Starts of the Week + Week 15 Breakdown, It’s Playoff Time! - Fantasy Football Podcast for 12/15

On today's episode, we bring you more from our friends with the never not working segment. A lot of matchups as the buy weeks are done. The boom boom kicker. I mean, the saga just continues. And some starts of the week from yours truly that you do not want to miss. Make sure you subscribe to this channel. Like the video and enjoy. The fantasy footballer studio is brought to you by Samsung Galaxy. Visit Samsung.com to learn more. To the fantasy footballers podcast. With your host, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. Oh, welcome in. You know what time it is. It's playoff time. Woo! For 50% or less. Oh, you were saying how many are in the playoffs? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I don't know if you needed that. I think Mike was just speaking of all the people out there. Yeah. I just feel like you could have gone, for some of you.

You don't redo it? No, because I'm a more statistical person. And we're also kind of a one. You're using these haji-podgey words like some. This is a one-take show. Yeah. I just like that Jason threw in like a Justin Bieber. Like, yeah. Yeah, he just threw that in. Mike is right. Mike Wright is right. Oh, it's playoff time. Playing Mike White. How afraid. How excited. What are the emotions for tonight, Mike? You and I both have a little Christian McCaffrey playoff action going this evening. Pretty excited. Pretty, pretty excited due to the, everything being optimal tonight for Christian McCaffrey, but also terrified in that it's Thursday night and should touchdown variance bounce outside of our precious Christian McCaffrey, it will be a tilt fest all the way.

to Saturday and Sunday. Now, you are playing against Brock Purdy. I think that's the way it's lined up for me right now. Because the team I'm playing, they lost Kyler Murray and our QB waivers are mighty thin. Yeah, wow. And if, uh, and George Kittle, right? So if, if you get on the goal line, oh man, the, the chance of a George Kittle touchdown, which would be a double stack against you versus the Christian McCaffrey rushing touchdown, which would be devastating for the, I mean, thank you for pointing that out. Have you... Spicy tonight, fellas. Have you warned your wife and children of the risks associated with... I got them a hotel. I sent him out of the house. I said, there's going to... I'm doing some... I'm doing some reno in the house, so I need everybody out. There will be a couple walls that come down. See, if you come back and things are smashed into pieces. That's the contractors. Yep. Yep. You booked them a hotel.

Nice staycation. Oh, man. You guys get out of here. Daddy needs to be alone. I'm out of here. His spa day. I booked in, in hotel manny. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Daddy wants to be alone with his bottle of whiskey and Christian McCaffrey. Just in the dark. Wow. Yeah. It's no lights on at all. Just the glow of the television. Yes. I love it. It's playoff time. That's playoff time. But, you guys, this game is really fun. Oh, I love it. It makes me so happy. Let's do it every year. Freaking fantasy football. Oh, man, it's never going to change either. No, no. There's no tweaks you can make that will make the playoffs any less scary. But, I mean, it goes beyond Christian McCaffrey and the 49ers side. You've got the Ken Walker issue. Oh, man. I don't think I've seen more questions about a certain player than the Ken Walker start. And this is Thursday night. So you get your.

You get your information, right? You've got your matchup, and then you find out if you are a favorite after tonight or an underdog. So so much to talk about, we don't have buy weeks anymore, right? I mean, that's finally over with. No, it's go time. Yeah, big week. Big show, never not working. News and notes, the fantasy forecast, the starts of the week, the boom, boom kicker. It's all coming to a head. Thank you for joining us. Thanks to everybody that joined us on Spotify live yesterday afternoon in the party room. It was a good time. You can find us on Twitter at the FFBallers, Instagram.com slash fantasy footballers. And of course, you can watch the show on YouTube, all the reactions to the weekend. You want to see those on our faces. YouTube.com slash the fantasy footballers. One quick announcement before we move on. We mentioned it yesterday, but we have a...

a special event tomorrow afternoon. We're doing a DFS show live stream Friday, 2 p.m. Eastern, Borgon Betts in the building. You can see there. Nice little graphic there. Yeah, they got a little graphic. They look so happy. Yeah. Ready to help you win some money. play some DFS this weekend. They haven't helped me at all. Kyle says they will be talking through the Saturday three game slates. Oh, fun. Which if you, if you're new to DFS, you get these special events every once in a while. Like Thanksgiving, you get the three games slate. It can be pretty fun to figure out how are you going to set a lineup with that and we get it again this Saturday. Well, and just looking at the schedule for these fantasy playoffs, like next weekend, your main slate is Saturday. Right. You have three.

