Starts of the Week + Week 15 Breakdown, Farewell to Urban Meyer - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/16

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Fantasy Forecast. All right, week 15 matchups. Let's begin. This week is rough. There's a lot of low point totals and a lot of big favorites and a lot of COVID mayhem going on, including this matchup. The Las Vegas Raiders, 6 and 7. Stand corrected. The wheels have fallen off. At the Cleveland Brown 7 and 6. We're out of control.

Guys, the Drafking Sportsbook line right now, the Las Vegas Raiders on the road are now one-point favorites. Yeah, I mean, it makes sense. The over-under is 38 and a half. Also makes sense. So you have a disgusting over-under. You have some possible rain in this one. They played a weather game last year. It was 16 to 6.

in that game. You saw last week the Browns couldn't even move the ball in the second half, barely survived. Now you have a significant amount of players that will potentially miss this game due to COVID. I'm going to throw them out there. Jarvis Landry's on the COVID list. Austin Hooper is on the COVID list. Baker Mayfield is on the COVID list. And it's a mess. I mean, on offense, it's going to be a mess for the Browns. It is a mess for the NFL.

But I think this game is very easy for fantasy football. Let's hear it. Like Josh Jacobs, he's in. He has been consistent. He is not giving you like weak winning performances, but he has been very safe, especially with the, they finally, finally after years getting him involved in the passing game. So he's a running back too. Hunter Renfro is.

This dude is just a... Locked in. This guy is a super stud, especially when Darren Waller is not on the field. And Waller did not practice on Wednesday. He is not likely to play. This is a Saturday game. Remember, there are two games on Saturday. So that's an easy situation. On the brown side, Nick Chubb every single week. Donovan People's Jones, to me, as the last man standing, he's not just a necessary guy.

He's good. He is a capable, deep threat. I think he will see some decent target volume last week, fight for 90, but seven targets. He is truly the wide receiver two, now the wide receiver one this week for this team. So I think he is worth of flex play. And then, like, do you, are you willing to roll with David and Joku? That's my biggest question for this matchup for both sides of the ball.

My answer is a definitive yes, assuming he is activated from the COVID list, which I expect to happen. Because Austin Hooper will likely miss this game. Harrison Bryant, who you might have turned to to take some of those snaps, has been very banged up, didn't play in week 14. And you talk about a last man standing approach. You talk about Case Keenom behind center with a full chub behind him, as he said. That's his words. His words. And Cream Hunt's not going to play either.

Injoku is very interesting because he's an athletic tight end who can take a, you know, one of those dump offs is going to turn into a 20, 30-yard run. And that's not what you could have expected from Hooper. So I do think there's upside there. You're at home. You're playing a team that struggles against the tight-in position. So. Yeah, I agree. I think if he is activated and obviously it's possible he's not even available for the game, but assuming he is, which is the hope and expectation.

I think I would play him probably more than I would play Donovan People Jones just because of the position. David and Joku 20 hours ago said, it's good to be back. Yeah. Okay. So he's back. As he was back from the COVID-19 list. So he has officially back from the list? Well, that's what he says. Well, if he says he's going to be back, there's always rules about like the day you can do that, but he already missed a week.

Do you guys think that Deerness Johnson is one of those primary stashes over the weekend with Cream Hunt's injury? With Cream Hunt out, Deerness hasn't seen very many opportunities per game, so I don't think you can play him with Nick Chubb still there, but is he someone that you're throwing on the bench? He's a very valuable insurance running back for sure, and I do think Chubb has a super bounceback week. The last two games for him have been very disappointing.

I think he has a Jonathan Taylor-esque game here because the Raiders have not been able to stop the run. So I hope you're not playing against Chubb. I do think it's interesting, though. I mean, obviously the line is the Raiders are favorites and it's the lowest over-under of the year. So I wouldn't expect a lot of points in the game overall. But we'll see how it shakes out. The New England Patriots. Let's move on to that game. Nine and four Patriots traveled to Indianapolis to take on a Colts team that has played very well.

And the culture favorite, two and a half points, according to the draft king sports book. The overrunners 46 points. You know, Indianapolis started one and four. They won six. They've won six of their last eight games. New England started two and four, and they've won seven straight. They are, like Arizona, undefeated on the road. And I'm excited to see what happens in this game, but there are some murky situations that I'm certainly worried about. You know, when you look at New England, you have this kind of.

contrast between scoring a ton of points, but then not necessarily knowing a pass catcher to start for them on a weekly basis. And you have Damien Harris, who's been limited a couple days this week, has the hamstring injury, had the by week, but how healthy is he? And then can you flex from Andre on the road? These are the questions that come to mind on the Patriot side of the ball. And what would you guys do with the running back situation?

I do think that this game will have a lot of fantasy relevance, especially when looking at the slate of all the games this week. So I want to start pieces in this game. I think I would be willing to start both Damien Harris and Ramandre Stevenson. I think that they are fine options. Both should be involved. If I had both, I would start Damien Harris. Okay.

