to you.

Cook your playing, cook your set up for. I think these schedules are very interesting for players that have been more hit and miss. Sony Michelle, it's either great or you want to claw your eyes out. Aaron Jones has had some good games, some bad games, along with Jamal Williams. So Sony Michelle, Aaron Jones, being on the list of, you know, and James White, Jamal Williams, they have two incredible schedules to end the year. And then Chris Carson has also lined up for success.

ending the year against the Rams, Panthers, and Arizona. This is good information to have at your trade deadline. Yeah, as trade deadlines come up, you might have a player here that you go, oh, man, I really worry about Damien Williams' playoff schedule. You know, we talked about it being bad for Pat Mahomes, really tough defenses, Chicago, New York, or New England, Denver.

maybe wait for one of those big games like we just saw and say, oh, it's his job. Maybe you can convert him into a Chris Carson who's got a better playoff schedule up ahead. I think that's one way that you can utilize this kind of information. I would say this. There are a handful of guys with really bad playoff schedules at the running back position. Marlon Mack, Damien Williams, Carlos High, Duke Johnson, and then the running back assortment allotment.

menagerie in Detroit. But the one that I'd be most worried about is, okay, Carlos Hyde has kind of helped you out. But if he's got a tough schedule, he's not the kind of player that overcomes obstacles in general for your fantasy team. So he's going Denver, Tennessee, Tampa. Not a great lineup there. And then Damien Williams, would you call it re-believing? Would you call it?

I think that works because even the believers, Mike, you're a believer. You came into this year believing. You are now re-believing because you lost it. You lost it. I admit, when it looked like McCoy had taken the job, it was, okay, take this information and move on. It wasn't dropped Damien because you knew this was a possibility. But I do believe that Damien Williams has taken the starting job back. For now. For now. For now.

New England, Denver, though, in the first two playoff weeks, that could be tough sliding for him, although he does more damage in the passing game. So take it for what you will. See what happens over the next few weeks. Anybody else at running back you want to talk about? Yeah, I would highlight Leonard Fournett. I think he's got a great stretch run here. And if you're looking at, you know, I recently had to do a trade.

where I, uh, it was, there was more to it. I got picks back, but I swapped from Leonard Fournette to Marlon Mac because I needed a pick next year and I had the bypocalypse in week 12 where Leonard Fornett's on by. But if you can do that in reverse, if you're one of those playoff bound teams, I would much rather have Leonard Fournett's playoff scheduled in Marlon Mac. And they're, they're in that tier where you can work a deal around those two players, uh, I think pretty easily.

Five best teams to play running backs against right now, the Lions, Bengals, Chiefs, Dolphins, Panthers. And it's tough sledding right now against New England, the Saints, the Buccaneers. Yep. And the San Francisco 49ers. All right, looking at the wide receiver position, what are some takeaways that you guys have? One other name, sorry, I just want to bring up. I know he's injured right now, but James Connor, I love his playoff schedule. Arizona.

Buffalo, who has not been good against the run, and the Jets, those are three teams. Yeah, solid. I mean, that, you know, and right now while he's been injured, he's a guy you can acquire unlike a Dalvin Cook. Are you willing to do that? I am willing. I mean, he's been, he's been, he's had the Matt Brita problems where he's free. But he's had the Matt Brita that he's putting up fantasy points. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I, but it could hurt you in the playoffs too. I guess I'm more curious what you're willing to pay for him.

Yeah, I mean, you know, I keep going back to the Marlon Mack well, a player that's been really solid. People want Marlon Mack. He's been great, but his stretch run isn't quite as juicy as these other players. I think I'd be willing to go that level. And I think you could get that deal done. Okay, yeah. Marlon Mack's the only player really at the running back position that has back-to-back bottom.

or difficult matchups to start the playoff. Jay, would you trade David Johnson for James Connor? Yes, I would. Okay. All right, let's go to the wide receiver position. Some interesting stretch run players at Whiteout. We talked about Nick Foles, so DJ Chark and D.D. Westbrook. And once again, look on your waiver wire. I found him sitting there on my waiver wire in my Money League.

Because D.D. Westbrook, I'm referring to that. Yeah, and he's still hurt. I mean, he missed last week. He left the game early two weeks ago. He missed all of last week. So you do need him to, he needs to come back. Yes. But if you're prepping for the playoffs and you're already in a good position, like if D.D. Westbro comes out in two weeks and he's got 10 targets again because it's Nick Foles. That won't be surprising. T.Y. Hilton has an incredible stretch run. If he's back on the field.

But the fact he's not right now might make him very available at trade deadlines. He's got Tampa, New Orleans, and Carolina, all 24th or worst against the wide receiver. Terry McLaren has Green Bay in week 14, but then ends up with Philly, New York. Oh, it's so good, but he's a tough one in the sense that you have to know. In the interim. When you're projecting the end of the season for Terry McLaren, it's kind of like we're talking about James Connor. Be aware, maybe he's banged up and he's not playing for those weeks.

but it's very possible, if not likely, that Haskins is finishing the year for the Redskins. Right. And if that's the case, I don't care about Terry McLauran's schedule. What do you make of A.J. Brown and Corey Davis. Ryan Tannenhill has been much improved over what the team was getting from Marcus Mariotta. And I'll actually, I'll direct it more towards A.J. Brown, who since Tanyhill has taken over as a starter.