Christmas games, but the majority of games will be played on Saturday. Jason, are you just realizing this? Are you telling me that Christmas is next weekend? Yes, that is how the calendar works. Oh, my goodness. We are that close. Yeah. And you, Jason, your fantasy team will get an opportunity to play that weekend. Oh, that's, that's great news. My lights will be on this, this weekend. I don't have to have the glow of the TV. That feels good. Yeah, sending your. Family Way for Christmas. That's a little bit over the line. Oh, it's a Christmas present. I'm giving you this one early, honey. Tanta said, get out. All right, let's move on. Let's do some Never Not Working. Never Not Working. Presented by Head and Shoulders, Scamp Shield Technology, available at Walmart. All right, Mike, what do you got for us today? Never Not Working. So today we are continuing our look at Dynasty as we had, you know,

It's about to be that time. The regular season is about to be over. You get the off season. You dive back into your dynasty leagues, getting ready for those rookie drafts, as well as making those trades. What are you going to do with these veterans? A couple veteran wide receivers that we want to talk about because these fellas could have different quarterbacks in 2023. And what does that do to their value? Starting at the tipping. And it makes me nervous right out of the gate. Yeah, it should because we've seen quarterback change be catastrophic for some, beneficial for some. But you've got to start at the top coming off of the injury. Cooper Cup, who will be heading into his year 30 year of age, those, you know, spins around. So let's go back. That's how you say it. What?

Going into his year, 30 year of age, as they say. As they say, 30 trips around the sun. If Jason notices something. Yeah. Watch out. That was, uh, uh, uh, Footland, just so you know, uh, that was Mike Wright speaking not me. I'm reading your notes, Jason. Oh, okay. Uh, but Cooper Cup was the wide receiver four coming into the season. Unfortunate injury. What's going on with Maddie Stafford? Debo Samuel was the wide receiver six. He'll be turning 27. That's your dynasty draft position. That's what he was before the season? But what in the heck? What are the 49ers going to do? I think I was talking with Beekhead about this. With San Francisco, you had the Jimmy Garapolo trending up right before he got the busted foot. They're like, well, we're going to be open to bringing him back. What does that do to Tray Lance? Now you have Brock Purdy, who is in a position.

To succeed, this team is going to go to the playoffs. What does the team do if Brock Purdy makes an actual playoff run? Well, it's not cut and dry that you just go right back to Trey Lance. Well, and Jimmy Gropolo's in the equation. And he's in the mix too. Here's what I like. I like Debo so much more than Cooper Cup in that scenario of changing quarterbacks because the team. has proven that different quarterbacks can succeed in the San Francisco offense, whereas Cooper Cup's elite tier has existed solely with Matthew Stafford. Where was he? And he's going to be three years older. I think he had a wide receiver four finish with golf or at least a stretch. I'm looking it up right now. But we're talking world beater. I'm talking about like.

the difference between the best player in the game. Yeah, sure. 2019, he was. It just feels a lot riskier to me than a player that's three years younger in Debo, personally. Yeah, 2019 Cooper Cup was the wide receiver four. That would have been a Jared Goff year. And then Terry McLaurin dynasty startup was the wide receiver 17. We bring these guys up because it's like, like how do you compare them with their unstable situation to players like T. Higgins, Devante Smith, D.K. Metcalfe. younger, but they're younger and they have stability at the quarterback position. But Cooper Cup, Debo, especially have been elite for fantasy purposes. So like, how are you comparing at this point? Someone like Debo Samuel with everything up in the air to a 2 T. Higgins, who's considered like the wide receiver 2 on his team yet, seen to be dominant, much younger than Debo? A couple years younger, that's a lot in Dynasty.

Jason, how are you feeling about Debo now compared to T. Higgins, where it was coming into this year, it was wide, like I said, wide receiver six in startup. Yeah, I mean, Debo is great, and I agree with Andy that his quarterback situation isn't the end of the world. He's got Shanahan to scheme him plays. Honestly, the fact that Christian McCaffrey is there and will be there for a while probably has a... a bigger negative effect on Debo Samuel than the quarterback situation. If you're just saying who do I prefer Debo Samuel or T. Higgins, T. Higgins being the two, it's definitely T. Higgins. I would draft him ahead of Debo and a startup for sure. He's several years younger. Has Joe Burrow and is locked in as a long-term really great fantasy option. McClellan is the Deontay Johnson situation of the bunch where...