You know, so the receiving work, I mean, you're really taking a shot at Kendrick Bourne, who was hot before, you know, you throw out the wind game. Yeah, you throw out the last game. It was impossible for any receiving option to do anything. Delete that. So Kendrick Bourne would be the guy I think you can take a shot on. But really, I don't want the passing game on that side because it's very efficient and effective. It moves the chains.

But they don't throw a lot of touchdowns. They don't score through the air. And I think that the fantasy value is going to come on the ground for New England. It's very difficult when you look at how good the Patriots defense has been, number one against quarterbacks and wide receivers in the last six weeks. It's difficult to look at Michael Pittman and say, hey, I've got confidence playing him. Even though they're at home, even though there's a likelihood that, you know, the 46 point overrunner is not bad. It just feels scary. I agree.

My hope for Pittman, and we had a question on Green Room last night where he was the easy sit because there were four good options. And when you look at this matchup, you say, okay, I'm not to the point where I have to start Michael Pittman every single week. But he has been solid. The targets have been there. And the hope here is...

New England is famous for taking away your number one option, and there's no doubt what the number one option is here. They are going to sell their soul to stop Jonathan Taylor. I don't think they're going to be able to do it necessarily, but that's where their focus will be, and that could open up things in the passing game for Pittman. So he isn't a must bench to me. Van Jefferson against Seattle or Pity City? I would go Van if O'Dell Beckham remains out, and otherwise I would go Pity. Are you going to go with...

Devante Parker against the New York Jets or Michael Pittman. I think I'll go Michael Pittman. Are you going to go Brandon Nyuk against the Atlanta Falcons? Iyuk. Okay. Interesting. All right. It's a very tough decision. Yeah. Carolina, five and eight taken on the seven and six Buffalo bills, the Draft King Sportsbook line, Buffalo minus 11. The overrunner is 44. So you hear that overunder? You say, hey, that's a low one.

But 28 of those points are the bills. So Vegas not expecting the bills to have trouble in this game. Yeah, well, what if Sam Darnel is back? Vegas not expecting. Start your bills defense. I mean, does the line get bigger or smaller? Carolina started the year 3 and 0. We talked about this last week. They're two and eight since then. They're desperate. That's the best word to describe the Panthers. That desperation has led to...

multiple quarterbacks shuffling in and out based on the whims of Mount Rule. Which as an hour ago, Panther's quarterback, Sam Darnold, he is designated to return, so he will be back. But as of an hour ago, he's still not yet cleared for contact. So not this week. It makes it so difficult to really recommend a single Panther because, you know, I'd like to say that there's a real opportunity for Robbie Anderson in this game where, you know,

DJ Moore has been limited with a hamstring injury. Yo-hoo. Robbie Anderson's been pretty good, but this is just a brutal matchup. Yeah. It's a brutal matchup against the great defense. You know, you have 16 implied points for the Panthers. And so, you know, Chuba is in the same matchup. Would you prefer Chuba, who is just, he's the grinder. He is the first and second down back, or would you go with Amir Abdullah, who is their passing downs guy?

I would go with neither. Yeah. That was not the question. But I think it's the right answer. I think that I'd go with Devon Singletary. Yeah, exactly. On the other side of the ball, someone that, you know, he looked good last week, did not get a lot of opportunities on the ground. But yeah, I mean, when you can go down to Devin Singletary and put him in the lineup, this is the playoff time. I have to imagine you've got better options than Chuba or Amir Abdullah. If I had to start one of them, I would personally put Chuba in because he's first up.

Where are you with Josh Allen? He claims that the foot is fine. So are you worried at all? Or do you think this is a big week for Josh Allen? I'm never going to bench Josh Allen. But are you concerned at this point of the week? He is my quarterback three on the week. Okay. Stefan Diggs, you always play him. And then if you're looking for value, then you turn to Cole Beasley and Gabriel Davis as chain movers in this offense. Somebody outside of Stefan Diggs, Dawson Knox,

I think you can have great confidence in him. He's leading all tight ends and touchdowns. And so you have that rapport, Panthers Middle of the Road against tight ends. You like Gabe Davis or Cole Beasley more in a half point. In a half point, I would take Gabriel Davis. I think that the opportunity he will be given with Emmanuel Sanders out.

should be good. He's been used around the goal line. He's a bigger body guy who can get downfield. In a full PPR, I would take Cole Beasley just because more peppered closer to the line is possible. I mean, he had nine for 64 this past week, but that was also Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills trying to mount a heroic comeback where they were down for essentially the entire game. But before that,

Three targets, five, five. Cole Beasley has not been the consistent PPR floor player that we had last year. And so I think even a full point PPR, I would go with Gabe Davis, just go for the ceiling. Because I think the chance that both Cole and Gabe Davis see the very similar target volume, I think that's a high probability. So I'll take the more valuable downfield shots.