We've seen him extremely ineffective at times. He's the one I would be, like Mike, you moved on from him in Dynasty. Yeah, because I had to rebuild a little bit. During a stretch of success, I would be, he's not on the top of my wide receiver list in Dynasty. His quarterback situation isn't going to get. better. The team has played well enough to where they don't have a top five future star quarterback pick coming in. You're going to have it be Heineckee or Jimmy G. Yeah. I mean, Wins or Jimmy G. type of guy come in and not be the answer. And then you want to take a quick look at these first round rookie wide receivers who have been overall sensational. I mean,

It feels like basically every single one of them looks like they should be a hit. Drake London was the first wide receiver. It hasn't been a very evened out fantasy season from him, but you've seen, at least I've seen enough. I'll say it that. I've seen enough from Drake London to know he is good. He can be a very good fantasy player, but he's got that system around him. Who in the heck is his quarterback? Garrett Wilson, what are the Jets going to do? Is it going to be Mike White? Is it going to be? Back to Zach Wilson, Chris Olivae. Every single rookie. Yes, every single one of these rookies has a quarterback controversy coming to them. Chris Oliva with the Saints and what are they going to do with Andy Dalton, James Wilson, James Winston Williams for the Detroit Lions. He might be the safe. Yeah, the most stable situation is Jared Goff. But they could move on. Like there is potential that the Lions.

find a way to move up in the draft and get their quarterback. Jahan Dotson, same problem as Terry McLaurin and the Manders. Trey Lawn Berks, we heard tons and tons of rumors last year that the Titans wanted to move on from Ryan Tanna Hill. Will they be able to do that? So it's just, it's very interesting. How are you looking at all of these players right now? Is Garrett Wilson just clearly at the top for you? Or do you feel like, no, I think that Olave? has, even with the mystery of who the quarterback could be, Olave could overtake. Garrett Wilson is the number one rookie or sophomore. Wilson and Olave are in a tier of their own to me. They're the highest tier, but I would put Garrett Wilson ahead. All of these players have good prospects going forward, great value. First round, rookie wide receivers in Dynasty almost always hold their value, even if they have a lost year. Like Jehan Dodson.

had a couple good games, then lost a lot of the year to injury and has been kind of trying to work his way back on. But as far as holding value in Dynasty, when you are a first round NFL wide receiver drafted, even on a down year, you're going to hold your value if you want to move out. So I'm always in on first round rookie wide receiver. If you're going to target any of these players, we'll leave Wilson or Lave out because you're saying they're in the high tier of would be pretty difficult to acquire and trade. But between London,

Jameson, Dotson, and Berks. I'd be targeting Jameson Williams. I think the future of Jameson Williams is very bright. It feels a little bit like, you know, you could have gone and acquired Garrett Wilson after the slow start this season. Mike did? Yeah, you did. When he was starting to, I mean, he wasn't really heating up then. But like Jameson Williams right now feels like the player that's just one game away from being like, oh, yeah, that's who he is. All right. All right. Get up to 100% standard of protection. That is never not working with head and shoulder scalp shield technology available at walmart.com. Use it every time you shampoo and see the difference. News and notes from around the league. Presented by USAA Insurance. All right. Josh Jacobs, the quad, the hand. Oh, it's not the calf anymore. That means he's getting stronger. I mean. Limited. He had the calf injury that was very severe.

popped up late in a week and then rookie of the yeared it into great success. You sure he doesn't want to take the week off or something? Oh, someone playing against Josh Jacobs? Oh, no. Yeah, obviously you don't want these injuries. And you remember he played through the hand injury in the game. Who's the best offensive weapon for the Raiders? Between Adams and Jacobs. Yeah, how would you define like taking the best away? Devante Adams is their best way. Yeah, I agree with that. Great, great. All right, T. Higgins, so do you. Tyler Boyd, limited in practice, the hamstring, the finger. Cool. It's nerve-wracking. Haydenhurst, doubtful. You know, you saw Joe Burrow get it done without two-thirds of his wide receiver room and his tight-in last week. So that was kind of impressive, but. We did talk on the party room last night about T. Higgins of whether or not you would feel confident starting him.

But for those of you that didn't hear, I think there was a little bit of split in that. I would be, I'm just really fearful of having it happen again. I don't think the word confident is going to come into the equation for any fantasy manager this week. I think I use the word I want to. I want to start T. Higgins. That word? Yeah. That's the word you use. Want versus versus. We could go. What about want? Confident. All right. It's one word. Is want to a real word? Or is that just something we... I don't think so. Like, is it officially recognized by Webster? W-A-N-N-A? Yeah. Wana. It's recognized by Google. Well, that's not surprising. Good enough for me. All right, let's talk about the Patriots injuries right now. Damien Harris returned to a limited practice. Jacoby Myers Limited. Devante Parker didn't practice with a concussion. Ramandre didn't practice with the ankle. Oh, man. I am...

This situation stinks. Jason pointed out yesterday, Damien Harris did not practice at all the week before. This is not a guarantee he's back out there if he's limited with the thigh. Like we've seen him like previously in the year when he's missed games, he has had some limited practices. But this is a mess. Like you don't, you don't have room on your team to have four options. Like right now there are four potential fantasy running backs on New England. Damien Harris, Ramandre could come back, Pierre Strong. Kevin Harris. Ew. Yeah. And they play the Raiders. I know. So someone's scoring. I have never done a team touchdown guarantee, but one of these running backs is scoring a touchdown for New England. I think with the information I have right now, if I had to put the wager down, I would go with Damien Harris with the limited practice. If he plays, he's the most likely.

in my opinion, to score. And then I think Damien Harris kind of takes Kevin out of the equation. I think that it would be the timeshare, but mostly between Damien Harris and Pierce Strong, using Pierce Strong as the pass catcher. But Damien Harris becomes very interesting should he suit up. I mean, yes, he'll see 30, whatever, 30 to 45% of the snaps, but some of those attempts will be near the goal line. Titans wide receiver situation. Traylon Burks didn't practice concussion. Man. Robert Woods didn't practice due to illness. Chig a con quo. Yep. Keep your eyes on him. Rondale Moore on IR for the Cardinals. He's not playing again this year. Brandon Cooks is practicing. Nico Collins is off to the side watching practice. No, is he smiling?

Was he frowning? Do we have any reports, Kyle? Yeah, we need some. What's the facial expression situation for Nico Collins? I know you're in on that. I saw him drinking like a Gatorade bottle. Okay. So he's thirsty. So he's hydrating. Yeah, he's hydrated. I mean, who watches practice while pounded down some electrolytes. Somebody who's getting ready to maybe watch it again the next day. Yeah, the Brandon Cook's news is called Chris Moore news to me because Chris Moore is a. fine pickup and play if both Brandon Cooks and Nico Collins are gone, given the matchup against Kansas City. If Brandon Cooks is back, I'm not really trying to start. Yeah, Chris Moore. It's tough. All right. That was today's news and notes presented by USAA Insurance. Learn more at USAA.com slash insurance. Fantasy forecast. Did we ever discuss Rex Burkhead in the context of Damien Pierce's injury? No, because we.

You're not. We respect our fans. We respect ourselves. I mean, you're not. Rex, Rex Burkhead will be the primary runner and then Agoobalai will be the pass catcher. I just feel like you would look for an opportunity to stand for Rexy. He will. This is your dude. Look, he will get. Is he not sexy Rexy this week? Well, I mean, he's kind of a middle age guy. It's too old to be sexy. Yeah. Because 15 for 25 is not. not sexy what do they call it when like a gentleman gets a little bit older you're not sexy anymore silver fox well he's not he's bald so um yeah he's not dapper i don't know if dapper you can't be dapper without hair hmm or a silver fox that hair is really gonna be you can't be any of these things in your future jason apparently not yeah i mean without surgery so we'll see

All right, into the fantasy forecast we go. We have three Saturday games. We're going to cover them first. The Colts are 4-8-1. Minnesota is 10 and 3. The games in Minnesota and the draft game sportsbook line has Minnesota as four-point favorites. The over-under is 48. Minnesota can clinch the NFC North with a win or a lion's loss to the Jets. Both teams began the year with the same preseason win total of nine and a half. It has not gone well for the Colts. And speaking of clinching. playing the Colts in your fantasy lineup because you might want to do it. The matchup is so, so juicy. Looking at the Vikings on the season, 31st against quarterbacks, 32nd against wide receivers. In the past six weeks, 28th against quarterback, 25 against running backs, 30 second against wide receivers. This defense allows.

points. You, yes, Minnesota's favor by four, but that 48 point over under puts the Colts on an implied team total of 22, which is, that's not bad at all. Obviously, I can't, I can't agree. Okay. But I understand why you're making the case, because you're trying to find some value here in a plus matchup. For a team with players that have provided, you know, Michael Pittman has had his games this year. You've had, you know, obviously Jonathan Taylor is going to be in your lineup. Paris Campbell has been heavily involved. He's been a better points per game player than Pittman has been since about week four. But I can't. I can't get behind the Colts going into Minnesota this week. And there's a lot on the line for Minnesota. Jeff Saturday and Matt Ryan.

combined freaks me out. So I just can't find myself there. And it's just a difference of opinion. Yeah, I am more on the side that I do think the Colts will put up points. The Vikings defense has just been so bad. And obviously this is a team that's won 10 games. So they're not a bad roster. Their offense is going to be able to move against the Colts. There should be value to be had, whether that's Pittman Jr. or Paris Campbell, obviously Jonathan Taylor's in. I think even Alex Pierce. Well, yeah, because big plays are really what's been hurting Minnesota the most, and that does kind of lend itself towards Alec Pierce. Yeah, last week was not good for the yearly numbers for the Minnesota Vikings. They gave up 55 fantasy points to the wide receiver position. So those lions last week were going crazy. So.

I just don't trust Matt Ryan to take advantage of such things. I totally understand that. Daval Cook is in, Jefferson is in. Hawkinson is a Lockinson. Yeah, very nice, very nice. What do you do with Adam Thielen? You probably don't need to mess around. Yeah, I put him on the bench. The Colts have been pretty good against fantasy wide receivers, seventh on the season. And he. He was popping up on the injury reports and things. He came through last week, very plus matchup against the Detroit Lions, and it took kind of a pretty big touchdown there to get it done. So I'm not playing Thielen, but what are you doing with Kirk Cousins? You have an implied team total of 26. Are you willing to stream him? Yeah, he's a clinching stream. Kirk Cousins or a super streamer Mike White? Andy?

Look, Cousins is safer to get you a floor because of the injury risk to Mike White. But otherwise, I'd want Mike White. If I'm not a heavy favorite, I'm probably going to play Mike White. Jason, Dalvin Cook or Jonathan Taylor, who has the better game? You have a Vikings defense that has been beat up recently on the ground, but on the year schedule adjusted, their 10th, whereas the Colts defense 25th against the run. past six weeks, they're 28th. Who has the better game between those running backs? Both are going to be phenomenal options. I think Jonathan Taylor probably ends up with a better game because he's more to the centerpiece of the Colts offense than Dalvin Cook is of the Vikings offense. But I mean, both are, you're talking about top five running backs this week. Dalvin Cook should be a smash play. He wasn't someone I loved last week against Detroit. I do love him this week. When you're

at home, the favorite by four in a plus matchup. There's, you know, no decisions to be made. There are just high fives to be given. Michael Pittman. I'm playing him. I would play him as well. There's a lot of, you know, we go through tons of names where, you know, you're talking about a spot start. Adam Thielen or Michael Pittman? I would go and Pickleman. Okay. Would you, would you play feeling over Pittman? I'm, I am nervous about that Pittman floor. I mean, that's two fantasy points last time out. I don't know. I guess I'd try Pittman out there because of the matchup. Yeah, I guess I'd be with you guys on that. Yeah, the Dallas defense last week, they, or, you know, the last time you saw Pittman. But prior to that, you had Pittman with 61 yards, 73 yards. So he's got an involvement. I'm with you. Let's go ahead and take a quick break and we'll come back with the Ravens Browns.

Baltimore, nine and four, taking on the five and eight Cleveland Browns, the Drafking Sportsbook line here, Cleveland minus three. Really? Quarterback situation. The over-under is 37, and this game is going to be gross. Yeah, gross alert. Yep. 37 point over-under. Baltimore games have hit the under nine of 13 times. Cleveland hasn't hit their implied point total in three straight games because Vegas can't figure out how inept Voldemort is. We don't think that Lamar will be back out there. No, did not practice Wednesday. Yeah, this is a mess. I mean, you haven't been able to witness an Amari Cooper game with the Sean Watson that gives you great confidence, although at home, Amari Cooper is going to be a start for you. You just have to hope that Watson figures things out. I mean, it was better last week than the week before. It wasn't good.